Today is Martin Luther King Day.
Yesterday, we were among a few who went to church in person on a minus-4 degree morning. Many more worshipped from the warmth of their home through our Facebook page. I suggested to the minister that this would be a day for an old-fashioned hell-fire sermon, that the grape juice for communion should be warmed and the communion wafers be toasted.
We sang a hymn that seems appropriate on this holiday. We often like to take hymns and turn them into the original prose or poem they were originally. These lyrics were written by Shirley Erena Murray and copyrighted in 1998 by Hope Publishing Company. The tune is called “For Everyone Born.”
For everyone born, a place at the table.
For everyone born, clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing.
For everyone born, a star overhead,
Refrain:And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace;
Yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy! joy!
For all who share life, a place at the table, revising the roles, deciding the share, with wisdom and grace, dividing the power.
For all who share life, a system that’s fair.
For those we neglect, a place at the table, a voice to be heard, a part in the song, the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled, for those we neglect, the right to belong,
For all who have breath, a place at the table, a covenant shared, a welcoming space, a rainbow of race and gender and color.
For all who have breath, the chalice of grace,
For you and for me, a place at the table, though wounded and sore, with need to forgive, in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy, for you and for me, a new way to live,
For everyone born, a place at the table, to live without fear, and simply to be—to work, to speak out, to witness and worship.
For everyone born, the right to be free.
There are scriptural references attached to this hymn:
Genesis 1:27: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
And Luke 14:12-24: Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, ou will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’”
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
Coretta Scott King wrote on this day eight years ago:
On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.
It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are AfricanAmerican, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or AsianAmerican, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.
Or as that hymn says:
For everyone born, a place at the table, to live without fear, and simply to be—to work, to speak out, to witness and worship.For everyone born, the right to be free.We still have far to go, don’t we? “Miles to go before we sleep,” write poet Robert Frost. But no matter how much time we have, we have time to create a world where all are welcome at the table, all have a right to be free.
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