Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was forever a Baptist minister first but would have made a great Methodist. John Wesley would gladly have said to King, "If your heart is as my heart, then take my hand," for like Wesley, King was a boundary-crosser for the sake of justice for "all of God's children."
Both men stepped well beyond their designated parishes to walk alongside those who had no advocates. Wesley saw the crying needs of uneducated and undernourished children and began Sunday schools and soup kitchens for them and their families. King saw the crushing weight of prejudice on Blacks and worked all of his short life to alleviate that, culminating in the passing of the Civil Rights Act. Like Wesley, grace had to result in justice for all and not just some. Our own United Women of Faith carry on this work on behalf of women and children better than any other group within the United Methodist Church.
In that spirit, I am proud that our own Mary Alice Garza will be recognized this Sunday at the McKinney Performing Arts Center with an MLK Jr. award for her ongoing leadership of the Plano Multi Cultural Outreach Roundtable which, like Wesley and King, works for common ground to alleviate suffering wherever it is found. Our ESL classes and work with persons toward citizenship is an outgrowth of her work and we are all richer for it.
Thank you John Wesley and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; you personified what is best in our Wesleyan roots.
