January 24, 2025
The Spiritual Director of the Civil Rights Movement
This past week we honored the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. And for good reason. Rev. King was the voice and face of the civil rights movement, here in the United States and around the world. His insistence on nonviolent methods of protest and focusing on the civil rights of all people including our Native American, Asian, and Hispanic friends defined the movement for many. He was also a Christian minister who united Christians around our country and around our world in the fight for human rights. He literally locked arms in the face of high-pressure hoses, billy clubs, and attack dogs with fellow Baptists, Protestants of all persuasions, along with Orthodox and Catholic Christians. His was an ecumenical, interfaith, and interracial coalition. These are just a few of the reasons we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.
But he did not appear out of nowhere. One of the unsung and often unappreciated forerunners of the Civil Rights Movement as we now know it was Howard Thurman. Thurman, like King was a black Baptist pastor. He was deeply engaged in the civil rights movement, but seldom attended rallies or protests. Instead, he was a visionary and spiritual guide to the movement, and a spiritual director to King and many other Civil Rights leaders in the 1950s and 60s.
Thurman was a classmate and friend of Martin Luther King, Sr., MLK’s father, at Howard University. They remained friends for life. Thurman was a pastor who moved into the intersection of ministry and academics, becoming the first non-White Dean of Chapel at Howard University and later Boston University. It was while Dean of Chapel at BU that he began mentoring MLK, Jr. while he was a student there, a relationship that remained strong until King’s assassination. Thurman’s book, Jesus and the Disinherited, was always in the younger King’s possession, even in prison. It was dog-eared and underscored from its constant reading, but deeper were the impressions made in young Martin’s heart.
Thurman was recognized early in his career by other Black pastors and leaders, which brought him global attention. He was an active person, visiting and investing in Christian missions around the world. It was no surprise that when Gandhi and his allies in India wanted to bring Black leaders to India to expose them to their oppression and their passive resistance to it, that it was Thurman they chose to lead a group of Black pastors in a six month immersive learning experience in India. It is Thurman who was one of the major influences in King, Jr.’s, and others, pacifism.
Thurman would later co-found the first major interracial, interdenominational congregation in the US. His approach was distinct from the Black gospel styles of preaching and worship, focusing on a more contemplative style. Thurman’s mystical approach to preaching and worship was an influence on Christians in the latter half of the 20th century of all denominations and races, and even some notable Jewish leaders.
Why is this important for our church to know Thurman in this particular season? Because we often think of “effective ministry” as being on the frontlines almost exclusively. Thurman was behind the scenes, offering perspective and a persistent vision of what we in the Covenant now call a “mosaic” of diversity, with all being equal partners at the table. Thurman offers a way of being fully engaged with being physically present. Maybe our congregational geography and our diverse gifts give us the possibility to do creative, behind the scenes work as well as frontline work. After all, who would have thought that a scholarly, Black, mystical, ecumenical, pacifist would help provide a vision for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement?
As we consider the various ministries the season ahead may afford us, might we be creative in our approach to how we might engage more and more people and their gifts in light of our congregational dispersion.
With audacious hope,
~ Pastor Todd