Sharing the Dream

The 55th anniversary of the Civil Rights March that brought 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, will be commemorated on August 28, 2018. It was at this event that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., proclaimed “I Have a Dream!” Most people don’t know that Dr. King had started to deliver a totally different speech in which the word “dream” wasn’t even mentioned. At one point as Dr. King was reading this other speech, the singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin! Tell them about the dream!” Dr. King looked over at her and then set aside his prepared speech. He became transformed from lecturer to preacher, speaking words from his heart that inspire us to this day.

At that moment, Mahalia Jackson felt the prompting of the Spirit and responded by encouraging her friend, Dr. King, to feel it and act on it too. Her attunement to the Spirit can inspire us to speak out and encourage each other when we need to fight for changes in unjust systems and advocate for the rights of the abused and oppressed. It appears we are at such a moment now in the Church, as we recognize the need for a new model of collaborative leadership. Concentrating power in the hands of a small segment of the church—the clergy—is an unhealthy model that has led to abuses. We must allow all members of the Body of Christ who have been blessed with wisdom and gifts such as administration, money management, teaching, and preaching to share in the responsibility of guiding the church.

All those who have been baptized and confirmed in the Spirit have a sacred responsibility to respond to the prompting of that Spirit. We may not have the voice of Mahalia Jackson, who was an extraordinary gospel singer, but we can learn from her how to use our own voice to encourage others to speak their dream of a just, inclusive, and nurturing kingdom of God.