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To Alberta Williams King

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Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.?

Date: March 25, 1958

Location: Montgomery, Ala.?

Genre: Letter

Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Career in Ministry

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Family

Details

King sends his mother a copy of a sermon he delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on 26 September 1954.

Dear Mother:

Enclosed is the talk entitled "CREATING THE ABUNDANT LIFE".1

I believe you can find some of the things you want in it. Read the whole thing through and feel free to use any of it.

Please give the two enclosed air line receipts to dad. Tell him that the total is $123.04.

I am bogged down with the writing of the book which is taking every minute of my time. I hope Darlene is better.2

Love,

1. Using as the text of the sermon John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," King wrote that reliance on religion makes life meaningful: "Man is a child of God, made for the stars, created for eternity, born for the everlasting, and so long as man lives out of harmony with this. . . .he will find life a frustrated and meaningless drama played over and over again with slight changes in costume and scenery." 

2. King refers to his brother’s daughter, Esther Darlene King.

Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

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