MLK Day Celebrations

I had the pleasure of attending an MLK Day Celebration on the 18th of January this year. After the event, one of the event organizers sent me an e-mail asking what I thought. Here is a portion of my response. Please read it carefully.

I do have some thoughts on ways to visualize MLK’s Dream for next year. There were white folk on the stage and black folk on the stage. But, I don’t think there were any times two leaders of different ethnicities on the stage simultaneously. Beyond that, I think it would communicate volumes if the choir was of mixed ethnicities. And, MLK’s Dream was not for the “blackifying” of American culture. I fear that our society is doing that to his Dream. And, I fear that the MLK Celebration this year aided in that misrepresentation. For example, I saw nor heard anything from the Jewish nor Catholic faiths. Perhaps next year we could have each of the groups pay homage to MLK in their own voices: Jewish, Catholic, post-modern humanist, Protestant, (heck, even Muslim). It would certainly be a more accurate reflection of the Dream as Dr. King described it in his most famous speach. ". . . . that one day Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro Spiritual 'Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

Let the comments commence.

University Church

Catalyst for Change: Let's not beat around the bush, something is broken in many evangelical churches today. Something is amiss. Evangelicals seem to have lost their ability to communicate the Gospel to a secular nation. If you are interested in experiencing authentic relationships, wholeness, peace, and joy without having to "check your brain at the door" (or worse yet, explain why you are the way you are) then we are the place for you. University Church, Lawrence Kansas.

One Month and One Day

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. Thank you all for your (somewhat) patient demeanors.

Today I had the pleasure of attending a Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. As I listened to portions of selected sermons written by Dr. King I became aware of how little things have changed. If anything the church continues to struggle with power and how to appropriately deal with the disenfranchised in the community. More than this is the fact that the disenfranchised now include the sons and daughters of the established Protestant churches. The sub-culture known as "post-modern" is comprised of many persons with lineage in these same Protestant churches.

I would never say that the white, suburban, intellectual male is now "walking in the shoes" of his black brothers and sisters. However, I will say this, the post-modern culture shares more with the minority communities than it shares with the Protestant churches of today. Maybe that is a good starting point. Perhaps the post-modern folks and the minorities could begin to work together. Perhaps it is this mix that will be the catalyst to further Dr. King's Dream beyond its stagnation. Perhaps these communities will see the beauty in one another. Perhaps these communities can help the Protestant churches find footing and a new place of belonging.

If there is one thing that Dr. King reminded us, that thing is Hope. And, I think that Hope can find itself in the strangest of places. Conversations and Relationships between the post-modern, intellectual, white folk and the minority communities seems as good a place as any.