Reflection on MLK preaching

I've read nearly all of King's writings.
I've listened to twenty of his sermons.
I want to suggest that based on what I have read and heard
that the power of King's preaching -
and the power of his moral leadership -
was that it was rooted in his appeal
to the most insistent of all human desires,
the desire for justice. . .
and his own struggle to keep hope alive
in the face of a hard, hard struggle.

Preachers make a distinction between topical sermons,
prophetic sermons, and pastoral sermons.

Topical sermons are sermons about something,
about religious education,
about why it is good to join a church,
about how reason is a good thing.
Topical sermons arise from the role of the preacher as teacher.

Then there is prophetic sermons,
Prophetic sermons denounce the wrong doing in some public situation,
and inspire the congregation to rise up and do something about it.

or for preachers like me, who are little less in to denouncing things,
I might tell a story about somebody who breaks through prejudice
and obstactles
to be the kind of person that makes a difference.
to witness justice and peace.
I call that the prophetic story sermon.

Finally there is the pastoral sermon,
The pastoral sermon addresses some spiritual issue
people might be struggling with.....
facing our losses, how to deal with difficult people,
forgiving ourselves for being human.

Sometimes the pastoral sermon has a story,
of someone is an example who recovers from addiction,
or someone who reconciles with a enemy.

When I listen to King,
he must have not taken notes in preaching class,
because he combines all three in one sermon...
in all sermons......

He will talk to his listeners about not be jealous,
not trying to keep up with the Jones,
not living beyond one's financial means,
by putting on a show,
and how we should care for one another,
and then start preaching about how caring for one another
means overcoming poverty,
and keeping hope alive.

His prophetic preaching was experienced as loving
because he did not simply denounce wrong doing,
he combined hope, and perserverence,
and forgiveness of others as well as yourself
in every sermon.

He would refer to the segregationists, as "our brothers"
King understood that this is the secret and the strength of all prophetic preaching
in every great religious tradition of all history.
Hope and justice are inseparably bound.

As Dr. King put it, "not the power of Pharaoh,
nor the cumulative power of all the legions ever assembled"
are mightier than hope and justice allied.