Each third Monday in January, round his birthday (January 15), we commemorate the life and work of an important chief within the Civil Rights Motion and within the church within the U.S., the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In line with “The 15 Year Battle for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,” “the laws to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first launched simply 4 days after his assassination on April 4, 1968. Nonetheless, it could take 15 years of persistence by civil rights activists for the vacation to be permitted by the federal authorities and a further 17 years for it to be acknowledged in all 50 states” (Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past & Tradition web site). It’s a day for which lots of people needed to advocate for a very long time. It’s a day that wants extra days in its wake dedicated to ending white domination and racial oppression to ensure that the justice that King advocated to flourish in our lives. It’s a day that has so much to say to our racially unjust social actuality and to our justice-striving religion right this moment if we make area for its truths and transformative energy.
Under are some sources for studying, praying, and appearing in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on this vacation and all year long. This record consists of books, studying lists, articles, podcasts, prayers, and alternatives for getting concerned in group service and social justice work. Though among the sources are aimed toward Okay–12 educators, they supply data and educating suggestions which are helpful for church contexts too.
Study
1. Books & Studying Lists
For Adults
For Kids
- Image books:
- “Martin Rising: Requiem for a King” by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney (New York: Scholastic, 2018) – ages 9–12
- “We Dream a World” by Yolanda Renee King (granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.), illustrated by Nicole Tagdell (New York: Scholastic, 2024) – ages 4–8
- Studying record: “Martin Luther King Day 2025,” Burlingame Public Library web site
For Center and Excessive College Youth
2. Learning for Justice
This web site has quite a lot of glorious instructional sources that encourage in-depth historic engagement with King’s life and the Civil Rights Motion. Listed below are a number of of their choices (with their “best of” list from 2018 available at this link):
2. Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
This web site at Stanford College has archived quite a few paperwork by and about King, together with his sermons, speeches, letters, and prayers. For an audio recording and annotated presentation of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, take a look at their “Freedom’s Ring” mission.
3. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (April 16, 1963)
Printed on the African Research Heart on the College of Pennsylvania. For contextual background to this letter, see the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute’s encyclopedia here.
Pray
1. A Prayer by King
“Dearest Jesus, come and sit with us right this moment. Present us the lies which are nonetheless embedded within the soul of America’s consciousness. Unmask the untruths we’ve made our greatest associates. For they search our destruction. And we’re being destroyed, Lord. Reveal the methods the lies have distorted and destroyed {our relationships}. They break your shalom . . . each day. Jesus, give us braveness to embrace the reality about ourselves and also you and our world. Reality: We’re all made in your picture. Reality: You’re God; we’re not. You’re God; cash is just not. You’re God; jails, bombs and bullets usually are not.
“And Jesus, give us religion to imagine: Redemption of individuals, relationships, communities and complete nations is feasible! Give us religion sufficient to resign the lies and tear down the partitions that separate us with our arms, with our toes, and with our votes!”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “Prayers of Martin Luther King Jr: A Brief Collection” at “Prayer and Politiks” (daring emphases theirs)
2. Accumulate for the Feast Day of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your folks out of slavery, and made them free ultimately: Grant that your Church, following the instance of your prophet Martin Luther King, could resist oppression within the title of your love, and should attempt to safe for all of your kids the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
Ceremony II Accumulate for the Feast Day of Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4), from “A Great Cloud of Witnesses: A Calendar of Commemorations” (New York: Church Publishing, 2016), p. 170
3. “Martin Luther King” Prayer by Walter Brueggemann
“We don’t doubt that by means of him and past him, you, holy God of the prophets, are nonetheless pledged to justice and peace and liberty for all.
“We keep in mind Martin in gratitude . . . and chagrin. And we pledge, amid our pressured ambiguities, to dream as he did, to stroll the stroll, and to speak the speak of your coming kingdom.
“We pledge, so certain that your fact won’t cease its march till your will is completed on earth as it’s in heaven.”
Excerpt of “Martin Luther King” by Walter Brueggemann, from “Prayers for a Privileged Individuals” (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008)
4. “Scriptures for Justice, Lament, and Solidarity”
The Episcopal Church’s Racial Justice, Healing and Reconciliation resources embody hyperlinks to scriptures which are significantly fruitful for addressing justice, lament, and solidarity. You may incorporate them right into a liturgy or use them for prayer and devotions.
5. Sermons and Reflections for Martin Luther King Day and the Feast Day of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Listed below are two web sites with collections of sermons, reflections, and different sources for religion communities:
6. The King Heart’s Beloved Group Commemorative Service
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change yearly organizes a series of events for Martin Luther King Day. The concluding occasion is a commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia that can be livestreamed on the King Heart web site and Facebook page.
Act
1. Day of Service
Martin Luther King Day can be a day to serve our neighbors and neighborhoods. Yow will discover concepts and alternatives to get entangled in your group at Americorps.
2. Social Justice Work
The Episcopal Church’s Social Justice and Advocacy Engagement page offers a listing of sources for church buildings to get entangled in social justice work. You may entry a “From the Pew to the Public Sq.” infographic in English and Spanish in addition to supplies on nonviolent direct action, mental health first aid, the National Bail Fund Network, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
3. The Poor Individuals’s Marketing campaign
The Poor People’s Campaign is a up to date motion impressed by King’s preliminary imaginative and prescient for a Poor Individuals’s Marketing campaign in 1968. The marketing campaign is concerned in organizing poor and low-income folks in addition to all who stand in solidarity with them to advocate ethical and political reform that addresses structural social, financial, and ecological injustices and oppressions within the U.S. Their web site highlights a number of reviews, together with The Souls of Poor Folk Audit and A Poor People’s Pandemic Report, and offers information on how to get involved within the motion.
Editor’s Word: This text was first revealed on January 18, 2016. It has been revised, up to date, and republished for 2025.
Featured picture, “Martin Luther King, Jr., head-and-shoulders portrait, going through proper, at microphones, after? assembly with President Johnson to debate civil rights, on the White Home,/ WKL” (Dec. 3, 1963), is by Warren Okay. Leffler on the Library of Congress
