now back to Martin Luther King with his Fifth and final Massie lecture the other four were recorded in a studio in Atlanta but the fifth was something different it was not a lecture but a sermon that Dr King delivered in his own church the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia it was Christmas Eve 1967 and he took the opportunity to share his message of nonviolence with a larger audience oh h of Jesus on Christmas Eve the CBC presents Dr Martin Luther King's Christmas sermon on peace and nonviolence as The Fifth and final Massy lecture for [Music] 1967 peace on Earth this Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race we neither have peace within nor peace without everywhere paralyzing fears har people by day and haunt them by night and our world is sick with war everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities and yet my friends a Christmas hope for peace and Good Will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of Pious dream of some utopian hoper if we don't have good will toward men in this world we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power yes sir wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete there may have been a time when War served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force make it plain but the very destructive power of modern weapons of warfare eliminates even the possibility that war May any longer serve as a negative good and so if we assume that life is worth living if we assume assume that mankind has a right to survive then we must find an alternative to war and so let us this morning explore the conditions for peace and as we' explore these conditions I would like to suggest that modern [Music] man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence its philosophy and its strategy we have experimented with the meaning of nonviolence and our struggle for racial Justice in the United States but now the time has come for man to experiment with nonviolence in all areas of human conflict and that means nonviolence on an international scale now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on Earth our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sexual no individual can live alone no Nation can live alone and as long as we try the more we're going to have war in this world the Judgment of God is upon us yes sir and we must either learn to live together as brothers are we all going to perish together as fools yes as Nations and individuals we are interdependent I've mentioned to you before of our visit to India some years ago it was a marvelous experience but I say to you this morning that thou were those depressing moments for how can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes evidences of millions of people going to bed hungry at night yes sir yes sir how can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks at night more than a million people sleep on the sidewalks of Bombay India every night more than a half a million sleep on the sidewalks of kuta every night they have no houses to go in they have no beds to sleep in and as I beheld these conditions something within me cried out can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned and an answer came oh no and I started thinking about the fact that right here in our country we spend millions of dollars every day to store surplus food make it PL make it and I said to myself I know where we can store that food free of charge in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of God's children in Asia in Africa Latin America and even in our own Nation who go to bed hungry at night it really boils down to this that all life is interrelated we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single Garment of destinate and whatever affects one directly yes sir affects all indirectly we are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality and did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world you get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over over far a sponge and that's handed to you by Pacific Islander you reach for barter soap and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman and then you go in the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning that's poured in your cup by a South American or maybe you want tea That's poured in your cup by a Chinese or maybe you're Desir us of having cocoa for breakfast and that's poured in your cup by West African and then you reach over for your toast and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer not to mention the Baker and before you finish eating breakfast in the morning you're depending on more than half of the world this is the way our universe is structured it is its interrelated quality we aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality now let me say secondly that if we to have peace in the world men and Nations must embrace the nonviolent [Music] affirmation that ends and means must cohere one of the great philosophical debates of History has been over the whole question of means and ends and there have always been those who argued that The end justifies the means that the means really aren't important the important thing is to get to the end you seek so if you are seeking to develop a just Society the important thing is to get that and the means uh really un important any means that will get you there they may may be violent they may be untruthful means they may even be unjust means to get to a just end there have been those who have argued this throughout history [Music] but we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means because the means represent the ideal in the making and the end in process and ultimately you can't reach good ends through evil means because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree it's one of the strangest things that all of the great military Geniuses of the world have talked about peace the conquerors of old who came killing in Pursuit Of Peace Alexander Julius Caesar charag and Napoleon what can in Seeking a peaceful world order and do you know if you will read mind com close enough Hitler contended that everything that he did in Germany was for peace and the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace every time we drop our bombs in North Viet viam President Johnson is talking eloquently about peace make it it what is the problem they are talking about peace as a distant goal as an end we seek but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal we must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means all of this is saying that in the final analysis means and ends must cohere because the end is pre-existent in the means and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends now let me say the next thing we must be concerned about if we to have peace on Earth Good Will toward men must be the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life life is sacred every man is somebody because he is a child of God yes sir and so when we say thou shalt not kill we are really saying that human life is too sacred yes to be killed on the battlefield of the world man is more than a tiny vager of whirling electrons out of whisper smoke from a limitless smoldering man is a child of God Made In His Image yes and therefore must be respected as such until men see this everywhere until Nations see this everywhere where we will be fighting Wars but one day somebody should remind us that even though there may be political and ideological differences the Vietnamese are our brothers yes yes the Russians are our brothers the Chinese are our brothers and one day one day we've got to sit down together at the table of Brotherhood but in Christ that is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ that is neither male nor female in Christ that is neither communist nor capitalist in Christ somehow that is neither born nor free We Are All One in Christ Jesus and when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality we won't exploit people right we won't trample over people with iron feet of Oppression we won't kill anybody there are three words for love in the Greek New Testament one is the word AOS and AOS is a sort of aesthetic romantic love Plato