Rev. Danny Fisher

In my hustle and bustle this week, I regrettably allowed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday to pass without mention in these pages.

I would like to remember Dr. King this week with some words from the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, the firebrand Methodist minister and co-founder/former president of the South Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Lowery made headlines last year with his eulogy at the funeral for Coretta Scott King: with millions watching, and the President sitting mere inches away, he excoriated the Bush Administration over the war in Iraq.

This past Monday, on the King holiday, Rev. Lowery spoke at a function in Kansas City, KN, encouraging his audience to become “chaplains for the common good.” He continued:

Chaplains steer us in the right direction, remind us when we are going off the path. They are an alarm to say danger is ahead, the clap of thunder that jars us from bed…We must call the nation to…include those excluded, to make good [the] promissory note [that is Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech]…We must not be victimized by weapons of mass distraction…We must not be victimized by weapons of mass self-destruction…Don’t let [Dr. King be put] in the rotunda of sentimentality and irrelevancy.

An important mentor once offered me and a few of my colleagues a koan: she suggested that the chaplain is the conscience of whatever organization he or she happens to be a part of. The chaplain, as one who is in his or her organization but not of it, must be a voice for speaking truth to power.

This week, I can think of no better way to honor the life of Dr. King than by doing my damnedest to become this kind of a caregiver–a chaplain for the common good.