We have overcome...some

Next Monday is the Birthday of Martin Luther King. Many will go on their way as usual going to work, doing laundry, wondering what they will have for supper, half-listening to the droning on the TV: Impeachment. When will the trial begin?  Good or rigged?And across this United States the divide worsens. Why so much hatred between Democrats ansd Republicans?And the middle of it all the calendar says it is Martin Luther King's birthday.

The great King caused quite a stir. He had this dream "that one day my four little children will one day live on a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

 He had a dream...and after all these years the dream is still with us. I see its evidence in my health club where African Americans work out in safety. And tonight our team plays for the National Foorball Championship. Take the black players off any team. Why we'd have to shut down college football and the NFL. We cheer like crazy when our team runs down the field. It doesn't matter what color the players are. Dr. King surely must smile. In our South Carolina Wal Mart and in other stores color does not seen to matter.And through the doors come black and white couples who feel no fear or abuse because they are shopping. Of course, a few folks still look at themour brotherd and sisters with displeasure but not many. We have black professors teaching at our schools--not because they are black but because they are good. Who would have believed that this country would elect a black man as President twice. And we are told that his beautiful wife is one of the most admired women in the world.

We have overcome some...but we still have a long way to go. Racism we thought was long dead rears its urgly head today. White supremacists murder worshippers in their pews. Confederate flags wave from trucks and cars. Almost every church, synagogue and mosque has someone standing at the door making sure that those who comer will be safe. And we built walls and close our entrance doors to all those desperate hurting people who leave terror and fear only to be turned away at the country they thought they could count on. White supremacists fill important positions and flood Twitter, and Facebook and biased journalism and many unthinking Christians ignore the hatred so near.

We have overcome...some. And we should be proud. And hopefully we will pause tomorrow  and remember that dream is not dead. And we will not turn the clock back for long. We will commit ourselves where we are to make sure the dream continues in our hearts. The Statue of Liberty stil burns as a promise to all those out there that need a home and safety. Long ago it was Micah's dream:  "Where all shall sit under own vines and under our own fig trees, and no one shall make any  (of us) afraid..." We have overcome...some.

So let us stop tomorrow and thank God for his lovingkindness over us all...and for those like Dr. King and so many others who remind us of the dream that is at the heart of our faith and the bedrock of this nation. Maybe we will do more than overcome just some.

photo courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / flickr

Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com