2025 King Day Celebration Sermon: "We Can Complete the Mission No Matter What!"
Theme:
Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence 365
Greetings, brothers and sisters in the spirit of justice, peace, and freedom, Greetings to My NAACP Branch While I’m Still a member at Large Member of the Organization and have not transferred back to Marlboro County yet I will see to it in 2026.
It is a deep honor to stand before you tonite as we gather in the hallowed memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As we reflect on his vision for justice, freedom, and equality, we must ask ourselves: How do we continue his mission in 2025, in a time when our values of freedom, justice, and democracy seem to be under constant attack?
I ask you this afternoon How do we “Complete the Mission, No Matter What?”
The Best Answer I can come up with is found in James,
James 1:22-25: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s call for justice remains an ever-present challenge, a call that speaks to the heart of our present struggles. In the spirit of the King Center theme This year “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365”, we must remember that this mission is not just a once-a-year observance—it is a daily commitment.
It is a mission that requires us to be persistent, to be vigilant, and to act in the face of adversity. We live in a time of a moral crisis rooted in this nation’s original sins of the genocide of indigenous people and race-based slavery. Though this is not the first time we’ve faced the demons of systemic racism, their capacity to consume us has rarely been more palpable in our common life.
The fundamental values of our deepest moral and religious traditions are love, truth, grace, justice, care of family, community, and shared prosperity.
But these values are under assault.
As systemic racism deconstructs our national reality, more and more people are pushed into poverty while the rich get richer. Hard-won voting rights are under constant assault: lawmakers target African Americans “with almost surgical precision” to gain partisan advantage in elections, While the rich pay 250 million for and election two days later rewarded with 200 billion
As we gather today, we find ourselves at a crossroads, much like the one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so often spoke of—a place where the soul of a people and the moral compass of a nation hang in the balance. Here in South Carolina, the echoes of Dr. King’s prophetic voice still call us to confront the realities of systemic injustice, economic inequity, and political disenfranchisement.
These challenges are not abstract; they are the lived experiences of Black families across our state and our nation.
• In South Carolina, over 38% of the population lives in poverty or hang on its edge, with Black families bearing the heaviest burden.
• The state’s minimum wage remains a meager $7.25 an hour, while the cost of living soars far beyond reach.
• Healthcare access—so vital to life and dignity—is slipping further away for over 214,000 of our neighbors projected to lose Medicaid coverage.
• Meanwhile, housing insecurity grows, with thousands of families at risk of eviction.
These are not mere statistics; they are the daily struggles of God’s children, crying out for justice.
• Our schools, often hailed as the key to opportunity, are shackled by chronic underfunding, particularly in predominantly Black districts Like Marlboro Florence 3.
• Teachers are vilified, and education is turned into a battleground for profit and ideology, leaving our children—our future—ill-equipped to succeed.
• At the same time, our communities endure environmental neglect, as corporations exploit and pollute with impunity, leaving Black neighborhoods to bear the brunt of climate change and health crises.
And yet, even as these injustices persist, the tools of democracy meant to empower us are being systematically stripped away.
You really can’t talk about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. without talking about his Poor People’s Campaign. Many people forget or don’t realize that one of the final pivots in Dr. King’s ministry was a call to confront the systemic poverty gripping our nation. This wasn’t just an abstract idea; it was grounded in his encounters with real people and the harsh realities they faced.
It was a conversation with Marian Wright—now Marian Wright Edelman—who, at the time, was the director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, that helped ignite this vision. She, along with other leaders from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, had witnessed children without shoes and families living in homes with dirt floors. These vivid images of systemic neglect and economic disparity moved Dr. King to launch the Poor People’s Campaign in 1967.
For the past seven years, I’ve been privileged to work passionately with the 2020 version of the New Poor People’s Campaign. And let me tell you, the poverty Dr. King fought against still persists. In places like Denmark, South Carolina, and Henderson County, you find people living in abject poverty just miles from some of the wealthiest communities in the country. These disparities are not accidents; they are the result of systems designed to keep people locked in cycles of suffering.
