By Susan MacDonnell
In April of 1967, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gave what he considered his most important speech ever, “Beyond Vietnam,” at Riverside Church in New York City. The central thrust of his message was a call for “a radical revolution of values.” His appeal to a packed audience of almost 4,000 was that all people of faith—Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists—face an existential choice: we can remain complacent about suffering inflicted by the powerful against the powerless, he said. Or, he reasoned, people could engage in a genuine revolution against their own complacency and self-serving comforts. At the time, the U.S. military was fighting against the people of North Vietnam.
The second choice, he emphasized, is the choice we must make if we are to survive and live in a state of radical engagement. He argued that such engagement is fueled by fighting non-violently against blatant exploitation of the poor, destruction of the oceans, air and arable land, hatred, and violence against “the other.” Dr. King expressed that perhaps, for Americans, the most challenging struggle of all is illusion of supremacy.
At this Sunday’s UUFSMA service, guest speaker Jurgen Ahlers will revisit this historic turning point in Dr. King’s messaging and underscore its abiding relevance as a summons to a 21st century “radical revolution of values» that confronts the alarming issues of our time. Ahlers is an active and long-time member of the UUSMA Fellowship who has, as Stanley Kunitz writes in his poem, “The Layers,” “walked through many lives.” He is an ordained Presbyterian minister who transitioned mid-career from teaching theology at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and Florida State University, to become a consultant to multi-national corporations in organizational dynamics.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal faith inviting its community to gather around a set of harmonizing values and principles for living. Our UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Belief in a divinity is not the central issue around which we gather for worship and generous action. Rather, we come together with a belief in community, love, compassion, social justice, reverence for nature, and the spirituality of music, all within the interconnected web of existence.
UUFSMA donates generously to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button.
To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25am CST. Enjoy previous services at https://www.youtube.com/UUFSMA. In addition to continuing live Zoom services, UUFSMA has returned to in-person Sunday services. Reservations are no longer necessary.
*Susan MacDonnell is the UUFSMA Sunday Service Co-Chair
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship San Miguel de Allende (UUFSMA) Sunday Service
“MLK, Jr.: The Radical King”
Speaker: Jurgen Ahlers
Sun., Jan. 15, 10:30am
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513
