Today, the church office is closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I must confess that there was a time, growing up, when I didn’t understand why we observed MLK Day. I didn’t understand the reasoning behind a federal holiday for a man who had not been president. Over time, as I’ve learned more about United States history and the role played by the civil rights movement, I’ve come to believe that MLK’s place in history overshadows that of many presidents. As a Christian, I also appreciate that MLK’s leadership of the Civil Rights movement was a profoundly Christian undertaking that put the teachings of Jesus into effect in the face of stiff, unrelenting, unethical, and often violent and inhumane opposition. King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail is an excellent place to start to better understand why I consider the civil rights movement a profoundly Christian endeavor.
You can read the letter at The Atlantic: Link