1/13/2017 5:35:00 PM

CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued the following pastoral message in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
January 2017

“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:36-37)

On Monday, Jan. 16, our nation will be observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. King’s work called us, all of us, to remember our neighbor. As a civil rights leader, he spoke about a vision of a beloved community and preached a message of love. In his last speech, Dr. King said, “Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness” and then spoke of the parable of the good Samaritan. The key of the parable is the man’s answer: Being a neighbor is about how you act when a person is in need. As children of God, we are all deserving of respect and dignity.

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