Another MLK, Jr. Holiday has passed, the 36^th such national celebration now since Congress created the annual commemoration, and Black History Month is on the horizon. When MLK Day was first established, I remember many questioning the need for the holiday. Perhaps it was a veiled, questioning of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. Our only other national holidays observing people were for Lincoln and Washington, and even they had been relegated to one generic President’s Day. For MLK Day this year, quotes by Dr. King were coming from even the most unlikely places and voices. I guess quoting Dr. King is now in vogue, perhaps safe, and perhaps for many a useful strategy.

To be honest, I am conflicted about the holiday. It is not a question of whether Dr. King should be remembered?  Yes! Absolutely, without hesitation, he should be honored as well as so many others who forged the path for his work and those who continue to walk it still today. What concerns me I think, is the manner in which many of us choose to remember Dr. King. And to be straight forward, I am mostly thinking of those of us who identify was white and benefit from the privilege of being white, regardless of our political ideology. For so many still working in the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement, it is a day to remember a significant and prophetic voice, and perhaps draw strength and energy for the ongoing and seemingly never-ending work ahead. A resilience to be admired. For others, it was a well-intentioned opportunity to look at a piece of history of the United States, perhaps for another a unit for the Social Studies classroom and curriculum, and for many, it was another 3-day weekend and a welcome time home with pay, or perhaps without pay for many others.

 As has been my daily routine the past two years, I have been reflecting upon the daily scripture readings from the Christian common lectionary, specifically to see how power and privilege show up in the readings. To consider the civil rights work of the Rev. Dr. King through the lens of scripture seems appropriate. Dr. King was as a pastor and a person of faith in the Christian tradition, which was the moral grounding for his work. Yet, he approached his work of racial equity in a manner that brought all peoples of all backgrounds together in the task of dismantling racism and systemic oppression within the United States and beyond.

So what did the scripture say on MLK, Jr. Day this year? The first reading was from the First Book of Samuel (15:16-23). The Prophet Samuel, not an uncommon thing to happen between prophet and King in the Hebrew Scriptures, is reprimanding Saul, the first King of Israel. Seems Saul was more focused upon offering sacrifices to God, platitudes, rather than actually completing the task that was given him, of working for his people’s safety and freedom. The Lord was more interested in the actual “impact,” rather than the “intent,” of Saul’s actions. The second reading came from the Gospel of Mark (2:18-22). Again, we seem to have a situation of misplaced intentions where the actions of Jesus’ disciples are called into question by the power establishment because they were not “fasting” in ritual observance, a perceive lack of reverence for God. Jesus’s response calls into question the “impact” of these esthetic practices, rather than serving the needs of the community. This won’t be the last time this question is raised. But Jesus was there with them, and thus God was there, and there was work to do. It was not the time for ritual observances. People were in pain and needed physical AND emotional healing. His is a different purpose and intent, one that calls into question, the prevailing attitudes and actions of the day. He metaphorically talks about the destructive impact of new wine into old wine skins, incapable of holding the newness of the new wine. Old ways won’t cut it. God, Jesus, is in their midst, not in some unseen place and time. Jesus is standing right there, God is standing right there. Burnt offerings and symbolic smoke rising to the heavens aren’t necessary.

So what do these stories have to do with remembering Dr. King and this national holiday? Both stories seem to offer a caution about performative actions, symbolic gestures that in the context of the stories, diverted away from what was most importance. For Saul and the Israelites, the Lord was not interested in the platitudes of burnt offerings. The Lord wanted commitment to the unfinished task that stood before the Exodus people. Burnt offerings were premature, if not even worthy. In the Gospel story, as we think of the work taken on by Dr. King that started long before he was born, it is an incomplete work. It could even be argued given some of the events over the past few years, that the work has even taken a few steps backward. Given the rise and resiliency of white supremacy, Anti-Semitism, attacks on voter rights, misinformation campaigns about critical race theory, and other conditions of systemic racism, the work of Dr. King is certainly as relevant and pressing todays as it ever has been.

The quotes attributed to Dr. King are given out of context by many, often with good intention, but also co-opted in many instances for purposes that even go against the work of Dr. King. We struggle as a nation on how to talk about our history of racism, resisting efforts that call for new ways of analyzing our history. We attack approaches we often have little knowledge of, because it offers a different paradigm, a different lens through which to view the world, to interpret events, to view ourselves. They ask us to shift, to consider a change in the views that have often been embedded in us, usually without any questioning. Change is never easy, particularly for those who must experience the loss of privilege & power that comes with it. For many of us and perhaps for our country as a whole, observing MLK Day has become a way to celebrate for one day, while evading the ongoing, more difficult task of working for justice and equity on a daily basis within our own spheres of interest, within our own identity. Memorials of various forms can often be used to preserve the status quo, even if that is not their intent, and often without the realization for many that this is what is happening. We utilize old methods to try to fix problems created by the very systems that fostered the “old methods.” Or, as in the case of new approaches such as “critical race theory” and other approaches to equity work, these new methods are forced to accommodate “old approaches” to avoid for many of us, having to experience discomfort and a disruption of privilege and power in a racialized world.

Yet, the old skins, the old methods, are not up to the task of embracing real change, real equity, and real justice. These old skins, these old methods, can’t hold up. We need new containers, new wine skins to hold a new vision of the world that yes, DOES judge a person by “the content of their character.”  But that can only happen once we have dismantled and transformed the systems of systemic racism that HAVE BEEN judging people “by the color of their skin” for over 400 years throughout the systems of oppression that have been erected. Let me emphasize that there is a sequential order to Dr. King’s famous quote because he was addressing systems of behavior, with the latter part only really possible after the occurrence of the first part. Until we dismantle systemic racism, our individual expressions of respect will have little impact on the systems we operate within. There is NO short-cut. We each, I, must reflect upon our own contributions to this work of dismantling systemic racism in our own lives, families, and circles. We must ask whether our efforts are performative, even perhaps with good “intent”, or are we willingly embracing the discomfort that innately comes with the work of fostering equity and inclusion (impact), of fostering systems that recognize the “image of God” in each person as the Hebrew Scriptures speak of.

Dr. King was a radical in his day, denouncing historical systems of oppression, what is often referred to as “American’s Original Sin.” Any close look at his writings will reveal that his words are still relevant and sadly, often are still very radical today. The sin of slavery, of “America’s Original Sin,” which gave birth to segregation, of systemic racism and systemic oppression, attacked the soul of a nation then, and sadly, continues to do so today. We can honor King for sure, but not at the expense of the uncompleted work he gave his life for. Dr. King’s fight was for “new wine skins,” for a society that has dismantled systems of oppression such as racism, poverty, war, and any other condition denying the imaging of God in people and communities. This is our work as well, to make new wine skins and to fill them with the “new wine” of equity, justice, and inclusion for all people.