SUNDAY SERMON PREVIEW: “Tell Them About the Dream Martin,” by Rev. Dr. Alvin Jackson Dear Friends of The Park,As we prepare on this weekend and on Monday to remember and celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I want to encourage you if you have not already to go and see the movie Selma and to see it with someone else if possible and then share with each other the movie’s import and impact on you. What did you see? What did you hear? Is there a message in this movie Selma for our times today? There was for me and I guess the biggest message, reminder, epiphany if you will for me from the movie was that Selma isn’t just the story of a man but of a movement. And nothing much happens in life without a movement, without a community, without others. It wasn’t just about Dr. King, it was also about the many others who marched and committed their lives with him. I was reminded of a another story that is not in the movie, but occurred several years before when Dr. King arrived at the Willard Hotel in District of Columbia the night before the March on Washington, he still didn’t have a complete draft of his speech. Dr. King called his aides together in the lobby, and they started arguing about what should go in the speech. One wanted him to talk about jobs, another wanted him to talk about housing discrimination. Finally Dr. King said: “My brothers, I understand. I appreciate all the suggestions. Now let me go and counsel with the Lord.” Dr. King went up to his room and spent the night writing the speech in longhand. Andrew Young stopped by and saw that he had crossed out words three and four times, trying to find the right rhythm, as if he were writing poetry. King finished at about 4 in the morning and handed the manuscript to his aides so it could be typed up and distributed to the press. The speech did not include the words “I have a dream.” But it was during the speech, off to one side where she was sitting, Mahalia Jackson, the Gospel Singer shouted: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” King looked out over the crowd. And as he later explained in an interview, “all of a sudden this thing came to me that I have used — I’d used many times before, that thing about ‘I have a dream’ — and I just felt that I wanted to use it here.” He said, “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” And we got a speech that inspired a nation and a world. But had it not been for Mahalia Jackson that day we maybe would never have heard that speech in Washington. It is never just about a man, it’s about a movement, a community, others. Who are the others in your life? What movement have you committed to? What community have you joined? Who are the mentors, the allies, the friends who walk with you and encourage you and remind you of your dreams when you forget them? For Samuel it was the old man Eli who told him to: “Go, lie down, and if God calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” And when Samuel returns and responds to God with this phrase, the one he has received from Eli, God delivered a word to Samuel about what would come to pass in Israel. It is never just about a man, it is always about a movement. Readings for Sunday: I Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51 See you Sunday at The Park! Rev. Dr. Alvin O. Jackson teachertube/video/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-speech-august-28-1963-275788
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015