Words and Action

This week, the lives and words of two people have given pause for inspiration and reflection that calls for action.  Martin Luther King, Jr. has left a legacy of quotes and actions that remind us that we can do and be better.  And then, Amanda Gorman offers a challenge that we all have a part to play for the peace and betterment of our country.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.:

 

“I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

 

“Use me, God.  Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”

 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

 

“We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice, not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.”

 

“If you can’t fly, then run.  If you can’t run, then walk.  If you can’t walk, then crawl.  But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

 

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

 

“O God…help us walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children, Black, White, Red, and Yellow, will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the kingdom of our Lord.  Amen.”

 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”

 

An anonymous person posted: “May the MLK quote you post today align with the words & actions you choose over the next 364 days.”

 

Amanda Gorman, 22 years of age and our nation’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, was invited to write and read an original poem for President Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021.  Last week, Amanda Gorman told Ron Charles, of the Washington Post, “My hope is that my poem will represent a moment of unity for our country, that with my words I’ll be able to speak to a new chapter and era for our nation.”  

 

Some excerpts from:

“The Hill We Climb”

 

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace

And the norms and notions

of what just is

Isn’t always just-ice

 

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another

We seek harm to none and harmony for all

 

If we’re to live up to our own time

Then victory won’t lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we’ve made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

 

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might,

and might with right,

then love becomes our legacy

and change our children’s birthright

So let us leave behind a country

Better than the one we were left with

 

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it

 

After the inauguration, when interviewed by Anderson Cooper, Amanda said that she was energized to write a poem that expressed a message of hope, unity, and healing.  She knew that was what our country needed to hear, as well as the world.  Mission accomplished Ms. Gorman.  Now may our words and actions help do the same.

 

 

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Matthew 5:9

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than your selves.

Philippians 2:3

 

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:31-32

 

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

1 Peter 4:10