Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. DREAM KEEPERS WORKSHOP Southeast District First Episcopal District CME CHURCH
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2017 Reverend Ronald M. Powe, Ed.D. Presiding Elder Bishop Henry M. Williamson, Sr. Presiding Prelate
A Note from the Presiding Elder Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was no doubt a prophet for the 21st century. A prophet is a man of God who speaks for God to His people. Even though Dr. King was not recognized as a prophet during his lifetime, he was recognized as such after his death because of the words he spoke, the actions he took, and the courage he demonstrated when the opposition was strongly against him. Prophets are men and women who listen to the voice of God and speak even if speaking brings perils upon themselves. So then, as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. s Day, let us always remember that he was a prophet in the strictest definition of what a prophet is ordered to do by the will of God. - Dr. Ronald M. Powe
The Invocation Dr. Ronald M. Powe Oh God, we thank you for the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As we celebrate his life, we recognize that it was You who ordered his steps. We thank You that You allowed him to walk among us for 38 years, and even though we did not know that his life on this earth would be short, he lived a full life in his 38 years. We also recognize that men like Dr. King cannot live a long life because of the burdens they have to carry in a short period of time. So we thank You for allowing us the opportunity to brush against him and feel Your very presence among us as he opened our minds to embrace the suffering of others. For You said in Your words, For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 John 4:20-21 NIV)
A Question from Dr. King Life s most persistent and nagging question is what are you doing for others? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Litany for Martin Luther King, Jr. s Day As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his dream, and his work, we have extracted quotes from his historic speech I Have a Dream, given August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, to compile this litany. The Reverend Dr. Ronald M. Powe, Ed.D, Presiding Elder of the Southeast District, pinned the responses following the quotes.
Litany. Leader: "I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: "We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream. Leader: "In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream.
Litany. Leader: When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All: Lord, help us hold on to our dream, because one day our dream will become a reality. Amen!
Brief Bio of Dr. King Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among his many efforts, King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Through his activism and inspirational speeches he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the United States, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Continued on next slide)
Brief Bio of Dr. King and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. He was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational African-American leaders in history.
Facts about Dr. King (from the Internet) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was an important leader and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. He was born Michael King, Jr., on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was named Michael King, Sr. After a trip to Germany in 1931, Michael King, Sr., changed his own name in honor to historic German theologian Martin Luther. Michael King, Jr., was two years old at the time and King, Sr., made the decision to change his son s name to Martin Luther as well.
Facts His father Michael King was a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Martin Luther King, Jr., skipped the 9th and the 12th grades and entered college at the age of 15. Martin Luther King, Jr., first attended Morehouse College and received a Bachelor s Degree in Sociology. He then went to Crozer Theological Seminary and received a degree in Divinity (religious studies), later he received a doctrine at Boston University.
Facts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., married Coretta Scott in 1953. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King had four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter, and Bernice. He became a pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Facts In 1955, he took leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott where Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat and moving to the back of the bus for a white man. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted a year and on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court declared segregation on buses was unconstitutional. In 1957, along with other civil rights activists, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to organize and conduct non-violent protests for civil rights.
Facts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with other civil rights activists, will go on to lead many non-violent protests for civil rights around the country. In February 1959, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., traveled to India to study Mahatma Gandhi s principles of non-violence. Gandhi s principles of peaceful resistance had a lasting impression on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; he used them in his fight against racial discrimination. On June 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lead a Freedom Walk in Detroit, Michigan, 125,000 took part in the walk.
Facts On August 28, 1963, at a historic march in Washington, DC, for jobs, freedom, racial equality, and the end of discrimination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his I Have A Dream speech. On October 14, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., became the youngest man (age 35) to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through non-violence. He donated all of the $54,123 (about $400,000 today) he received for his Nobel Peace Prize to the Civil Rights movement.
Facts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested many times during his protests for civil rights. November 27, 1967, Martin Luther King announces the Poor People Campaign focusing on jobs and freedom for the poor of all races. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Facts On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to declare Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. s Day in remembrance of all the great things he did to fight for civil rights. He was the first African-American to be granted a national holiday. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. s Day is celebrated the third Monday on January. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Day is celebrated in January because his birthday is in January.
Facts Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Day was celebrated for the first time on January 20, 1986. All 50 states did not recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Day as a paid day off holiday until 2000. Utah was the last state to declare Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Day a holiday. Over 1,000 streets are named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Day.
Dr. King in the Southeast District During the infant years of our District, the nation was in social turmoil. Our beginning was tucked between the efforts to integrate our public schools in 1957 and the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins. The Civil Rights Movement was underway with Blacks demonstrating throughout the nation for equal treatment and opportunities under the law. Bishop Smith, one of the most influential leaders at that time, was at the forefront of the Movement. He, along with other top leaders of the National Council of Churches, met with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House in December 1963 to express support for passage of Civil Rights legislation.
Dr. King in the Southeast District (Lakey, Othal Hawthorne. The History of the CME Church (Revised). The CME Publishing House, Memphis, TN, 1996. These meetings resulted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voters Right Act. Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville joined the Civil Rights Movement with other Southern cities. During the Civil Rights Era, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at Fisk University and said that he was inspired and encouraged by what was taking place in Nashville during these demonstrations. Dr. King was hosted by the late Reverend Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, then pastor of First Baptist Capitol Hill Church.
Dr. King in the Southeast District Nashville was used as a model in cities throughout the nation as the Black communities in our city organized and led the fight for justice with such spokespersons as James Lawson, John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, Bernard Lafayette, Diane Nash, James Bevel, and many others. All of these veterans of the Movement returned to Nashville in February of 2004 to commemorate the anniversary of the Civil Rights sit-ins and many spoke at local churches, including CME Churches in the Southeast District. A closer look at civil rights history in Nashville shows that the CME churches specifically played an integral role in the Movement as they were fully involved in the demands
Dr. King in the Southeast District for equality and justice for all. Presiding Elder Hollis, also a member of the Nashville Council of Churches, played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. Hollis was one of the speakers who spoke on behalf of Reverend James Lawson at the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University when the school was expelling Reverend Lawson for being involved in the Movement. He made a remarkable and compelling speech disapproving the treatment of Reverend Lawson. Also, CME member Russell Merriweather, a member of Capers Memorial and then employed at Citizens Bank, served on the Civil Rights local finance committee.
Dr. King s Six Principles of Non-Violence Non-violent resistance is not for cowards. It is not a quiet, passive acceptance of evil. One is passive and non-violent physically, but very active spiritually, always seeking ways to persuade the opponent of advantages to the way of love, cooperation, and peace. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 1 Non-violence is a way of life for courageous People.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 2 Non-Violence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 3 Non-Violence seeks to defeat injustice not people.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 4 Non-Violence holds that suffering ca educate and transform.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 5 Non-Violence chooses love instead of hate.
Principles of Non-Violence Principle 6 Non-Violence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
Activity Pages Coloring Pages and Puzzle (Print following pages for kids)
Comments/Feedback. We invite you to share your comments about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his dream. How can you make Dr. King s dream a reality in your life? If you could, what questions would you ask Dr. King today? What can we do to help stop the violence? What are ways we can promote equality among all races? What impact has Dr. King had on your life? What service project(s) are you and/or your church involved.
Posting of this Presentation This presentation will be posted by E-Mail Posting for Monday, January16: Southeast District Website @ www.southeast1cme.church Southeast Facebook (Ronald Powe)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!