Sibling Assignment 2015.8: Martin Luther King Jr. and "Selma"

So, over a month ago, I gave the following sibling assignment:

 "Pick a movie you have watched recently, and talk about how that movie changed the way you look at the world".

The same week, my Mom fell and fractured her shoulder.  My life has been a little topsy-turvy since then.

But, today my pastor and church quoted Martin Luther King Jr., and my brother mention MLK in his daily Three Beautiful Things.

I took it as a sign to finally get this blog post written, so brother Bill can assign the next one.  Here is Bill's post about "The Last Metro" , and Christy's post about the movie "Into the Wild".

The first time I visited Washington D.C., we went on a tour of the memorials and monuments.  The last time I visited, there was an additional one added.  The memorial dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.

I loved reading the quotations he shared.  I think part of my fascination with MLK Jr. is the fact that many of his greatest achievements happened the year I was born, 1963.

Here are a few of the photographs I took when we visited the King's memorial.

I was moved by the words, and thought about all he did for civil rights.

A couple of months ago, I took my daughter and niece, who are both 20, to see the movie "Selma". I knew the movie was about King, but didn't know the circumstances surrounding the Selma march, and what the premise of the movie was.

All three of us were moved by the film, and what we saw. Especially the parts of violence that was released on the people who were marching by law enforcement officers.  It was so shocking.

But then I look at what is happening now in this country, and some of the same problems exists. 


This morning in church, our Pastor preached on the verses in James 2: 1-13 that say:

2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”^[a] you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”^[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”^[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We are not to show favoritism toward anyone.  Jesus came to make us all equal.  To make us all of the same tribe.  As he says in Galatians 3 there is not Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free.  When we are in Christ, we are all equal.  That is one of the things Christ brought into the world.  A level playing field. 

But often, even we Christians don't get it.

MLK Jr. reminds us through his words from the past that we can be better.  We can strive to live the way Jesus died for, that we just celebrated last Easter Sunday.

We can focus more on the greatest commandment that says "Love Your Neighbor As Yourself" instead of living a life of fear of those who are not like us.  Not a part of our group.

King had a dream.  I dream, too, of a world where we live our lives guided by love, and how we can help others, instead of fear and looking out only for ourselves.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.