Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. President to speak at Ebenezer Baptist Church during the MLK Holiday weekend. On Jan. 15, President Biden spoke at the historic church where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his first sermon in 1947.
“On this day, we gather at Dr. King’s cherish Ebenezer,” Biden began. “I emphasize the word, Ebenezer. Together here it is cherished. To commemorate one event, Dr. King’s 94th birthday. We gather to contemplate his moral vision and to commit ourselves to his path that leads to the beloved community to the sacred place.”
Biden also thanked Coretta Scott King who pushed to have Dr. King’s birthday celebrated as a national holiday following his untimely passing in 1968. A federal holiday in the United States was passed in 1983, and the first nationwide observance took place in 1986.
Biden also spoke about Sen. Raphael Warnock who currently serves in a leadership role at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
“You stand in Dr. King’s pulpit and you carry on his purpose,” Biden says. “And this service doesn’t stop at the church. It didn’t with Dr. King. It doesn’t with you. It doesn’t with the vast majority of you standing before me. I want to thank you for inviting me to be called to America’s freedom church.”
The President made it a point to show the impact of Dr. King’s legacy and how it must be continued today.
“Dr. King’s life and legacy show us the way we should pay attention,” Biden said. “Dr. Martin Luther King was born in a nation where segregation was a tragic fact of life. He had every reason to believe this was to be America’s destiny. But he rejected that outcome. He commanded justice, love, and mercy…What we do to remember that his mission was something even deeper. It was spiritual, it was moral.”
Biden ended his message with the hope of King’s words.
“Progress is never easy, but it’s always possible,” Biden said. “Dr. King asked ‘Where do we go from here? My message as a nation is that we go forward, we go together.”
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