Sermon on the Anniversary of MLK's Assassination

I delivered a sermon, "Prayer and Justice", at the community chapel service in Ashland University's Chapel on April 4 to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination.



I wove together the story of King's last year and the Poor People's Campaign with James 5:
"Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. . . You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you."

But America chose not to listen​;
instead​,​ the majority--the friends of the world--chose to condemn King and, in so doing, were complicit in his murder.
In many ways, what we see today on our streets and in our government,
in the news and on our smartphones:
the unrest, the divisions, the racism,
the economic disparities between the haves and the have nots,
the violence, and the murder
--the fact that 50 years after King’s death we still need to remind ourselves that Black Lives Matter too--
in many ways, all of this is the consequence of our country’s condemnation of King and the rejection of his message.

-
For further reading:
Here are links to the the document and sermons I reference in the sermon:

"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", April 4, 1967

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Announcement of Poor People’s Campaign, Dec 4, 1967

"I've Been to the Mountaintop", April 3, 1968