The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Jeremiah 1:7b
In August of 1966, some two months after graduating from California State College in Pennsylvania (now California University of Pennsylvania), I packed my car and headed west to Akron, Ohio, to begin my adult life and career as a Spanish and French teacher in the Akron Public School System. Now, some 55 years and a few career changes later, I happily return to Southwestern Pennsylvania this January to serve as the acting bishop of your synod for two months, while Bishop Kurt Kusserow enjoys a brief sabbatical.
As we hear in a well-known evening prayer, we cannot see the ending of the ventures to which God calls God’s servants. My journey has steered me beyond teaching to positions in the fields of broadcasting with several television and radio stations, mostly in Cleveland; and into a community relations post with the Cleveland Major League Baseball Club. Eventually, the path led me to a vocation in ordained ministry through the Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM) program and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Two calls into my ministry I was elected bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod and six years later, entered into retirement, or so I thought, in December of 2020.
My brief sojourn with you, the people of God in Southwestern Pennsylvania, will be highlighted by the commemoration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Sunday, January 16, 2022.
In preparation for that synod-wide worship celebration, your Authentic Diversity and Justice Working Group and I have been holding monthly planning sessions electronically. Although Martin Luther King, Jr., is known primarily as the leader of the Civil Rights movement, he always considered himself first and foremost a preacher of the gospel. Yes, Dr. King was a social reformer, an activist, a politician; but above all, his message of personal and social transformation was rooted in the prophets and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He knew the power of Christ’s teachings to change the world, if we would allow the love of God to enter and dwell within our hearts and in so doing, transform our practices and attitudes toward each other. This was his dream. This was his gospel message.
Dr. King’s legacy was a testimony to the power of love, and on many occasions, he said that the insidious power of hatred could only be transformed by love.
King’s legacy, as a preacher and pastor, was also foundational to his belief in non-violence. Despite other voices who advocated violence as the answer, King never abandoned the gospel teachings of Jesus in this respect.
None of us needs any special qualifications to be a witness to Christ and the love of God, except our conviction that everyone needs God, and that God has come for everyone in Christ Jesus.
I pray that you will join, either virtually or in person, on January 16, and that this worship celebration and commemoration will inspire you to lift up and live out the legacy and dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, not only on that day, but in the days to come.
Bishop Abraham D. Allende
Acting Bishop, January & February 2022
abraham.allende@swpasynod.org | 412-367-8222