KaaGee Notes

A Knock at Midnight Details King penned this sermon outline for the Youth Sunday Services of the Woman's Convention Auxiliary, National Baptist Convention. A report of the proceedings described King as “the Mahatma Gandhi—in the present day American race crisis.” 1  Written on stationery of the Woman's Auxiliary, it is based on Jesus' illustration of a neighbors response to a persistent friend seeking bread at midnight. Drawing on D. T. Niles's homily “Evangelism, King notes that while many look to the church during their time of need, “hundreds & [ thousands ] of men and women in quest for the bread of social justice” leave disappointed. 2  King later prepared a full version of this sermon for publication in  Strength to Love. 3

" Drum Major Instinct " Event February 4, 1968 On 4 February 1968, Martin Luther King , Jr., preached “The Drum Major Instinct” from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Ironically, two months before his assassination on 4 April 1968, he told his congregation what he would like said at his funeral: “I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody” (King, “The Drum Major,” 185). Excerpts were played at King’s nationally televised funeral service, held at Ebenezer on 9 April 1968.  King’s sermon was an adaptation of the 1952 homily “Drum-Major Instincts” by J. Wallace Hamilton, a well-known, liberal, white Methodist preacher. Both men tell the biblical story of James and John, who ask Jesus for the most prominent seats in heaven. At the core of their desire was a “drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade” (King, “The Drum Major,” 170–171). King warns his congregation that this desire for importa...

"How Long, Not Long" Background: "How Long, Not Long" is the popular name given to the public speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after the successful completion of the Selma to Montgomery March on March 25, 1965. The speech is also sometimes referred to as "Our God Is Marching On!" Key Quotes: "How long? Not long, because 'no lie can live forever." "How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  

April 7, 1957. Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "Birth of a New Nation" sermon in Montgomery in 1957, a month after Ghana liberated itself from British colonial rule. King begins this speech with the Exodus story, "the story of the flight of the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness, and finally, to the promised land." Quote: "Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. Freedom is never given to anybody. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance. "

Loving Your Enemies Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Montgomery, Alabama, 17 November 1957. Summary Dr. King preaches on Jesus' commandment to love our enemies and suggests that while this is a very difficult thing to, it is both possible and essential for one to live as a good Christian or a good human being. It is a shining example of the philosophy of  Nonviolence  and  Christian pacifism . How does he suggest learning to love your enemies? Dr King suggests that the first step is to look deeply at ourselves and to acknowledge that in each person we dislike there is still some good qualities that we can admire and love them in spite of it ("within the worst of us, there is some good"). Famous Quote from Loving Your Enemies "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. " - Martin Luther King Commentary This quote went "viral" on the internet, after the kil...

Paul's Letter to American Christians Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 4 November 1956. Summary:  This imaginary letter from Apostle Paul speaks of the segregation within and without the church, not only in America but all over the world for there is still time to change and do God's will.

What Is Your Life's Blueprint What Is Your Life’s Blueprint? – Reflections on MLK Jr’s Speech In this speech, Mr. King asks his audience, and all of us the simple question,  “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” He asks us to reflect on our plan for our lives, and gives us some pointers to begin building our blueprint. And even though I’m closer to forty than to fourteen, I think these pointers are just as valid and valuable as they are to a young person setting out to build their adult life. Mr. King makes two simple but important points to begin with. He says: “Number one in your life’s blueprint, should be  a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness …” “Secondly, in your life’s blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to  achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. “  

Rediscovering Lost Values King urges for faith in his earliest known recorded sermon February 28 1954 Buy The Book Background King delivered the sermon to a large Baptist church in Detroit in late February 1954, just days after finishing his final comprehensive examination and a few weeks before the graduate school approved his dissertation outline. In the Detroit sermon, King told the familiar biblical story of Joseph and Mary, who realized, while walking to Nazareth, that they had left Jesus behind in Jerusalem. just as Joseph and Mary had returned to rejoin Jesus, King advised, society should rediscover the precious values that had become lost in the rationalizations that guided behavior in the modern world. "If we are to go forward," he said, "if we are to make this a better world in which to live, we've got to go back. We've got to rediscover these precious values that we've left behind." Despite the many technological advances and material co...

The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life Length: Love Yourself Breath: Love Others Depth: Love God Concern for Oneself ... if it falls to your lot to be a street-sweeper, sweep streets like Raphael painted pictures, sweep streets like Michelangelo carved marble, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street-sweep who swept his job well. Concern for Humanity ... the destiny of America is tied up with the destiny of India. So long as India or any other nation is insecure, America can never be totally secure. ... all life is interrelated. So no nation or individual is independent. We are interdependent. We are involved in a single process. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Concern for the Spiritual You look up at the beautiful stars as they bedeck the heavens like swinging lante...

Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life! This isn’t a trick question. Certainly you know the answer to the question: Who is the person who has been responsible for the life you live right now?  YOU! Everything about you is a result of your doing  or not doing…  Your income. Debt. Relationships. Health. Fitness level. Attitudes and behaviors. I’ve often said that you are either creating or allowing everything that is happening in your life. I think everyone knows this in their hearts, but often times people convince themselves into thinking that external factors are the source of their failure, disappointment, and unhappiness. External factors do not determine how you live. YOU are in complete control of the quality of your life, by either creating or allowing the circumstances you experience.