"What is Courage?"

"Courage," wrote Martin Luther King, Jr.,

        "is the power of the mind to overcome fear."

It's a good working definition.

Coming from someone who knew – intellectually and experientially –

        what courage required,

                his words are credible and wise.

 

King was well grounded in philosophy and theology.

He was familiar with the tradition of virtue ethics

        from both a classical and a Christian perspective.

"Plato," he wrote in The Strength to Love,

        "considered courage to be an element of the soul

                which bridges the cleavage between reason and desire.

Aristotle thought of courage as the affirmation of [our] essential nature.

Thomas Aquinas said that courage is the strength of mind

        capable of conquering whatever threatens 

                the attainment of the highest good."

 

King also understood the kind of courage it took

        to drink from a "whites only" water fountain

                in places like Mississippi,

                        back when segregation was the practice

                                and fear kept people in place.

In the story I read to the children,

         a little girl learns about courage

                when she drinks by mistake from a "whites only" fountain.

She innocently thinks that "whites only"

        means taking her shoes off 

                before taking a drink.

When a white bully threatens to whip her,

        an elderly black woman from her church steps forward,

                takes off her shoes,

                        and takes a drink too.

 

This courageous act is followed by another.

"Chicken Man," an elder with spiritual powers 

        he received from his grandmother from Africa,

                faces down the bully 

                        in a demonstration of nonviolent confrontation.

The bully retreats.

The "whites only" sign comes down.

These people show how courage is power,

        not only to overcome their own fear,

                but also to bring about change 

                        through their moral example.

 

Courage is situational,

        as the story illustrates.

Courage is also individual.

Anyone who has ever had to overcome a fear,

        even an irrational one,

                has used courage.

Some of the best examples of courage 

        may never be known.

These are the struggles

        people sweat out alone, 

                facing down shame and phobias.

Their success, which may never be celebrated publicly,

        is still nothing less than a triumph of the will

                and an affirmation of the human spirit.

 

Courage is also universal,

        in the sense that life offers all of us 

                what King delicately calls "ambiguities" –

                        namely, trouble and danger,

                                accidents, bad health and death.

There is much to fear in life.

The "creative will" we exert

        to live as fully as we can 

                in the face of uncertainty

                        is courage too.

 

Martin Luther King's life and times 

        offer abundant examples of courage.

Many people had to overcome all kinds of fears

        to bring about racial justice.

King told them how courage gives us power

        and power can bring about social change.

He learned this insight from some powerful teachers.

He studied the practice of nonviolent resistance

        at the feet of Mahatma Gandhi,

                then adapted it to the struggle for civil rights.

        

Courage is a relational value.

King learned this from his own community,

        and especially from one person, Mother Pollard.

She was an elderly African American woman 

        who participated in the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

"Although poverty-stricken and uneducated,"

        King wrote,

                "she was amazingly intelligent 

                        and possessed a deep understanding

                                of the meaning of the movement.

After having walked for several weeks,

        she was asked if she were tired.

With ungrammatical profundity, she answered,

        'My feets is tired,

                but my soul is rested.'"

 

This single well-known example would have been inspiration enough.

King went on to talk about her influence 

        on him personally,

                as if she transmitted some of her courage

                        directly to him.

Here is what he wrote:

"On a particular Monday evening,

        following a tension-packed week

                which included being arrested 

                        and receiving numerous threatening phone calls,

                                I spoke at a mass meeting.

I attempted to convey an overt impression of strength and courage,

        although I was inwardly depressed and fear-stricken.

At the end of the meeting,

        Mother Pollard came to the front of the church 

                and said,

                        'Come here, son.'

I immediately went to her and hugged her affectionately.        

'Something is wrong with you,' she said.

'You didn't talk strong tonight.'

"Seeking further to disguise my fears,

        I retorted, 'Oh, no, Mother Pollard,

                nothing is wrong.

                        I am feeling as fine as ever.'

But her insight was discerning.

'Now you can’t fool me,'

        she said.

'I knows something is wrong.

Is it that we ain’t doing things to please you?

Or is it that the white folks is bothering you?’

