Applying the Principles of MLK
On Jan. 19, Naomi Tutu kicked off the 2026 January Series with a challenging talk on faith, justice, and what it means to recognize the image of God in every person.
The annual midday series, which takes place at Calvin University’s Covenant Fine Arts Center and is available through streaming and at some 45 remote sites around the world, will tackle subjects ranging from loneliness to the world of war.
Drawing on her experiences growing up under apartheid in South Africa, her educational path that took her around the world, and her ministry today in the United States, Tutu invited listeners to consider how small, everyday choices can help to build a more just and compassionate world.
Tutu is the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and grew up in a household deeply shaped by the struggle against apartheid. Her adult life, she said, has been divided between South Africa and the U.S., and she now serves as a priest associate at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Ga. Throughout the talk, she wove together personal stories, theological reflection, and lessons drawn from the life and witness of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK).
Learning from Faithful Lives
Tutu shared that one of her earliest memories was about being taken to church after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a child, she knew he mattered deeply to the adults she admired, and later, she said, as a student of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, she came to understand why. She noted that various stories that have most shaped her have not been public moments of acclaim but the unseen actions and choices people have made “when no one is watching.”
She illustrated this through a story about King as he traveled late at night with his brother-in-law. When an oncoming car refused to dim its headlights, King urged patience: “We need someone on this road who can see, even if it isn’t you.” Tutu said that, to her, this moment captured King’s refusal to dehumanize others – even those who might endanger him. It was a reminder that how we treat others, especially in small moments, reveals who we are and what kind of world we hope to build.
Recognizing God’s Image in One Another
Reflecting on King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Tutu emphasized King’s insistence on challenging injustice without stripping opponents of their humanity. Rather than calling names, King appealed to faith leaders’ deepest beliefs: that all people are created in God’s image, that every person is imbued with the Holy Spirit, and that, as followers of Christ, we are all called to a courageous faith. True peace, she reminded listeners, is not merely the absence of conflict but the presence of justice: no hungry children, no homelessness, and a society where every person’s dignity is recognized.
Tutu connected this to her own experiences during apartheid, recounting a moment at a military roadblock when she chose to engage a frightened young soldier as a fellow human being rather than as an enemy. For a few minutes, she said, they were simply two people talking, no longer an apartheid soldier and a presumed terrorist threat, but bearers of God’s image encountering one another.
Hope, Courage, and Everyday Faithfulness
Acknowledging how overwhelming ongoing injustice and violence can feel, Tutu spoke honestly about grief, exhaustion, and the temptation to withdraw. Yet she insisted that retreat is not what Christians are called to do. “We are called to make our world a better place,” she said, even if it is only for one person.
Not everyone will receive a Nobel Peace Prize, she noted, but everyone can become what King called a “drum major for justice” in their own context: at work, in their neighborhood, and in their congregation. That calling, she suggested, begins with a simple refusal to let our lives be guided by hate, choosing instead a life of courage rooted in God’s love.
Tutu closed by returning to a central question of the talk: What would change if we truly believed that every person we meet is a carrier of God’s presence? Holding on to that conviction, she said, can sustain hope and help God’s people participate in the work of restoring the world to a place where God can once again say, “This is good.”
