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Homily for Martin Luther King Celebration
By Legionary of Christ Father Andrew McNair, Guest Homilist
January 21, 2008
Introduction:
“I was glad when they said unto me; let us go unto the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1 Today we come to the house of the Lord to honor the “Dream” that God almighty inspired in the heart and mind of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Today we sing a hymn of praise as we come before the altar of the Lord. We recall these words of scripture: (Psalm 136)
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
Much has been written about the dream that God gave us through Rev. King? There are so many opinions about this “dream” that has inspired our people to fight for a better life. Many are asking today, what was the Dream about? Was the heart of this dream that Rev. King preached? To understand this dream, we must understand the dreamer and the movement he led.
American history tell us that Dr. King was a social activist that led a social movement for social, political, and economic change for the African American community in this country. I’m not comfortable with this description of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.
In order to live Rev. King’s Dream, we need a correct understanding of our history from God’s perspective. I say this because many American history books have a fragmented and incomplete understanding of Rev. King and the Civil rights movement. In the presence of God, we need to set the record straight.
First of all, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was much more than a social activist. He was above all a man of God, a disciple of Jesus Christ, an ordained minister, and Pastor of a Church. American history often overlooks this extremely important fact that he served others as an ordained minister like his father and grandfather before him. Rev. King saw himself above all as a preacher of the gospel with a moral vision for America. Have you ever noticed that few historians refer to Dr. King as Reverend King? Why? Could it be that our secular and irreligious culture does not want to give due credit to Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Savor of mankind, that inspired Rev. King? Rev. King knew that his strength and courage came from Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
Our history fails to recognize that Rev. King sought to change America by applying the principles of the gospel to the social order. When we speak about Rev. King to our children, they must understand that he was above all a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
American history also fails to do justice to the nature of the civil rights movement. American historians often characterize the civil rights movements as a political movement dedicated to social change. This characterization does not tell the whole story.
The truth of the matter is that the civil rights movement of 1960’s started and developed as a faith based movement. The black Church gave birth, sustenance, and direction to this non violent movement. For this reason, the civil rights movement needs to be understood within the tradition of the African American Church. It was a faith based movement. It was about men and women of faith coming together to defend our God given dignity. This is the heart of the dream. Courageous men and women of the civil rights movement believe that God created all human beings in the image and likeness of almighty God. It is God, and God alone, that gives us our rights and dignity as human beings and not the State. The duty of the State is to recognize the dignity that God has given us. The civil rights movement challenged the State to recognize and to protect by law the rights God gave to everyone. In other words, Blacks placed God firmly at the center of the civil rights movement as a faith based movement. As a people of faith, we must remember always that our strength comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. As Christians, we are a people of God redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. St. Peter, the Apostle, reminds us of this with these words:
Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
There is an old African American prayer that illustrates how our people down through the ages have look to the Lord for guidance and strength. This is the prayer that our brothers and sisters prayed so often:
When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me;
When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me;
When the world is tossing me,
Like a ship upon the sea;
Thou who rulest wind and water,
Stand by me.
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me;
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me.
When the host of hell assail,
And my strength begins to fail,
Thou who never lost a battle,
Stand by me.
In the midst of faults and failures,
Stand by me;
In the midst of faults and failure,
Stand by me.
When I do the best I can,
And my friends misunderstand,
Thou who knowest all about me,
Stand by me.
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me;
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me.
When my foes in battle array
Undertake to stop my way,
Thou who saved Paul and Silas
Stand by me.
When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me;
When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me.
When my life becomes a burden,
And I’m nearing chilly Jordan,
O Thou “Lily of the Valley,”
Stand by me.
This prayer, our prayer, comes from a people of faith. The men and women of the Civil rights Movement were men and women of faith, a profound faith in God. We honor the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King and all those that participate in the Civil rights Movement, by being faithful to God in Jesus Christ. Everything that we do as a people must be built on this truth. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our history on which we must built our future as a people.
