Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Glory, glory, hallelujah, our God is marching on.”

On Monday, our nation remembers the birth and the life of the only ordained pastor to have a national holiday in his honor. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has had built around him such a legend, such a force in American history, that many people, even those who remember clearly his life and his activism, forget that his ministry, his service, his ideas were not only visionary and faithful to God’s hope for our country, but were also opposed strongly, many times with violence, by people who wanted to preserve a way of life marked by white supremacy.

One such time when the activism of Dr. King and those who walked beside him faced the violent determination of others to silence their message happened in March, 1965. On Sunday, March 7th, Dr. King and many others began a march in the town of Selma, intending to travel to Montgomery, the state capital, 50 miles away, as part of a demonstration for voting rights for African-Americans in Alabama. After they crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge, the marchers were attacked by heavily armed state troopers and deputies, many mounted on horseback, all in the presence of photographers and video cameras. As the nation reacted to the images of the violence and the marchers waited for a court to enforce their right to march, President Johnson addressed the nation on TV: “There is no issue of States Rights or National Rights. There is only the struggle for Human Rights. . . . We have already waited a hundred years or more, and the time for waiting is gone.” On March 17th, the court ruled in the marchers’ favor, and the March to Montgomery began again on March 21st. On March 25th, Dr. King spoke at the State Capitol in Montgomery and gave a stirring, if now often forgotten, speech.

He said, “I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?" Somebody’s asking, "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Somebody’s asking, "When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?" Somebody’s asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?" I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." How long? Not long, because "no lie can live forever." How long? Not long, because "you shall reap what you sow." How long? Not long: Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own. How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. How long? Not long, because:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.”

As a direct result of these events, the U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing the right to vote and effectively ending Jim Crow voting laws in the South. As the nation observes Martin Luther King day, may our response be gratitude for all those who have led us toward greater understanding and appreciation that we are all created equal and are called to live together in peace with both justice and mercy at the center of our shared life together.

In Christ, Michael