A Stone of Hope

Today we remember and honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Also, President Donald Trump takes office.

Also, as of today, I am writing on the internet again. These things are connected.

I did not vote for Donald Trump in the last election cycle. If you did, I have something to learn from you – and all the other Americans who ushered in this chapter in our collective history.

I am a practicing Episcopalian, so I'll be praying for Donald Trump at least once a week for the next four years. We pray for every president, every election cycle. Praying for elected leaders is part of our practice of faith.

Simply saying that I will pray for Donald, our president, for the next four years of Sundays doesn't seem like enough to me, though. I am concerned about what his second term will mean for my country. I am even more concerned about what his second term will mean for "this fragile earth, our island home" (Book of Common Prayer, p 370).

And so I am grateful for the witness and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. I am especially grateful for the quote from his writings that was selected for this side of his memorial: "out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.

This phrase was selected from his I have a dream speech. Read the whole thing - it's a great way to honor him today.

In this speech, Dr. King speaks directly and exactly to the experiences of civil rights workers who are suffering for the same cause he stands for. He calls upon the United States of America to live up to the legacy of freedom, using words that are familiar to every American. He imagines into existence a world that is not yet seen: a world where there is equality, kinship, justice and belonging. This is true leadership - leadership that lasts.

Dr. King helped bring into being a more equal world, a world that did not yet exist when he spoke these words. He could not have known that his speech would be read for generations to come. Like all of us, he breathed one breath at a time, spoke one word at a time. He was human: like you, like me.

I don't understand the mountain of despair that Dr. King faced. I'm a white woman in the 2020's, not a black man in the 1960's.

But I do understand something about a mountain of despair. Anyone who looks at the science of climate change does.

When you are facing a mountain of despair, hewing out a stone of hope is a way not to let the mountain crush you. "Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve," Dr. King said.

When you hew out your own stone of hope, you serve others who are facing that same mountain.

Dr. King wanted to be remembered as someone who practiced hope.

As he preached in his Drum Major Instinct sermon:

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long... Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important...

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody... I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity... I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

Each of us has one life to live, and choices each day about how to live it.

No matter what happens in our country in the years to come, we can love. We can try to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners – just like Jesus told us to do. We too can try to love and serve humanity.

That's what Christian leadership looks like, and it needs all of us.

If we try to love God and serve God, God will show us the way. That's what I've found so far, and I trust it will stay true.

An invitation: How might you hew out your stone of hope?

My stone of hope looks like this new blog. What does yours look like to you?

Is there a way I can help you hew it?