Today in 1968, exactly two months before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King preached his ‘Drum Major Instinct’ sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta (pictured), his home church. The sermon has been seen as King’s own eulogy, because he concluded by talking about his own funeral, and what might be said at it.
‘I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.’ Martin Luther King
The first of Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions to be published, Cantata No. 71, Gott ist mein König (‘God is my King’), was first performed today in 1708. Bach led the performance at the Marienkirche in the town of Mühlhausen, Thuringia.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born today in 1906. A German pastor and theologian in the time of Hitler, he became a leading light of the Confessing Church, and in the opposition to Nazism. His writings oppose the Christian fallacy of ‘cheap grace’ – faith without the cost of discipleship – and also call for ‘Christianity without religion’. He was executed for his part in an attempt on Hitler’s life, but more on that in April.
‘God would have us know that we must live as men who manage our lives without him… Before God and with God, we live without God.’ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Daniel O’Connell gave his ‘justice for Ireland’ speech today in 1836 in the British parliament. At the time, British law still banned Catholics from parliament, but O’Connell forced his way in after being elected MP for County Clare, and successfully campaigned for Catholic emancipation.
Photo: Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons