MLK Day

Today we remember and celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I grew up in Kalamazoo less than a mile from the “color line.”  My family lived on the top of Alamo hill and about half way down the hill the population changed from nearly all white to nearly all black.  For several square miles, the north side of Kalamazoo was occupied almost exclusively by African Americans.  What’s interesting to me is that for about 50 years the north side was almost exclusively Dutch Americans.  The vestiges of this remained well into my childhood.  The Christian school I attended - one that was started by Dutch immigrants - lay right in the middle of this all-black neighborhood.  The buildings that now housed African American churches were once Christian Reformed churches until “white flight” moved them out to the suburbs. 

Then I look at the tri-cities.  For whatever reasons, there is precious little diversity in our community.  And we are worse off for it.  We are worse off for not having neighbors and classmates who look different.  We miss out an important reality of God’s family: it is made up of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.  In the age to come you will worship side by side with those who look different from you.  So when we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are asking God to make our lives more diverse.  We are asking for more reconciliation.  The new creation won’t look like the Kalamazoo of my childhood or the tri-cities of the present.  And one of the ways we will come to know God better is through the beautiful diversity of those who bear his image.  That was the vision of Dr. King.  A vision straight from the heart of God.