Sermons

Minister: Rev. Margaret A. Beckman | Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,
‘What are you doing for others?’
Martin Luther King, Jr.
READING
Words of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perhaps no American — past or present — better epitomizes the definition of leadership than Martin Luther King, Jr. While many men and women have risen in the ranks of leadership — and have succeeded! — very few have done so with such grace and tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds. One of the trademark qualities belonging to Martin Luther King, Jr. was his desire to be a giver and not a taker — his uncompromising conviction that the key to being great is being generous.

Here, in his own words, is what Martin Luther King, Jr. thought about giving back.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

And then, these words written by Dr. King from his jailcell in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 to the mostly white clergy of many faiths who had written to advise him to be patient and wait for times to improve rather than undertake direct non-violent action to pressure leaders to end segregation and violence against black people in America.
“Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”
I leave it to each of you to make application of his words from more than 55 years ago to our nation today.

SERMON

This service was originally scheduled for the third Sunday in January – when we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. We got snowed out and rather than discard the whole message for our Opportunity Fund Sunday, I decided to revise it for today. Any Sunday could be a day to remember and appreciate the life and message of Martin Luther King, Jr. Lord knows, we haven’t overcome the struggles he worked so hard to overcome in the 90 years since his birth. The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Maryland. In his message of January 21st, he said:
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I am aware of two significant—though also painful—anniversaries that feel important to name aloud.  This year is the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. This year is also the 100th Anniversary of the Red Summer of 1919, when there was a sharp spike in white people violently targeting African Americans, resulting in hundreds of deaths. I invite us to allow our awareness of these historic reminders to open our hearts and recommit our spirits to turning King’s dreams into deeds.

If King were alive today, he would be celebrating his ninetieth birthday. He was only thirty-nine years old when he was assassinated. For those who know me, that’s one year younger than I am. His prophetic activism to build a global beloved community ended tragically early.

Although the initial focus of Dr. King’s dream was that his children might “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” he soon began dreaming of a much grander, more inclusive vision of a beloved community: of peace, liberty, and justice—not merely for some—but for all.
Dr. King has been gone for more years than he lived. Yet, we continue to turn to his life, his words, his work, his dream for guidance and inspiration. We honor and celebrate his life. We also have made a caricature of Dr. King. We fail to understand the real impact of his words and we fail to embody the real consequences of following his lead. He was feared by many. More Americans rejected King’s message and methods than supported him – by a margin of more than two to one. More than two to one – – that’s a whole lot of people who were not racists and who did hear the moral call for freedom and justice for all who still could not find a way to support Dr. King.

As we recalled from the words of his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King called out his liberal clergy friends and colleagues for giving verbal support to the cause of racial justice without actually doing anything to advance the necessary change to achieve that justice.

Do I need to say this morning, “Change is hard”?

We continue to struggle with the kind of change of heart, of mind, of law and habit that is required to bring to life the Beloved Community that Dr. King envisioned. I do believe that we here in this congregation are part of that struggle. We are not turning away from it. We are not denying the failure to achieve the Beloved Community. We are facing these failures straight on and we are wondering together what we can do. How can we use the considerable resources we have to bring opportunity to the dispossessed and to restore simple human dignity and respect to those whose life has been troubled and hard?

And that is why it is important as we engage in another distribution of the Opportunity Fund to ask – What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do with this $100,000?

I’ll tell you – I have no idea what MLK would do today. I do, however, have an idea what he might say. We think of him as the great civil rights leader, and he was that. But, he wanted to be remembered for the ways that he loved and cared for others more than he wanted to be remembered for his marches, fiery sermons, and inspiring speeches. He was generous and kind – that is also his legacy. It was his vision – broad and deep – of Beloved Community that he advocated by the end of his life.

And that is the legacy he might challenge us to consider.

In remembering the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, King had little use for the priest and the lawyer who left the traveler in the ditch to suffer and maybe die. He turned the story slightly around for us.
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the good Samaritan reversed the question, ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
If we do not stop to help those whose circumstances leave them broken and sometimes hopeless, what will happen to them? If we don’t help, who will. If not now, when. If not us, who?

I can’t say for sure, but I think Dr. King would say to us here today, “It no longer matters what I would do with $100, 000. The real questions is: What will you do with $100,000? Will you use it to restore dignity and justice, to love and not fear your neighbor, to clear away the barriers and the walls, yup especially the walls, that continue to burden those who are coming along in the best way they can? Will you be a friend to the lost and the lonely? Will you make it a bit easier for others to be the best they can be and let them be the best they can be as they see themselves?

As we consider what we might so with our Opportunity Fund gifts for 2019, let me encourage you to cast your vision high and wide. A story ….

Once upon a time, in a far away place – maybe Salisbury, England or Paris, France – there was a traveler. He was making his way through the countryside on foot and he came upon a group of stonecutters hard at work. Curiosity was his nature and he wondered what these fellows were doing. He approached the nearest man and asked, “Friend, what are you doing?” The man put down his hammer and chisel and scowled at the man. “I’m a stone cutter and I’m cutting stone into square blocks.” The traveler approached a second man and repeated his question. “Friend, what are you doing?” Without interrupting his rhythm of hammer and chisel, he replied, “I’m feeding my family by carefully and skillfully cutting stone for long hours each day.” And so, still curious, the traveler went a bit farther and came upon a third stone cutter who was whistling and swaying as he swung his hammer. “Friend, what are you doing?” The man set down his hammer and glanced at the traveler, then he looked up toward the sky, inviting the traveler to follow his gaze. “Sir, I am building a cathedral.” And finally, the traveler’s curiosity was satisfied.

We can feed the hungry and shelter those without a home. We can educate and encourage children. We can counsel and treat those who live with substance use disorder and we can love and rock their children. We can provide housing, community, structure and hope for those who just need a year of support to regain their footing in life. We can encourage those who make connections among the helpers and the doers to be effective, efficient and empathetic, who help to make real the promise of beloved community for all. We can do all these things, and we do.

Cutting stone. We can cut stone and that is a fine and honest thing to do.

I am proud of our work as stone cutters. We are committed and we are generous.

And yet ……   And yet …….

Today, let us imagine that we are building cathedrals. We are investing in the building of cathedrals of hope and promise and success.

What does this cathedral look like? What are we doing? Who are our partners? How are we changing the world, bending the universe toward justice, and replacing suffering with strength?

Come. Let us be about this work that we have laid before ourselves.

Imagine the best. What shall we do with $100,000?

Love will guide us,
Peace has tried us,
Hope inside us will lead the way the road from greed to giving.
Love will guide us through the hard night.

May we see ourselves as builders of cathedrals.

You have your little slips of paper.
Write what you will.
Imagine the cathedral of your dreams.
We are in this together.

Blessed