I’ll never forget Pamela Sue Rush and her mobile home in Tyler, Alabama. Tyler is an unincorporated rural community in Lowndes County, a place where poverty runs deep. Pamela welcomed me into her world, a world that should not exist in America. Her mobile home, falling apart with a sewage-polluted yard, bore witness to the prison of poverty she and her two children were trapped in.
Pamela’s story was one of predatory lending, unsuitable housing, health care disparities, and an economy that prioritizes war over peace and death over life. Her life became a vivid example of how systemic neglect steals dignity and hope. Yet, despite her struggles, Pamela became an activist in her own right. She testified before Congress with us, became a key voice in the New Poor People’s Campaign led by Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, and even hosted them in her home.
Pamela’s story resonated far and wide. Some of the wealthiest people in our nation walked through her dilapidated home, leaving in disbelief. A presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, visited her and promised to raise her story as he fought for a more just society.
A good Samaritan eventually emerged and paid for Pamela to receive a new, energy-efficient home. But the structures of injustice remained. The new home required a septic system priced at $28,000, a cost Pamela couldn’t afford on her meager income. We worked tirelessly to find a solution, but our efforts were disrupted by an invisible enemy—the coronavirus.
Pamela’s reality teaches us an important truth: poverty is a pandemic in itself. Even before COVID-19, Pamela faced systemic barriers—poor health care, environmental injustice, and voter suppression tactics that made it harder for her to advocate for change. When the virus came, it targeted people like Pamela, who were already vulnerable because of the intersections of race, poverty, and environmental neglect.
Pamela died, not just from the virus but from a system that devalued her life. She died for an economy that sees people as expendable.
But Pamela’s life and legacy remain with me. She opened her doors and her heart to reveal the injustice she faced, and in doing so, she inspired countless others to join the fight against poverty. Dr. King’s dream was not just about racial equality; it was about creating a world where no one is left behind.
And so, as we reflect on Dr. King’s mission today, we must ask ourselves: Are we willing to confront the systems that create and perpetuate poverty? Are we willing to fight for those who have been left out, just as Dr. King and Pamela did?
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
When I first Herd the theme Mission impossible the first thing that came to mind was the mission impossible movies, in the Most recent Mission impossible Movie Tom Crews, Ethen Hunt in the Movie, and his team searching for a weapon that could threaten humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. The Movie is entitle Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning.
If you know anything about flight or Sailing you might understand that Dead Reckoning is a way of travel that makes the determination without the aid of Sun, Starts, Moon to get the position of a ship or aircraft. In other words, it is guess Work. Tonight, I want to make sure you understand we can no longer just guess! What we need to do as a community.
It’s time to stop looking at and get to Doing. be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
Let me Go back to the movie for a second in the Mission impossible movie, there is this sub, submarine they are looking for with this weapon that can destroy the entire plant with the flip of a switch. I begin to ask myself what kind of fool would flip that switch.
• What type of leader would destroy the World just so they could get more money and power!
• What kind of person would put in place politics that destroy and not build up!
• What kind of Orange Gilded Monster would risk destroying the world instead of working to alleviate poverty, Racism, and War!
• What kind of Monster would use racist trigger words verse words of Love and Peace!
• What kind of monster would develop a project 2025 agenda that would lead to Global Destruction.
It’s time to start Doing!
In Dr. King’s later sermons after he had decided that his dream was becoming a nightmare, he often asked, “What are you doing for others?” This question, though simple, cuts to the core of our mission. It is not enough to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy; we must live his mission. We must ask ourselves:
• How do we fight against the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism?
• How do we make real the dream of justice that Dr. King envisioned for all people, especially as we navigate a world where the forces of division and hate seem to grow louder?
In his profound words, Dr. King declared, "There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it."
How many of us recognize the truth in this statement?
We live in a nation where the rich continue to grow wealthier, while the poor remain in the margins, struggling daily with hunger, homelessness, and underemployment.
Yet, we know that we have the resources—if only we choose to share them.
Move 1: Ending Poverty and Embracing Transformation
In the era of “Trump 2.5” and the approaching year of Project 2025, the mission to end poverty demands our urgent attention. It is not enough to speak of poverty; we must act decisively and consistently. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
This stark truth calls us to dismantle systems of inequality and replace them with structures of justice, equity, and compassion.
