Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He would have been 80 years old this week. Monday, January 19th, is the day we celebrate the legacy and life of Dr. King. He was a visionary leader. I think as we celebrate MLK day this year it has even more significance and impact because Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. This was part of Dr. King’s vision, part of his dream. I read this poem the other day that in a few words captures the significance of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King and Barack Obama’s election.


Rosa sat so that Martin could walk,
Martin walked so that Barack could run,
Barack ran so that our children will fly.

I appreciate the fact the Martin Luther King Day has been set aside not just as another day off to shop but a day on to serve someone else. That’s what Dr. King’s life was about – serving others. Dr. King said,
“If you want to be important – wonderful. If you want to be recognized – wonderful. If you want to be great – wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness”.
Can you imagine the impact if 100 million Americans served somebody on Monday, January 19? That would be 100 million service hours in one day! In his great speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (which Dr. King delivered the day before he was shot and killed); Dr. King cites the parable of the Good Samaritan. Questioning why anyone would pass by someone who needed help, He says,
"And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
Dr. King’s life was about service. It was about asking the question, “What will happen if I don’t help?”

I would encourage your to read some of Dr. King’s speeches this weekend. He wrote powerful words that were delivered by a wonderfully gifted orator. It is very easy to Google his speeches. I would recommend reading or listening to: “I Have a Dream” or” I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. I personally believe that Dr. King’s most powerful writings were his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter was addressed to clergy who were questioning his marches and demonstrations. The section on why he can’t wait for the government to act will move you to tears.
As I was checking out some of his writings and speeches, I came across one I had not previously been familiar with: King’s 1956 imaginary letter from St. Paul to American Christians. The words are as salient now as they were then. Here is an excerpt of what King imagines St. Paul might have to say to us:
…America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about “improved means to an unimproved end.” How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.
I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. …
But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, “Ye are a colony of heaven.” This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God’s will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God. …

These are powerful and prophetic words from a Baptist preacher who changed the world. So, Happy Birthday Dr. King, you’re still inspiring us to serve God and people.
Congratulations President Barack Obama. You’re standing on tall shoulders.

Serve somebody!
Pastor Tim