Finding Unity in Diversity: Understanding the Christian’s Role in MLK’s Mission

What do you think of when you hear the name Martin Luther King Jr.? Do you think of an activist, unafraid of spending time in jail for what he believed? Do you think of a great preacher, educated and passionate about his work? Maybe, like many of us, you don’t think about him much at all until his picture starts popping up in your Facebook feed each January.

What do you think of when you hear the name Martin Luther King Jr.? Do you think of an activist, unafraid of spending time in jail for what he believed? Do you think of a great preacher, educated and passionate about his work? Maybe, like many of us, you don’t think about him much at all until his picture starts popping up in your Facebook feed each January.

These are some of the options that Sho Baraka, recording artist and co-founder of the AND Campaign, offered at a special SAU Chapel on Monday, Jan. 20. His address, “Remembering Dr. King: Where do we go from here? 51 years after his death,” challenged the audience to think of King as more than just one thing. Instead, Baraka called King “a man whose faith allowed him to see dignity in others and push toward unity and a beloved community.”

SAU Chief Diversity Officer Kevin Brown began Chapel by welcoming not only students, but also members of the SAU faculty and Jackson and Spring Arbor communities who had taken the time to attend.

Brown’s remarks were followed by a short performance by Dr. Frederick Bland, Associate Professor of Counseling in SAU’s School of Social Sciences. Bland used his rich, inspiring vocal ability to draw the audience’s attention to the reason for the gathering. He wanted to direct the audience’s thoughts toward the history of a people who suffered the horrors of slavery, but came through it with a strong faith in God.

It is that unity of suffering and purpose that Baraka emphasized during his talk. From the time he stepped up to the podium to the time he left, Baraka easily held the audience’s attention. He managed to combine humor with brutal honesty about where we are — not just as a nation still facing the racial divides King faced, but as a community of believers who have a responsibility to try to heal them.

It makes sense that Christians should be the first to step up and advocate for social change. After all, Jesus focused on drawing in fringe groups and creating unity where the world says there should be none. Baraka pointed out that, unfortunately, Christians often fail to live up to Jesus’s example.

While Christianity is about a relationship with God, it is also about relationships with the world and with other people. Baraka referenced the first verse of Genesis, which tells us that God created all that exists. As a result, everything and everyone is deserving of dignity. Furthermore, we are called to honor that dignity by participating in creation. We are called to shape the world and fill it.

It would be easy to say we have already done that. After all, how many unexplored places remain on the face of the Earth? The problem is that everything we were created for was corrupted. Baraka says this corruption did more than condemn people to death. Creation, culture and relationships were all twisted out of their intended shape.

That corruption is the source of the pain and division King spent his life trying to heal. He recognized that things were not as they were supposed to be. Yet he did more than just see the problem and shake his head in despair: He took action. “If we believe people are sinful, we then create sinful things and systems. Christians are called to redeem these things,” says Baraka. This kind of redemption was King’s goal, and it’s what Baraka encourages Christians to continue even 50 years after King’s death.

Christ unwound the damages of sin by giving his life. He created a path to unity, and Christians are called to spread that unity wherever they go. We are called to do more than repost inspirational quotes from King once a year. Instead, we need to pursue King’s vision, the vision Christ gave us 2,000 years ago.

This calling toward unity spreads beyond good deeds. Baraka mentioned how, in past years, members of the SAU community spent MLK Day working on service projects. While acts of service like those are good, he told the audience, they miss the point. King himself noted that just doing a good thing is not enough. As King put it, Christians must “seek to clear the Jericho road of its robbers as well as [care] for the victims of robbery.” 

Genesis tells us that evil exists because sin corrupted what was once good. “The economy of God was inverted,” says Baraka. Because of sin, we all too often choose to let our lives reflect our ambitions, desires and visions instead of those of our creator. The only way to fix this is to lean on God’s redemptive power for ourselves and our nations.

Baraka wants to broaden our understanding of the Gospel. It doesn’t just save us from death, it helps us understand why we live. We live to create, form relationships and shape our world to reflect God.

