It was an iconic moment. August 28, 1963 in Washington DC. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Representing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King was last in the order of twelve speakers. Twelve hours before giving the speech, King did not yet have it written. But an idea took shape among his advisors: an opening analogy of African Americans marching to Washington to redeem a promissory note or a check for justice.
King had asked Mahalia Jackson to sing the Black spiritual “I Been Buked and I Been Scorned:” “I'm gonna tell my Lord / When I get home / Just how long you've been treating me wrong,” It set the tone for addressing civil rights and economic issues of African Americans.
King spoke boldly: “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check.”
At that point, Mahalia spontaneously called out: “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin, tell ‘em about the dream!” and the tenor of the speech changed. Now King was in preacher mode…
…and what rolled out carried the listeners along in the rhythm and power of the delivery and the words:
“I have a dream. I have a dream today…
Let freedom ring…Let freedom ring…Let freedom ring…
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
We can do for one another what Mahalia did for MLK, can’t we? Maybe should more often. Speak our encouragement of and our trust in one another. Call out to each other to remind us what we stand for, where and how we should be going.
Eucharist is meant to do that, as is the Liturgy of the Hours: Continually call us to the truth of who we are meant to be by joining our voices to those who have repeated psalms and hymns for centuries, and prayers that offer praise and glory, all of which insist how much we are loved, all of which invite us to continue the loving.
I think those words of Mahalia were Jesus-words. I can imagine Jesus calling out to us. “Tell all about my kingdom dream, my dream of communion among people and with creation. Tell everyone with your words and your lives. Tell them.”
The mission is God’s. The work is ours. The dreams, God’s own and Martin Luther King’s, need to be lived into.
Tell everyone.
