The Drum Major Instinct

The Historic "Drum Major Instinct Speech" was delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968 by the Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The text for this sermon was from this week's reading from Mark 10. In the reading, two of Zebedee's sons have Jesus one of those questions we have heard from our kids. "Hay Jesus, we want something, and we want you to say yes before we ask you the question." (I am taking some liberty with my translation).

In many ways, the world of Martin Luther King and 1968 seem so different than today, however in other ways it seems the same. In his sermon Dr. King wrote, "Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn James and John, and we would say they were selfish. Why would they make such a selfish request? But before we condemn them too quickly, let us look calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, for importance. That same desire for attention, that same desire to be first. Of course, the other disciples got mad with James and John, and you could understand why, but we must understand that we have some of the same James and John qualities. And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life."

Truth is, many of us are James and Johns. We want to sit at the right had because when you are seated so close to the power, power is sure to run off on you. If you sit next to the king you will be served right after the king is served. When you sit next to the king you have the king's ear. When you sit next to the king you get first dibs on the leftovers. As Mel Brooks wrote in the History of the World, "It's good to be the king." However, as history tells us time and again, right next to the king can be dangerous.

Unfortunately in the church we are often surrounded by people who suffer from the Drum Major Instinct. People want to run the church in the way that they want the church to be run, not necessarily the way that God would want the church run. If they have power in their private lives, they want power in the life of the church. However, according to Dr. King, that is not the way it should be.

Dr. King writes; I know churches get in that bind sometimes. I've been to churches, you know, and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so many businessmen in our church." And that's fine, because doctors need to go to church, and lawyers, and businessmen, teachers—they ought to be in church. But they say that—even the preacher sometimes will go all through that—they say that as if the other people don't count.

And the church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that he's a Ph.D. The church is the one place that the school teacher ought to forget the degree she has behind her name. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's a lawyer. And any church that violates the "whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.

When the church is true to its nature, it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." And it does not suppose to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place where everybody should be the same, standing before a common master and savior. And recognition grows out of this—that all men are brothers because they are children of a common father.

I was reminded once again this morning that the Anonymous in AA or NA or SA or OEA doesn't mean that the people in the meeting don't know who you are, but that once you walk in the door you are equal, there is no room in an AA, NA, SA or any other twelve step program for a person with "Drum Major Instinct Speech." The Church can learn a lot from twelve step programs in this area.

See you next Sunday!