Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Who's afraid of Martin Luther King Jr.?


It’s the third Monday in January, so that means we are acknowledging the birthday of one public Christian for which we don’t feel the need to apologize. One of my “Significant Moments from the Day” was the realization that most of the Christians in my life, although they are thankful for holiday, don’t seem to celebrate or even acknowledge the day in any sort of public way. For example, of my 500 or so Facebook "friends," only three of them had any reference on their page to MLK. Now they probably do the same thing (nothing) on Columbus Day or President’s Day. But to me, this holiday should be different. The man was a devoted and public follower of Jesus. The man did an unimaginable amount of good toward equality in this country. These themes: justice, equality and peaceful resistance don’t seem to matter to many of the Christians in my life. But they mattered to Jesus (See his first pubic sermon in Luke 4). Why was this the first year our small Christian School chose to acknowledge the holiday? Why aren’t we more public in our acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr.? I’ve got some ideas. Anyone else?                    

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