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Welcome to the Martin Luther King Jr Day episode of Seminary Dropout.
To start off the show I say thank you to those who have given me feedback in the last weeks. It really does mean a lot to me.
My interview this week is with Grace Biskie. Grace is a blogger and speaker, and is working on her first memoir.
In the interview we talk about the concept of privilege and racial reconciliation in light of the Gospel.
The Epilogue:
After this interview, Grace and I were talking and she asked when this episode would be published. I told her I would publish one the next Monday and then publish hers two weeks after that. I didn’t realize when I said that, that it would be Martin Luther King Jr day. So I didn’t plan this, but I think it’s pretty cool that it panned out that way.
Two years ago when Kate and I had just moved to Austin, we were looking for a church home. On the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr day we visited two different churches, one in the morning and one at night that would eventually become our church home. We caught two of the best sermons I’ve ever heard that day, they were both about the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.
On that day I listened to the words of his “I Have a Dream” speech with new ears, and the word that kept coming to mind when I heard it was “Christ-like.” You see Jesus didn’t come and say “here are a set of rules you need to follow, I don’t care if you like them or if you like me, but you need to follow through with them.” No, he came for the hearts of men & women, not just demanding that we go through the motions of morality.
When I listened to the I have a dream speech that day, I noticed something. Although he rightly spoke about equality on a governmental level, he didn’t stop there. If he had he wouldn’t have said things like:
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
“…one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
When I heard those words again for the first time, I realized, he didn’t just want laws to force us to treat each other fairly, he wanted us to love each other.
Mentioned on the podcast:
Grace’s Blog:
gabbingwithgrace.com
Twitter:
@gabwithgrace
Books:
More Than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel
Being White: Finding Our Place in a Multiethnic World
