Jan. 16, 2005 Martin Luther King Day
On the Shoulders of a Giant

The Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray

In April of 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered a speech titled, “A Time to Break the Silence” to a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam at the Riverside Church in New York . These words are from that address.

“Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken—the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments.

I am convinced that…we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution in values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “people-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

This kind of positive revolution in values is our best defense against communism. War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Let us not join those who shout war and through their misguided passions urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. We must not call everyone a Communist…who recognizes that hate and hysteria are not the final answers to the problem of these turbulent days. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.

Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism….

Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best for their individual societies.” 1

In 1986, our nation established the King holiday, to honor the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. This holiday is an opportunity each year to remember Dr. King's ministry and his teachings. I understand Dr. King as a prophet, in the prophetic tradition of Moses and Jesus. What makes him a prophet? He spoke the truth, even when it was unpopular. He confronted injustice with courage and with love. He spoke to all people of this country and of this world—reminding us of our greatest human and moral ideals. He confronted hate with love, fear with courage, and lies of corruption with truth. He clothed the naked, fed the hungry, comforted the sick, and fought for rights and opportunity for the poor and oppressed. His memory is truly worthy of remembrance and honor every year.

Yet, this holiday does not come without difficulty. It is important on this day, that our celebration not focus solely on the historical life of Martin Luther King, at the expense of his teachings. The values of love, justice and mutuality are as desperately needed today as they were in his day. If we allow his memory to remain that, only something of history, rather than alive in our words and actions today, we do his life a disservice. We must let his words speak to us today. Only in renewing ourselves to the work of building a better world today do we truly honor this prophet of our time. We must remember that he struggled so that the dignity of every person would be recognized, and that each person would have equitable opportunity, and that our nation, the richest and most powerful in the world, would use its position to foster a world where persons are valued over material gain and where an “overriding loyalty to [human]kind prevails.”

This holiday is also difficult, because we cannot remember his life, without also recalling how he died—murdered, assassinated on the balcony of his Lorraine Hotel Room in Memphis , TN. He was there supporting the garbage workers' strike. To remember his death, is to confront the reality of how deeply sick our society remains, sick with the illness of violence. Dr. King knew that beyond racism, our nation had to deal with violence. Today, the glorification of violence, and the perpetuation of life-denying policies continue. To see this truth, in the context of history (to see how little we have overcome our obsession with violence) is no easy matter.

To listen again to Dr. King's words is to realize how far we still have to go. Our country has fallen short in living up to Dr. King's Dream, a dream rooted in the promise and history of our nation. As Abraham Lincoln said, “As labor is the common burden of our race, so the effort of some to shift their share of the burden onto the shoulders of others is the great, durable, curse of the race. As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”

Despite the weight of what is yet to be accomplished, we must not become overwhelmed. We are not called to fix our world on this one weekend. Instead, we are called to renew our commitment to building a better world. If we are unwilling to participate in the struggle unless we can be assured victory in our lifetime, we will be forced to stay home. It is a challenge to read Dr. King's sermons and not feel disappointed that the issues he confronted in his day, including “the three giants of Racism, Militarism and Materialism” are as prevalent if not more today. Dr. King clarified for the world the ways in which our nation had lost sight of its worthy dreams of freedom, democracy, and liberty. However, more importantly, he showed us a larger truth that could lead us back to the dream.

King was correct when he said “we are caught in an escapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” This garment of destiny reaches out not only to all of the people of today, but it stretches back through the ages to those who have gone before. Martin Luther King helped shape this garment. He influenced our history, breaking down barriers between races, and reminding everyone who listened that we are all children of one great love, and our history and our future is tied together. Dr. King showed us a path to greater understanding and a better world, built out of a unifying love of humankind. It is on his shoulders, and the shoulders of those who stood with him, and on the shoulders of those who came before him that we stand to take our next steps into the world.

