Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Next Monday we set aside to celebrate the birthday of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that Rev. King also lived in that place or mental/theological/spiritual space. That is why the church has made him a saint. That is why he is in the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church. That is why Westminster Abbey has put an image of him in one of the niches outside, along with other great church history saints. MLK said, "There are some things in our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted.” This idea of creative, courageous, and divine maladjustment was one theme that King used to lift repeatedly. This was an idea that took hold of King's life and he repeated this idea in sermon after presentation after an article in his life. What is interesting is that he changed the list of things he never intended to adjust himself to.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, said, "I refuse to accept the idea that the is-ness of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ought-ness that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that human beings are mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life. I refuse to accept the view that humanity is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant."
One thing was constant in the thought of King; he believed that it might be that the salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted. The challenge to us is to be maladjusted. King said, "The world is in desperate need of such maladjustment. Through such courageous maladjustment, we will be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of our inhumanity to one another into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice."
I think one of the noblest things that we could do to honor Dr. King today, would be to make our own list of social and religious concerns that we never intend to be adjusted to. Where are the points of maladjustment to which you are called? Where are the places you have been, where you are no longer called to be?
Peace,
Fr. Munoz
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