Sunday Devotions: Dream Maker

The first time that I came across Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was through a BBC documentary that I happened to be watching one Sunday night. I was a teenager then, so it must have been about five years after his assassination. I can remember watching footage from the march on Washington and hearing his bellowing voice, which sent shivers down my spine. I had never heard anyone speak like that before and even although I was three thousand miles away in another country, the truths Dr. King expressed deeply moved my soul.

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I don’t know what it must have been like to have been here in America during the 1960’s. I presume that it wasn’t an easy time for anyone because of the tension and conflicts that were going on. I guess most people must have thought that the United States was going to perish, and that the dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone was about to be snuffed out.

The assassin’s bullet tried to do that forty years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. What the shooter didn’t realize was that the truth cannot be killed. They tried to do it with Christ, almost two thousand years ago and that didn’t work. The ministry of Dr. King and his pursuit for the Civil Rights of all people didn’t die with him either.

Bible Verse for the Day
Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

At the time of his death, I suppose many people must have doubted that King’s dream would ever be fulfilled. And yet, here we are today, in a year where there’s a strong possibility that the next President of the United States will be a black person. I think Dr. King’s dream is being fulfilled and I believe that he would be proud of what we have achieved. It may not be perfect and perhaps we still have a long way to go before racism is extinguished, but we’re in a much better place as a society than where we were forty years ago.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Dr. King’s life. Although he died too young, he dedicated his life to those of us who enjoy our freedoms today. He was both a true Christian and American that we should all aspire to become. Bless us, Lord, as we continue to follow his dream which, is in fact, what You call the Kingdom of God. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the Scottish pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send John an email at pastor@erinpresbyterian.org. He is delighted to read your feedback and messages.

Nothing But the Truth

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Romans 6: 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

This week, our church hosted a special performance by the Word Players of Knoxville. They put on their production of “A Woman Called Truth.” It was a remarkable play, which told the story of a slave woman from the North East, who fought against her captors to win freedom for herself, her son, and her family.

I was really impressed by the whole cast, who portrayed her story in a wonderful and engaging way. I was also struck by how relevant Sojourner Truth’s life still is for what we experience today. People may not be sold as slaves any longer, but the old prejudices and racism still persist. Just recently, a major politician, who should have known better, made an unintentional racial slur against a presidential candidate. It was unintended, but it was still racist, and what makes it even more repugnant, is that many people don’t see the racism in the remark. But that’s how the scourge of racism works – subtly and under the radar – until it becomes acceptable to the general public.

Sin operates in a similar fashion, especially in the areas of obsession and addiction. Habitual sin diminishes our faith moment by moment, event by event, sin by sin, until it becomes a major problem. The ex-Governor of New York was seduced by his own addiction, but instead of seeking help, he let it overcome him until it has ruined his career, his marriage, and possibly his life.

Sin, racism, and even slavery are insidious. They start off small and then grow like a cancer until they take over poor souls and an ignorant populace, transforming sinners and society into something soulless. That’s why Paul emphasizes the Cross in so much of his letters. It is the one safe haven for all sinners. It is the one place and time where we can be truly set free. It is the most pivotal event in human history where we, who have been enslaved by obsession and sin, insecurity and insensitivity, rancor and racism, can be liberated by our Deliverer Christ Jesus for all of eternity. Instead of hanging on to our hang ups, we can let go and let God transform us through Christ and His Cross.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, liberate us from our fears and sins, our prejudices and pride, our mistakes and misconceptions. Open our hearts and souls to Your words and ways. Keep us from following self-satisfying paths that lead to self-destruction. Help us to latch on to Your leadership and grant us Your godly counsel in all that we seek to accomplish this day. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Stushie is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian in Knoxville, TN. He is also the writer of the daily devotional Heaven's Highway.

Extra Devotional: Defying Dictators - why Lee Bollinger was right

Daniel 2:18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. (NIV)

A lot has been made of yesterday’s visit by the President of Iran to Columbia University in New York. I watched the live debate yesterday because it was an historical moment. Right from the beginning, Ahmadinejad was put on the hot seat by the university’s President Lee Bollinger. Instead of courteously introducing the Iranian president to the audience, Bollinger interrogated the guest speaker and castigated him for the many human rights abuses that are taking place in Iran. In my humble opinion, it was a courageous and probably career-busting move to make.

The media, however, have condemned Bollinger for his discourtesy and undiplomatic confrontation of Ahmadinejad. A leader of any nation should be accorded respect because he or she represents their nation. Any insult against the president is taken to be an insult against the Iranian people. And sadly, into today’s divided world, any insult to an Islamic leader is considered an insult against the Moslem faith.

However, no matter what the diplomatic repercussions are, I believe that Lee Bollinger was right to do what he did. Ahmadinejad is a tyrant whose political regime terrorizes his people. A recent article in Time magazine, written by a female Iranian journalist, expresses some of the major concerns that free-thinking intellectual Iranians face in their country. People are imprisoned for expressing political views; women are killed for being raped; and young teenage boys are hung for being homosexuals. Much of what goes on in Iran is reported by Amnesty International. Ahmadinejad is a callous despot who only cares about power, not people.

When Daniel and his companions faced the possibility of execution, they turned to God for deliverance. They lived under a tyrannical king, whose anger at his advisers caused him to send forth an order to kill all of the wise men, clever teachers, and mathematical scholars in his nation. And that’s usually how tyranny manifests itself – by killing the educated people, in order to rule by fear and ignorance. In modern times, the names of Hitler, Stalin, and Phol Pot have been synonymous with such vicious cruelty. Perhaps Ahmadinejad's name will also be entered into that Hall of Shame one day.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You alone know the hearts and minds of all people, so You know all of the atrocities that the president of Iran may have committed. If he is such a monster, then allow free people to castigate him for what he really is. Remind us that we have all promised never to let the Holocausts of the past happen again. Keep us from being bystanders and help us to confront evil wherever it exists. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.