From a Pastoral Message by the Rev. William Sinkford, President of the UUA -- Dr. King never lost hope. And we need to sustain our hope as well, to create our own "stone of hope." I recall hearing those words, "stone of hope," from Dr. King as I sat in a crowded room at the UUA's General Assembly in Hollywood, Florida, in June of 1966, listening to him deliver the Ware Lecture. Dr. King decried militarism, economic injustice, and the scourge of racism. He invoked the words of Jefferson and Lincoln, a call for Americans to live up to the ideals that this country was based upon. And he called for Unitarian Universalists to be part of this struggle, reminding us that "when the church is true to its nature, it stands as a moral guardian of the community and of society."

Rev. Sinkford continued, "Today I call upon Unitarian Universalists to honor Dr. King's memory by renewing our commitment to peace and justice. I believe there will be backlash every time the circle of equality is widened, but I hew my stone of hope with these words: "the arc of the universe is long," said Dr. King, quoting 19th century Unitarian abolitionist Theodore parker, "but it bends toward justice."

As the granddaughter of poor Eastern European immigrants, I was only one generation away from poverty. My parents had made it out of low income neighborhoods in New Haven and Dorchester. And they did their best to shield my brother and sister and me from that world. It was only when I was a teenager that I learned some of the hard realities of life on "the other side"- in the inner city in racial and ethnic ghettoes, in poor suburban neighborhoods and in many rural areas from Maine to Mississippi. I began to get an idea of what it was like to work hard at a low paying job and barely be able to make ends meet on a minimum wage. My eyes were open by going into an inner city neighborhood with a friend's church youth group. My eyes were open by the words prophets of political and social reform, including Dr. Martin Luther King. I learned from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's campaigns against racism and poverty.

Today, many communities hold celebrations which honor Dr. King's dreams of equality, peace, and justice. Some focus on community service activities and day-long volunteer projects and call the holiday "A day ON, not a day OFF." One website promoting the King Day of Service says it's "a way to transform Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and teachings into community service that helps solve social problems. That service may meet a tangible need, such as fixing up a school or senior center, or it may meet a need of the spirit, such as building a sense of community or mutual responsibility." Projects are intended to build community, empower individuals and build bridges. I love this whole idea of honoring Dr. King's legacy by working for his dreams..

There is only one such event I know of in the area. It's not here in Taunton, but at Bridgewater State College, with projects for its faculty, students and alumnae. It's too bad there's not more of that kind of thing going on this weekend. I think it is really terrific to bring a community together around a common social problem.

On the other hand, I think many speeches honoring Dr. King are far too tame. Often, they are about how we should all get along or how we should care about some disadvantaged group. Don't get me wrong. That's not a bad thing at all. But the speakers don't mention the causes of poverty and oppression: the economic and justice systems which affect the poor and disenfranchised. Maybe that would be asking too much of a national holiday which now has corporate sponsors.

In the last year, another approach to the holiday was begun by a broad coalition. The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign is an interfaith and community initiative, begun last fall, whose goal is to raise the minimum wage nationally and in selected states. The campaign is supported by the Unitarian Universalist Association, the UU Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, and many other religious and community organizations. To honor Dr. King, the campaign focuses on one of the more basic and controversial causes he spoke out for... a living minimum wage.

Dr. King always understood that the struggles for racial justice and economic justice were intertwined. King's organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Council sponsored a 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. A key demand of the march was "a national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living." In 1968, Dr. King died in the midst of supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were struggling to earn a living wage and respect for their dignity.

About a living wage, Dr. King said, "There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American [worker] whether he is a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid, or day laborer."

The concept is simple: "Everyone who works for a living deserves a living wage. No one who works a full-time job should be mired below the poverty line unable to support a family. It is simply immoral."

Dr. Martin Luther King could not have dreamt that in the year 2006, we would be debating whether to "raise" the minimum wage to the level employers paid in the 1960s." Yet the federal minimum wage has not been raised since 1997. The minimum wage rate is now $5.15 an hour. Can you imagine anyone, anywhere in America living on that?

In more liberal Massachusetts, the state minimum wage is higher, $6.75 an hour. But we know that is far too meager to sustain a family with the bare necessities. And, contrary to common belief, most minimum wage workers are not teenagers. In Massachusetts, three-quarters are adults age 20 and over. And one-thirds of these workers are the sole bread winners for their families.

With the cost of living increases, the real income value of the minimum wage is now more than $3.90 below what it was in 1968, nearly 40 years ago! Minimum wage employees who work fulltime, year round earn only $10,700 a year -- $5,000 below the official poverty level for a family of three. Thus even the proposed increases in the minimum wage now before Congress and many state legislatures would not bring these workers out of poverty.

The Economic Policy Institute calculated basic family budgets for 400 communities around the country. A basic family budget is a budget which would provide the basics of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care and other necessities. It is calculated based on the number of adults... one or two-parents ... and number of children in a household.

