First, few people today, unless they’ve taken the time to really study Dr. King’s work, have an appreciation for the fullness and complexity of his faith and commitments. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us only know him from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech...which was, of course, masterful. Or We know only little snippets of quotations taken out of context. But he was so prolific...there are so many other essays and books and sermons and speeches. I want to honor his work by sharing something with you that you probably haven’t heard before.
Second, this congregation professes to do our best to be an anti-racist congregation. As such, we must work to amplify the words of people of color
and the best way I can think of to do that today is to share Dr. King’s words with you directly this morning.
The sermon we are blessed to receive today is Rev. King’s Christmas Eve sermon from 1967, preached at the church where he served as pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. I did update the language to make it inclusive of all genders and the version you’ll hear from me today is an abridged version….the original is much longer. You can read it in its entirety and original language online if you’d like.
And now...let’s welcome the spirit of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to our pulpit….
You can listen to Dr. King’s sermon in its entirety here: https://youtu.be/1jeyIAH3bUI
You can read the full transcript here:
https://onbeing.org/blog/martin-luther-kings-last-christmas-sermon/
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