REMEMBERING DR. KING

Dear Friends in Christ:

On the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, April 4, 1968, I was working as a VISTA volunteer in an agency in Wilmington, Delaware. As in many other American cities, the weeks following Dr. King’s death were times of unrest in Wilmington. As we struggled to come to terms with what his death meant to a racially divided community, one place where I experienced some hope was at St. Andrew’s Church.

Every Sunday after the 8 o’clock service, a group of parishioners would gather for “coffee and conversation.” A regular part of the parish’s life, this group took on special significance during those weeks. While St. Andrew’s parishioners were mostly white suburbanites, one of our priests was an African-American who had grown up in Wilmington and there were a few of us who lived in the city. Sunday by Sunday we talked honestly about our experiences, about how racism continued to affect our daily lives, and about what we could do to combat racism in Wilmington. For me those conversations were oases of hope in a time of increasing hopelessness.

Thirty-six years later the struggle against racism continues. Progress has been made in many areas, but there are troubling signs that people of color are still at a very real disadvantage in our society. A recent report indicated that it was considerably more difficult for an African-American to get a home mortgage than a white person with the same income. We still hear of instances of racial profiling by police officers and of the use of racial slurs by firefighters. While it is probably true that at least some of these are isolated incidents, there are too many of them to ignore.

It is one of the peculiar "accidents" of history that Dr. King was assassinated so close to Holy Week in 1968 and that the anniversary of his death often falls during this holy season. The message of the cross, Paul tells us, "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18) It is the message of "Jesus Christ, [who] stretched out [his] arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of [his] saving embrace...." (Book of Common Prayer, p.101) In his death and resurrection, Jesus "is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace...." (Ephesians 2:14-15)

As we proclaim Christ's victory over the power of sin and death during Holy Week and Easter, may we recommit ourselves to the work of reconciliation in our society. The work will at times be difficult; we may even feel that we are under attack from all sides as we work for reconciliation. But God's has already won the victory and the promise of Jesus is sure: "In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world." (John 16:33)

Your brother and priest,
Daniel+