10 Ways to Honor Dr Martin Luther King, from my friend Efrem Smith:
1.) Lift up the Importance of Education
Too many young people have no sense of the lives sacrificed for integrated schools and access to higher education.
2.) Lift up the Importance of Participation in Democracy
Lives were also sacrificed for the right to vote for all citizens
3.) Lift up the Beloved Community
This was Dr. King bringing the vision and values of the Kingdom of God into the mainstream of the nation. It’s also a wake-up call to the church to connect evangelism and justice.
4.) Plant and Develop Multi-ethnic and Missional Churches
11:00am on Sunday morning still remains a segregated hour in too many churches
5.) Study Matthew 25:31-40
Develop an understanding that the first drum major for justice was Jesus
6.) Teach little children the stories of Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges in church Sunday School classes.
(Especially in non African-American churches)
7.) Go to Washington D.C. with your family and see the monument in his honor.
Hold me accountable to this one.
8.) Develop a serious and fruitful friendship with someone of another ethnicity/race.
9.) Explore deeply and confess your own racism, prejudice, sexism, and neglect of the poor.
10.) Thank God for how far we’ve come.
We’re not where we should be, but don’t act like God hasn’t brought us a mighty long way. Balance your lament with praise.
I’ll add a bonus #11 – last night when I got home from worship I watched The Help. Amazing film, cried like a baby, made me appreciate all the more the injustice and dehumanization that has been (and too often still is) part of the black experience in America.
