Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - He Touched Me.

[phkrause]

Wasn't sure where to post this, so I ask that if this is not the place, please move it.

This is from a Pastor friend of mine, from NYC.

Dear Friends -

Has anyone ever touched your life in a significant way? I hope so. At a young age, I was touched by a man who really knew how to put words together in a way that made you think, made you feel, made you understand the issues that were important to millions of people. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a Baptist minister who I listened to from my earliest childhood memory and probably was the only minister who said things in a way and with a voice, that resonates with me even today.

I grew up in a neighborhood made up of mostly Italian and Jewish people. In my elementary school, on any given Jewish holiday, I would go to school and distinctly remember, that the only students in the class that would come to school on those holiday's was a young African-American girl and me. We would spend the day washing the blackboard and sorting books for our teacher.

I must have been about ten years old at the time. The church I attended was blessed with a cultural mix of mostly Italian immigrants and a growing membership of Latino, African-American and a few families from the Caribbean. It was 1958 and it was a friendly church group. It was a real blessing to be raised in a church family and certainly in New York City, where everyone was not the same and looked alike.

I am not exactly sure of when I first started hearing sermons on our black and white TV, but I always loved the style and Southern accent of a minister called Billy Graham. Most of his sermons were always the same and usually recommended that his audience should change their ways and give their lives to Jesus Christ. Certainly, good advice.

Then one day, I started hearing a distinct message from a preacher who made me think beyond my own little world and opened my mind to the needs of others and the pain that was felt by a multitude of people who lived in America. This preacher with a wonderful and powerful voice that combined profound thinking and incredible use of words to help mold my young mind in a Christianity that was deeper than any message I had ever heard before.

His name was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I used to listen intently to what he was saying and how he was saying it as he peeled back the lie that was America in the late 1950's and 1960's. I was learning about racism, about people who had to sit in the back of buses and the ugly truth of segregation.

I still remember the afternoon, when I was riding my bike from the Bronx into Manhattan when I heard the news that Dr. King had been killed as he joined the list of leaders who had been shot to death in a country of free speech. It was an ugly time. An angry time, as some people suggested that change was coming too fast, that things were better left the same as they were before.

Let me say here, that on the evening of April 4, 1968, I was embarrassed to be "White" or as some would say, "A Cracker." The night that King was killed was a turning point for me as I sat and wondered how anyone could do such a thing to such a great man.

It would be nice to think that racism was a thing of the past, but I know that this is unfortunately not the case. As a pastor here in New York City, I know that racism is still an ugly truth, that is not a part of the past, but is very much with us.

I have heard very ugly things coming out of the mouths of people who should know better - so called, highly educated people. Even from local church elders I have worked with in the past. People who profess a love of God, but deny a true love for those who are different from themselves and in fact, in some cases even use the Bible to continue their misunderstanding of the love Jesus Christ had for all people.

Over the last few days, anti-Jewish hate has started to appear in one community in the Metropolitan area, however it has been heart warming to see members of many faith based traditions repudiate the ugly adolescent behavior of a few and stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters.

I have been blessed by many faith traditions and by the reading of the words of Jesus Christ over the years and continue to learn from my engagement with members of many racial groups.

A few days ago, there was a day of remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I want to remember him today. I remember a man, who touched my life and forever left a message of justice for all who was blessed with a cadence in his voice that spoke out against injustice and who tried to make the world a better place for all.

It seems to me our duty to continue the work of infusing our society with acceptance and love for all of God's children, no matter who they are and for each of us to do our best to be aware of others.

A few years ago, I resigned from a church because of the remarkable way in which a few leaders felt that certain people could not and should not be able to join that particular church, that I was the pastor of at the time. Statements like, "We don't want those kind of people in our church" and "We are attracting, too many of those kinds of people to our church".

I was also chastised for a sermon I gave on acceptance of all by a fellow member of the clergy, within minutes of my finishing of that morning's sermon, who suggested to me that I was "confusing people" with statements that differed from my church on accepting into membership all of those who wanted to join our church.

Confused indeed.

During statements like those above and worse and during the last board meeting I attended, it was then I remembered the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Our lives begin to end the day we decide to become silent about things that matter." I also remembered "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Here is another statement made by a man who gave his life for the freedom of others that it would be good for all of us to remember: "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up."

I remember, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and I thank him.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Best regards -

Tony Romeo, Pastor / REACH-NYC

You are invited to hear the Gospel shared, New York City style in "A Conversation With The Word" on Saturday mornings at 11:15 a.m. at Historic Manhattan Church, 232 West 11th Street, NYC. Members of all faith traditions are welcome to attend. Please come as you are. God likes it better that way!

Enjoy "Breakfast With The Word" Saturday mornings at 9:30 a.m. lead by

Pastor Tony Romeo and friends. Enjoy a simple hot breakfast as we study the Word of God together in a relaxed atmosphere. 232 West 11th Street, NYC, just one and a half blocks West of Seventh Ave.

here's a link to his website to see what there doing in NYC

http://reach-nyc.com/

[Naomi]

phk

It was an interesting letter. All too often we are influenced by the culture in which we lived in our developing years. For some, more than others, it takes a lifetime to learn God's lesson of "Love thy neighbor"