Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Celebrating the Birthday of Martin Luther King


There is a beautiful Litany of Celebration (and other worship resources) for Martin Luther King Day worship celebrations. I'm posting it here and hope this dream will become ours!

Litany of Celebration

LEADER: Martin King had a dream. The ideals of justice and freedom and the belief that all are created equal in the eyes of God are noble principles. But they are meaningless unless they become the personal possession of each one of us.

ALL: For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent. I will struggle with myself. I will not rest until the dream of justice and freedom becomes my personal dream. I must realize that I am not an innocent bystander. I can help realize the dream by my action, or delay it by in inaction.

LEADER: Martin’s dream of a day when people from all races and nations, eve the offsprings of slaves and former slave owners, can sit at a table as brothers and sisters and find ways of transforming their differences into assets. That was Martin’s dream. What is your dream?

ALL: My dream is that one day soon I will find a way to stop just celebrating the dream and start living it. It must become a part of my daily life; or nothing much will change.

LEADER: The dream is not about an ideal world; it is about the real world. Martin King’s poetic refrain, “I Have a Dream,” is a call for us to remember the real world where injustice abounds.

ALL: When I am in the shelter of my home I must remember the homeless. When I eat, I must remember the hungry. When I feel secure I must remember the insecure. When I see injustice I must remember that it will not stop unless I stop it.

LEADER: I have a dream!

ALL: I also have a dream. I have a dream that the Holy Spirit will arouse in me that very flame of righteousness that caused Martin King to become a living sacrifice for the freedom and liberation of all of God’s Children. Then I will be able to resist racial injustice everywhere I see it, even within myself.

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