King: power to move and inspire

We don't have Kings anymore. It's good to be king, they say - but what does that mean? Being on top? Untouchable? In many ways I think our unfamiliarity with a King and cultural conditioning to find the idea of unequivocal power repulsive creates a hindrance for our ability to conceive of an all-powerful, almighty, sovereign God. We insert democratic ideals into our God-Man relationship. But that's a whole series of ideas...




MLK impresses me as a leader. He's an archetype of a unique class of leaders. They led well. Many have led well. MLK led against the odds. Many have. MLK led a mass of people over which he had no actual authority/power. Again, not unique. MLK led with conviction. Less common, but not unique. MLK pushed a proverbial flywheel towards a quantum idea without compromising values or beliefs. Means never justified themselves by the end goal. That is rare.



If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. (what's the church version of this statement?)

We will speed the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing... Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy.