Words for Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

A Reflection Offered by Rev. Tim Kutzmark
January 16, 2006 • Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading

Rev. Tim was one of the speakers at Reading’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration. This was his short reflection.

These are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

Faith—faith that when we step forward, there will be something there to stand upon.

Dr. Martin Luther King had faith, faith in God, the God of his Christian faith—a God he believed once led the ancient Israelites out of slavery—a God who was now inspiring him and so many others to free themselves from the bonds of modern social slavery.

Dr. King had faith, but he was not naïve. He knew that once freedom’s first step was taken, there had to be a solid staircase to stand upon. There had to be something to carry us forward.

And for him, for so many others in the Civil Rights movement—and now, for us, today—that staircase, that foundation of a faith needs to be more than a dream . . .
more than a dream of all children, black and white, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic and Muslim and Buddhist, and Humanist, and Atheist, joining hands and singing “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I am free at last!”

What good is a vision of freedom if those same children go to bed hungry? What good is a dream of unity if those same children are sitting in schools that are falling apart around them? What good is the hope of wholeness, if, when they graduate, the only jobs waiting pay a salary with the promise of poverty?

Dr. King knew that a true beloved community must provide economic opportunity for all.

Why have we forgotten this next step in Dr. King’s dream?

Bayard Rustin, Dr. King’s mentor and the man who organized the historic march on Washington, once proclaimed: “Getting decent jobs, housing and education is harder than integrating lunch counters.” But that is the only workable solution for our America!

Whitney Young, a great African American civil rights leader, saw the staircase we must all now step upon. In 1963 he cried these words that still ring true for us in the winter of 2006:

“We must march from [substandard], overcrowded [housing] to decent, wholesome, residential areas.
We must march from the relief rolls to the established retraining centers…we must march from the cemeteries where our young, our newborns, die three times sooner . . . We must march from the congested, ill-equipped schools which breed dropouts and which smother motivation...And finally, we must march from a present feeling of despair and hopelessness to renewed faith and confidence.”

We need faith. We need faith in a power greater than us. And we need faith in an economic staircase built with our hands.

Built through equal access to economic opportunity.
Built through equal access to well-equipped schools.
Built through equal access to affordable and livable housing. Built through equal access to meaningful jobs that pay a living wage.

Built for all and by all, regardless of race, color, religious belief, differing abilities, sexual orientation, or family of origin.

Faith is taking the first step even when we don’t see the whole staircase. But today we see the staircase. We see our moral imperative. We see who we must become!