Monday’s TownTalk segment includes reflections from area pastors in observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Please listen back to hear these reflections in their entirety.
The Rev. Joseph Ratliff, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, said he views the MLK holiday “not simply about a single man, but…the struggle of Black people for generations. Today, Ratliff said, Black Americans can vote, get elected and sit anywhere they choose on public transportation – “things our grandparents and great-grandparents only dreamt of.”
Because of the continued support from so many, Ratliff said, “we now have a brighter day – there are all kinds of opportunities in front of us.”
He called King the dreamer of the dream that Blacks would no longer be considered second-class citizens, a vision that provided hope to an entire nation.
“Our action – or inaction – determines our future,” Ratliff said. “Dream with me – we can make a difference. Be the somebody that Christ has made you.”
The pastor of Clearview Church, Dr. Abidan Shah, arrived in the U.S. as a teenager and quickly realized that “every citizen had the opportunity to achieve, through hard work, determination and initiative.”
He called King one of the most influential Christians in history, and laid down the challenge to revisit King’s vision of equality for all – that vision that says people should not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the strength of their character.
Dr. Ron Cava, senior minister at First Baptist Church, said he is a little too young to have first-hand knowledge about King and his ministry, but said what he has learned about King confirms the idea that he was not only a prophet but a great preacher.
King’s ministry, like the Gospels in the Bible, charge believers to love our neighbors as ourselves, Cava explained, “regardless of race or gender or a multitude of factors that divide us.”
The time is now “to let freedom ring and… justice roll down like a mighty torrent,” Cava said.
Elder Gloria Ragland delivers the “Walking in the Word” program on WIZS on Sunday mornings said if King were alive today, she believes he’d look approvingly on accomplishments, “but we still haven’t gone far enough yet – my dream is bigger than this (because) we still have racism, hate and discrimination.”
“I believe he would also say ‘God is love,’” she added.
“We have come a mighty long way,” Ragland said. “It’s time for us to love one another, show respect for one another,” she said.
We are all part of God’s creation, Ragland said. “We should be able to get along, to work together…it shouldn’t be about differences, but we are one with God.”
She said she believes that God wants all of his children to get along and to prosper.
“You can’t make it to heaven with hate” in your heart, she said.
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