Nathan E. Lewis

The night prior to his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. preached, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” (Listen to and watch this clip of this historic moment.) Undeniably, he was one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century in regard to rhetoric and in regard to speaking prophetically into the present moment/context. Little in this world is more beautiful or moving than a person who confidently fulfills his calling, knowing his place in history and his contribution to society. King was such a person. You can see it in his eyes as he preaches. You can hear it in his voice. The rhetoric is connected to a passionate calling and a timely message. Technically, King delivered a speech the night before his death. (Read the entire script.) Only the final paragraph is sermonic in form revealing King’s original and abiding vocation as an ordained minister of the gospel. Most of us know the words of his speeches rather than the sermons he preached at his home congregation, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Nevertheless, when King delivered a speech, everyone discovered in a few minutes that he was indeed a preacher, not a lecturer, a politician or an entertainer. Continue reading »

What is the five letter word Brooks Haxton refers to in the following poem?

The wedge sank five times into the clay,
and a word, which had been spoken in a breath,
lay still until the gods’ names were forgotten.
Then, when strangers took the tile in hand,
while stars sailed into the dark
beyond the world, the dead tongue
in the clay began to speak.