The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
“I Have a Dream” may be the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous speech, but it wasn’t really a sermon as it was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and was more about civil rights than about religious faith.
But the Rev. King, who will be honored in federal and local observances this week, was a minister before he was a civil rights leader, and any remembrance of him should also celebrate his deep Christian faith and the oratorical skills that made him among America’s best preachers. He himself said, “Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment.”
Ordained at age 19, the Rev. King was a pastor at two different churches: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where he was co-pastor with his father for eight years preceding his death, and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he served from 1954 to 1960.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no transcript or audio of the “trial sermon” that the Rev. King gave prior to his ordination at Ebenezer, now designated a national historic park. But there are many other transcripts and videos available that convey at least a little of what it was like to listen to the Rev. King preach in person.
Here are five of his most memorable sermons worth reading (or listening to) as America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’
One of the Rev. King’s most famous speeches, given the night before he died, almost never took place. He had considered backing out of the scheduled appearance April 3, 1968, at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. He had a sore throat and a slight fever, and it was stormy that night, but he decided to go anyway.
An excerpt:
“All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’ If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn’t committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren’t going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on. …
“It’s all right to talk about ‘long white robes over yonder,’ in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It’s all right to talk about ‘streets flowing with milk and honey,’ but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day. It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God’s preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.”
The speech in its entirety can be read here. A video clip is here.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.