From April 3, 1968 to January 20, 2009

On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final public address to a raucous crowd that filled the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.  King traveled to Memphis to support a strike and lead a protest march for sanitation workers who were pleading with the municipal government for fair and just workers’ rights.

King’s final speech was as eloquent and moving as it was prophetic.  And although the context has changed, Dr. King’s words on justice and unity and freedom are as relevant at this point in human history as they were on that stormy night in Memphis. 

Over the next few days, perhaps weeks, Matthew and I will spend some time reflecting on King’s last sermon, one that continues to shape and reshape our religious and socio-political worldviews.  Given the political happenings of today and the outset of a new presidential administration, we will also, in all likelihood, share some thoughts and hopes for the Obama presidency.

For now, as I watch hundreds of thousands of people crowd onto the Mall in Washington, D.C., I can’t help feeling excitement and pride and anticipation for everything that this day means and the hope that it represents.  I pray that we would respond to the words and challenge that Dr. King spoke of in Memphis, “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.”

I am thankful for today, and I am hopeful for our country and world.

-DP

Miracles huh.

We were invited over for a pizza party tonight with some of Sarah’s classmates.  It was a different type of party from anything I had ever experienced.  We were instructed to bring topings for our pizza and that the dough and sauce would be provided.  It was a small get together, only about 10 of us.  But, we opened a couple bottles of wine and made pizza.  Each couple had their own toppings, but we ended up sharing all of them and making our pizzas.  It was really quite a good idea I thought.  The night was going well, the food was perfect, the wine good, and the conversation engaging.  It was one of those nights that you try to piece together in words, and I’ve never had ample words to paint the picture well enough.
We were all different, that is from different parts of the country, different nationalities, different sexual orientations, and even different faiths or beliefs all together; but there we were having one of those nights you don’t forget too easily.  Our conversation flowed from politics, work, beliefs or non beliefs, to food.
There had been a protest at the capitol building that day for homosexual rights.  One of the couples was filling us in on the days happenings, and we all cared.  No, really cared, cared that someone somewhere thought they knew how to stop love, or how to not believe in it.  It was almost as if these two women needed a miracle.  They described it in that way, and two of the guys in the corner laughed at the word miracle, and then quickly stopped and said “oh some folks here believe in that”.  I knew they were talking about me, but I had to chuckle, and I had to just grin because there we were in this tiny apartment, vetting our lives to one another, the good the bad, the painful.  There we were, with our own ingredients our own beliefs, gifts, opinions, gathered together living in the same life together.  A miracle huh?  Yeah, I think so to.  It was a miracle, that night, and I believe that night was  Church.

MER