Lean In To The Provocative Writings & Leadership of Rev. King

Let's do more than aspirational quotes, let's learn in humility and diligently put it into practice together: five+ sermons, speeches and letters to get you into "good trouble"

Many years ago my ministry was changed when Rev. Dr. Crystal Bush moved her New Zion Tabernacle congregation into the neighborhood where my Anchor Community Church was located. We quickly connected, found ways to minister in our neighborhood together and cheer each other on in the community. We’re still doing this twenty years later.

Through that connection and collaboration my budding interest and reading of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took on flesh and blood, it became more real, more dynamic. It wasn’t just history or theology or politics: it was the faith, hope and love of a community of Christians next door striving to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God in a city and country that often judged them by the color of their skin instead of by the content of their character.

If MLK were alive today, he’d be just as controversial, if not more so, and possibly face even worse threats, according to his daughter Dr. Rev. Bernice King. But his writings are still alive, and still controversial, and still relevant - not because the situation is the same, but because the condition of the human soul still needs to be convicted of sin, still needs to repent of racism, still needs to be called to a higher purpose: the Beloved Community.

Instead of sharing more quotes (which I love quotes) here are some recommended readings you can find online that are worth mulling over in your spirit and mind.

Wrestle with them, lean into them, learn from the ministers and students that shaped the Christian life of MLK and his salty and spirited work which took form in his preaching and leading, his organizing and praying, his marching and writing, his loving and forgiving.

This list comes from Bernice King:

• Letter from Birmingham Jail

• The Three Evils of Society

• The Other America

• Where Do We Go From Here?

• Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence

Learn more context on the life and ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King at The King Institute of Stanford University

Lean into programs and practices of MLK at The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change

You need silence, stillness and solitude when you immerse yourself in the controversial writings of MLK, content penned by his connection to the pent up grief and anger of their perennial injustices of his neighbors and global community.

But to take action, it must be in dialogue, it must be in friendship, it must be in collaboration with the people around you, with organizations that are leaning into the legacy work of MLK.

Find a YMCA near you striving to do this work, connect with a congregation in our community leaning into this work, volunteer with a non-profit nearby to put what you’re learning into practice where you work, vote, and play.

If you’d prefer to watch and listen to this master preacher proclaim his convictions, click here for a list of thirty speeches available on YouTube: