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Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America

Posted December 12th, 2008 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Studying Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was a crucial companion and often teacher to King, and who was co-chair of Clergy & Laity Concerned About vietnam when MLK spoke and when he was killed, and who himself was bitterly attacked for getting involved in Vietnam peace work just as King was, and whose support buoyed King (and vice versa) in that path, and who wrote brilliantly about Shabbat as a profound challenge to materialism, is valuable to opponents of racism, militarism, and materialism.

Relearning Heschel, Rebirthing King, Re-Inaugurating America:
Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Day
As a new government takes office,
January 19-20, 2009

As Barack Obama becomes President and a new Congress takes office in January 2009, there is a remarkable opportunity to bring together large sections of American society to reflect on our history and our future. The opportunity is strengthened by the fact that the day before Inauguration day (Tuesday, January 20) is Martin Luther King's Birthday. And January 14 is the yohrzeit (death-anniversary) of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Dr. King's close friend and ally.

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MLK Day Litany of Ashes, Stones, & Flowers: Militarism, Racism, & Materialism

Posted December 4th, 2008 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

ASHES, STONES, & FLOWERS:
A LITANY ON MILITARISM, RACISM, & MATERIALISM
IN HONOR OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

By Rev. Patricia Pearce, Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia

Militarism

For each vibrant life and hopeful dream that is annihilated by war and written off as necessary collateral damage,
We lift up the ashes of our pain, O God.

For the millions who go hungry or suffer sickness because bombs are more lucrative than bread and missiles are deemed more important than medicine,
We lift up the ashes of our remorse, O God.

For each mind that is forever haunted and each body that is left broken by war,
We lift up the ashes of our grief, O God.

For wars in which soldiers become pawns and veterans become burdens,
We lift up the ashes of our shame, O God.

As we cast these ashes into the troubled water of our times, Transforming One, hear our plea that by Your power they will make fertile the soil of our future and by Your mercy nourish the seeds of peace.

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Rebirthing King, Rebirthing America

Posted October 16th, 2008 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, a new President will be inaugurated and begin to work with a new Congress. The day before, Monday January 19, is Martin Luther King's Birthday.

The Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership and The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah have undertaken to initiate an effort to make this extraordinary confluence of dates into a moment of transformation.

We propose that on January 19-20, religious and ethical communities and congregations around the country take part in public actions intended to point America toward fulfilling Dr. King’s vision.

One such action is already under way. In Washington on January 19, the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership will hold a celebratory service and teaching at which Vincent Harding of Iliffe School of Theology, one of Dr. King's closets advisers; Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. Sayyid Syeed, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America; Sammie Moshenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women; Mubarak Awad of nonviolence International; and Rev. William G. Sinkford of the Unitarian Universalist Association are already scheduled to speak.

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