Paul’s exhortation in Romans—“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”—is both spiritual and practical.
It challenges the values of greed, division, and fear that dominate our society. These systems perpetuate economic injustice, racial inequality, and moral decay.
Second Move Its Time for America To Grow UP:
As Dr. King reminds us in one of my favorite of his sermons sermon Paul’s Letter to American Christians, true transformation requires moral and spiritual growth alongside scientific and technological progress.
In other words America is called to grow Up!
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
Exploitative capitalism, systemic racism, and spiritual arrogance stand as obstacles to the love and justice Christ commands.
Dr. King’s critique of exploitative systems is deeply relevant today. The rise of white Christian nationalism, with its heretical claims that whiteness is divine and that America is exclusively for white people, represents a grave danger to the gospel’s call for love and inclusion.
This distorted theology glorifies power, wealth, and violence, undermining the transformative message of Christ. It is a nationalism that promotes division and justifies oppression under the guise of faith. With its White Jesus, White History, White Santa Claus and Confederate White South.
True power, as both King and Paul teach, lies not in domination but in love, service, and sacrifice for the common good.
The remedy for the divisions in our society is not more power or wealth but a radical commitment to the transformative power of Christian love.
In A Knock at Midnight, Dr. King urges action, reminding us that the time to act is always now.
Marlboro County, Churches and leaders present, The midnight hour is here—a moment of desperation for many.
We cannot wait for perfect conditions. We have to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
The time to protect freedoms, confront racism, and build a just society is now. “It is not enough to be non-racist; we must be anti-racist.”
Nonviolence, the cornerstone of King’s philosophy, is not passive but revolutionary. King was a Revolutionary!
It calls us to love our enemies, seek justice for the oppressed, and actively build a Beloved Community.
It is a living blueprint for societal transformation, grounded in equality, freedom, and love.
Let us embrace this mission with urgency and resolve. The work of justice and love is possible, but it demands transformation—of our minds, our values, and our actions.
We must dismantle the systems of greed and division, and together, build a world that reflects the Kingdom of God: a world of justice, peace, and love.
The time is now. Let us act. Let us be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"
Move three The Conclusion: The Mission is Possible
As we reflect on this mission, let us remember the parable of the Rich Young Ruler and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s remix of it into The Man Who Was a Fool. This story reminds us that wealth, power, and status are fleeting. In the text the rich yung ruler was not willing to sale all he owned and follow Christ: I wonder today what are you willing to risk?
Dr. King warned against measuring success by the size of our cars or the numbers on our paychecks, rather than the quality of our service to humanity.
In a world consumed by the pursuit of personal gain, we are called to be different.
We are called to build a society rooted not in what we can take, but in what we can give.
Dr. King reminded us that the true storehouse for our nation’s abundance is not in silos or bank accounts but in "the wrinkled stomachs of the hundreds of millions who go to bed hungry at night."
This mission before us is no small task. It demands sacrifice, courage, and an unyielding commitment to justice.
But it is a mission that is possible.
We are not alone in this struggle.
As we move toward the challenges of 2025 and beyond, we must remember that our fight is not against individuals but against systems of oppression—systems designed to divide, marginalize, and dehumanize.
Dr. King’s vision of freedom, justice, and democracy is still alive.
• It lives in our daily acts of resistance against the triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism.
• It lives in our work to ensure that every voice is heard, every vote is counted, and every person is valued.
So, I challenge you today: What are you doing for others?
How are you contributing to this mission of justice?
How will you stand against the systems that seek to divide us?
The mission is not impossible—it is possible. And it begins with each of us, right here, right now.
Let us commit ourselves to this work.
Let us stand firm in our faith, our love, and our pursuit of justice.
Together, we can build a world that reflects God’s Kingdom—a world where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Let us go forth and complete the mission. May God bless you all.
Uncle major’s final call out, I come from a family of educators not firefighters, but my uncle Major was a fire chef and when he died the played the final call Listen: A firefighter's final call out is a bell or radio signal that marks the end of their life and their service to the community.
