post 1/19/06

Martin Luther King's Birthday has long been an important date on the calendar for me.  Not as important as Christmas or family birthdays, but it certainly comes out ahead of Valentine's Day and most of the other days. 

 

King inspires Unitarian Universalists, and liberals in general, to move forward in our lives.  He calls us to communicate across lines of diversity, he calls us to work for social and economic justice, he hopes we will end war, and he requires us to do all of this with brave non-violence.

 

It was a joy to help give birth to the Martin Luther King Day Celebration in Rochester, Michigan, in 1995 and to watch it grow through the years.  This year, there were multiple celebrations -- a morning and an afternoon service at Community Unitarian Church in White Plains on Sunday, and then attendance at two big civic events on the holiday.  It was an honor to provide the Invocation for the Slater Center Breakfast in White Plains.  The text is below. 

 

 

Invocation for the Martin Luther King Day Breakfast, White Plains, NY

The Rev. Carol A. Huston

January 16, 2006

 

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, �I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.�

 

Spirit of justice, truth, and love, the One that many call God and that others hesitate to name, be with us this morning.  Dr. King would want us to share in his audacity � his courage, his energy, his creative hope.  And so, on this day make us audacious, oh God.  May we have the audacity to believe that the vision Dr. King held out to us is still possible.  May we have the audacity to believe that there can be a world where women and men and children will not hunger for food or education or personal dignity.  May we have the audacity to believe that equality, freedom, and above all, peace are possible.  And may we be most audacious in doing the work which will bring Dr. King�s dream to this troubled world � bit by bit, step by step.

 

We thank you for this time together.  We thank you for the opportunity to break bread, to meet and greet others with whom we can travel the road toward justice.  And we thank you, most of all, for the life that was given to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be a blessing and inspiration for all.

 

We pray in the name of all that is most holy.                       Amen

 

 

Carol Huston

revcarol@earthlink.net

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