by Dr. David Sanders
This past Monday, January 20th, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. In his inaugural address that day, President Trump declared, that in his honor, “we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true.”
Reverend Lorenzo Sewel, a young black minister, was among the clergy delivering a benediction at the inauguration. Reverend Sewel invoked King’s spirit both in words and intonation, quoting liberally from “I Have a Dream.” The benediction roused the audience and moved President Trump to hug him amidst tumultuous applause.
I remember welling up with tears listening to King’s speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I too admired Reverend Sewel, who without notes in front of him, and with passion cried out, “Let freedom ring,” but I was far from elated. King’s speech has been reverberating for over 60 years and yet, between the reality of where our nation is and the “dream” there remains a huge gap. If the dream had been fulfilled would Reverend Sewel need to be invoking King’s words? Would King himself pronounce in an invocational blessing today that America “at last” is a country where “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” King would clearly recognize the progress made but would also remain steadfast in his oratory championing the cause of liberty, freedom and equality for all.
In contrast to Reverend Sewel’s fiery speech at the inaugural prayer service Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde spoke in measured, hush tones, addressing President Trump in the fashion of the prophets of Israel who Martin Luther King often invoked. With the same courage of those prophets of old who stood up to Kings and Queens and Martin Luther King’s willing defiance of a society unwilling to change, Reverend Budde directed her words:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors, they are faithful members of our churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples.
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and with our God for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.
Thank you, Reverend Budde, for your courage to humbly speak truth to another in love. May we all find the needed strength you exhibited, until the dream is fulfilled.
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