used to talk about it a great deal in his dialogues the yearning of the soul for the realm of the Divine and there is and can always be something beautiful about AOS even in its expressions of romance some of the most beautiful love in all of the world has been expressed this way then the Greek language talks about fileo which is another word for love myo is a kind of intimate love between personal friends this is the kind of love that you have for those people that you get along with well and those that you like on this level you love because you are loved you love those people that appeal to you and those that you like then the Greek language comes out with another another word for love it is a word Agape Agape Agape is more than romantic love it is more than friendship yes agap Agape is understanding creative Redemptive good will for all men Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart and so when you rise to love on this level you love all men not because you like them not because their ways appeal to you but you love every man because God loves him that's this is what Jesus meant when he said love your enemies and I'm happy that he didn't say like your enemies because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like like is an effect affectionate emotion and I can't like anybody buming my home I can't like anybody who would exploit me I can't like anybody who would trample over me with injustices I can't like them I can't like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out but Jesus reminds us that love is greater than like yes sir love is understanding creative Redemptive good will for all men and I think this is where we are as a people in our struggle for racial Justice we can't ever give up we must work passionately and unrelentingly for first class citizenship we must never let up in our determination to remove every vestage of segregation and discrimination from our nation but we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege to love to God I've seen too much hate to want to hate myself I've seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs too many White Citizens counselors and too many clansmen of the South to want to hate myself and every time I see it I say to myself hate is too great a burden to bear yes sir somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bittered opponents and say we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering we will meet your physical force with soul Force do to us what you will and we will still love you we cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is co operation with good and so throw us in jail and we will still love you bom our homes and threaten our children and as difficult as it is we will still love you send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the Midnight Hour and drag us out on some Wayside Road and leave us half dead as you beat us and we will still love you send your propaganda agents around the country and make make it appear that we are not fit culturally and otherwise for integration but we'll still love you but be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer and one day we will win our freedom we will not only win freedom for ourselves yes we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process and our Victory will be a double victory and if that is to be peace on Earth and Good Will toward men we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations something must remind us of this as we somehow stand in the Christmas season and think of the Easter season some simultaneously for the two somehow go together Christ came to show us the way men loved Darkness rather than the light and they crucified him and that on Good Friday on the cross it was still dark but then Easter came and Easter is an eternal reminded of the fact that truth crushed Earth will rise again Easter justifies car Island saying No Lie can live forever and so this is our faith and as we continue to hope for peace on Earth and Good Will toward men let us know that in the process we have Cosmic companionship yes 1963 on a sweltering August afternoon we stood in Washington DC we talked to the Nation about many things toward the end of that afternoon I tried to talk to the Nation about a dream that I had had and I must confess to you today that not long after talking about that dream I started seeing it turn into a nightmare I remember the first time I saw that dream turned into a nightmare just a few weeks after I had talked about it was when four beautiful unoffending innocent negro girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham Alabama I watched that dream turn into a nightmare as I move through the ghettos of the nation and saw my black brothers and sisters perishing on alone the island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and saw the nation really doing nothing to Grapple with the Negro problem of poverty I saw that dream turning into a nightmare as I watch my black black brothers and sisters in the midst of anger and understandable outrage in the midst of their hurt in the midst of their disappointment turned to misguided riots to try to solve that problem I saw that dream turned to a nightmare as I watched the war in Vietnam escalated yes sir and as I saw socalled military advisors 16,000 strong turn into fighting soldiers and so today some 500,000 of American boys are fighting on Asian Soul yes I am personally the victim of deferred dreams of blasted hopes but in spite of that I close today yes sir by saying I still have a dream because you know you can't give up in life if you lose hope somehow you lose that Vitality that keeps life moving you lose that courage to be that quality that helps you to go on in spite of and so today I still have a dream men will rise up and come to see that they are made to live together as brothers I still have a dream this morning that one day every negro in this country every colored person in the world will be judged on the basis of the content of his character rather than the color of his skin and every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality I still have a dream today that one day the idal industries of Appalachia will be revitalized and empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled and Brotherhood will be more than a few words at the end of a prayer but the first order of business on every legislative agenda I still have a dream today and one day Justice will roll down like wats and righteousness like a mighty stream I still have a dream today that in all of our state houses and City Halls men will be elected to go there who will do justly yes sir and love mercy and walk humbly with their God I still have a dream today that one day war will come to an end that men will beat their swords into plowshares and their Spears into pruning Hooks and Nations will no longer rise up against Nations neither NE will they study War anymore I still have a dream today that one day the lamb and the lion will lie down together and every man will sit under his own Vine and fig tree and None Shall be afraid I still have a dream today at one day every Valley shall be exalted and every mountain and Hill will be made low the rough places will be made plain and the Crooked places straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and All Flesh shall see it together I still have a dream and with this faith we will be able to adjourn the councils of Despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism with this faith we will be able to speed up the day yes when there will be peace on Earth and Good Will toward man it will be a glorious day the morning Stars will sing together and the sons of God Will shout for [Music] Joy come let us Dr Martin Luther King giving his Christmas sermon in Ebenezer Baptist Church Atlanta Georgia this is the final Massie lecture for [Music] 1967 glor the fifth and final Massy lecture by Martin Luther King Jr it aired on the program ideas on CBC Radio on December the 24th 1967 at Dr King's own church the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia just over 3 months later Dr King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee tomorrow on rewind we will hear more about that terrible time