Neighborhood Church

Martin Luther King, Jr.

AT THE CORE OF JIM CROW
• Legalized Segregation
• Disenfranchisement
• Racial Violence
• Exploitative Economics
• Rigid Social Order
• Inequality in Education

#1 Call to Courage

Don’t get panicky. Don’t do anything panicky at all. Don’t get your weapons. He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword. Remember that is what God said. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them.
Martin Luther King Jr.

I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before.
Martin Luther King Jr.

#2 The Power of Non-Violent Love

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’" (Matthew 5:44)...So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?
Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail

#3 Following Jesus Will Cost You Something

Salvation is free—it costs us nothing.

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life … But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! So I’m happy tonight! I’m not worried about anything! I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
Martin Luther King Jr.