MLK remembrance: Politics of compassion

Members of the Second Baptist Church Youth Praise Dancers perform during Sunday's Martin Luther King Remembrance Service.
Members of the Second Baptist Church Youth Praise Dancers perform during Sunday's Martin Luther King Remembrance Service.

The featured speaker at a Sunday remembrance service of the Rev. Martin Luther King blended biblical quotes and calls for social justice in a fiery half-hour speech that was as much about the present as it was about the past.

The Rev. Rodney E. Williams, pastor of Swope Parkway United Christian Church, was the guest speaker at Second Baptist Church's annual MLK service, themed "Politics of Passion" this year.

King, he said, stood up for justice and gave his life for humanity.

"Many of us have forgotten that long before Dr. King had a dream, along with every other American, Dr. King was living a nightmare," he said. "His nightmare was a nightmare of oppression, a nightmare of degradation and a nightmare that was grounded in racism."

King, he said, was committed to be used by God to do his work.

"The goal of Dr. King was the same as our Lord. And the goal is the reconciliation and the redemption of all people," he said.

King was used to "construct a fellowship that would transcend the boundaries of race, gender, culture and class distinction. And what God is committed to do, God is going to do. God was using Dr. King to reconcile that which was fractured," he said.

God used King to cause people to "stand shoulder to shoulder in mutual love of the almighty God," Williams said.

But King's view, he said, is a different reality than we see today.

"Sadly enough, we have to acknowledge that Dr. King's dream is not a reality in America," Williams said. "Therefore, as we celebrate Dr. King, I just want to encourage you to stay in the fight. Keep on fighting against the demonic sin of racism."

Racism, he said, has negatively impacted social justice issues across the state and nation.

He urged the crowd of a few dozen people to stay in the fight because pillars of our democracy, including economic justice and voting rights, are under attack. 

America, he said, is in a moral crisis from a lack of political compassion.

Quoting King, he said: "Silence is betrayal."

"Too many of us have remained silent for too long," Williams said.

God typically intervenes through human participation, he said, and that must come from faith communities working together.

"I understand the fight isn't going to be easy," he said.

Also at the event, the church presented its first "Drum Major for Justice" award to the Rev. John Bennett, the retired minister of Disciple of Christ.

The Rev. W.T. Edmonson, chairman of Community Action Ministry, announced the award, saying Bennett gave a life of serving and has been "a drum major for justice, a drum major for peace, a drum major for righteousness and a drum major for the least of these."

Bennett was one of the "Medicaid 23" who were arrested for protesting the Missouri Senate for not expanding Medicaid in 2014.