REsources for Living
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What do you most wish that you could get for your birthday? An iPad? A horse? A motorcycle? World peace? A group of people got together and imagined what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have most liked for his birthday, January 15th. Of course, I rather doubt Dr. King would have wanted a pony or a motorcycle even when he was among the living, and even the coolest electronic toys aren’t any good after you’ve died. But we know what Dr. King really cared about from his actions and his words while he was living. And so they decided to honor his words: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” by creating a day of service.
Mostly we think of holidays as a day off, a break from work or school and a chance to relax. But, these organizers thought, what if we had a day on rather than a day off? What if our break from school or work was a chance to give back to our communities, to join with others in making the world a little bit better? Wouldn’t that be a fitting way to honor a man who devoted his life to working for justice and peace? And so the 16th of this month, the 25th Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, is a day to honor the great man’s memory by doing something that he might have appreciated getting done.
What would he want us to get done? Well, here’s how I think about it. Dr. King was a man of faith, a Christian minister who took his beliefs about a God of love and justice out into the world and worked to embody Jesus’ message of love for your neighbor, and concern for the poor, and turning the other cheek rather than striking back in revenge. I, of course, am not a Baptist minister, and I’m guessing you aren’t either. It isn’t necessarily my job to live out Dr. King’s faith, but it is my job to live out my own faith, and a day of service is a good time to focus on how I might do that.
We Unitarian Universalists are often challenged to create “elevator speeches” in which we say what we believe in the time it takes to ride an elevator from the bottom floor of a building to the top. So it’s not surprising that my first instinct is to suggest that you describe your faith, and then find a way to act out that faith, living it in the world. But, actually, I’d like to suggest something else.
Take a few minutes to write down your best ideas of what you would really actually do for a day of service, and some things that you have actually done to make the world a better place. It doesn’t have to be huge stuff—reusable shopping bags and speaking up when someone tells a racist joke count, as well as letters to the editor or calls to your senator, helping out at your school, going to a rally or march, helping someone with their homework, walking or biking instead of taking a car, choosing not to cross a picket line, buying fair trade or organic products, collecting food for people in need, helping kids work out an argument without hitting, planting trees, sharing your skills through teaching or coaching, listening to someone who needs support, etc., etc., etc. You might want to start with everything you can think of that you did in a day or a week that made the world a bit better, and then fill in some bigger stuff from other parts of your life.
One way or another, actually write down a list. This is your data, the information you have to work with. Take a look. What do you see about your faith? What do your actions tell you about what is important to you? Have you been living out a conviction that all people have worth and dignity? That all beings are connected in a web of life? That everyone should be treated with justice, equity and compassion? Have you been living out of a deep belief that God is inside each person you meet, or that the measure of what we have is in what we give away to others? Have you been determined to learn and to grow, and to provide opportunities for others to do the same? What does your list tell you that you believe about what is highest and deepest and finest in this life we lead together?
Go ahead. Write down some notes on what you learned about your living faith. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be eloquent, and you don’t have to share it with a stranger on an elevator. But maybe this January 16th you can have a look at what you jotted down and ask yourself: What can I do today to live out this faith a little more? And then go out and do it. You could even put a bow on your head and call yourself a birthday present for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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