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On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. In celebration of his contribution to the civil rights movement, the United States Congress made the third Monday in January a national holiday in 1983. While we celebrate Dr. King\u2019s contribution to America, we also remember his insistence that the church exist as the \u201cconscience of the state,\u201d speaking prophetically to those in power. We honor Dr. King with all Americans, but we also remember that the sermon he intended to preach the Sunday after his assassination was titled \u201cWhy America May Go to Hell.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re highlighting a few RLC blog posts to revive that spirit within us, the church, to live out this challenge. We\u2019ll also share with you a link to The King Center\u2019s 2024 Beloved Community Global Summit.<\/em><\/p>\n Back in 2003, singer\/songwriter\/musician and activist John Francis O\u2019Mara was inspired to write a song, \u201cKill the Dreamer\u201d, that only grows in intensity and meaning every day. Like the dream that can never be killed, this is a song that will ring true until the dream of The Beloved Community is realized. A few years ago, RLC spoke with John Francis and he\u2019s graciously shared the song with us and our readers. Every song is more than just a song. There\u2019s always a story, and it\u2019s more than the story that the song tells. In this case, \u201cKill the Dreamer\u201d is built loosely around the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers\u2019 attempts to kill him and then their selling him into slavery.\u00a0See what happens to his dreams now,<\/em>\u00a0they taunt. Click here to revisit that blog post.<\/p>\n Several years ago, Shane and friends of Red Letter Christians read Letter from a Birmingham Jail.\u00a0 Revisit Dr. King\u2019s Challenge to Moderates Today.<\/em><\/p>\n Annually,\u00a0The King Center leads the observance of the national holiday commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Beloved Community Awards is one of the marquee programs of the week-long holiday experience. The awards recognize national and international individuals and organizations that exemplify excellence in leadership; that pursue social justice and that are committed to creating the Beloved Community, in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Three years ago, Shane Claiborne was honored with the 2023 Beloved Community Social Justice Award from The King Center. Click here to read his acceptance remarks.<\/p>\n Below is a link to the 2024 Beloved Community Global Summit. Diana Oestreich of Red Letter Christians was on a panel during the Summit.<\/p>\n For more thoughts on how to talk to kids about Dr. King, how to help children understand racism and the importance of avoiding prejudice, and how we really show our kids these values, a blog post from Kristen Howerton,\u00a0Dr. King and Our Children: How to talk about and model his dream \u2013 Red Letter Christians\u00a0is insightful and inspiring.<\/p>\n Going back a few more years, John Barry visits Dr. King\u2019s book, The Measure of a Man,<\/em> and writes \u201cThe Complete Life \u2014 According to Martin Luther King, Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n And going back a bit further, a treasure from Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, \u201cAs We Enter Black History Month, \u2018Do Not De-Radicalize King\u2019.\u201d He says, \u201cAs we celebrate King this month, I hope you will do more than remember, but join the fight to resist policies that dehumanize those who are incarcerated and incarcerate families of the incarcerated. Resist words dipped in fear, designed to demonize \u201cdreamers\u201d \u2014 brilliant children raised in this country brought to America by parents looking for a better life. Resist economic policies designed to cripple the poor and further enrich the wealthy. Resist alleged \u201cbar stool talk,\u201d that is nothing more than vile speech, anointed by the racist demons of this world. We need the legacy of King, the power of Hamer, the brilliance of Rustin, and most of all, we need you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n RLC welcomes and encourages individuals who engage in critical thinking at the intersection of faith and justice to contribute to our blog. The views and opinions expressed by our blog authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of RLC, its staff, members, or officers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. In celebration of his contribution to the civil rights movement, the United States Congress made the third Monday in January a national holiday in 1983. While we celebrate Dr. King\u2019s contribution to America, we also remember his insistence that the church exist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[374,277,276,3360,3665],"class_list":["post-16562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-king","tag-luther","tag-martin","tag-remembering","tag-rev"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lord, we pray, Revive Us Again!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n