This Is the Way...
A 40-Year-Old Dream With Shades of Eternity

Forty years ago this past August, a relatively young man stood before an audience of a quarter of a million people gathered in the hallway of democracy between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, known as the National Mall. There he shared a dream with his fellow citizens. One man, with one dream, in one speech spoke of one cherished treasure that had eluded his people—freedom.

The moment had arrived; Martin Luther King Jr. walked onto the national stage and into history by bringing a message marked with his even-paced and ever-rising oratorical crescendo that mixed words, metaphors and thoughts from the biblical prophets of old, Shakespeare and slogans of long ago New Deal optimism. In his now well-known conclusion, he defined his dream with word pictures of mountaintops ringing with freedom (crafted from "My Country ’Tis of Thee") and then punctuated all he had said with the valiant cry of joy from an old "Negro spiritual."

The "I Have a Dream" speech would be the oratorical catalyst that would awaken social consciousness to such an appropriate level that the U.S. Congress would ultimately pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, forever changing the country. Dr. King would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, but he would also be cruelly rewarded with a martyr’s death in 1968 for his life’s work "for the cause of brotherhood and peace."

Another dreamer, another time

Dr. King would not be the first dreamer to be faced with the taunt of "Who does he think he is?"—thus inviting an uncertain future. Neither would he be the first dreamer to seemingly be silenced or cruelly struck down by people seeking to maintain the status quo. Long ago, another young man shared a dream that placed him in harm’s way. It is recorded in your Bible in Genesis 37.

Read the full article at www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/way-40-year-old-dream-shades-eternity

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This Is the Way... A 40-Year-Old Dream With Shades of Eternity

Read the full article at www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/way-40-year-old-dream-shades-eternity

This Is the Way...
A 40-Year-Old Dream With Shades of Eternity