May Your Dreams Be Realized

Martin Luther King, Junior Day


Romans 8:18-21

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

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Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realised.
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain down on he.

"MLK" recorded and composed by U2 from "The Unforgettable Fire"

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Within all of us there is a dream of freedom. This is the dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for all African-Americans, all Americans, and all humanity. In King's words, "Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom 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!" (Excerpt from King's "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.)

King's dream comes a little closer every day for the Children of God. King's dream slips away a little bit every day for the children of the fall. Of course these two groups are not exclusive, actually they're identical. We are all born of sin and redeemed by God. This is what makes the yearning for King's dream more difficult. We are instruments in the hands of God for Christ's everlasting kingdom on earth; and we are prisoners of our own demise.

On this day, on the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, we remember the sufferings. We can remember fire hoses directed at protesters. There were fights. There were arrests. There were lynchings. The ultimate price was paid by many in this war so fought so that truly all people could live like we were created equal. The battle is not won yet either.

As great as the sufferings are; freedom, peace, and liberty for all God's children is worth the high price. Many have paid such a high price for freedom. Christ too paid a price for our freedom, and it's the price Christ paid for our freedom and our salvation. Now it is up to us to do something with that salvation given to us by God's good grace through faith.

Both prices are so very high, so let us act and live and work in ways that honor those who have purchased our freedom at such great costs.