The Institute didn't do calculations for Taunton, but it did calculations for the cities of Brockton, Fall River, and New Bedford. According to these calculations, a single parent with two children would need an annual income of about $46,000 in New Bedford, $50,000 in Fall River and $54,000 in Brockton to provide for her family. Even working two full time jobs, a minimum wage waitress or store clerk would not even come close! Remember she would earn around $10,700 a year for a full-time job!

Over the past decades, it is evident the gap between rich and the working poor has increased tremendously. In 1980, the average CEO of a company made as much as 97 minimum wage workers. In 2004, the average CEO made as much as 952 minimum wage workers. This is incredible and outrageous. Furthermore, the U.S. Congress has done nothing about this for eight years, while they have raised their own salaries seven times. Many members of Congress seem oblivious or insensitive to the problems of the poor. But maybe they're like most other Americans who aren't poor themselves.

One active participant in the Let Justice Roll campaign is the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in New York. Dr. Forbes has spoken about the hidden nature and tragedy of poverty. He contrasted the sudden and highly visible tragedies like the Southeast Asian tsunami and the Gulf Coast hurricanes and floods to the slow, silent and invisible tragedies of daily poverty. Dr. Forbes remarked that we and the rest of the world responded with great compassion to victims of tsunamis and hurricanes. We know in our hearts we are a part of the same human family. And like good hearted people everywhere, when tragedy strikes we want to help in whatever way we can.

In contrast, in America (and perhaps in most developed countries in the world) there is a pattern of what Dr. Forbes calls "benign neglect, indifference or programmed unawareness of perilous problems all around us." He continues, "Conditions we would consider intolerable if the consequences broke out in a flash of sudden mass destruction we tend to ignore when they occur in disaggregated tricklings of slow death here and there."

Yet the slow, steady trickling affects of poverty exist in this, the richest country in the world. They were simply made more evident with the Gulf Coast hurricanes and with the pictures of many poor folks, mostly African Americans, on the roofs of flooded houses and in the New Orleans sports arena.

Normally the affects of poverty are nearly invisible to most people, especially those living in comfortable middle class or wealthy areas. But those of us living or working in Taunton or, for that matter in any declining industrial city, are more aware of the problems resulting from poverty. I know many of us here in this congregation are awake and notice what's around us with eyes of compassion. We know the results of poverty in our own communities: the higher rates of homelessness, school drop outs, crime and diseases caused by inadequate health care. A low income doesn't necessarily lead to these things in any one individual or family, but it is a major cause of the erosion of our society.

Senator Ted Kennedy has been a major advocate for raising the minimum wage. Last November, he introduced legislation into the U.S. Senate to increase the minimum wage nationally. This was a time when this nation's poverty was made more evident by the moving pictures of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. But it seems the majority of senators didn't understand the implications of these pictures, or ... most disturbing of all... did not care. They were unwilling to do anything about the minimum wage in 2005. As a result the Let Justice Roll campaign changed its tactics. It is introducing minimum wage bills at the state level. This the campaign will continue in most states through the elections this next fall.

I'm happy to tell you that Taunton's State Senator Marc Pacheco is the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to raise the Massachusetts minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.25. In addition, this minimum would be indexed that to future cost of living increases. There is an identical bill in the House. I urge you to support this bill by calling your state representatives in the next week or two. This may come up for a vote soon. It needs to pass in the next three months or it likely won't pass this year because of the budget process and election campaigns. More information on this bill and on how to locate your state representative is on the Welcome Table.

In honor of tomorrow's King holiday, a major event will be taking place tomorrow afternoon in Quincy. Senator Kennedy is scheduled to deliver a speech in support of a just minimum wage at an event to be held tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. at United First Parish Unitarian in Quincy. This event is sponsored by the Let Justice Roll Coalition and its partners. Kennedy will address the moral obligation and urgent necessity for increasing the minimum wage at the federal level as one step toward achieving a living wage. Also participating in the Quincy event will be the New England Conservatory Millennium Gospel Choir.

There will be other speakers -- including the Rev. Sheldon Bennett, minister of United First Parish; the Pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church; Charlie Clements, President of UU Service Committee who will represent both the UUA and the UUSC; and the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. It looks like a huge event and a real tribute to Dr. King and his legacy. I plan to attend ...and then be back in Taunton in time for the King service at the Memorial United Methodist Church. I hope some of you can come, too, to one or both events.

Senator Kennedy has said, "Raising the minimum wage is not just an economic issue. It's a women's issue. It's a civil rights issue. It's a family issue. But -- perhaps more than anything -- the minimum wage is a moral issue. Over the last five years the Bush administration has done a lot for the powerful and the wealthy. They have done a lot for corporate America. But they have done little to provide for the working people who are struggling to survive."

Spirit of Life, I pray that you help us to heed the words of the prophet Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Help us hold dear our religious principles which speak of the dignity and worth of every

person and of justice for all people.

Fill us with hope and courage and compassion.

Inspire us to do what we can to fight poverty and to work for a just and living wage. May we hew our stone of hope with the words of Dr. King and Theodore Parker: "The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

Amen.