Dr. King's final speech, “I See The Promised Land,” was given on a stormy night which would become the eve of his assassination.  He opened saying, “I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.”

In his speech he imagined God giving him the option to live at any point in time. He soars through many of the peaks of history but ultimately tells God he choses to live in the second half of the twentieth century. He comments on his decision saying, “Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars... something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up...the cry is always the same-- 'We want to be free.'” 

Sounds a lot like the first half of the twenty fist century to me.  As Dr. king noted about his day and age, we too are “forced to a point where we're going to have to grapple with the problems that men [sic] have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it.” Dr. King tells us that the demands of the times now force us to do it. It is no longer, as he rightly points out, a question of violence and non-violence; it is a question of violence and nonexistence. Be they war and peace or human rights, these problems persist and so must we.

Not surprisingly, in his final speech, Dr. King gives us some sage advice for how we go about non-violently confronting these problems. It begins with staying united. Those of us who favor the side of peace and the promotion of all human rights must stay united. As he, points out with great historical acuity, when the Pharaoh needed to prolong slavery, he promoted disunity amongst the slaves. Unless we wish for all of humanity to continue to be enslaved to violence, unless we wish for select groups to continue to be abused and marginalized, we must stop our petty infighting and stand with a united voice that speaks out louder than any divisions based on nation, creed or educational background.

Dr. King also asked us to stay focused, to “keep the issues where they are.” We cannot be distracted by violence, name calling, holier-than-thou attitudes or hatred. We must be focused on our purpose – love. We must be brave and be bold in that purpose, but we must not let the seeds of hate take root in the fertile soil of righteousness. If we let them take root, it will grow into a thicket that will prevent us from reaching our goal. When we gather to non-violently oppose war and the abuse of human rights, the presence of violence, name calling, holier-than-thou attitudes and hatred only distract from the vision we are trying to cast. The vision will be obscured by our lack of focus on the message of love and while people will talk, they will talk about the hate and not about the core issue of debate. We must not be distracted.

To borrow from Dr. King, the question you must ask yourself is not, if I stop to help the victims of war and those whose civil rights are being ignored, what will happen to me? The question you should ask yourself is, if you do not, what will happen to them? You see, we must stay united and we must stay focused against the storm of violence and abuse of civil rights which continues to roll in on us from the mountaintops upon which the powerful sit. From Union busting to preemptive wars, a storm is brewing and it has been brewing. 

Dr. King asks us the question, will you gather in spite of the coming storm? Will you unite? Will you stay focused? Are you determined to go on anyhow?

Don't get me wrong, I am a BIG Obama supporter.  I've even been called an Obama apologist.  I just happen to think that people who shout and yell that they are disappointed in Obama just haven't been paying attention before the election or they came late to the game.  Not to mention, the realities of Washington (completely messed up and dysfunctional when it comes to serving the will of the people) are such that bold actions are no longer as possible as they once were.  The most effective civil servants in Washington, in recent times, have been the ones who take a centrist approach (I'm not saying it's a good thing, just a reality).

While the swelling rhetoric of Obama certainly played a big role in his election, it would be shortsighted to miss that it was clear, decisive, strategic thinking that put him in a position to be a candidate at all. Being disappointed in him for his record thus far is like being disappointed in Jon Stewart for having a rally to support civility and then being too civil (hmmmm, maybe that's a bad example).

So, yes, I'm a big Obama supporter (possibly to a fault).  And, yes, I think that  clear, decisive, strategic thinking is ultimately what it takes to 'win' out on Capital Hill, but I happen to think that some things are worth fighting for.  I happen to think that there are some principles that should not be compromised.  Unfortunately,  the budget President Obama is presenting to congress crosses a line for me and I'm bummed. O-bummer.  

The budget being presented (to quote a recent Huffington Post article), “attacks programs that assist the working poor, help the needy heat their homes, expand access to graduate-level education and undermine that type of community-based organizations that gave the president his start in Chicago.” I completely get that he is trying to overcome the largest deficit in our history.  As a minister, I just happen to have a problem with him trying to do it on the backs of the lower and middle class. Go figure.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.”  Approximately, 75% of the people in the US fall into the categories of lower and middle class. These are the people whose backs must bare the burden of this proposed budget.  But this shouldn't be a game of numbers, which is what placing the deficit recovery burden on the lower and middle classes does.  This should be a game of dollars.  Considering that the upper class in the United States, the top 25%, own approximately 75% percent of the wealth, the solution needs to fall more squarely on their shoulders... but it doesn't, because they own Washington and don't have to bend their backs. 

