Presented August 15, 2021 at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Sacramento CA
An important part of this sermon is the closing song, which can be heard at (tk).
“Love must be our regulating ideal. Once again, we must hear the words of Jesus echoing across the centuries: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you…’”
The statement I just read was the first public statement uttered by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who was asked to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, a boycott started because one of the members of his African-American church refused to give up her seat to a White passenger.
Prior to the boycott, Rev. King was a preacher – eloquent and committed – but “just” a preacher. He never asked for riches or fame and even at his most prestigious, he lived a simple life. He had no idea that he would be catapulted into fame, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was awarded $54,000 for the prize, all of which he handed over to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
You may be asking, shouldn’t we be having this sermon in January, when we celebrate his birthday? I say “no.” Reverend King is not a cliche we bring out once a year to celebrate a speech and try to uplift our African American Brothers and Sisters. The Rev. King is a man whose vision should be fought for every day. Yes, “the Dream” is important – so important that if you say the phrase “I have a dream,” most adults will know immediately what you mean – even though that speech was delivered nearly 60 years ago this month.
But Reverend King was so much more than one speech – even if it is the greatest speech of the 20th century.
Notice I say “Reverend King,” instead of the familiar phrase, “The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”, as if it were a brand of breakfast cereal.
Rev. King was first and foremost, a pastor and a preacher, like his Father, his Grandfather, and his Great Grandfather. And while he was so widely celebrated as a great preacher, his words were forged in the crucible of action. His wife, Coretta Scott King, tells us he was a passionately committed American patriot who repeatedly put his life on the line to make real the promise of democracy.
We look at Rev. King as the completed package – unsoiled until cut down by an assassin’s bullet. But Rev. King not only “talked the talk,” but absolutely “walked the walk.” He served time in prison, protesting laws that were unjust.
St. Augustine said “An unjust law is no law at all.” A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. And in a nation allegedly founded in equality, the Black man still faces unjust laws that lead to harassment, imprisonment and all too often, death.
Rev. King not only preached the gospel of the Bible, but also the gospel of the United States. In that speech I referenced above, he said “We are here today for serious business. We are here in a general sense because first and foremost we are American citizens and we are determined to apply our citizenship to the fullness of its meaning. We are here also because of our love for democracy, because of our deep-seated belief that democracy transformed from thin paper to thick action is the greatest form of government on earth.”
This is not a sermon on politics – not politics, that is, as in Republicans and Democrats – but the politics of an earlier dream, where it was written that “All men are created equal.” Rev. King believed in that dream and spent his life vigorously compelling the United States to deliver on that promise.
If you had to define Rev. King in one would, it would be “Justice.” Justice for the Black man and woman, justice for the poor of all races, justice for all. “Liberty and Justice for all,” is our pledge of allegiance to a nation – a nation that does not make good on its part of the promise.
The struggle, Rev. King writes, is “between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a victory for justice.” It was his belief that people are kept together in the good fight for justice because the universe is on the side of justice.
To achieve his goal of racial and human justice and equality, Rev. King used the most powerful weapon given to humanity – love. He knew that “hate begets hate; violence begets violence” and “we must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.” Rev. King was a firm believer in nonviolence, following the teachings he learned from Mahatma Gandhi, declaring that “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and enobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
Rev. King believed that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. He refers to Isaiah 11:6 in declaring that “the lion and the lamb shall lie down together…”
Of churches in general – in the early 1960’s and perhaps today – Rev. King stated his disappointment. “I do not say that,” he writes, “as one of the negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say it as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church, who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.” But “all too many (ministers) have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of the stained-glass windows.”
Perhaps his second best known quote – and one my daughter used as her high school yearbook message – is “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
So where is Bethany’s call to action? Are we a living embodiment of Rev. King’s sentiment or are we “silent behind our stained-glass windows?”
Our time in worship should be time for rest and a time of inspiration. Once we are re-charged, though, we need to charge!
We have a Mission Statement. You can find it on our website. It reads “The Mission of Bethany Presbyterian Church is:
to grow in Christ, to be inspired to spread God’s word and share God’s love throughout the community.”
Is Bethany Church meeting that goal? Or is it time to revisit it? “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Bethany Church is a loving, welcoming church family. But as far as fulfilling Rev. King’s dream, we are not there yet.
Our Youth attended Mission Projects far and wide, dedicated to helping the less fortunate. But we are not there yet.
As long as every Black, White, Brown and Asian member of our community is ignorant of the love of Christ, we are not there yet.
As long as there are hungry families in our neighborhood, we are not there yet.
As long as there are homeless men and women – even those and maybe especially those who threaten our grounds and the people who are here – we are not there yet.
We are not there yet. But to paraphrase Rev. King, as long, as we give our lives trying to serve others; as long as we try to love somebody; as long as we try to be on the right of justice; as long as we try to feed the hungry; as long as we try, during our lifetime, to clothe those who are naked, to visit those who are in prison, to love and serve humanity.
When we can go to the mountaintop and look over, to see freedom ringing, ringing from every village and hamlet, from every state and city; when we can see all of God’s children – Black men and women and White men and women, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants – when they are able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
When that day arrives – when Christ’s word is lived by all, and all are true servants of Christ – THAT will be a day. A Happy, Happy Day!
Edwin Hawkins OH, HAPPY DAY.
Amen
ORDER OF WORSHIP
2021-8-15
More Than A Dreamer
PRELUDE
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL TO WORSHIP (from Psalm 111)
LEADER: Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord with your whole heart, in the company of the upright.
PEOPLE: Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
LEADER: God’s work is full of honor and majesty and God’s righteousness endures forever.
PEOPLE: God’s wonderful deeds have gained renown; the Lord is gracious and merciful.
ALL: God is ever mindful of God’s promise.
LEADER: As the Christ candle is lit, let us remember God’s greatest gift to us – and greet each other in the peace of Christ. May the peace of Christ be with you.
PEOPLE: And also with you.
LEADER: Greet each other as you see fit with the Peace of Christ
HYMN #2086 Open Our Eyes, Lord
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
SCRIPTURE 1 Kings 3:5-12
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon, son of David and King of Israel, during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
ANTHEM “The Times They Are A-Changin” Bob Dylan Lily Baird – Soloist
SERMON More Than A Dreamer Jim Guida
HYMN Oh, Happy Day Edwin Hawkin
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil
For yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever.
Amen.
RESPONDING IN THANKS AND PRAISE
OFFERING
CLOSING HYMN #2158 Just a Closer Walk With Thee
BENEDICTION
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace.
And may each day, living in Christ be a Happy Day