It is a pleasure to join you this morning at the Faith Christian Fellowship World Outreach Church as we remember and honor the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Eighty years ago, Dr. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, into a country that was vastly different from the country that we know today. He was born into a nation where the color of your skin determined where you could sit on a bus and from which water fountain you could drink. He was born into a nation where the color of your skin determined whom you could marry. He was born into a nation where the color of your skin all too often meant that your vote wasn’t counted. The sad fact is that although Dr. King was born into a country that was founded on the ideal that all men are created equal, that country was a place that regularly denied him the fundamental rights of citizenship. But despite that injustice, Dr. King rose above anger and despair, saying: “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” During the 39 years of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived out that belief. Alongside countless others, he spoke out against the violence, oppression, and indecency that he and millions of his fellow Americans were forced to endure. He demanded opportunity and progress for a nation and all its people. Until the day he was tragically taken from us on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Dr. King lived in hope of a better world. At no time was that hope more powerful than in 1963 when in the shadow of another great American, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. King spoke eloquently, and with passion, of his dream for a better world. On that day he imagined the kind of world that he wanted for his own children, a world where they would be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. We have not yet reached the world that Dr. King envisioned. We still witness the consequences of jealousy, envy and prejudice. But today we also witness irrefutable evidence that thanks to his struggles and sacrifices, America is a better place. Today, we live in a America where no one has to take a back seat to anyone else. We live in an America where every citizen can exercise the right to vote. And, at long last, we live in an America where all parents can say to their children with confidence, “You can grow up to become President of the United States.” On this past November 4th it was impossible not to be moved by the hundreds of thousands in Grant Park, Times Square, and around the world who rushed into the streets to celebrate more than just the election of another President. I believe that those who rushed into the streets did so in recognition of the fact that our nation was finally living up to the ideals of our founding fathers and realizing the potential that Dr. King always believed in. Because on that Election Day, Americans, whether they were 22 or 82; whether they were black, white, or brown; whether they were Methodists, Catholics, Jews, or Muslims, came together and put aside the differences that have plagued us for far too long and made the choice that Dr. King would have made. They chose hope. We know that when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States this Tuesday, issues that have separated people will remain, and the road ahead does not promise to be easy. But on that day, January 20, 2009, we will finally glimpse the world that Dr. King could only imagine for his children. And we will find that world, as President-Elect Obama has said, “…not across distant hills or within some hidden valley, but rather we will find it somewhere in our hearts.” On this third Monday of January, and every other day of the year, we must honor the memory of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by loving as he loved, serving as he served, and striving as he strived. And we must know that no matter how dark that starless midnight seems, as long as we continue to believe in one another and choose hope over despair, that the daybreak of peace and brotherhood will become a reality.
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