Martin Luther King, Jr., Pastor and Martyr, 1968

The Collect: 

Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last: Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may strive to secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

First Lesson: 

Exodus 3:7–12

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Psalm: 

Psalm 77:11-20

 I will remember the works of the Lord *
 and call to mind thy wonders of old time.
  I will think also of all thy works *
 and my talking shall be of thy doings.
  Thy way, O God, is holy *
 who is so great a God as our God?
  Thou art the God that doeth wonders *
 and hast declared thy power among the people.
  Thou hast mightily delivered thy people *
 even the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
  The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and were afraid *
 the depths also were troubled.
  The clouds poured out water, the air thundered *
 and thine arrows went abroad.
  The voice of thy thunder was heard round about *
 the lightnings shone upon the ground; the earth was moved, and shook withal.
  Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters *
 and thy footsteps are not known.
  Thou leddest thy people like sheep *
 by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
 

Gospel: 

Luke 6:27-36

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

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The Old Testament, New Testament and Gospels readings are from the King James Version of the Bible.

The Collects and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979. The psalm is from the Book of Common Prayer, 1662.

https://episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/martin-luther-king-jr-pastor-and-martyr-1968

King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Jan. 15, 1929-Apr. 4, 1968). Civil rights leader. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son and grandson of African American Baptist preachers. He received his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1948 and was ordained a Baptist minister on Feb. 25, 1948. King received his M.Div. from the Crozer Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, in 1951. While a student at Crozer, he was exposed to the writings of Mohandas K. Gandhi. He was deeply impressed by Gandhi's faith in nonviolent protest. In 1955 King received his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University. On Oct. 31, 1954, he was installed as the twentieth pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he stayed until 1960. On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. She was arrested. The African American community organized a bus boycott, and King became its leader. He soon became the leader of the civil rights movement in the United States and the nation's most ardent exponent of nonviolent social reform. The theme of the bus boycott was "We must stand up together so that we can sit down wherever we please." In Jan. 1957 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was organized. King was its first president. Its motto was "To redeem the soul of America." On Jan. 24, 1960, King became the co-pastor with his father of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and stayed there until his death. King was frequently harassed and arrested. On Apr. 16, 1963, he published his well-known "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." In this letter he explained that Christian discipleship is at the heart of the African American struggle for justice. On Aug. 28, 1963, he gave the speech, "I Have a Dream," as the keynote address of the March on Washington for Civil Rights. King was given the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1964, for his efforts in getting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. In the last several years before his death, he was a leader of the opposition to the war in Vietnam. At the beginning of Apr. 1968 he went to Memphis to participate in a sanitation workers' strike. On Apr. 3, the night before he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, he gave his "Mountain-top" speech at the Masonic Temple in Memphis. In this speech he said that he dreamed of an America free of racism and full of freedom. His ministry and witness are commemorated in the Episcopal calendar of the church year on Apr. 4.

[https://episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/king-martin-luther-jr]


 

For freedom Christ has set us free

  

Centuries ago and thousands of miles from here a group of men met in a small room on a humid summer afternoon and made a momentous decision: to declare independence from the legitimate government of their country. It was the 4th of July.

They said out loud what other people fought for, worked for, lived for, and died for: independence and freedom. They won their victory. The struggle continues. It continues today, under different names and in different places.

Sometimes it seems something small. Small to our eyes. Sometimes it seems far away.

Even this past week freedom has been gained and lost. Here in the States it now so often seems to be about individual freedom.

We often ‘declare our independence’ for self-centered reasons.

Or we forget how precious a gift it is, to be free.

Years ago I had a neighbor who read the local paper every day. Once as Election Day came near, I casually asked him, who would you vote for? And he reminded me of a reality, when he said in reply, I have not voted in my entire life.

Why was that? I knew why. He was South African and he was not White.

Today his sons are grown and they vote.

We have freedoms others can only imagine: freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of worship, freedom of speech.

The list goes on.

But the most precious freedom we have is freedom in the spirit.

For freedom we are made free. We have that freedom in Christ.

Through his work. His sacrifice. His life.

We are free – free not only from something, but also for something.

We are free – for the gospel, to build the kingdom of God, to live the message that Jesus lived.

We are made free for a purpose.

To proclaim the kingdom of God and to build it in our lives, our families, our homes, our communities, our world.

We build it – by how we act, with one another.

We show it – in the fruits of the Spirit. We show it in our actions, in our work.

In faith working through love.

Acting with patience, forbearance, gentleness, generosity, and hospitality.

Putting aside the shackles of slavery – the binding of our souls by intolerance, prejudice, gossip, slander, envy, jealousy, bad faith and worse dealing – we live into freedom.

And in freedom we begin to live into the kingdom of God.

It shows the ways we treat each other – especially behind each other’s backs. It shows in how we treat strangers – even when they do not know we are there.

It shows – in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – all the fruits of the spirit.

That is the good news we bear – the good news that for freedom Christ has set us free.

The good news that bears fruit – what we say and what we do that brings forward the kingdom of God.

Let us then lay aside lingering attachments to the life we have left behind – enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, – all the obvious works of the flesh – and those that are less obvious as well.

We know that badmouthing is negative prayer – we do not need to experience it again.

What we need to experience is the gift of grace – giving it, and receiving it again, in a cycle of love that we neither initiate nor conclude.

What we need to experience we also have the joy of sharing with others – that they too may know the gifts of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, in working for the freedom Christ has given us.

For freedom Christ has set us free – not for our own freedom only but for the freedom of all.

That is what we celebrate today. That is what we are called to live into, tomorrow.

That is the work we are called to do. The work of faith – faith working through love.

Let it be so. Amen.

JRL+

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14. Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20. Galatians 5:1, 13-25. Luke 9:51-62.

"Badmouthing is negative prayer"--Paul Lee.