John the Baptist
January 15, 2006
Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist was working out in the wilderness. The wilderness is not the vacation paradise we think of today. It's not where you go to get quiet, sit on the beach, contemplate the future. The wilderness was wild. It was untamed. It was where danger lurked and the outcast lived. There was never a guarantee that one could come back alive or untrained and it was not the same.
And, he was not your usual kind of guy. He was wild. He was unpredictable, a bit dangerous. Even when you thought he would agree with you, he would see things from a different perspective. He was the ultimate truth teller, even when it would hurt your feelings. He told the truth. He was called to make a way. He was called to prepare the way. He was preparing the world for something big. He knew it would be someone greater than he, doing things that would affect more people, differently from his own call. He was changing the world through water but someone was coming to change the world through fire and Spirit, and he was only the first part of that plan. John the Baptist had a call. He was unique, dangerous, crazy, wild but he heard his call and began the journey.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is celebrated this Monday. He was another man living in the wilderness. He was unique, dangerous, crazy and wild. He was the son of a preacher in Atlanta, Georgia. He was not going to become his father's successor. He was going to run the business end of the church and its affairs. That's how he became the leader of the civil rights movement. He was not seen as prepared enough for the church. This would give him speaking experience no matter how unlikely the outcome would be. They didn't really think this movement would go very far. It was a few people with a few ideas in a small back room of the church. And, this son, this son became the leader that changed our world for better. He wasn't just concerned with race. He was concerned with a more just society where all our children, all of God's children would have enough to eat, a chance at a good education, and be able to be all they were created to be. Let's hear a few words from the speech he gave in support of the striking sanitation workers at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968 — the day before he was assassinated.
If the almighty asked me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?"…I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy." Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same — "We want to be free."
And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we're going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demand didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.
The other thing we'll have to do [to win this race] is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.
We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.
And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man on a journey. He was a man who heard his call and answered. It was to be a call that seemed secondary to pastoring. It was a call that seemed like any other committee work we sign up for. And, instead, when he answered his call, he changed the world. He was preparing a way. He was preparing the world for something new. Something big was trying to get born. And he was just unique, dangerous, crazy and wild enough to begin his way on a journey centered in God's call.
Do you know what today is? Today is our anniversary weekend. Today marks two years of Sundays together. Today marks two years of living, laughing, crying and moving together. For those of you who missed the adventure, in the UCC pastors and communities search for one another and wait for a call from God. Pastors prepare a 32 page packet and each congregation prepares a 32 page packet. Each side answers questions describing who they are and what they hope to be. We both found one another after years of searching. When I came here we were meeting in the Odd Fellows Lodge, 23 was a huge Sunday, our average was 19. My office was in one half of a duplex. The core of 8 had dreams, but no one was sure if they were possible. Our first Lent we began praying together. And, once we began praying our community began to open up and seeds began to sprout. It's been two years of call and response. We've been asking, praying, listening, crying and God has been with us every step of the way. God has been pushing us, asking us, who are you called to be? And, we've been listening but we have not been answering. I believe this is the year that we are going to respond. I believe that this is the year we are going to step into who we are. I believe this is the year that we will listen and respond. Even from this broken, sick world of ours. Even from our own personal wilderness. Even from the committees we sit on we can begin the journey. The journey of bringing the kin-dom of God a bit closer. We can begin the journey of stepping up and in. It only requires of us our time and talent. Let's do our part, keep our part of the covenant and step up and in. Let's get a little crazy, unique, wild following the voice of God.