Martin Luther King Day is here. We need to celebrate this peacemaker; we need to hear his dream again and refuel our faith for the journey into reconciliation. Before his assassination, King envisioned the Poor People’s Campaign: a plan for demand jobs, unemployment insurance and education for poor adults and children.
President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday honoring King, saying, “…traces of bigotry still mar America. So, each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: ‘Thou shall love the God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.’”
Today, the journey continues. Traces of bigotry, racism, sexism, ageism and the many other ills that keep us from freedom still mar America. We won’t solve it all this year, but acting on our faith will get a few steps closer.
This message is excerpted from “Dukes down: Acting on our faith” by Valora Starr from the January 16, 2017, blog of the Women of the ELCA. Today is Martin Luther King Day.
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