DEVOTIONAL FROM PASTOR DAVE JANUARY 18, 2023

Life’s Most Urgent Question

This past weekend as a nation and as a church, we’ve been celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the Crest service on Sunday morning, Margee Lee sang a song that I don’t believe I’d ever heard – Patty Griffin’s “Up to the Mountain,” which was inspired by MLK’s last message on the eve of his assassination. Margee blew us away with her soulful singing of these lyrics of his longing for “the peaceful valley just over the mountain” where he knew he would arrive “sooner or later.” It obviously stirred a lot of our souls, and her song was followed by a standing ovation. If you missed it or would like to hear it again, check out the service on our YouTube channel here.

Then on Monday, Drew had organized a day of service at both the Chambliss Center for Children and the Lookout Mountain Conservancy. Drew kicked off the morning by leading us in a prayer service with scriptures that were key to MLK’s ministry (such as Amos 5:24, Micah 6:8), a reading from his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” about being extremists for love, and prayers for social justice and for the poor and neglected from the Book of Common Prayer. Then about 15 of us divided up and went to work at our sites until about noon. It was a beautiful morning and a great time of fellowship and service with folks from other organizations. I’m grateful for Drew for organizing this day of service, and I hope it will become an annual tradition.

In his promotion of this day of service, Drew quoted from a speech MLK delivered in

Montgomery in 1957: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” MLK had a ton of memorable and inspiring quotes, of course, but I’ve been ruminating on this one for the past few days. It reminds me of what Jesus said would matter most in the end – “truly I tell you, just as you cared for one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did so unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

Certainly something to ponder, not just one day a year, but every day.