Martin Luther King Jr.

21 Jan – Today We Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.

On January 14th, 2007, then Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Shori said:

Our brother Martin had a dream, a dream born in the story of a people led out of slavery and oppression. He labored mightily to bring that dream to reality, to liberate a people still in chains and shackles 100 years after their legal deliverance. You and I know that nearly 40 years after his death we still have not fully achieved that dream. Some still live in oppression because of the color of their skin. Some still live in oppression because of their national origin and heritage. Some have arrived on these shores to work because we want their labor, but they live in oppression because we are not willing to allow them to become free and equal citizens.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The gospel is about the love God has for all of us. Week by week, we promise to show that love to the world by the way we live and act. Dr. King was a powerful witness to the ability of love to change the world – that radically non-violent form of gospel love. It means loving yourself and recognizing the image of God in yourself, and then doing the same with others. It’s not rolling over and playing dead, it’s not going along to get along. It is expecting the best of yourself and other people, but doing it in a way that builds up that image of God, that insists that we and others can grow up into the full stature of Christ. 


Today, the gospel is still about God’s love for us as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day on the 21st of January, 2019.

The Episcopal Church continues work towards racial reconciliation where more resources may be found at the Episcopal Church of the USA’s web-site here (opens in new tab).

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