ROAD RULES: LESSONS FROM THE JERICHO ROAD

Rev. C. Anthony Hunt, Ph.D. 

(This is the full text of the sermon delivered at the Chapel Worship Service at Oxnam Chapel, Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC on Tuesday, February 2, 2016.)

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  (Luke 10:29) Luke 10:25-37

       In the city of Baltimore, where I do ministry, several communities have come to be designated and known as “Blue Light” neighborhoods.  These are considered to be some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, and at night one can see the constant blinking of blue lights overhead.  These lights are a reminder of the crime and violence that has affected and often afflicted many of our communities, and the people who live in them and travel through them.   It is my sense that these “blue light” neighborhoods are not unlike the Jericho road that Jesus was speaking about in scripture.

Jesus uses what has come to be known as the story of the Good Samaritan to teach those of his day and those who would hear this story even today, some “road rules.”  The Jericho road was known to be a dangerous road – a winding and dark road - where it was not unusual for people to experience the type of violence that Jesus points to in the story of the Good Samaritan. 

It seems as though the times of Jesus were not much unlike ours.  We are reminded of the arduous nature of some of the proverbial “roads of life” today. 

I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Prophetic Preaching

 

Rev. C. Anthony Hunt, Ph.D.

(This is the full text of the lecture delivered at the 2016 Festival of Preaching at St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, April 16, 2016.)

The preaching, public ministry and practice of public theology of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offer us critical lenses through which we can look and see the prophetic role of the preacher in the twenty-first century.  In as much as Dr. King was a Baptist preacher and pastor, along with being most known in the public sphere as a Civil Rights leader, He was a public theologian bringing to bear his theological training, upon the social conditions of his time.  For him, faith – what we believe about God and the universe – was to be acted out in ways that brought about not only spiritual transformation, but social transformation.

       This is to say that for King, if the church was to be the church, it would engage in prophetic witness that would bring its spiritual, social, economic and political resources to bear in ways that would affirm God’s love, and be truly reconciling, redeeming, liberating and transforming.

In his preaching and praxis of ministry, King’s own particular prophetic concerns were to address what he deemed to be the “triplets of evil” – racism, classism (economic inequality), and militarism (war).  His witness would spawn a religious and social movement unparalleled in American history.  The demand for racial and social justice in the South would be the impetus for concomitant social and political movements across a number of sectors:

·         The roots of the struggle for women’s rights (feminism and womanism), the rights of   
       gays and lesbians, the rights of workers and the disabled, and the rights of immigrants of
       various hews of brown, red, yellow and black can be traced to the prophetic stance of Dr.
       King.

·         It was King who espoused a form of nonviolent social resistance and direct action that would ultimately lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965) by the Congress of the United States.  

·         The epistemological foundations of affirmative action – however we might view it today – is rooted in King’s prophetic vision of equality and justice throughout society. 

·         The American Civil Rights movement - led by Dr. King - served as an impetus and model of liberation and human rights movements across the globe – in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Central and South America.

Here, I will address the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, with particular focus on ways that the preachers today might seek to appropriate and re-appropriate prophetic preaching and praxis within the context of 21^st century realities in the church and society.  This analysis will entail three parts.   First, a brief overview of prophetic preaching – what it is - will be offered.  Second, an analysis of the spiritual, social and intellectual development of Martin Luther King, Jr. will be offered.  Here the formative influences (roots) - familial, spiritual (the church), communal, and intellectual - on King’s thought and praxis will be examined.  Who and what in his development most influenced King?   Thirdly, a brief analysis of King’s preaching and prophetic witness will be offered with a focus on implications for the 21^st century church.  What might we glean from preaching and praxis of King as we seek to effect change into the future?