What's in a Dream?

First published on Friday, January 16, 2009 in The Daily Sentinel.


I've edited the entry below from the printed version only in the reference to dates since the original published date in the paper and the posted date on this blog.



Last Thursday was the actual birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., but the nation remembered him officially on Monday: MLK Day. If he had not been assassinated on April 4, 1968, King would be 80 years old. But because he was killed at age 39, he has been forever immortalized as a young dreamer – one who dreamed of better days to come.

His most famous speech – “I Have a Dream” – was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on August 29, 1963. That was nearly three years before I was born (so, yes, many of you can shake your heads at the follies of youth), yet, King’s speech is as much a part of my consciousness as those who heard it live.

“I have a dream … that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream … that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream … that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream today…!”

Many see the inauguration of Barak Obama as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday as the fulfillment of King’s dream. No matter the color of one’s skin, the political orientation of one’s beliefs, or where one lives in this nation – Tuesday was an emotional day. The installation of the first president of African descent is indeed history-making. Given the long conflict for civil rights, that Tuesday recognizes just how far we have come in 46 years since King made his “Dream” speech.

And yet, Obama’s presidency has all the ingredients for a nightmare: a faltering global economy, the ongoing war against terrorism, a Palestinian-Israeli conflict at heights not seen in decades, and a deeply divided America. To illustrate that last point, I recently received two emails. One had a link to a website that purported to prove President-elect Obama is the Anti-Christ described in the New Testament. The other email linked to a website that claimed Obama is the one to “prepare the way of the Lord” a la John the Baptist.

What is it about our dreaming that we feel the need to invoke religious rhetoric around this presidency? Indeed, the entire civil rights movement has been wrapped co-equally in the America flag and in the Bible by people on both sides of the issue. I understand why King used biblical language in his speeches – he was a Baptist preacher. When he said “we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he was alluding to Amos 5:24. That’s natural for a preacher. But what about all the non-preachers?

Too often people today are invoking the Bible as extremism – stretching the Scriptures past the breaking point of meaning – to justify a decidedly unchristian ideology. President Obama is not the return of the prophet Elijah, the long-awaited Messiah, nor the Anti-Christ. He is a man elected to be president of this nation, and as a man is capable of both great good and great evil.

Our dreams today should be everything that King dreamed for – and more. We should dream that extremists of all varieties and flavors would learn to tone down their rhetoric, to truly try to understand others, and to seek a way of living peaceably together.

I believe human effort cannot bring about the kingdom of God described in both the Old and New Testaments. “Peace on earth and goodwill towards men” is God’s activity – not ours. However, that doesn’t excuse us from the responsibility of TRYING to bring peace on earth and goodwill towards all. Faith is about doing what seems impossible. James 1:22-25, and 2:14-17 says what I’m trying to say – but better:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently in the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

May your dreams be action-oriented, faith-filled, and dedicated to bringing God’s kind of peace and goodwill to all. With God’s help, it can be done!