Awesome, that “Martin Luther King Day” Event

MONTGOMERY, TX -- From eleven a.m. until one o’clock p.m. on January 20th, 2025 awesome was the scene in the Great Hall off Lone Star Parkway in Montgomery, Texas, filled to overflowing with predominantly African Americans. Electrifying was the atmosphere, as the agenda and program featured the illusion of standing spellbound at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. There, awestruck, one could have witnessed Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his epic “I have a dream” speech.

Embellishing the scene at Montgomery were presentations of both speeches and music. Especially exhilarating was the music, as the whole assembly became rhythmically engaged to the mood and tone of the occasion. Hands clapped as many rose to their feet with voices echoing the message of freedom common to the various presentations. That message of freedom found reference in King’s interpretation in his dream speech of the US Declaration of Independence of 1776.

Witness King’s words on that austere occasion: “The Constitution and Declaration of independence was a promise that all men . . . would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights’ of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” King’s speech demonstrated his understanding that “unalienable” means an unshakable gift from the God of Perfection, as in “all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain ‘unalienable’ rights.’”

Reference to “unalienable rights” exhibits affinity to the Lord’s statement in Isaiah 1:18 to “come let us reason together.” Reasoning in the Biblical sense is based on God’s standard of absolute truth as opposed to the emotions of the moment in a given situation. Consider John 7:24 where Jesus commands to “judge not according to appearance, but to judge righteous judgment.” Here his judgment is true because it reflects the will of the heavenly Father, the Biblical standard of righteousness and the source of “unalienable rights.”

Martin Luther King Jr. gives explicit reference to this rational framework in a quote from Amos 5:24 in his dream speech. ”God’s Justice will roll down like waters and his Righteousness like a mighty stream.” Here the “Stream of Righteousness” is the standard of perfection in which God’s justice flows.

For Martin Luther King Jr., a society with standards linked to God’s justice provides the proper setting in which to engage the “pursuit of happiness” guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence. While celebrating the grand life and achievements of that brave and honored fighter for God’s Justice in the exalted atmosphere of the great hall in Montgomery on January 20, 2025, true freedom reigned!