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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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Carrying on Dr. King's work

Posted April 14th, 2008 by Rev. Sekou

On April 9th, 1968, thousands gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA to bid farewell to the American prophet, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A teaming sea of folks from every hue and class came to bear witness to the non-violent preacher killed by an assassin's bullet. In our archives at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, we have the membership card of Dr. King.

Yes, Dr. King was a card carrying member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. FOR supported the work of the civil rights movement. FOR staffer and organizer par excellence Bayard Rustin was dispatched to Montgomery in 1955 to assist in the development of a movement that would combine Gandhian Nonviolence and Black Social Protest. This combination was for Rustin like jazz.

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