Monday, January 19, 2009

Wise Words From Martin Luther King


Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength To Love", 1963.

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963.

MLK was a prophet, indeed - a man for all seasons.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Mimi! Happy MLK Day, Happy End-of-the-Bush-Regime, Happy Inauguration, and anything else you feel like being happy about.

    I'm too tuckered out from traveling to read any serious posts tonight. :)

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  2. Hi Mimi,

    We had a marvelous sermon yesterday by the Rev. Chloe Breyer that linked the call of Samuel in yesterday's readings to the prophetic voice of MLK and the call to all of us to speak prophetically.

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  3. Allen, from Samuel to MLK to us is an excellent direction to take in preaching from the passage.

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  4. I loved all your quotes, but particularly the last one, which I think I need to memorize.

    happy MLK day and day before inauguration.

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  5. Diane, I don't believe that I had seen that quote before I found it today. I think it's quite true.

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