Click to learn more, then go to Pastor's Corner to read Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech
ON JANUARY 17TH WE CELEBRATE HUMAN RELATIONS SUNDAY AND DR MARTIN LUTHER KING'S BIRTHDAY
The United Methodist Book of Discipline describes the purpose of Human Relations Day as a call to "the Church to recognize the right of all God's children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with each other."
The verse, I'm gonna' treat everybody right – until I die, from the traditional spiritual "I Will Trust in the Lord" is slowly becoming a worldwide standard for how the human family lives together. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day has become Human Relations Day on the United Methodist Special Days Calendar. This allows us to step back from the historical person, Martin Luther King, Jr., just enough to embrace the sweeping worldwide reforms initiated by Dr. King and others during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It also calls us to remember two things: that one person can make a tremendous difference and that when we venture forth in the name of God's justice, we will not have to stand alone for very long. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has truly taken his place in history as a drum major for justice, leading a parade of like-minded people on several continents who continue the work begun under his leadership a half a century ago.
A Prayer for Human Relations Day
Based on 1 Samuel 3:1-10
By Safiyah Fosua, GBOD
Speak, Lord,
For your children are listening
For a word of encouragement, for a word of instruction
About how we ought to live in these troubled lands.
Speak, Lord,
For your children are listening,
As we drift off to sleep in down-covered beds
In marble palaces
Or in sawdust padded pallets
On dusty floors.
We are listening, rich and poor
We are listening, young and old
For a word from you that will heal our lands.
Eternal God,
Lover of our souls, we come to you hungering for something from you that will change the rest of our lives. We come hungering for honesty instead of corruption; for generosity instead of greed; we come hungering for integrity instead of intrigue. We come hungering for our neighbors to be fed and for all to have enough honest work to provide for the basic needs of their families. We come this morning hungering for righteousness to flow like rainwater and for the justice like an ever-flowing stream described by the prophets.
We come hungering and we come listening for your words to us, describing how we can participate in your great work of re-creation. We come listening for ways that we can become part of the solution and not part of the problem. We come listening in fear and trembling, praying that we will have the courage to respond and act if we hear a clear word of instruction from you.
Speak, Lord, For your children are listening…
Amen.
You can read Reverend King's "I Have A Dream" speech under PASTOR'S CORNER.