Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Invocation

Invocation I gave at the Lakewood Celebration of Dr. MLK Jr. 


O God, we gather this day with profound gratitude to remember the sacrifice of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.

We remember the courage of not only the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, but the commitment of their families who stood their ground in the face of injustice. It is because of the example and the sacrifice of these men and women that we find ourselves closer to your justice today.

O God, on this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, we not only remember, but we also gather to repent.

We repent for we are not yet what you have created us to be.

While we give the semblance of justice and equality with our formal statements denouncing racism, we have done far too little to actually live into genuine equality and justice.

We repent for too often we have chosen the way of comfort rather than choosing the hard work of justice and truth.

We repent for we have chosen not to see the injustices and inequality that is so clearly before us.

We repent for it has been easier to ignore the wrongs than to pay the high cost of fighting for what we know to be right.

So God, we gather today to repent for we are not yet who we are meant to be.

Finally, God, we gather not only to remember and repent but also to be renewed. We gather to ask for the courage we will need to renew our commitment for the struggle for justice, the struggle for what is right.

For God, we long to be a community where all men and women are not only created equal, but where we actually live as equals.

Renew us, O God, for we long to be a nation where people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

O God, renew this dream in your people once again.