Please read 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Romans 12:1-8, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Fifty years ago today, there was a sermon.
Yes, it was.
I know it was. Dr. King quoted Isaiah and Amos.
He spoke of friendship, reconciliation, liberation, freedom, opportunity, and forgiveness.
Don’t forget to tell your children.
The church showed up at the Lincoln Memorial and on the Washington Mall that August 28th, 1963.
The sermon told the sad story of a people who couldn’t get good jobs.
Even with its cadence and poetic imagery, the sermon was really about work, and black people being denied the opportunity to work.
The opening words were read from a manuscript typed on a manual typewriter.
Behind him sat Mahalia Jackson, one of the great vocalists of the time. As he read, she urged, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.”
Soon, his eyes rose from the paper.
His words soared, touching the human heart, challenging human behavior, offering a vision for a new day of justice in America.
But it was all about jobs.
And to think, early this morning, I wondered what, if anything, the “I Have a Dream” sermon had to do with Labor Day.
Moving to the deeper places,
Jeff
P.S. Really. Tell them it was a sermon.