Jan 20, 2014 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – During the service Monday to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Morris Harper challenged those in attendance to follow the example of King to serve a greater good.

“Let us understand where our strengths come from and don’t get bogged down with our circumstances, because those change. Let’s keep our eye on the prize,” Harper said during the service at Roberts Chapel at Waynesburg University.

“When we are done and our life comes to an end, let us say, ‘I ran the race. I’ve been faithful,’ like the Apostle Paul did, like Dr. King did.”

Harper, executive vice president, chief medical officer and chairman of the advisory board for Correctional TeleCare Solutions in Pittsburgh, emphasized the words of King’s “Drum Major Instinct” sermon delivered Feb. 4, 1968, when he spoke of how he wanted to be remembered in death.

King said he didn’t want a long funeral that highlighted what he called “shallow” accomplishments, including his Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, he said he wanted to be remembered for the things he did for humanity.

“Tell them that Martin Luther King tried to give his life serving others; I tried to love somebody; I tried to be right on the walk; I did try to feed the hungry; I did try to clothe the naked; I did try to visit those who were in prison,” King said. “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness. All of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. I just want to leave a committed life behind.”

As Harper continued to speak of the slain Civil Rights leader, he touched on some of the highlights of King’s accomplishments.

“Dr. King did some remarkable things in his life,” Harper said, noting the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Voter Rights Act, King’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Harper recalled King’s seemingly prophetic Mountaintop Speech, delivered April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., on the eve of King’s murder. As he retold a portion of the speech, Harper also spoke of the darker experiences in King’s life that led up to the speech. There was the 1956 bombing at his home, his 1958 stabbing while he autographed his book, and the delay of his plane for a bomb threat before he left to give the Mountaintop speech.

King told those gathered for that speech there were difficult days ahead. He said he would like to be around to help continue with the battle but had resigned himself to the possibility he would not.

“I’ve looked over (the mountaintop) and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land,” King said. “So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Harper told the audience King knew life’s battle isn’t meant to be won by an individual.

“Our job is to serve in it (the battle). The battle is his (God’s). We just get to play a small role,” Harper said. “Dr. King understood that.”

In Memphis, he said, “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.”

King was murdered the following day, on April 4, 1968, while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis.

Harper challenged the audience at the university to each play their part in the fight, as King did.

“All we have to do is look around at our own local community, our state, our country and the world. My job is to figure out what God would have me do,” he said. “Dr. King was an example for all of us. Let him simply be a light that directs us to God and that God would have us be all that he wants us to be.”