I think Robinson is onto something here. For whatever the reason – the increasing tendency to marginalize faith in this country, an association of the word “Christian” with right-wing bigot in some minds, a desire to be more pluralistic – for whatever the reason, the tendency has been to take the Christian out of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy, in much the same was as there has been an increasing trend to take the Christ out of Christmas.

You can even see this in the narration that accompanies that moving anthem we had a few minutes ago: in none of the three readings is there an explicit mention of Jesus, of Christ, or of the Christian faith. King is identified as “the conscience of his generation”, as a “drum major”, and as one who had a dream, a dream that is “deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.”

The seeds of this, or course, were in the very words of this great preacher and civil rights leader, as King intentionally sought to equate support for civil rights for all with being a true American. King purposely sought to broaden the civil rights movement as much as he could, and if this meant framing his call for justice and equality in secular terms, then of course that was a legitimate and effective strategy to pursue.

But the heart of the matter is that the truth that King taught and lived was deeply Christian at its center; his message came straight out of the gospels and good news as taught by Paul the Apostle in readings like the one we just had; and the faith that he fervently believed gave to King the strength and the power and the courage to face the beatings, persecution, and threats of death that came with being in the forefront of the Civil Rights movement, and then a leader in opposition to the war in Vietnam. While King’s message was phrased in the most inclusive terms possible, at its core his message was shaped by his commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, was honed in his preaching at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and was constantly renewed in churches throughout the South as he and his followers sought strength and encouragement through worship to face the daily challenges of the struggle.

And that message was this: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” The truth that evil can be, and in the end will be, overcome only by good. It is the message of Jesus on the cross, of the way in which sin and death were not overcome through violence or vengeance, but by the paradox of innocent suffering for others. It was this message that invited his followers to a new way of being, of victims becoming victors, of the powerless becoming powerful, of the good against all odds defeating evil and so opening the door to a new era in this country of justice for all the people. For King, this was the spiritual backbone of the social resistance tactic of non-violence. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And what gave King the strength and the encouragement and the boldness to live this message, in all its riskiness, was his faith, his Christian faith, that no matter how dark things might look in the present, no matter how perilous and daunting, God’s justice will prevail, good will overcome evil, and the righteous will be vindicated. In the words of Harvard’s preacher, the Rev. Peter Gomes, the Christian can act for justice with boldness because the Christian can take the long view. Gomes writes, “Among the chief things that Jesus would have us do is realize that what appears to be so real, so powerful, so unavoidably worldly, is really only illusory compared to the long-term and permanent interests of God. A person is truly free only when he or she can stand in one world but belong to another, which is why true believers are so annoying to those who are bound by the demands and desires of this world alone.” (The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, p. 74). Christians are, as the saying goes, “in but not of” the world, and the confidence that even as God holds the whole world in his hands, as that old children’s hymn goes, so God holds us, is what gives us the power to speak out for justice, to stand with marginalized and against the powerful, to risk upsetting the status quo, to take up, as Jesus invites us to do, our cross and follow him.

So that we can live that injunction, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Like 35 folk of South Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, did last week up in Concord, New Hampshire. Members of the hate-spewing, anti-gay, anti-military, anti-Islam, anti-Judaism, anti-Catholic, anti-public school Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas had come to stand outside Concord High School to protest because a teacher at the school had passed out AIDS Awareness ribbons. So 35 members of our sister UCC church in Concord trudged over a mile through snow to stand in support of the Concord High community. Said the pastor of the church,

“We were there in show of support to the Concord High Community, and to declare to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered members of our community that they are loved and valued for who they are. We came to demonstrate that we will stand with them physically and spiritually whenever circumstances of hatred or intolerance arise in our community. We came to underscore our faith in the God of love, mercy and compassion.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Tomorrow, good people across this mighty nation will look to Martin Luther King, Jr. and remember him and his words and what he did and be inspired, it is to be hoped, to work for continuing to advance civil rights for all. And yet perhaps we might do well to also look beyond King to the cross to which his life pointed and witnessed, to a faith that upheld and supported and guided him, and which can uphold, support, and guide all of us. That we, in our turn, always with the support of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Amen.