40 yrs ago in Memphis, blood was shed

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." words by Martin Luther King



This Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. " Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here are the words to his last speech. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was 14 years old when Martin Luther King Jr was killed. I was living in a small town that had just integrated the schools the year before. At the same time it was fighting tooth and nail to keep the blacks in their place as hard as they could.
They did not want them in the churches. In fact the church I went to had voted to not let them in the door, and if they tried to come in, they would be escorted out the door by the deacons.
And yet I can remember the news about him being shot, going to school the next day and the profound somberness at school.
I remember admiring him and reading about what he was trying to do and how he was trying to do it. My grandparents were active in trying to help civil rights to occur. They had a strong sense of justice. I must have learned some of it from them. But then I also knew you did not talk favorably about civil rights or be friendly with blacks back then.
It truly was a mixed up time in our lives. I think of his words and speech I have a dream, and I wonder how much of that dream was fulfilled? I realized what a prophet he was, and how prophets are not wanted in their own country. I wonder what God would have for us now? How God would want us to be now as a country? What would God want me to be doing?

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Martin Luther King, Jr.

from Martin Luther King's most frequently read book, Strength to Love, written in 1963. There is quote from that book at the top of the order of celebration, and, another on the back cover.
"I am convinced of the reality of a personal God. It is a living reality that has been vindicated in the experiences of every day life. God is a living God, with feeling, will; responsive to deepest yearnings of the human heart. (God is the one who) is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. This is our hope for becoming better human beings. This is our mandate for seeking to make a better world. "