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1/19/2004
Happy Birthday Dr. King
 Guess where I am. In my office, sitting at my desk, working. Apparently, we don't celebrate this holiday. Again I say, stay far away from retail. Unfortunately, I don't have anything really deep, profound, or prolific to say. Most of what I've felt about this day has already been expressed at some point in my life. In many ways I've become callous to this day and what it signifies. I attribute part of that to the tokenization (is that a word?..well it is now) of this day. I've found that most of America decides to become very multi-cultural right about this time of year and it usually ends on February 28th; the end of black history month. Growing up in predominately white schools, I think I got just about all I could of the "Greatness" of Martin Luther King I could handle. We would usually sing while holding hands in some circle, "We Shall Overcome"...gag me with a spoon. Hear me out. I don't trivialize Dr. King in the least. He was a prophet to that generation. But I believe we have trivialized his message. "We shall overcome some day.....deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome some day." We sing it once a year and go on our merry way; no one ever stopping to recognize what true overcoming is. It seems we forget that Dr. King was a man of God first. Before he wore any titles of Dr., Rev. "Great" or "Activist", he was a man of God.
How interesting is it that many groups such as the homosexual community have championed Dr. King and his teachings. Many forgetting that this very person is one who directly opposed that lifestyle. Interestingly enough, it was one of my college history professors, who also happened to be a lesbian that pointed this out to me.
I have issue with the fact that Dr. King's faith is very much left out of much of what we say about him. The talk of racial reconciliation and oneness and unity has been going on for generations and while yes we've come so far, we've got more places to go. I challenge however, that this "dream" that even Dr. King talks about won't come through social organizations or mechanisms, programs or institutions, music, poetry, or osmosis; but only by the spirit of God and the unity that comes in the fellowship and revelation of the reality of Jesus Christ and the brotherhood we find in His Life. The only time I have ever felt complete and total unity with those of other races and backgrounds has been with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I say that will be the thread that holds the world together. Will we all get there? Nope. There will be those who reject this reality. Even the Bible declares that. But I long for the day when the body of Christ will be the example by which the world comes to see how racial barriers can be broken. (We've got a ways to go) The Bible speaks to social justice and the disenfranchised. The Bible speaks to racism and inequality. This "freedom" and this "overcoming" everyone talks and sings about is not the true freedom and overcoming I believe was in the message of Dr. King. True freedom is knowing your identity in God. True freedom is when God's spirit is present. True overcoming is by the blood of the Lamb and the power of our testimonies. That is my prayer on this day to honor a man of God. That the body of Christ would recognize our place in all this and get in position. Let's start with the most segregated day of the week. Sunday.
posted by ambra at 1/19/2004 11:58:08 AM | link to this entry |
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