MLK – “To Have a Dream”

Anton DeWet

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but they that do God’s will shall thrive in life.
(In response to a presentation by Howard Reed (Treasurer—Faith Church, and MLK Sunday, and the inauguration of the first president of color in the USA)

Today is the Sunday closest to the day we honor Dr. Martin Luther King. It is also two days before the inauguration of the first African American president of our country.

As a child living in Africa, I clearly remember the excitement even in our country over the president of the United States of America, a place where people made dreams come true. His name back then was John F. Kennedy. We thought there was absolutely nothing Americans could not achieve if they put their minds to it. America was the land of visions and miracles.

I also remember in that time the name of a man called Martin Luther King. But I was told he was a bad man who did not understand his place in society. That he was really probably influenced by communists.

I remember the profound sadness I felt when the Kennedy brothers were assassinated and the relative indifference I felt when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the mind of this child, he was, after all, a bad person.

Little did I understand then that I would come to know and admire Dr. King as one of those rare voices in history that come along and leave a mark on the world and the history of humanity. A mark that says there is hope for us. A person whose thinking inspires one to understand the meaning of hope in a specific dimension for to imagine a person of color preaching hope in times when he and his compatriots of color were barely deemed human by many, it must have taken immense vision to speak of a dream for a united humanity, free of prejudice and racial bias, let alone preach it as he did. But he had a dream…and his dream was founded in the promise that God represents love and dignity and respectfulness for all of God’s people. Every single one. A dream shared by the one we follow, Jesus Christ.

Jesus once wept over his people when he cried out: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…”
How often it is that we perish for lack of a vision. How often we stone those who come to us with a message of hope, if only we open our ears and our eyes and our hearts. But prophets are people who are true to their dream…true to their vision…even when they often follow the same fate as the prophets of Israel.

It matters little whose political party our president elect represents on Tuesday when he is inaugurated as the 44th president of this nation. What does matter greatly is the statement made by the people of this land that they have grasped the vision of looking beyond racism in a way that the vision of former contemporary prophets would be fulfilled. As with every leader of this land, we are called to engage the leadership with our support, be it that we maintain a critical distance from all power demanding justice for all in Christ’s name.

Howard sketched a worrying picture of the future of Faith Church. We love this church and we have all found a place here where we can seek our ways to serve God according to our own conscience. Here we know we are fully accepted and embraced as God’s sons and daughters, no matter who we are or where our journey in life has taken us. This place matters not only to us but also to those we serve in Jesus Christ’s name whether it be the people of Wimauma, the children in the preschool, or the members of our community on whose behalf we agitate for decent housing and services. Many of us have found out the value and power of this community in trying times, when we were ill or in crisis or in deep grief. This church matters.

Some will ask when challenges seem to overtake us; “Is it worth it?” Yes, its worth it. But it will take a dream and a vision if we are going to go forward and enter into a new phase of being a church community in Jesus Christ’s name.

So lets set off on this adventure and quest as 21st century prophets and seek out our dream and vision for Faith Church for without a vision, the people surely perish.

What is your dream for Faith Church? What is your vision for this church?

I wish to invite you to become involved in our conversations in the days ahead as we discover ways for this church to find our dream and vision for our calling to be the Body of Christ—to be the church.

Five years ago we reached a similar crossroad and I remember very clearly how we said then, that if the next five years were to be our last, then we were going to make it the best five years of this church’s life. We have had five great years. Personally I count them as the best of my ministry and my memory.

I also remember at one of those meetings when we spoke openly and freely about our fears and dreams how we explicitly said we would go forward giving each other permission to make mistakes because people who risked for God’s Kingdom were apt to make mistakes. We made our mistakes, but we also had our many successes.

Personally, I have very few regrets looking back. Looking forward I feel challenged as never before. I am excited about this challenge even before I can tell you exactly what my personal dream and vision for the next five years are. I know I am excited to hear about your thoughts and dreams in the days to come.

This a call to all prophets among us, and we know we are all called to be those prophets. Remember, prophets are people of vision but they are also people of great courage. Our question becomes: “what new thing is it that God is about to do in our midst!”

We give thanks for the prophets of old who led their people out of slavery and hopelessness; the prophets who led their people across barriers into the Promised Land; prophets who spoke the truth even when others wished to remain stuck in their ways; prophets who spoke of a dream when color would no longer divide God’s people into two camps but unite them as one.

Be of hope and faith and God will guide us in these times. Amen.

PRAYER

Gracious God, through the ages we have known that beyond us is the unnamable and we have called you God. It is to you that we turn in the most intimate moments of our lives. Times of great joy, when our hearts leap and pound with thanksgiving. We celebrate the moment when we can, as a nation, find that time when we can say—we have crossed the great Jordan River that has kept us from entering into that new place where we can do better than ever before. We pray for the new leadership and then new hope it signifies that all the people of this land will know that they are valued deeply. We pray that our outgoing president and his family will enjoy the days and years ahead of them for they have served as well as they could in these past difficult years.

We give thanks for the witness of someone like Martin Luther King who paid the price prophets often pay when they speak truth to power. We imagine his joy had he been able to see that his beloved America have turned the corner and that his dream is coming alive more and more every day.

We look to our own church and we are concerned but we are not overcome. We imagine a future that you may still have in store for us and in this time we shall open our hearts and minds and begin that process of serious discernment seeking to understand what it is that we can still be in these times.

We look to each individual here today. We pray that each of us will be reminded that we are people of great value and worth. That we are your children, gifted with the ability to serve and love and to be loved.

Our thoughts are also with our home bound folks today. We give thanks for their lives and their contributions, not only to our church, but also to our society. Often, we know, they are despondent and lonely. But today we reach out to them and pray for your spirit of comfort and your presence of love be with them.

Be present to all of us, especially in these days of challenge. And in the words of your prophets we confirm again that you are our God and we remain your people. Today and always. Amen.