Finishing the dream of righteousness
Pastor Gordon Banks speaks during the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE - Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has multiple dimensions, Pastor Gordon Banks told a crowd in Moses Lake.
"His dream wasn't a dream he was trying to complete in his lifetime," the former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver turned Federal Way pastor said. "In fact his words were, 'I may not get there with you, but we will get there someday.'"
Banks was speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Monday, hosted by Covenant Christian Church.
The first part of King's dream is righteousness, Banks said, calling it the objective of the civil rights movement. He said people sometimes confuse the process with the intention.
"It's not necessarily the intention. It's the way to accomplish the intention," he said. "In his life, the mechanism or process was to try and eradicate the injustice he saw in racism. That was the mechanism, but his desire was righteousness. You want to finish the dream, live right. Do the right thing."
Banks continued, saying the second phase of King's dream was to bring about change through peace, rather than violent means.
"It was a powerful movement to see social change that he thought was, and is, unjust," he said. "Martin Luther King was a man who understood the nature of God was a nature of peace. Not that everything was perfect. Not that everything was in order, but that it wasn't going to be changed without peaceful resistance."
He went on, saying the third phase of the dream is patience. Banks said great things don't happen overnight. A long-lasting change will take generations to complete.
"Our system is designed, 'American Idol,' there's about a hundred dance shows now. It's instant fame, and it gets you this drive now that if I have this thing and I can dance and sing a little bit, then all of the sudden I'm going to be in Hollywood and be a star," he said.
"Man, go to school, study, stop eating Corn Pops and get some protein in your life. It didn't happen overnight. It's an illusion."
The fourth part of the dream is forming a team, Banks said, adding people can't accomplish change by themselves. They need other people to help.
"What's your role? How are you here to make someone else's life more successful?" he asked the crowd. "Can you make a difference in someone else's life by preferring them and doing your part to make the team successful?"
The final part of finishing the dream, Banks said, was change. He said change is only easy when people want to change and it doesn't involve any pain.
"As much as we're committed to change, as long as we're committed to somebody else's change, we're good," he said. "But if the dream is going to be finished we have to change."
He said the change needed to be personal before it can be to the entire society.
"We can not allow ourselves to live our entire life in our relationship with our communities, in our relationship with each other, in our relationship with our spouse and raising our families and doing the things God has called us to do and live a life that is consistently need based," he said.
Instead people need to live for a purpose, Banks said, adding when people understand living their life for a purpose it's easy to embrace sacrifice. He finished by saying when people have changed to be like God, they won't need to change anymore.