Martin Luther King, "The Drum Major Instinct"

The Drum Major Instinct


Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February
1968



This morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach:
"The
Drum Major Instinct." "The Drum Major Instinct." And our text for the
morning is taken from a very familiar passage in the tenth chapter as
recorded by Saint Mark. Beginning with the thirty-fifth verse of that
chapter, we read these words: "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came
unto him saying, 'Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us
whatsoever
we shall desire.' And he said unto them, 'What would ye that I should
do for
you?' And they said unto him, 'Grant unto us that we may sit, one on
thy
right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.' But Jesus
said
unto them, 'Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of the cup that I
drink
of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' And they
said
unto him, 'We can.' And Jesus said unto them, 'Ye shall indeed drink of
the
cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal
shall ye
be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not
mine to
give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.'" And then
Jesus goes on toward the end of that passage to say, "But so shall it
not be
among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your
servant: and
whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."

The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of
the
master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming
king
of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on
Mount
Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as
this
kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign
supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, "Now when you
establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the
other on
the left hand of your throne."

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.

And so before we condemn them, let us see that we all have the drum
major
instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve
distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst,
contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to
contend
that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument
saying
that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire
for
distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this
drum
major instinct.

And you know, we begin early to ask life to put us first. Our first cry
as a
baby was a bid for attention. And all through childhood the drum major
impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children ask life to grant
them
first place. They are a little bundle of ego. And they have innately
the
drum major impulse or the drum major instinct.

Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We
like
to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it. Now
if you
don't believe that, you just go on living life, and you will discover
very
soon that you like to be praised. Everybody likes it, as a matter of
fact.
And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are praised or when our name
is
in print is something of the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy
when
they are praised, even if they know they don't deserve it and even if
they
don't believe it. The only unhappy people about praise is when that
praise
is going too much toward somebody else. (That's right) But everybody
likes
to be praised because of this real drum major instinct.

Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are
"joiners." You know, there are some people who just join everything.
And
it's really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And
they
get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and
they
become the "Grand Patron," and the little fellow who is henpecked at
home
needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy of the Most Worthy" of something.
It
is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human
life. And
so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join
things,
overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by
advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion.
And
they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into
buying.
In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In
order
to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. (Make
it
plain) In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of
lipstick or
this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you're just
buying
that stuff. (Yes) That's the way the advertisers do it.

I got a letter the other day, and it was a new magazine coming out. And
it
opened up, "Dear Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing lists.
And
you are categorized as highly intelligent, progressive, a lover of the
arts
and the sciences, and I know you will want to read what I have to say."
Of
course I did. After you said all of that and explained me so exactly,
of
course I wanted to read it. [laughter]

But very seriously, it goes through life; the drum major instinct is
real.
(Yes) And you know what else it causes to happen? It often causes us to
live
above our means. (Make it plain) It's nothing but the drum major
instinct.
Do you ever see people buy cars that they can't even begin to buy in
terms
of their income? (Amen) [laughter] You've seen people riding around in
Cadillacs and Chryslers who don't earn enough to have a good T-Model
Ford.
(Make it plain) But it feeds a repressed ego.

You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more
than
half of your annual income. So if you make an income of five thousand
dollars, your car shouldn't cost more than about twenty-five hundred.
That's
just good economics. And if it's a family of two, and both members of
the
family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to make out with one
car.
That would be good economics, although it's often inconvenient. But so
often, haven't you seen people making five thousand dollars a year and
driving a car that costs six thousand? And they wonder why their ends
never
meet. [laughter] That's a fact.

Now the economists also say that your house shouldn't cost-if you're
buying
a house, it shouldn't cost more than twice your income. That's based on
the
economy and how you would make ends meet. So, if you have an income of
five
thousand dollars, it's kind of difficult in this society. But say it's
a
family with an income of ten thousand dollars, the house shouldn't cost
much
more than twenty thousand. Well, I've seen folk making ten thousand
dollars,
living in a forty- and fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they
just
barely make it. They get a check every month somewhere, and they owe
all of
that out before it comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy
days.

But now the problem is, it is the drum major instinct. And you know,
you see
people over and over again with the drum major instinct taking them
over.
And they just live their lives trying to outdo the Joneses. (Amen) They
got
to get this coat because this particular coat is a little better and a
little better-looking than Mary's coat. And I got to drive this car
because
it's something about this car that makes my car a little better than my
neighbor's car. (Amen) I know a man who used to live in a
thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And other people started building
thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a
seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then somebody else built a
seventy-five-thousand-dollar house, and he built a
hundred-thousand-dollar
house. And I don't know where he's going to end up if he's going to
live his
life trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There comes a time that the drum major instinct can become destructive.
(Make it plain) And that's where I want to move now. I want to move to
the
point of saying that if this instinct is not harnessed, it becomes a
very
dangerous, pernicious instinct. For instance, if it isn't harnessed, it
causes one's personality to become distorted. I guess that's the most
damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality. If it isn't
harnessed, you will end up day in and day out trying to deal with your
ego
problem by boasting. Have you ever heard people that-you know, and I'm
sure
you've met them-that really become sickening because they just sit up
all
the time talking about themselves. (Amen) And they just boast and boast
and
boast, and that's the person who has not harnessed the drum major
instinct.

