“Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.”
These are reported to be the last words of Martin Luther King, Jr., shared as he had stepped out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, in the early evening of Thursday, April 4, 1968. King was scheduled to participate in an event later that night in support of striking black sanitation workers. At 6:01 pm, King was shot from the window of a boarding house across the street. He was pronounced dead at the local hospital just over an hour later.
Though this nation commemorates the life and witness of Reverend King on the third Monday of January each year, close to his January 15th birthday, it is right that we might also remember his death today. There is little debate as to his prophetic inspiration and commitment to a progressive understanding of God’s activity in the world. Just two months before his death, Reverend King shared these thoughts on how he would wish to be remembered:
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
MLK Jr., February 4, 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA
In a world lacking peace, filled with hunger, absent justice, and burdened by inequalities of all kinds, let us find inspiration in the one whose death we remember today. As we prepare to remember the death of Jesus in the coming days, let’s be reminded of the teachings of all the prophets who now witness to the truth of God’s story and the divine to whom they point. Love will always have the last word.
May God’s peace come to you this day. -Pastor Peter
Let us pray…
Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” ELW 773
Amen.