Here’s a responsive
litany written for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
It comes from Rev. Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy of First Church
Congregational in Rochester, NH.
Responsive Litany
We know from experience that freedom is never free.
Throughout history,
the
struggle for freedom has not been well-timed.
More often than not, those who strive hear the response, "Wait!"
It is easy for those who do not suffer to urge patience,
More often than not, those who strive hear the response, "Wait!"
It is easy for those who do not suffer to urge patience,
to speak
of timing.
Yet there must come a time when the cup of endurance runs over,
Yet there must come a time when the cup of endurance runs over,
when we become
unwilling to be plunged into an abyss of injustice,
and the
bleakness of corroding despair.
Let us not be more devoted to order than to justice,
Let us not be more devoted to order than to justice,
let us not
suggest that the quest for justice
might ever
await a more convenient season.
As people
of the Gospel,
let us
devote ourselves to the positive peace
which is
the presence of justice, of righteousness,
of
solidarity in the Body of Christ.
~ written by
Rev. Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy, freely adapted from Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." sermonizing.wordpress.com