What does that reflection look like? To King, it was an image of unity.

Christians are responsible for trying to heal the divide. Baraka cautioned that this does not mean simply ignoring our differences. After all, God created a world filled with and defined by diversity. To ignore our differences is to ignore who God made us to be. The only way we can begin to heal our divided world is to learn to appreciate and celebrate diversity.

These are some of the options that Sho Baraka, recording artist and co-founder of the AND Campaign, offered at a special SAU Chapel on Monday, Jan. 20. His address, “Remembering Dr. King: Where do we go from here? 51 years after his death,” challenged the audience to think of King as more than just one thing. Instead, Baraka called King “a man whose faith allowed him to see dignity in others and push toward unity and a beloved community.”

SAU Chief Diversity Officer Kevin Brown began Chapel by welcoming not only students, but also members of the SAU faculty and Jackson and Spring Arbor communities who had taken the time to attend.

Brown’s remarks were followed by a short performance by Dr. Frederick Bland, Associate Professor of Counseling in SAU’s School of Social Sciences. Bland used his rich, inspiring vocal ability to draw the audience’s attention to the reason for the gathering. He wanted to direct the audience’s thoughts toward the history of a people who suffered the horrors of slavery, but came through it with a strong faith in God.

It is that unity of suffering and purpose that Baraka emphasized during his talk. From the time he stepped up to the podium to the time he left, Baraka easily held the audience’s attention. He managed to combine humor with brutal honesty about where we are — not just as a nation still facing the racial divides King faced, but as a community of believers who have a responsibility to try to heal them.

It makes sense that Christians should be the first to step up and advocate for social change. After all, Jesus focused on drawing in fringe groups and creating unity where the world says there should be none. Baraka pointed out that, unfortunately, Christians often fail to live up to Jesus’s example.

While Christianity is about a relationship with God, it is also about relationships with the world and with other people. Baraka referenced the first verse of Genesis, which tells us that God created all that exists. As a result, everything and everyone is deserving of dignity. Furthermore, we are called to honor that dignity by participating in creation. We are called to shape the world and fill it.

It would be easy to say we have already done that. After all, how many unexplored places remain on the face of the Earth? The problem is that everything we were created for was corrupted. Baraka says this corruption did more than condemn people to death. Creation, culture and relationships were all twisted out of their intended shape.

That corruption is the source of the pain and division King spent his life trying to heal. He recognized that things were not as they were supposed to be. Yet he did more than just see the problem and shake his head in despair: He took action. “If we believe people are sinful, we then create sinful things and systems. Christians are called to redeem these things,” says Baraka. This kind of redemption was King’s goal, and it’s what Baraka encourages Christians to continue even 50 years after King’s death.

Christ unwound the damages of sin by giving his life. He created a path to unity, and Christians are called to spread that unity wherever they go. We are called to do more than repost inspirational quotes from King once a year. Instead, we need to pursue King’s vision, the vision Christ gave us 2,000 years ago.

This calling toward unity spreads beyond good deeds. Baraka mentioned how, in past years, members of the SAU community spent MLK Day working on service projects. While acts of service like those are good, he told the audience, they miss the point. King himself noted that just doing a good thing is not enough. As King put it, Christians must “seek to clear the Jericho road of its robbers as well as [care] for the victims of robbery.” 

Genesis tells us that evil exists because sin corrupted what was once good. “The economy of God was inverted,” says Baraka. Because of sin, we all too often choose to let our lives reflect our ambitions, desires and visions instead of those of our creator. The only way to fix this is to lean on God’s redemptive power for ourselves and our nations.

Baraka wants to broaden our understanding of the Gospel. It doesn’t just save us from death, it helps us understand why we live. We live to create, form relationships and shape our world to reflect God.

What does that reflection look like? To King, it was an image of unity

Christians are responsible for trying to heal the divide. Baraka cautioned that this does not mean simply ignoring our differences. After all, God created a world filled with and defined by diversity. To ignore our differences is to ignore who God made us to be. The only way we can begin to heal our divided world is to learn to appreciate and celebrate diversity.

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