Martin Luther King Weekend

On this day when we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and as we continue to discover and decide the direction of our congregation, I want us to think about the heritage God has given to us, and the horizon that lies before us, and how in this present moment we can appreciate the former as we move toward the latter. Here is one example:

After his assassination interest in the church surged. “Ebenezer became the symbol of the civil rights movement. Their status brought prestige, fame, distinguished visitors, and bus and car loads of tourists to the tune of about 750,000 per year. On many Sundays members competed for space with visitors to the congregation. The church appreciated the desire of those who wished to pay their respects to Dr. King, and they didn’t want to turn anyone away, but they also needed to make room for their own membership.

Change is hard and there were objections to the new building. The King family objected because they felt an obviously strong emotional connection to the old building. The community was not happy because they were concerned that a new building would bring even more tourists to the neighborhood and, the proposed site would replace the education and recreation center that served both the church and the community. Even the federal government had some questions because the old building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Ultimately Ebenezer had to work out a land swap with the United States Parks Service, which maintains King’s childhood home nearby to acquire additional land for a new church building. And even some members of the church objected because they just did not want to move. One member said, “my membership is with the old church. When I die, this is where I want my funeral held. Another member who joined the church in 1935 declared, ‘They will have to pipe the sermons into the old sanctuary on Sunday mornings because this is where I’ll be.’

Heritage is what is left to us by those who preceded us. It starts before us and helps to bring us where we are now. Our heritage can be physical. I have eyes and hands like my father’s and cheekbones and lips like my mother’s. Our heritage can be an heirloom, something by which one is remembered. I wear my mother’s family ring and I have taken as my own the love of baseball that I first saw in my father. I learned to love the church because they loved the church.

In the atmosphere, the horizon is a line or circle that forms the boundary between the earth and sky. The first sailors who crossed the oceans saw the distant horizon and believed they were seeing the sharp edge of the earth. Now we know that the earthly horizon is just a thin layer of separation between the earth and sky. And in our emotional and spiritual life, our horizons are about what lies ahead of us, what we reach for, it is the light that beckons us.

The Bible is part of our heritage and our horizon. It holds the story of God’s relationship to humanity. From Genesis to Revelation, it is the story of creation and redemption, hope and joy, sorrow and consolation, sin and salvation. It tells us about prophets who spoke the truth to kings and commoners, and it is the story of Jesus, who we name as Lord and Savior, and whose ministry with all who needed him, and whose promise of eternal life, forms our spirits horizon between life now, and the life to come.

Jesus himself had an earthly heritage and an eternal horizon. He was born to Jewish parents, who were well acquainted with the law of Moses. He is mindful of that heritage when he was handed the words from Isaiah that day in the Nazareth synagogue. And he was mindful of the horizon before him as he reads from the prophet and claims his own ministry.

You know the story. Jesus is in Nazareth and goes to the weekly synagogue service. He claims his horizon as he reads from one of the prophets. He has been sent by God to bring good news the poor, in spirit, in dollars, poor in spiritual vision, poor in hope and to set the prisoners free. All he did was read scripture but it changed people’s lives.

After he read, he followed the custom of the rabbis, and he sat down ready to answer questions from the folks in the synagogue. We don’t know if he waited a while before he spoke. Maybe someone asked, what does this mean? We do not know why he said what he said. We do know that when Jesus spoke Nazareth was changed forever; their hometown boy was saying that his would be a ministry of inclusion of anyone open to the grace and hope he offered, and Nazareth had not heard anything like it before.

What do these words mean? This word of prophetic vision, of people being set free from all that binds them, this is the day of new beginnings for Jesus, for his hearers, and it can be for us too. Today. Listen to what Jesus says:

“In 1956, I flew from New York to London in the propeller-type aircraft that required nine and a half hours for a flight now made in six hours by jet. Returning from London to the United States, the stewardess announced that the flying time would be twelve and a half hours. When the pilot entered the cabin to greet the passengers, I asked him to explain.

‘You must understand about the winds,’ he said. ‘When we leave New York, a strong tail wind is in our favor, but when we return, a strong head wind is against us.’ Then he added, ‘Don’t worry. These four engines are capable of battling the winds.’

Jesus claimed his ministry and we have a ministry to claim too. Make no mistake, this congregation has more ministry to do. Will it be what it was? No. We are not as large as we once were, and the difference will mean doing ministry in a different way. Will it be what it is now? No. We are indeed at a crossroads here, and we will have some decisions to make as we go forward. We can go the way of total renewal, or we can go the way of total loss, but we cannot go back and we cannot stay the same. We will have to begin anew to be the church, reaching out to others and caring for ourselves, proclaiming and living the good news of Jesus Christ as we throw open our hearts and our doors. We may not be sure what it all means for us, but we can trust God that there is an horizon for us to move toward as we claim our mission of welcoming all to Christ’s table and as we live those values of relationships, justice, and knowing God.

We are a people with a heritage called to look up, aim high, think deep, work hard, pray harder and be the church in the world. That is how we claim our heritage and move toward our horizons. The spirit of the Lord has been upon us, it is with us now, and it will be with us in the days ahead. God has promised and the promises of God can be trusted. Thanks be to God. Amen.