And then it does other things to the personality. It causes you to lie
about
who you know sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) There are some people who
are
influence peddlers. And in their attempt to deal with the drum major
instinct, they have to try to identify with the so-called big-name
people.
(Yeah, Make it plain) And if you're not careful, they will make you
think
they know somebody that they don't really know. (Amen) They know them
well,
they sip tea with them, and they this-and-that. That happens to people.


And the other thing is that it causes one to engage ultimately in
activities
that are merely used to get attention. Criminologists tell us that some
people are driven to crime because of this drum major instinct. They
don't
feel that they are getting enough attention through the normal channels
of
social behavior, and so they turn to anti-social behavior in order to
get
attention, in order to feel important. (Yeah) And so they get that gun,
and
before they know it they robbed a bank in a quest for recognition, in a
quest for importance.

And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the
fact
that when one fails to harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends up
trying to push others down in order to push himself up. (Amen) And
whenever
you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You
will
spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to
pull
them down in order to push yourself up. (Make it plain) And the great
issue
of life is to harness the drum major instinct.

Now the other problem is, when you don't harness the drum major
instinct-this uncontrolled aspect of it-is that it leads to snobbish
exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism. (Make it plain) And you
know,
this is the danger of social clubs and fraternities-I'm in a
fraternity; I'm
in two or three-for sororities and all of these, I'm not talking
against
them. I'm saying it's the danger. The danger is that they can become
forces
of classism and exclusivism where somehow you get a degree of
satisfaction
because you are in something exclusive. And that's fulfilling
something, you
know-that I'm in this fraternity, and it's the best fraternity in the
world,
and everybody can't get in this fraternity. So it ends up, you know, a
very
exclusive kind of thing.

And you know, that can happen with the church; I know churches get in
that
bind sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) 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.
(Amen)

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. (Yes) 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, (Whoo) it says, "Whosoever will,
let
him come." (Yes) And it does not supposed 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. (Yes, sir) And a
recognition grows out of this-that all men are brothers because they
are
children (Yes) of a common father.

The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one's thinking and
can
lead one to feel that because he has some training, he's a little
better
than that person who doesn't have it. Or because he has some economic
security, that he's a little better than that person who doesn't have
it.
And that's the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.

Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic-and we've seen it
happen so
often-tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this
problem-Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books.
And
she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the
source of
the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of
the
drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A
need
that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that
their
white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, 'cause I'm
against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in
ways
that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in
Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens
Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's
in
that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what
has
happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major
instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic
expressions of man's inhumanity to man.

The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when
I'm
in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the
white
wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race
problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating.
And
they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were
showing
us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and
we
would get to talking-calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And
then
we got down one day to the point-that was the second or third day-to
talk
about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those
brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what?
You
ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as
Negroes."
And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor,
because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same
forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white
people.
(Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being
white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody
big
because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children
to
school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every
time we
have a march."

Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position,
where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to
support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the
false
feeling that he's superior because his skin is white-and can't hardly
eat
and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)

And not only does this thing go into the racial struggle, it goes into
the
struggle between nations. And I would submit to you this morning that
what
is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are
engaged in
a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy. And if something doesn't
happen to
stop this trend, I'm sorely afraid that we won't be here to talk about
Jesus
Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many more years. (Yeah)
If
somebody doesn't bring an end to this suicidal thrust that we see in
the
world today, none of us are going to be around, because somebody's
going to
make the mistake through our senseless blunderings of dropping a
nuclear
bomb somewhere. And then another one is going to drop. And don't let
anybody
fool you, this can happen within a matter of seconds. (Amen) They have
twenty-megaton bombs in Russia right now that can destroy a city as big
as
New York in three seconds, with everybody wiped away, and every
building.
And we can do the same thing to Russia and China.

But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because
nations
are caught up with the drum major instinct. "I must be first." "I must
be
supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." (Preach it) And I am sad to
say
that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going
to
continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to
see
the drift that it has taken.

God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now.
(Preach it,
preach it) God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war
as
the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We've committed
more
war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to
continue to
say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as
a
nation.

But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen) The
God
that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." (Yes) He has
a way
of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews,
"Don't play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. (Yes) Be
still and
know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll
rise up
and break the backbone of your power." (Yes) And that can happen to
America.
(Yes) Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall
of the
Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the
parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major
instinct.

