MLK Day Community Celebration

MLK Day Community Celebration

An Invocation

I was deeply honored to be invited to offer the invocation at the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Celebration at the Friends of MLK Center here in Davenport. I was invited in my role as one of the pastors of a PUNCH church, as this annual celebration is a shared witness of People Uniting Neighbors and Churches (PUNCH) and Friends of MLK, Inc.—two organizations committed to justice, dignity, and the beloved community Dr. King envisioned.

Gathering with neighbors from across our community to honor Dr. King’s life and legacy is both a gift and a responsibility. Dr. King’s witness continues to call us not only to remember his words, but to live them—to confront injustice with courage, to resist dehumanization, and to root our public life in truth, hope, and love.

Below are the remarks I offered at the celebration, shared in the spirit in which they were given: as a prayer for our community, a call to faithful courage, and a commitment to keep walking together toward justice.

Invocation

Friends, sisters, brothers, siblings in Christ,

I am the Rev. Dr. Kristopher D. Schondelmeyer, Pastor and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church of Davenport, a congregation that is part of People Uniting Neighbors and Churches, better known as PUNCH.

It is a humble privilege to be here with you today as we honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Marting Luther King, Jr.

Friends, I know that being in this space, honoring Dr. King, and naming the realities of injustice, can make some of our neighbors uneasy.

When faith dares to speak honestly about injustice, it often gets labeled. Over the years, I’ve learned that some people have labeled me a woke pastor.

And friends, it’s ok. I’ll claim it. I am a woke pastor.

I’ve got four young kids at home, ages 3 to 10. I’ve been woke since 5:30 this morning.

We gather today not simply to remember a man, but to confront a moment. We gather because the words spoken by the Dr. King still echo with unsettling clarity:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

These were not comfortable words in his time—and they are no less uncomfortable in ours. But, this is our moment. This is our time to rise.

We stand in a nation where fear is too often wielded as policy; where immigrant families live under threat; where the language of law and order is too often used to justify cruelty; and where the hard-won protections of civil rights and voting rights are weakened, or rolled back, or stripped away altogether.

This is not a detour from Dr. King’s dream.

This is the very terrain he warned us about.

He knew progress would provoke resistance. He knew injustice would not surrender quietly. He knew laws could change without hearts being transformed.

The road toward freedom has always run through contested ground—and here we are, standing on that ground once more.

Friends, Dr. King was not merely a historical figure or a civic hero. He was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

His movement did not rise from political convenience, but from theological conviction.

He believed that justice is not optional for the people of God.

He believed that the cross stands forever against racism and violence, against exclusion and indifference.

He believed that love—costly, courageous, nonviolent love—is the most powerful force the world has ever known.

That call did not end with him.

Today, it is ours to hear again.

So let us go to God in prayer.

Holy and righteous God,

We thank you for the life and witness of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and we confess that the work of justice remains unfinished.

Holy God, be with us today. Guide our steps. Shape our conscience. Strengthen our resolve.

Where fear reigns, sow courage.
Where policies wound, awaken compassion.
Where rights are stripped away, rekindle moral imagination.
Where the church has been silent, give us a voice.

But do not let us honor Dr. King with words alone. Call us instead to lives of justice, and reconciliation, and freedom, until that day when all people live in dignity, when all voices are heard, and when all are truly free.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Amen.