Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We must maintain and develop the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 2012, John, Luke, and I went on what I dubbed our Civil Rights vacation. We were inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders, which had been celebrated the year before. The Freedom Riders rode interstate buses in the south and attempted to use segregated bathrooms to protest the violation of Supreme Court rulings.
On our trip, we visited Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King got his start. He served as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church from 1954-1960. During his years in Montgomery, Dr. King helped organize the bus boycott in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks. Below are are Luke and John at the pulpit of the church, where Dr. King would have preached.
After the tour of the church, we walked to the parsonage, where Dr. King and his family lived. The house contained the King's furniture. From my journal: Most interesting of all was the kitchen where Martin had his epiphany, his Garden of Gethsemane moment. He woke up around midnight and felt afraid. He'd had an especially threatening phone call from a man with an ugly voice. Martin went into the kitchen and prayed to God. He said I am trying to do what I think is right. God answered him with a feeling: go and do what you have been doing. A sense of calmness came over Martin, which never left him.
Continuing from the journal: Three days later, his house was bombed. Our guide described how Coretta King and a friend were in the living room with the baby Yolanda in the master bedroom, when they heard an explosion on the porch. Thankfully, they ran toward the back of the house.
While we were at the parsonage, we learned that Martin Luther King's barber was still working in a building down the street. Nelson Malden gave Martin his first haircut when came to Montgomery in 1954 and his last haircut before he left for Memphis in 1968. We decided that we wanted Luke to get a haircut.
Mr. Malden was a soft-spoken, straight-talking man. He gave Luke a great haircut.
From my journal: Mr. Malden told us some stories about MLK. One time, not long after he started cutting Dr. King's hair, he didn't receive a tip. Nelson asked him if he liked the haircut and he said, "Why, yes." Well, you know Rev. King, it's customary to tip the barber if you like the haircut. King said, "Let me ask you something. Do you tithe ten percent of your earnings to the church?" Now, Rev. King, I can't do that. I'm just a student at Alabama State. "Well," replied King, "I'm just a pastor." They both laughed.
This was an old-time barber shop. There were a lot of photos around the place and lots of funeral programs, most of which said Homecoming Celebration on them.
It's quite the thing to think that Luke got a haircut from Martin Luther King's barber. I think he will appreciate it some day.
At the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, 41 people who were killed are memorialized on the fountain.
I mentioned earlier about the moment Dr. King had in his kitchen that gave him life long peace. This was despite the dangers that continued. In 1968, he went to Memphis to help the sanitation workers in their strike. Whenever he left for somewhere, he always got his wife some fresh flowers. But before this trip, he got her artificial flowers. She called him and asked, "Why did you leave me plastic flowers?" He replied, "I wanted something that you could keep."
In my opinion, one of the most challenging demands of the Christian faith is to forgive. It can be difficult to forgive family and friends, much less our enemies. That is the love that Dr. Martin Luther King modeled.
 |
| Statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham. |
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
This is fabulous!
ReplyDelete