COMMENTARY: King’s legacy and the pursuit of a `relevant ministry’

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.) (RNS)-On Jan. 15, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated his 39th-and last-birthday. Less than three months later, he was assassinated. But […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

(RNS)-On Jan. 15, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated his 39th-and last-birthday. Less than three months later, he was assassinated. But though he died at an early age, he radically affected the times in which he lived.


This March 15, I will celebrate my 39th birthday. While the effect of my ministry hardly compares with that of Dr. King, I feel a kinship with him nonetheless. Partly because of his legacy, I am pursuing what he termed”a relevant ministry.” To King, a relevant ministry was one in which the needs of the total person were addressed-body, soul and spirit. It wasn’t enough to ensure that the individual made it to heaven. King believed a person’s temporal needs must be met as well.”It’s alright to talk about `long robes over yonder,'”he said the night before he died.”But ultimately people want some suits and some dresses and some shoes to wear down here. It’s alright to talk about `streets flowing with milk and honey,’ but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day.” Similarly, King was concerned about the heart of the minister. A true servant of God, he believed, must be possessed of both a divine calling and a social conscience.”Somehow,”he said,”the preacher must be an Amos (an Old Testament prophet), and say, `Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ (He) must say with Jesus, `The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor.'” Unfortunately, however, when King looked out among his ministerial colleagues, he was forced to contend with a sad truth. Many had no desire to serve those whom Jesus said were”the least of these my brethren.”Such persons, King observed,”aren’t concerned about anything but themselves.” That this remains true a generation later is obvious to anyone who works with the poor. For example, during the years I worked with homeless men in Trenton, N.J., I found that most of the financial support for the program I ran came from outside the city.

While most of the men I served were black, most of the congregations that assisted me were white. Moreover, many of the clergy who refused to help pastored churches near the abandoned houses where my clients resided.

This situation is not unique to Trenton. It continues to be repeated in cities around the country, friends and colleagues tell me. So much for relevance in ministry.

King’s legacy remains an indictment against those who indulge in what he would call”do nothingness.”In his life, and even more in his death, he forces us to look at our goals, desires, motives and intentions.

Whether as ministers or laypeople, we are not permitted the luxuries of smugness, self-righteousness, empty platitudes and meaningless theologies. King’s example, if we take him seriously, compels us to make a difference.

For me, responding to King’s challenge has meant ministering to the homeless, the unemployed and the imprisoned. Only God knows the legacy I’ll leave. But King’s impact on my life will be part of that bequest.

MJP END ATCHISON

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