(Extract from a Homily I gave at the funeral service for Vinny MacDonald in Hilltown, County Down on 13 April 2017)
On February 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was preaching in his church, The Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia (where I visited a few years ago). He said on that day in February: “Every now and then, I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s common denominator-that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself: ‘What is it that I would want said?’ And I leave the word to you this morning.
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize. That isn’t important. Tell them NOT to mention that I have three and four hundred other awards, that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Junior tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I tried to feed the hungry. And I want you to say on that day that I did try to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.
Yes if you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; that I was a drum major for righteousness/justice; and all the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that is all I want to say…if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the Master taught, then my living will not be in vain.”
Martin Luther King did not know that he would be struck down by an assassin’s bullet exactly two months later on 4 April 1968. He was 39 years of age. That is 49 years ago.
Martin Luther King was a man with a vision – “a dream” he called it. His dream was part of his spirituality based on the inherent dignity of human beings and on the identity of his people. It was a Christ-centred dream, which gave him courage to face the challenges he had to face. A dream that one day in spite of hostility and opposition and deep-seated racism, there would be equality in the United States of America and everywhere else in the world. That dream has only partially been realised in the USA –but there is no doubt that due to ML King and the civil rights movement black people in the US were empowered and they have achieved a great deal and will continue to achieve more. Martin Luther King inspired many people at that time. He inspired people here in Ireland to come together in the civil rights movement to seek justice and equality. Martin Luther King still inspires people and will continue to do so while people are denied their basic rights.
He will continue to remind us that Christianity has political and humanitarian dimension that should never be forgotten. He paid the ultimate price –but his spirit lives on where people organise to defeat racism, fascism and the denial of basic rights.
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