By JACOB KINES

Each year in January, it is both my privilege and my responsibility as a person of faith and as an American citizen to listen again to Dr. King’s message of inspiration, wisdom and courage. It is a perennially relevant message that challenges us to work toward the fulfillment of the “dream” of an America in which every person is regarded with dignity and infinite worth. This year, I heard Dr. King’s message first as it was conveyed with powerful eloquence by Pastor Russell Wilkins at the second-annual Beaufort County Community College Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration. Later that day, I recognized with renewed clarity the urgency of the message when I re-read his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail.”

The “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” is perhaps one of Dr. King’s most important letters, particularly for privileged persons like me who consider ourselves people of faith and goodwill. At the time, Dr. King was responding to an open letter written by white “moderate” religious leaders who characterized nonviolent demonstrations in “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” as “unwise and untimely.” Unfortunately, far too many of the social ills Dr. King sought to remedy are still extant today. As one whose common calling to actualize the beloved community resides primarily within the church, I will limit my observations to that sphere.

With few exceptions, those who gather as people of faith on Sunday mornings do so in segregated churches. “All Are Welcome” is the claim of most churches, yet “all” rarely means all. I cannot count the number of times I have met people who courageously and tearfully recall the profound injuries they continue to suffer from the words and actions of confessors who claim to follow the teachings of the one who commanded unconditional love and prayed for our oneness. Having risked believing the sign that reads “all,” many quickly discover that “all” does not include God’s children who do not share the same understanding of what constitutes appropriate worship etiquette, attire or what it means to be in a faithful covenant relationship. These are but a few of the ways in which we unjustly exclude those created in God’s image and ensure that Sunday morning remains “the most segregated time in America.”

What is most troubling about the state of affairs in which we continue to find ourselves is not the outright prejudice, bigotry and injustice that exists among far too many of us. Rather, the greatest hindrance to the actualization of the beloved community continues to be the sentimentality of would-be supporters of the cause for justice who “remain silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.” Like the moderate religious leaders to whom Dr. King was compelled to respond, many of us are deceived by the misconception that time inevitably leads toward progress, and we therefore caution those who unduly suffer injustice and their allies with the “piercingly familiar word … ‘Wait!’” It is as cruel and audacious now as it was then for privileged persons to claim the right to determine the timetable for those who have been denied their rights and privileges.

There is still much work to be done, but there is also much to celebrate 66 years after Dr. King penned his letter. Many of our public servants, educators, businesspersons, religious leaders, caregivers and everyday extraordinary citizens are working urgently and tirelessly toward the fulfillment of the beloved community. Daily they co-labor to create a community in which we celebrate our diversity, even as we celebrate our oneness as people created in God’s image. I thank God for the many women, men and children in our community who refuse to wait, and I pray that God will grant me the inspiration, wisdom and courage to be counted among their number.

Jacob Kines can be reached at: jkines@ChooseONE.Community. He welcomes comments, questions and objections.