I visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Oct. 16, 2011, the day of its dedication. I cried in the sun as I thought about my grandmother. She lived through Jim Crow segregation in Mississippi in its worst days. Yet, she harbors no hate in her heart. I cried as I thought about my mother who lived through the civil rights movement and de facto segregation in Michigan. She taught me that real Christians love everyone regardless of color. I cried during the President’s speech as I watched white high school students sit next to black senior citizens and multigenerational families of every ethnicity imaginable, all celebrating the life of an American hero.    

Was I proud to participate in that event? Definitely. Was I proud as a black woman? Of course. But what made me most proud was that every time I looked at the crowd I realized that the patchwork of Americans represented King’s dream. Standing side by side, we were, in the words of the children’s song, “Red and Yellow, Black and White,” every one of us “precious in God’s sight.” That day, we stood united to celebrate the life of a Christian martyr.            

When I reflect upon the legacy of Dr. King, I can think of no other American who successfully unified a country to correct a systemic injustice without the privilege of political position or the benefit of economic wealth. Dr. King was a pastor, and he saw America as his congregation. His singular sermon was that every citizen of this country was made in God’s image and that you could not love God if you didn’t love your fellow countryman.      

What better occasion to impact your cities for Christ than to highlight how Christ used one of His servants to live out Micah 6:8?

Although Christmas, Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King Jr. Day are the only federal holidays that reference Christianity directly, there are still Christians who don’t recognize MLK Day.

Some refuse to celebrate the day because of King’s moral shortcomings, and still others state that churches should honor Jesus and not people. To those critics I say, if we only celebrated heroes of the faith who were morally infallible, we could never discuss Abraham, David, Paul, Rahab or Mary Magdalene. Likewise, when we honor the men and women who serve God with such fervency that they are martyred for the faith, we honor the only God worthy of such a great sacrifice.

MLK Day is also a national day of service where millions of Americans volunteer throughout their local communities. What better occasion to impact your cities for Christ than to highlight how Christ used one of His servants to live out Micah 6:8?

Host a service project on MLK Day. (If you’re not sure where to begin, visit nationalservice.gov/mlkday for ideas.) Invite members of your congregation to volunteer at various nonprofit organizations in your area and host a reflection time after the service projects conclude. Discuss the needs that you observed and pray collectively to see if you are called to serve your community in new ways. If you’re in a position of influence or management, encourage your workplace to recognize this day of service. If you volunteer on MLK Day, you will have a great opportunity to be a living epistle to the nonbelievers in your city.

I visited the King memorial again in 2015. As I touched the marble wall, I read his quotes and cried. This time, I cried because justice is not rolling down like water. Recent unrest in places like Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston are just some examples exposing the deep racial divides in our country. Pew Research Center reports that 50 percent of Americans see racism as a “big problem” — up from 33 percent just five years ago. The solution to this division is found in Christ.

Perhaps, by using the federal holiday to highlight the life and sacrifice of one of God’s servants, we can once again show the world that with this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.