But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what
Jesus
was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's
very
interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned
them.
One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your
place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different.
He
said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be
great.
You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought
to be.
If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered
priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good
instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't
distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for
being
important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be
first
in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you
to be
first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of
greatness.
And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you
greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said
to
James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by
favoritism,
but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give,
they
belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be
important-wonderful. If you want to be recognized-wonderful. If you
want to
be great-wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you
shall be
your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that
definition
of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because
everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to
serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb
agree
to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You
don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't
have
to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen)
You
only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by
love.
(Yes) And you can be that servant.

I know a man-and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you
will
discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he
was a
great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure
village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew
up
in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until
he
was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his
feet,
and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things.
He
didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He
never
had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college.
He
never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he
was
born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate
with
greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against
him.
They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They
said
he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he
broke
injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through
the
mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned
him
over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of
his
friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the
people
who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he
had in
the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed
tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most
influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies
that
ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that
ever
sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not
affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one
solitary
life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them
talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of
Kings."
(Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords."
Somewhere
else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West."
(Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and
South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide
world." He
didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing
good.

This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you
serve.
(Amen) It's the only way in.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about
that
day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common
denominator-that something that we call death. We all think about it.
And
every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own
funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and
then I
ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word
to you
this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a
long
funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not
to
talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them
to
say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize-that
isn't
important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred
other
awards-that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to
school. (Yes)

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
tried to
give his life serving others. (Yes)

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
tried to
love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war
question.
(Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the
hungry.
(Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to
clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those
who
were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum
major
for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was
a
drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will
not
matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the
fine
and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave
a
committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for
any
selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in
terms
of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in
love
and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can
make
of this old world a new world.

Calvin: Service to God

For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him- they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him. Institutes 1.2.1-2

Calvin: The Nature of the Church

Calvin rages against the church in Rome: In my experience the Catholic church offers not only the visible reminder of the Holy, but is concerned for the spiritual welfare of its members. The RC Catechism calls the Church God's response to the caos brought into the world through sin.

"By their double-horned argument they do not press us so hard that we are forced to admit either that the church has been lifeless for some time or that we are now in conflict with it. Surely the church of Christ has lived and will live so long as Christ reigns at the right hand of his Father. It is sustained by his hand; defended by his protection; and is kept safe through his power. For he will surely accomplish what he once promised: that he will be present with his own even to the end of the world [Matt. 28:20]. Against this church we now have no quarrel. For, of one accord with all believing folk, we worship and adore one God, and Christ the Lord [I Cor. 8:6], as he has always been adored by all godly men. But they stray very far from the truth when they do not recognize the church unless they see it with their very eyes, and try to keep it within limits to which it cannot at all be confined.

Our controversy turns on these hinges: first, they contend that the form of the church is always apparent and observable." Preface to The Institutes of the Christian Religion 5,6.

This Day (With Galahad)

Eternal life is offered by God's grace.
If it were awarded by merit, heaven would be filled with dogs, not humans.

This Day

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
-Victor Hugo

This Day

Many of you have been receiving my E Mails "This Day." Here is the offering for today.

To know what is right and not do it
is just as bad as actively doing wrong.

Calvin and Culture 1536

As pointed out by Elsie McKee in yesterday's reflection on the ptsem.edu page, Calvin is addressing a Christian society where there is agreement about 1) holy scripture as God's word, 2)the existence and nature of one God,just and true 3)Jesus is God's Son. In today's diverse pluralistic culture we do well as Christians to find places of agreement. For a good apologetic to the 21st century world, read "What's So Great About Christianity" by Dinesh D'Souza.

Friends Ecumenical

I am off and running with the readings and appreciate the podcasts over on the ptsem.edu site. I am encouraging my friends ecumenical to discuss these readings here. Lets read the Institutes and the Catholic Cathechism together. Should be great fun in today's diverse culture to connect with friends ecumenical.

A Year with Calvin but not Hobbes

For what is more consonant with faith than to recognize that we are naked of all virtue, in order to be clothed by God? That we are empty of all good, to be filled by him? That we are slaves of sin, to be freed by him? Blind, to be illumined by him? Lame, to be made straight by him? Weak, to be sustained by him? To take away from us all occasion for glorying, that he alone may stand forth gloriously and we glory in him [cf. I Cor. 1:31; II Cor. 10:17]? Preface to Calvin's Institues

A Year With the Institues of John Calvin

To the Reader & Subject Matter 9:47 12/31/2008 Princeton Theological Seminary Invites the Church, the Academy, and individual Christians around the world to Read Calvin Together in 2009 in A Year with the Institutes.

I will be reading through the Institues of John Calvin with the Princeton Seminary Calvin Project in celebration of Calvin's 500th birthday. I have attached an RSS feed on this blog for anyone who wishes to subscribe. I have also provided a link to the PTSem Calvin Project page were you can subscribe to a podcast of the daily readings. I found today that it is an aid to concentration to listen to Calvin being read while following the text provided.