MLK

Snippett

In his letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responded to fellow American clergy who were asking him to wait for a better time to pursue the cause of justice in the South.  "Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait,'" he wrote.  "But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill with impunity your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society....when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of 'nobodiness'—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."(1)  To call for those suffering to wait is to institutionalize our apathy.

Though at times unconsciously taken, our steps away from the center of the world's pain to a place where we can clear our heads and find perspective are invariably steps toward putting it out of our heads.  Requesting time to think, we are requesting time itself to stop.  We are asking those with urgent needs to pause for the sake of our own relief.  We ask those affected by injustice and hunger, darkness and pain, racism and religious persecution to cover their faces in nobodiness while we step away from it all.  But as Dr. King observed prophetically, "Justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"

Faces in the Crowd	Monday, January 17, 2011
Jill Carattini  Todays’s Slice Ravi Zacharis

Scripture

Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”  Matthew 10:41,42

Song

COLORED PEOPLE DC TALK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIKUNUNavU

(1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4)

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir

I couldn't help but note your shade of melanin

I tip my hat to the colorful arrangement

Cause I see the beauty in the tones of our skin

We've gotta come together

And thank the Maker of us all

We're colored people, and we live in a tainted place

We're colored people, and they call us the human race

We've got a history so full of mistakes

And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

(1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4)

A piece of canvas is only the beginning for

It takes on character with every loving stroke

This thing of beauty is the passion of an Artist's heart

By God's design, we are a skin kaleidoscope

We've gotta come together,

Aren't we all human after all?

We're colored people, and we live in a tainted place

We're colored people, and they call us the human race

We've got a history so full of mistakes

And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

Ignorance has wronged some races

And vengeance is the Lord's

If we aspire to share this space

Repentance is the cure

(1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4)

Well, just a day in the shoes of a color blind man

Should make it easy for you to see

That these diverse tones do more than cover our bones

As a part of our anatomy

We're colored people, and we live in a tainted place

We're colored people, and they call us the human race

We've got a history so full of mistakes

And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

We're colored people, and they call us the human race

(Oh, colored people)

We're colored people, and we all gotta share this space

(Yeah we've got to come together somehow)

We're colored people, and we live in a tainted world

(Red and yellow, black and white)

We're colored people, every man, woman, boy, and girl

(Colored people, colored people, colored people, colored people, yeah)

Sentence Prayer

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

God, our world needs justice. We acknowledge that all true goodness must come from you. We must obey and act, but you give the convictions and courage and strength to bring about the true changes needed. Today we thank you for the life of Martin Luther King Jr. We ask for your blessing in the cause he championed, the drive for racial justice in America. We thank you for progress already achieved, and we ask you to help us finish the work. Today, bring a new spirit of peace in our nation. And may your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."   

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/prayerplainandsimple/2010/01/a-prayer-in-honor-of-rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr.html#ixzz1BJqh5yBA