\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nKing called for revolutionary love, the urgency of change, and for
\necumenical world community. <\/span>On this Martin Luther King
\nDay, I hope you will take the time to read this selection from the sermon and
\ncommit yourself to “eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.” With the continuing war in Iraq and Afghanistan and incipient revolutions in Tunisia and other parts of the world, America needs to understand and fully embrace the “urgency of now.” There is, as King warned, such a thing as being too late. <\/span><\/p>\nFrom Beyond Vietnam <\/i>by Martin Luther King, Jr.:<\/span><\/p>\nThese are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting
\nagainst old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wombs of a
\nfrail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless
\nand barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. “The people
\nwho sat in darkness have seen a great light.” We in the West must support
\nthese revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a
\nmorbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western
\nnations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world
\nhave now become the arch anti-revolutionaries . . . Our only hope today lies in
\nour ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes
\nhostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
\nWith this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and
\nunjust mores and thereby speed the day when “every valley shall be
\nexalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall
\nbe made straight and the rough places plain.”<\/i><\/p>\n
A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our
\nloyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now
\ndevelop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the
\nbest in their individual societies.<\/i><\/p>\n
This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern
\nbeyond one’s tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an
\nall-embracing and unconditional love for all men . . . When I speak of love I
\nam not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that
\nforce which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying
\nprinciple of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to
\nultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about
\nultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John:<\/i><\/p>\n
Let us love one another; for love is God and
\neveryone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth
\nnot God; for God is love. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his
\nlove is perfected in us.<\/i><\/p>\n
Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. We can no
\nlonger afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of
\nretaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides
\nof hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that
\npursued this self-defeating path of hate. <\/i><\/p>\n
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted
\nwith the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history
\nthere is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of
\ntime. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost
\nopportunity. The “tide in the affairs of men” does not remain at the
\nflood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage,
\nbut time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and
\njumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words:
\n“Too late.” There is an invisible book of life that faithfully
\nrecords our vigilance or our neglect. “The moving finger writes, and
\nhaving writ moves on…” We still have a choice today; nonviolent
\ncoexistence or violent co-annihilation.<\/i><\/p>\n
We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak
\nfor peace . . . and justice
\nthroughout the developing world — a world that borders on our doors. If we do
\nnot act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of
\ntime reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without
\nmorality, and strength without sight.<\/i><\/p>\n
Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter
\n— but beautiful — struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons
\nof God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds
\nare too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be
\nthat the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men,
\nand we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing,
\nof hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause,
\nwhatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise
\nwe must choose in this crucial moment of human history.<\/i><\/p>\n
Amen. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In April 1967, a year before he was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on the “fierce urgency of now” in a sermon entitled, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” Of all his speeches, it remains the least remembered because it summoned Christians to protest Vietnam. Despite the specific historical references, however, King’s argument that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holiday","category-religion-and-politics","category-religion-in-america"],"yoast_head":"\n
Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now - Christianity for the Rest of Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now - Christianity for the Rest of Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In April 1967, a year before he was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on the “fierce urgency of now” in a sermon entitled, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” Of all his speeches, it remains the least remembered because it summoned Christians to protest Vietnam. Despite the specific historical references, however, King’s argument that…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christianity for the Rest of Us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-16T17:34:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diana Butler Bass\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now - Christianity for the Rest of Us","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now - Christianity for the Rest of Us","og_description":"In April 1967, a year before he was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on the “fierce urgency of now” in a sermon entitled, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” Of all his speeches, it remains the least remembered because it summoned Christians to protest Vietnam. Despite the specific historical references, however, King’s argument that…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html","og_site_name":"Christianity for the Rest of Us","article_published_time":"2011-01-16T17:34:21+00:00","author":"Diana Butler Bass","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html","name":"Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now - Christianity for the Rest of Us","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-16T17:34:21+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-16T17:34:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/#\/schema\/person\/af0e5483b7a3dbedba88a766dea6dbe2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-king-jr-fierce-urgency-of-now.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Martin Luther King Jr: Fierce Urgency of Now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/","name":"Christianity for the Rest of Us","description":"Christianity for the Rest of Us","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/#\/schema\/person\/af0e5483b7a3dbedba88a766dea6dbe2","name":"Diana Butler Bass","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/be3\/be314a8e22e069cf178a04394ae14af2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/be3\/be314a8e22e069cf178a04394ae14af2x96.jpg","caption":"Diana Butler Bass"},"description":"Diana Butler Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books including A People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009) Her best-selling Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA TODAY. Diana regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995-2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations. From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality\u00e2\u20ac\u201da project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Diana also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society. Diana has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/author\/dbbass"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christianityfortherestofus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}