Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Strangely, I can’t fathom, grasp, or comprehend the realities Dr. King faced. My entire life experience has been in Pentecostal Christianity which, from our beginnings, strongly stated, “The blood line (Jesus) has washed away the color line (ethnic differences). From my earliest recollections our home honored Godly diversity.
When I read stories of deep racial and ethnic hatred I am stunned and shocked that people are small enough to let these differences become an excuse to release anger and hatred.
Dr. King reminds us that the unfathomable is often a reality. A culture that was far from the nature of Jesus persecuted, oppressed, dominated, segregated, and even killed folks from other races and ethnicities. Surely, God wept.
What is there in my heart today that the message of Dr. King challenges, rebukes, and calls forth? Is there some perspective in me that thirty years from now will be considered unfathomable? Over what part of my heart does God surely weep?