I write these words on my 77th birthday. And though I’m very grateful that the Lord has allotted me another measure of my life, I write with a “shadowed heart.” Perhaps some background might shed some light.
Forty-seven years ago today, I turned 30. I was embroiled in my one-and-only political campaign, running for a seat in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I became eligible for the Senate on this very day, for I was nominated at 29, still too young to actually serve. But once I turned 30, I was eligible and the campaign really got going. To the surprise of many, I won as a Goldwater conservative Republican in a highly Democrat district. I triumphantly went off to Frankfort, Ky., to begin my political career. After serving three years of a four-year term, and learning first hand just who it was that cared more about people than profit, I resigned from the Senate, became a Democrat, and entered Virginia Theological Seminary. I graduated three years later and was ordained an Episcopal priest. But that’s another story.
I write today because on that my 30th birthday, a diminutive African-American pastor delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. perhaps the greatest speech of the 20th century. On Aug 28, 47 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking as a prophet direct out of the Old Testament, called America to fulfill its promise to all its citizens and in finally make this the land of the free. Dr. King’s words crystallized the “call for a just society” in America, energized the efforts of those longing for justice and peace, and inaugurated the re-birth of the nation into one where liberty and justice was indeed for all. It was a magnificent moment, an historic pivotal event, and it changed America. To any hearing his words today, they still ring with passion, clarity and truth.
I was not present at that event; I was too busy running for office. But later, just a short month before Dr. King was assassinated, I heard him speak at my Seminary. Then I too was captured by his spirit, faith and dedication to the revival of America and to the freedom for all its citizens. I was never the same! I grieved along with the nation when he was murdered. But in the years following, I worked in the south attempting to help make his dream come true. I think we made some progress; impacted the society for the good, and changed some people’s lives for the good. I have been a disciple of Dr. King’s ever since.
That’s why the crass staging of a rally by such a notorious demagogue as Glenn Beck, on the same day, in the same place, as Dr. King delivered his call for universal love and brotherhood, is a disgrace. Beck revels in lies, threats, and accusations, the Scriptural qualities of evil. His so-called grass-roots movement begins in a lie. He and his minions are lavishly supported by the Wichita Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch of Fox and Dick Armey, a right-wing bigot (Frank Rich: N.Y. Times). Beck denigrates any who won’t march lock step to his harangues; he seeks to divide the nation with inflammatory rhetoric. For Glenn Beck to proclaim himself the measure of honor is ridiculous. And Beck’s claim of divine providence in his selection of the date is blasphemy. His invocation of the Almighty is standard procedure by charlatans seeking to sanctify their salacious schemes. But then again, Beck is doing exactly what Jesus said phony Messiah’s would do.
So on this my 77th birthday the day is shadowed. The only darkness in Beck’s world, however, emanates from his own evil illusions. But light shines in darkness, and the darkness can not over come it. The brilliance of Dr. King’s message will dispel the darkness of Glenn Beck’s bitter tirades. The “light” will prevail as it always has. It is just so sad how many naïve people want to dwell in the darkness, and when offered the light, are blinded.
In hope that the shadow will be swiftly dispelled...
Fr. Bob Layne (Episcopal retired)
McPherson, Kansas