We, the working (and want to be working) class, must take a message from our brothers and sisters in Egypt.  When will we stop bowing down with bent backs for the wealthy to ride as we labor?  When will we cast aside the yoke of the lower and middle classes that the wealthy and well-to-do are only all to glad to use to steer us towards their will?

In the book of Matthew, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Those on the right love to quote scripture when in gives them an upper hand, but it is time to claim the gospel reality back.  I do not want a church state, but I do want Christians to claim the gospel reality that lightens the burdens of the weary, gives hope to the hopeless and a hand up to those who have fallen down.

Mr. President, we the people, respectfully reject your budget. I personally refuse to believe (being the good Christian that you are) that you really think the solution to the deficit burden should be placed on the backs of those already weary with work, weary with finding work, weary with unmanageable hospital bills, weary with worries of sending kids to college and paying for our own retirement - worries so great that our backs are already bent from the strain of reality in such a way that it is hard, almost unbearable, to continue to bow our backs up every time the powerful try to break them and along with them our will.  

We need you Mr. President.  We need you to be our voice.  With the state of our great nation this is no longer a negotiable point.  This is a line that must not be crossed.  A budget that takes further advantage of those who suffer the most is not acceptable.

We need you Mr. President, but here's the thing: as much as you have done for us (and I do see what you have done), we are Americans - we will bow our backs up again if we must, but we elected you so it would be easier, not harder. Please do not forget that.  Please do not forget us.  I promise you, either way, we will not forget.

Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity takes place this week.  I have to say, I am literally praying that it hits a nerve with most  Americans.  Admittedly, we know very little about what will actually happen at the rally.  It's hard to say definitively that it won't just turn out to be a jokefest, but even in his most comical moments Jon Stewart manages to slip in biting, level-headed, rational social and political commentary, so I can't help but believe the rally will be similar.

And none-to-soon.  As a matter of fact, you could easily make the argument that it is almost too late.  The divides in this nation are as deep as they have been in recent memory.  Political attack ads don't even pretend to be sane. If anything there seems to be a competition for who can get away with the most insane, unfounded, outrageous ad. “I'll see your 'scary Mexican illegal immigrants' and raise you a 'Latinos shouldn't vote.'” 

And it isn't just the Right that isn't...well, right.  The left plays their own version of this reactionary, thoughtless insanity. From the recent firing of  NPR analysts Juan Williams for giving commentary on a show where he was taking on the role of commentator to the USDA firing Shirley Sherrod for something she said about a white farmer which was taken out of context.  In both cases rational, sound minds might have contextualized their statements and made reasonable choices rather than capitulating to the either\or with\us against us false dichotomy than has been falsely set up as the prevailing narrative our our nation.

As I said, we don't really know what Stewart's (and Colbert's) plans are for the rally, but the signs being proposed for the rally (check them at at saneornot.com/sane) do give us a general idea of what might be the day's theme: “I understand the difference between, communism, fascism, and socialism and don't use the terms interchangeably,” “My political views cannot be summarized in a pithy sign,” “One of us or perhaps neither of us may be right.”   At the heart of each sign: rationality, reasonableness and acceptance.

As a Christian minister, I have to say I'm majorly in favor of moving this nation away from our current wilderness of division and hate, toward a narrative of acceptance and sanity.  John the Baptist brought a similar message from the wilderness in a time of political and religious divides.  During a time when those with power and money were constantly taking advantage of those without, he proclaimed the coming of one that would lower the mountains and  raise up the valleys; make the crooked straight; and the rough plains smooth.

Jesus did just that.  Calling for the world to stop it's dividing and belittling ways, to recognize the value in everyone, to offer a helping hand to those in need, and to stop the corruption practiced by so many of the powerful.  Much later in the history of the world another man would pick up the great theme of which John the Baptist proclaimed as he stood in Washington, DC and said, “I  have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

The fear and the divide that political ads and reactionary responses to sound bites place on this nation move us further away from Jesus' vision which was so soundly reiterated in Dr. King's dream.  We must not let the fear, division and thoughtlessness win out.

Clearly Stewart is no Dr. King, or John the Baptist or Jesus.  But (even though the far Right will no doubt bash his message as elitist, socialist, and naïve) it does seem that, Stewart stands in the shadows of these giants in as much as, it would seem, he will be reiterating their message to us... only he'll be funnier.  Let us hope, let us pray, that all flesh will see that day together.