No one can deny that Black Americans have come a long way since days of slavery and legal racial segregation in America. The fall of slavery and the segregation laws that reigned in much of this country represent an outstanding moral and social victory. Yet Black Americans, at this point in their history, face a far more sinister evil than ever before. Let me tell you something about the number one evil that Black Americans are facing today.
Since 1973, this evil plague has killed twice as many blacks that have died from heart disease, cancer, accidents, violent crimes and AIDS combined. This evil that I speak of kills about 1,450 black’s every day in this country. If this evil goes unchecked, unchallenged, it will annihilate the black community and our hopes for a better future in this country. What is this unprecedented evil that I speak against? It’s called abortion.
Abortion today stands out as the number one killer in the Black community. Think about this: For every black child born, three others are aborted. That’s more than double the rate among white children. In the last 25 years, the abortion industry killed more than 12 million black children. Lord, have mercy.
Like the blood of Abel, the blood of these 12 million black children cries out to God for justice? Who will defend our children if not ourselves? Justice demands that we rise up and defend our children. My brothers and sisters, how can we build a build future for our people without children? Our children are our future and our strength as a people.
To overcome this problem, we need to understand how this tragedy came about in our community and what needs to be done to resolve this crisis.
In 1939, a racist woman, named Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood in this country, created the so-called “Negro Project” to promote birth control among black women. The finality of the Mrs. Sanger’s “negro project” was to promote abortion in the black community as a means to hinder the growth of our community since she considered blacks to be an inferior people.
Today Planned Parenthood operates the vast majority of their clinics in predominantly black communities. Those that run Planned Parenthood now would certainly deny any explicit or implicit intent to eliminate black babies. Whether intentional or not, the effect of abortion on the black community conforms to Margaret Sanger’s racist vision of birth control among blacks.
Apart from Sanger’s racist vision to promote abortion to blacks, economics stands out as another reason for the abortion industry interest in the black community. Since one third of all aborted children are black, the abortion industry has earned over $4 billion from the Black community. That’s a lot money made from killing babies. This money is blood money. It is an abomination in the eyes of God. It is money stained by the blood of the most innocent and the most defenseless of our community- Our Children.
Why have so many of our people accepted abortion as something normal and decent? There are several reasons that can explain this.
Let’s begin with the misinformation divulged by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has spent a lot of money teaching young black women that they have the right to abort under the law. What they choose to do about an unexpected pregnancy is nobody’s business but their own. From a moral and ethical standpoint, no one has the right to choose something that is wrong. To kill an innocent child is always wrong. The law cannot make an evil act, like infanticide, good under the guise of the law.
In addition to this, many blacks haven’t considered the full impact of abortion on our community: a culture of death. A culture of death that’s robbing the Black community of its most cherished treasure- its’ youth. Then there’s the leadership problem. During the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, a host of high profile black leaders spoke out in favor of human and civil rights. Black entertainers, intellectuals, athletes, and clergyman joined forces in the civil rights battle. Their example motivated literally millions. Black leaders today, especially the high profile ones, have not thrown their support behind the pro-life movement. Why? Many well-known Black leaders don’t perceive or understand the devastating social and moral impact of abortion on our community. Can you think of any well know black entertainer or athlete that has spoken in favor of life? What do we need to do?
The Black church and its clergy have always played a pivotal leadership role of direction within the Black community. The Civil rights movement of the 1960’s proves this. It started in the Black Church as a faith based movement. Black churches across America need to educate our people in a culture of life. This means promoting a culture that will respect the sacred character of life from conception until natural death. All Christians can work together to put an end to this massive infanticide within our community. The deep concern for life affects everyone, not just believers, as part of the common good of a health society.
I don’t know how many years of life I have, but one thing is certain: I will use the remaining years of my life to fight this evil and build a culture of life in our community. However, I cannot do it along. I need your help. Please help me to help our unborn children.
Dismantling the abortion culture will not be easy, but we must do it. And with the grace of God, we will do it. Only when this evil is defended we will be able to truly say, as a people, the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., “Free at last, Free at last, thank God Almighty free at last!!!”
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