Martin Luther King

Today is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. When we were kids my folks used to take long driving vacations across country. One year we drove to the Lutheran Church in America convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the summer of 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated just a couple of months earlier.

When we arrived in Atlanta, dad drove us to visit Ebenezer Baptist Church. We got out of the car and went into the church office where an elderly gentleman was folding bulletins for the Sunday service. He greeted us and asked how he could help us. My dad told him that we were travelers from California, and we were in town for a church convention. He said that he wanted to bring his children to see the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. had preached. The gentleman smiled and told us he was glad we had stopped. He introduced himself as Martin Luther King, Sr.

When I think of the image of that man folding bulletins, knowing now what I know about what his life must have been like for the previous weeks, I am struck by his serenity. When we spoke with him he was gentle and hospitable. It was an image of grace, motivated, I'm sure, by the love he felt for his son.