Now!

In his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:

"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

Now.

Whenever I've read or heard recordings of this amazing speech, I'm most struck by this section on "now". Most people remember the "I have a dream" portion, but often forget that the phrase he most used in the speech was "I have a dream today!" His dream was not for a distant time and place, but of a fundamental change to the very fabric of society that would begin, not in some far off date when all the planets converged, but today. Now.

In the church, we so often pass on the urgency of now. How easy it is for us to fall into the deception that we can wait to address needs and issues. How easy it is for us to fall into the deception that we can wait to confront actions and behaviors that go against the foundations our "life together". How easy it is for us to fall into the deception that we can wait until "the right moment" before we act. Well, the right moment is now.

Now we need to address needs and issues.

Now we need to address immature behavior and actions.

Now we need to move forward in faith trusting in God.

Now.

The dream is today. Now.