Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 6:
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and we reflect upon his life and legacy as a testimony to the power of nonviolence as an act of redeeming love.
Dr. King believed in and never stopped preaching and living love. Even as many gave up on nonviolence, turning towards more militant tactics because they thought the evils of American inequality and inequity were too strong and nonviolence too weak, Dr. King never wavered in his commitment to nonviolence. He continued to see all people as persons of inherent dignity and possible redemption — even his gravest enemies. And to his dying day he believed love — and love only — had the power to make friends of enemies and brothers of those at enmity. As he famously said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
On the last night of his life Dr. King said, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead . . .” We live in difficult days now. They play out in the streets of our inner-cities, the halls of our Congress, most recently the steps of our Lincoln Memorial — the very site of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”. These are difficult days indeed.
In these difficult days our primary task must be to reclaim the moral legacy of Dr. King. He worked for justice. He worked hard for it. He gave his life for justice. And he also gave his death; and that he gave love.
Like Christ, for love’s sake Dr. King died his death. We must then live our lives for love’s sake in return.
This is the only way forward.
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