On Friday night, January 13, 2017, the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, II, addressed a multi-faith worship service commemorating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C., His message was crisp and concise:.
Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar, just as they would face the fiery furnace rather than give up their beliefs, just so we come to a time in this country when we must discern and affirm a clear, moral way forward. We must know ourselves. We must declare who we are. Now, more than ever, we must proclaim the foundations of Justice and Love on which our cause and our purpose is centered. If we must walk through the fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego tell us there will be a fourth with us, a fourth who will help us keep our resolve firm and our eyes on the prize. Rev. Barber chose to further illuminate this message by telling the story of the Israelites who lost faith while making the journey to the promised land. They had scouted the inhabitants of Canaan. They saw that the sons of Anak were so big that they looked like giants, while the Israelites saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison. They lost heart and wanted to flee back to Egypt rather than move forward on their journey. In effect, they were willing to let themselves be turned around. Rev. Barber linked this text to the New Testament passage in Hebrews that declares, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe…” The message to the multi-faith congregation on Friday night was clear: We will renounce the road of uncertainty and timidity. We will denounce those in power who seek to delude, intimidate and divide. We will not be labeled, shunted aside, or turned around. We will move Forward Together with a full heart, a clear mind, and a united spirit. And we will not take one step back. (For a recorded livestream of Dr. Barber’s address see HERE)
Dr. King often reminded us, “The time is always right to do what is right”. Indeed, there are moments when, through Grace and determination, there arise events that call us to identify and proclaim who we are and affirm the principles for which we stand. Reverend Barber observes that “The reason we have always had to fight to define our own sense of self is because America has always struggled to know who She is”. Sadly, the gulf is deep and wide between what America espouses as our self-evident, nation-founding Truths juxtaposed with our often cynical, mean-spirited actions toward one another. “We the People” like to see ourselves as a nation predicated on Justice, but as Dr. King admonished us, “Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds”. While the better angels of our founding fathers urge us higher, our halting struggle to address Poverty, Injustice, Racism, and Xenophobia must serve as a stark reminder that the road is long and only partially traveled. To continue further on our Journey for Justice, we, as individuals and communities, must proclaim who we are, what we are made of, and what we aspire to. We can not stand down, we can not kowtow to the powerful, we can not be told by others who we are nor how things will be. As did Dr. King, so too does Rev. Barber know that, “A time comes when silence is betrayal”. A time comes when abdication of communitarian responsibility is spiritual death. So yes, we must work tirelessly to shift from “a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.” We have experienced enough of Dr. King’s prophetic words to know that if we do not make this shift, “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
Like Dr. King, we must fight for the soul of this nation. We are called to challenge economic injustice and poverty, and, as Dr. King observed, “There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood”. But as Reverend Barber reminds us, the prophets must not only call out the problems and explain the consequences of faltering behavior, they must also lift up the hopes of the people to the possibility of a better day.
So we can not be silent in the face of the ravages of poverty in a country where more people die from poverty each year than do those from stroke, heart attack, and cancer. We can not be silent when people are being arrested and persecuted for raising up the injustices of being denied a living wage for their work, nor access to healthcare for their infirmities, nor quality public education for their children. Rev. Barber asks, “Why in the wealthiest nation in the world do we still need social support programs?” Dr. King observed, “an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring”. We are called to address these issues - Poverty, Injustice, and Inequality. We are called to know ourselves. We are called to advocate for the least of the members of our society. We are called to help heal a broken world in order to construct Dr. King’s Beloved Community. And as Reverend Barber and Dr. King exhort us, “If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when Justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”