Martin Luther King Jr Prayer Scenes

you know oftentimes when we think about Martin Luther King jr. we think about a figure of leadership someone standing Stern and firm speaking to a crowd having it all together rarely do we think about Martin Luther King jr. as someone who is vulnerable or feeling fragile or feeling anxious about the work of leadership but the reality is he actually experienced that quite a bit in many ways a lot of the experiences college students have going through exams or trying to figure out a major or trying to figure out what to do with their lives Martin Luther King jr. had this experience I think for today it actually could be helpful to just think about two particular scenes in Martin Luther King Jr's life a one is a scene that set him up as a leader in the civil rights movement he was serving in Montgomery Alabama for a year as pastor and he wasn't very well known there were some things going on the Montgomery bus boycott was already starting to get going Rosa Parks had refused to move to the back of the bus and four days later there was an all-day meeting for the Montgomery Improvement Association they were trying to decide who would be the president of the organization who would speak for them be the person that gives motivation and guidance and that day this is four days after Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus as everyone thinks about four days later is when Martin Luther King jr. is elected president of that Association and he was an elected president because he was established as this great leader he was elected president because he wasn't well known and because most people most pastors in the area they didn't want to be that public and have their lives put at that much risk and so he was pushed forward as leader in some ways because he wasn't that well-known and because he wasn't the kind of person that had the ability to say no but here here's a funny thing about it he gets elected he has 20 minutes now to prepare a speech before 5,000 people 20 minutes and he's freaking out in fact in his as he describes it in his book a stride toward freedom he explains that he was in a great state of anxiety and that he wasted the first five minutes of his 20 just going through what we would call today a panic attack and in that moment he realized that all he could do was recognize that this movement is much bigger than him that he can't be about his abilities only it can't just be about his ability to speak that he needs to do from the very beginning turn to the source of all of the good things this movement would be about and he explains that he turned to prayer let me take you forward just a little bit and the Montgomery bus boycott is underway he's just about 27 years old at this point it's midnight his family is asleep in the house and he gets a phone call and on that phone call he's warned to stop the work that he's doing with the bus boycott otherwise his house would be blown up can you imagine that 27 years old catapulted into leadership you've been working in the city as a pastor for a year and you feel like the work is important you recognize that the work that that you're a part of is very important but you weren't signing up to have your life be threatened and he didn't know what to do he didn't know what to do he actually writes about this so let me let me just read for you what King said about that moment he says I was ready to give up with my cup of coffee sitting untouched performing I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing a coward in this state of exhaustion when my courage had all but gone I decided to take my problem to God with my head in my hands I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud the words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right but now I am afraid the people are looking to me for leadership and if I stand before them without strength and courage they too will falter I am at the end of my powers I have nothing left I've come to the point where I can't face it alone he goes on he says at that moment I experienced the presence of the divine as I had never experienced God before it seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying stand up for justice stand up for truth and God will be at your side forever almost at once my fears began to go my uncertainty disappeared and I was ready to face anything now what makes that even more intense more dramatic is that his house actually was bombed three days later that phone call was legit I share these two scenes from King's life primarily because we're currently in the midst of days where the nation and the world is talking about King and that often happens in a way that paints him as this larger-than-life figure and it often is done in a way that turns attention away from the fact that he was a fellow human being who struggled with anxiety and who struggled with a deep sense of calling and recognizing that he can't do it alone for King the kingdom of God was the motivation for it all he often talked about it as the Beloved Community but he made it very clear in explicit terms that for him this hope this idea of where humanity can can go that vision is the kingdom of God and it is in hope for seeing the kingdom of God lived out here and now that he prayed that he trusted many helped others

Channel: PLNU Worship Arts

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Id: hIgf56Sr2gw

Length: 7min 28sec (448 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 16 2020