Loving God of mercy and justice, we celebrate the birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we are reminded more than ever of his words to us:
We are tied together in the single garment of destiny,
caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.
And whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Mysterious God, if this is the way our universe is structured, then may we refuse to believe that we are unable to influence the events which surround us.
May we refuse to believe that we are so bound to racism and war, that justice and peace are impossible.
May we learn to acknowledge the privileges that some of us have come to accept at the enormous cost to our African American brothers and sisters.
In this year when COVID-19 has made of our world one neighborhood, may we have the ethical commitment to live together aware of our interdependence on one another.
And through Your goodness at work within each of us, may we reach out with healing hands to one another.
This we ask in Your name.—AMEN.
(“Letter from Birmingham Jail” adapted from GodWeb-The United Presbyterian Church)