When we leave here today, we have an opportunity to look at our world with new eyes. Eyes that are open to the demands of interdependence. Eyes that are open to see the economic interests that are at the heart of our nation's war in Iraq . Eyes that are open to see the injustice in poverty, the injustice in isolating people into ghettos of poverty. Eyes that see the persistent stain of racism and discrimination, and not just between whites and blacks, but also the oppression of Indian, Asian and Hispanic Americans. Eyes that see the growing gap between rich and poor. And, we have an opportunity to see all of this with an open heart recognizing this division and oppression is also a part of us. When we realize this truth, we can no longer turn our backs on injustice.

This feels like a huge task, a great responsibility to stand in the lineage of great justice seekers. Indeed it is. But I am reminded of these words from the Talmud, which I read two weeks ago in response to the Tsunami Disaster in South Asia and Africa :

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

We take small steps and large steps. We are not called to be Dr. King. We are called to be who we are—to take advantage of the opportunities in our life to serve others, to offer more kindness, to love more fully and more unconditionally the people around us, to care more, to be vigilant that our lives not be absorb in materialism. To seek new opportunities for greater fellowship, to partner with others to improve our city and our community. To tell our government representatives of the demands of justice and equity.

The forces of racism, militarism and materialism weigh down on us all. They imprison us. Racism teaches us to fear one another, to make assumptions about one another that prevent us from reaching out to understand. If we did reach out we would see how connected we really are—how our lives are interdependent, how privilege depends on another persons needs being denied—and how we all suffer when we are separated by fear, rather than united in love.

Materialism eats away at the very fabric of our lives. The demands that are put on us by work take away from the quantity and the quality of the time we have with our families, our neighbors, and our community. We are overworked, and underfed in the spirit. The demands of consumerism bring us to live in fear that we do not have enough. And the fear that divides people among class, denies the truth that excess requires that others live off less.

Dr. King understood the extent to which militarism is connected to material gain and corporate profit. Somewhere our nation's dream of freedom and democracy was traded in for a capitalist dream of excess. These three giants of Militarism, Materialism and Racism which enslave us under their weight, are connected, and rooted in a denial of the highest moral principle: that we are all one, and we are called to love our neighbor as our self.

What will it take to bring about this revolution of values, from a “thing-oriented” society, to a “person-oriented” society? It begins with us, with those of us in this room, reaching out to one another, to realize that in the end we are one people. It begins (as well, it continues) here, and when we leave here, remembering to value people over things. It is to demand from our government the same. It begins with us—learning to reach out to our neighbors and to strangers, across barriers which divide us. Breaking down those barriers that separate us, so that we might find comfort and connection in community, rather than in material possession. It is a revolutionary approach to life—to live with the realization of our connection to all other people, and valuing that, knowing the quality and dignity of our own life depends on it.

Dr. King's words telling us of the unity of humanity are revolutionary words, contradicting messages that divide us and teach us to fear one another. They are revolutionary words that contradict systems of racial oppression, class oppression, and violence between peoples and nations. Dr. King, in his life, showed us a vision of a nation and of a future for our world, rooted in the best words and promises of our nation—a future where all people are free, where the worth and dignity of each person is recognized and promoted.

Today his dream remains a dream. And his words ring as true and as necessary today as they did when he first spoke them. Our only way out from the spiritual poverty that is at present destroying the dream and promise of our nation—is by a revolution in values—placing our primary value on people, not things.

This task may seem too daunting, the challenges too great. And, yes, the challenges are great—but we must remember that we are not alone on this journey. We are not the first to struggle, and rebel, and fight for the soul of our nation. We are not the first to, with courage, reach out to a stranger, to reach out across diversity and see in the knowledge of another person, how truly connected we are. Life, we know, is full of difficulty. Avoiding the great struggles that determine the course of history, will not help us to avoid pain. We are here because of those who came before, and their lives and teachings continue to direct our course. Dr. Martin Luther King made clear so much of where our nation has gone wrong. Yet, the most powerful gift he gave us was to remind us of our oneness, to remind us that first we must value one another. We must reach out to one another in love and respect.

Let his words and his life, be not just a message of what is to be done, but how it is to be done—with grace, with love, and with a oneness that reminds us of our shared past, and shared future.

1.James Washington. A Testament of Hope. “A Time to Break the Silence.” HarperSanFrancisco, 1986, p. 240-242.