 

"Before I could respond,

        she looked directly into my eyes and said,

                'I don told you we is with you all the way.'

Then her face became radiant

        and she said in words of quiet certainty,

                'But even if we ain't with you,

                        God's gonna take care of you.’

As she spoke these consoling words,

        everything in me quivered and quickened

                with the pulsing tremor of raw energy."

Mother Pollard may have believed 

        that God took care of Martin,

                but Martin got what he needed from Mother Pollard.

 

These days our idea of courage

        comes from vivid images of heroism in the line of duty.

From fire fighters and police officers 

        risking their own lives to save others,

                to young Marines sent forth into a harsh environment

                        that has defeated many soldiers before them,

                                we have before us the idea of courage

                                        as a virtue for extraordinary situations

                                                and difficult times.

And it is.

 

The classic philosophical tradition lifts up 

        heroic courage above all others.

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle asks,

        "What form of death then is a test of courage?"

He answers,

        "Presumably that which is the most beautiful.

                Now the most beautiful form of death is death in battle,

                        for it is encountered in the midst

                                of the greatest and most beautiful of dangers."

 

Martin Luther King's life and death fit this definition.

The struggle for civil rights

        was a confrontation with the "greatest" of dangers.

Even a simple drink from a water fountain

        could bring on violence.

 

King knew that his life was at risk.

From his writings,

        it is clear that he struggled with his fear.

In his last speech, 

        which he delivered the night before his assassination

                in Memphis, Tennessee,

                        King admitted as much.

"I've seen the promised land,"

        he assured his followers.

                "I may not get there with you."

He knew there were threats against him.

He even used his speech to address them:

        "What would happen to me

                from some of our sick white brothers?"

                        he asked.

And again, he answered,

        "Well, I don't know what will happen now.

                We've got some difficult days ahead.

                        But it doesn't matter to me now.

                                Because I have been to the mountaintop."

He had seen the promised land of a new America,

        a powerful enough vision 

                to overcome every fear he had left.

 

The drama and climax of Martin Luther King's life

        gave the world a glimpse of courage

                that was as varied as it was extraordinary.

Though he possessed great courage,

        King's strength also came from other,

                far less famous people,

                        who walked with him 

                                and helped him along the way.

Their contribution reminds us 

that courage is not only prophetic witness,

        or dramatic action,

                but daily living by principles that call forth

                        our own best qualities.

King's life also points us to this broader definition of courage,

        the kind that Mother Pollard exemplified,

                day by day living guided by character and virtue,

                        adding up to one good life.

Mother Pollard did her part in the Montgomery boycott,

        but that act alone did not make her courageous.

Rather, her character was grounded

        in a lifetime of wisdom, dignity and faith.

Her words spoke truth and conferred strength. 

 

We gain this kind of courage

        from the smaller, more mundane struggles of life,

                but it is no less heroic

                        than the most daring of adventures.

We may never know

        when we will be asked to prove ourselves

                or if the next plane trip

                        will test our capacity for heroism.

But we do know that every day

        tests our character,

                and gives us opportunities to build it.

Every day we find the courage to speak words of truth

        or encouragement to others.

Every day we make choices

        about what kind of life we should lead.

Every day we know fear,

        and summon our will to overcome it.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr., said that courage is the power of the mind

        "to go forward in spite of obstacles 

                and frightening situations."

He lived not only as a hero does,

        facing death with dignity and a transcendent vision,

                but also in the day-to-day enactment of a life 

                        dedicated to the greater good.

The civil rights movement took years of hard work,

        overcoming not only fear,

                but also setbacks and negation.

From the life and times of Martin Luther King 

        and the people who walked with him,

                we know that courage can change the world.

May we affirm this truth

        in our life and in our times,

                and in our own way,

                        do the good we are meant to do.

References used to prepare this sermon include Whites Socks Only, by EvelynColeman (Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company, 1996); A Testament ofHope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited byJames Washington (HarperSanFrancisco, 1986) ? quotations are from "The Strengthto Love" and "I See the Promised Land;" and "Beyond Heroism: Everyday Fortitude,"by Albert Borgmann, in Christian Century, November 14, 2001.