On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, GA with no idea of what was in store for the next 39 years of his life.  We celebrated his life and work this week; I think it’s always extra special when the holiday falls on his actual birthday.

When Martin Luther King Jr. joined the Civil Rights Movement in 1955 he joined a movement that had been tilling the soil of racial justice for generations.  In other words, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was not incidental, it was the fruit of years and years of faithful grassroots work.  For 13 months, Black residents of Montgomery refused to ride the city buses costing the city roughly $3,000 a day.  Although the city buses were eventually integrated, the bus company never fully recovered financially from the boycott.  

In subsequent years, Dr. King immersed himself in the work of equal justice finding affirmation in such passages of scripture as:

“For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

– Galatians 3:26-28

The work of a civil rights activist was by no means easy or even safe, and in a moment of uncertainty, he had a kitchen table encounter with God.  The words he heard God speak to him in that moment stuck with him, giving him the courage to stay the course God called him to.  God said, “Stand up for justice, stand up for truth, stand up for peace and I will be at your side forever.”  His activism grew out of his relationship with a God who loves justice (Psalm 37:28) and for the next twelve years, he never hesitated in his commitment to the movement.

By 1965, some legislative victories in integration and voting rights had people in the movement wondering what was next; they were asking, “where do we go from here.”  His article entitled “Jobs are Harder to Create Than Voting Rolls”, is a critique of the nation at the same time that it’s a preview for a next phase of action.  In 1967, him and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) decided to launch the Poor People’s Campaign in order to more intentionally address employment and housing issues impacting communities of poverty all over the US.  Economic equality was where we were going.

Join us in this first quarter of 2024 as we explore some of the themes highlighted in King’s article.