"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time—the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression” Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

During a celebration of the noted civil rights leader’s birthday in January, employees at Adventist Midwest Health took time to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of racial harmony. Leeroy Coleman, pastor of Goshen Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chicago and Bolingbrook Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bolingbrook, Ill., presented readings from King’s lesser-known speeches.

“This is a good opportunity to remember how important Dr. King’s legacy is. It reminds us how we need to support each other, and that all races and cultures are equal,” Coleman said.

When considering reflections for the day, John Rapp, regional vice president of ministries and missions for Adventist Midwest Health, said he wanted to honor King. King received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter in 1977, the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004, and in 1986 Martin Luther King Day was established in his honor.

“We recognized Martin Luther King’s birthday on all our campuses because of the significant influence he had on human rights, not just in the United States, but worldwide,” Rapp said. “His short life was a prophetic life in that God used him as a spokesperson for justice and peace. How appropriate to celebrate the values and recognize the one who proclaimed those values, which are so central to the Kingdom of God.”

It is also important because King’s message reflects one of the five core values of Adventist Midwest Health—inclusiveness, Rapp added. “Inclusiveness was at the heartbeat of the movement that King led. Inclusiveness directly impacts the care we provide as health care professionals,” he said.

King was unique because his message was one of peace and nonviolent resistance. This message is particularly important to health care professionals, Coleman said.

“Your responsibility in practicing the healing professions is to look out for others. Your role is similar to Dr. King’s role in the sense that you care for patients and their families. You are here to serve.”

As pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., King spent his life in service to the Lord. After leading the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended racial segregation on public transportation, King continued to organize and lead marches for African Americans’ right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other basic civil rights. Many of these rights were enacted into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“I just want to do God’s will. And [H]e’s allowed me to go up to the mountain! And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land,” King said in his “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech, which he delivered on April 3, 1968.

On April 4, King was killed, but his legacy lives on, Coleman said. “His dream was—is—so big that it continues today,” he added. “It is only right to pay tribute to Dr. King.”

Victoria Tedeschi, public relations specialist for Adventist Midwest Health