LETTING FREEDOM RING...

I think it is only appropriate that on the first Sunday after the observance of the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's speech given as part of the March on Washington, we begin a series titled, "Does the Bible REALLY Say that?"

When I got home from another fine Wednesday night yesterday, I looked up the full text of Dr. King's speech, and after reading it, found the full-length video of his remarks online, listening to it from beginning to end. Having been a part of the first generation born after the civil rights movement of the 1960's, I knew of the events of August 28, 1963 only from an historical perspective. As such, I was familiar with the highlight packages of the day, and knew of 'The Dream' (as it was packaged to my generation,) but until I got to seminary I had never really read the full text of his words.

When looking at the text of Dr. King's speech, I was struck by the ways that dreams, faith, & freedom weave together in the last part of his address. In one of the later paragraphs, he says, "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the south with. With this faith..." From my reading of the text, I see how his remarks being by going back to the Emancipation Proclamation, and how his words flow from knowing those things in which he rooted his part in a movement that changed the country.

However, it's the last part that I think has stuck me the most this year, for this year I saw it in a way that I haven't really looked at it in the past:

When we allow freedom to ring - when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hand and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last."

"When we allow freedom to ring..."

As people of the Christian faith, we know, from what we find in scripture and has been lived out in the lives of the men and women of the church universal since it's founding, true freedom comes not from a political document or the will of humanity - true freedom is found in and through the love of God embodied in Christ Jesus sustained by the Holy Spirit. 

Freedom rings when all of God's creation finds itself accepting the gracious love of it's Creator.

What does that have to do with our September series?

Dr. King appealed to the cause of political freedom by going back to the founding documents of this nation, and holding EVERYONE accountable to fulfilling those promises. While it can, fairly, I believe, be said that there are elements within our society that have listened solely to the excerpts of Dr. King's speech, and have formed opinions about him through the 'highlights' of the day, only when we examine his words in their entire context do we truly start to see the beauty of his speech. 

Many people have similar very basic misunderstandings and out-right flawed assumptions as it relates to the grace of God and what is or isn't found in the Scriptures. Through these Sundays in September, we will be exploring whether or not these sayings have a scriptural origin, or if they are just things we have come to accept because others say it is so.

The best way for us to live out the faith (to let freedom ring) is to, as John Wesley would say, be people "...[Of] one book." Now, that didn't mean that Wesley wasn't highly educated (he was, and it is his vision that leads us today to have among the highest educational standards for clergy found in the Protestant tradition) - rather, Wesley knew that when we live out a worldview that is not first rooted in the sacred texts, we are setting ourselves up for less than what God would want for us all, for it is first in scripture that we plumb the depths of God's gracious work in all of creation, from it's beginning until the day Christ comes again in glory. 

I can't wait to see you all Sunday! Bring a friend!

See You Sunday!

Lamar