ASHLAND — With the inauguration of Barack Obama coming just a day after the annual observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many people have used the occasion to establish a link between the slain civil rights and the first African-American president of the United States.

But the Rev. David Peoples used the occasion of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at St. James A.M.E. Church to establish a connection between King, Obama and someone who lived thousands of years ago: Nehemiah. Just as King and now Obama are following in the path first blazed by Nehemiah, Peoples called on those attending the Monday morning service sponsored by the Boyd and Greenup County Branch of the NAACP to follow in the path of King and Obama.

As told in the Old Testament book that bears his name, Nehemiah was a cupbearer for King Artaxeres while the Hebrew people were in captivity in Persia. Nehemiah received permission — and funding — from the king to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the fallen city.

Peoples, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Ironton, used Nehemiah 6:3 as the text for his talk: “And I sent messengers to them, saying I am doing a great work so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you.”

People said the work started by Martin Luther King Jr. is not finished and this generation “cannot come down until the work is finished.”

Peoples said King’s most famous speech was not titled “I Have a Dream.”

“That’s the name the media have given it and that’s the name we know it by, but Dr. King’s title was ‘America, you broke your promise.’”

King used the occasion of an August 1963 civil rights demonstration attended by more than 250,000 in Washington, D.C., to emphasize how America had broken its promise of equality for all by denying basic rights to blacks and the poor. While blacks have come a long way since 1963, the promise still has not been completely fulfilled, said the Ironton pastor, who is the son-in-law of the Rev. Henry Mosley, longtime pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Ashland.

The promise is not being kept when “we pass a No Child Left Behind Act that still is waiting for full funding,” said Peoples. “And little children still are being left behind.”

Just as Nehemiah was a cupbearer to a king, Barack Obama was a lowly cupbearer helping the poor in the city of Chicago.

“You may think you are a lowly cupbearer, but God has shown us how he can turn a cupbearer into a governor, into a United States senator and into a standard bearer for the world,” Peoples said, in a powerful message that was fueled by shouts of “Amen!” and cheers by those in attendance. “When God gets his hands on you, he will take you from the back of the line to the front of the line.

“We know the homeland is in trouble,” People said. “It is in trouble because there are no men in our homes and our families have broken down and our schools have broken down ...”

In Nehemiah 1:4, the cupbearer weeps for his homeland of Jerusalem.

“When was the last time you wept for your community?” People asked. “Maybe it is time we wept for our community.”

Nehemiah faced ridicule and opposition as he worked to rebuild the wall. “So did Dr. King, and so will you.” But like Nehemiah, Dr. King kept his eye on his work and did not waver from his task that eventually led him to an early grave, Peoples said.

Just as Nehemiah refused to quit until his task was done, Peoples said the work of Dr. King is not done as long as “there are more black men in prisons than in college and until little boys pick up their pants and little girls stop selling themselves and their bodies.”

People said people sometimes forget that Dr. King was a preacher.

“Dr. King was anointed by God to do what he did,” Peoples said. “To do what he did, you have to know the Lord. To be president of the United States, you had better know the Lord and ask for his guidance daily. If you don’t you will surely fail.

“Like Nehemiah, we are doing a great work, but we are not finished,” Peoples said. “Let us not grow weary and give up until we have finished the work Dr. King began with God’s help.”

Also during the service, Lauren Canty, a freshman at Paul G. Blazer High School, read from an essay in which she emphasized that slavery still exists today. It exists by women who are used as prostitutes and illegal immigrants who are paid substandard wages on American farms and in U.S. factories, she said.

While people are still enslaved today, few “have stepped up to the plate to do something about it,” said the teenager. “The work of Martin Luther King is not finished.”

The service was followed by the “Poor People’s March” from St. James to Judd Plaza and then a luncheon provided by First Presbyterian Church.

Attendance was down a bit for the annual service, in part because of the inclement weather and in part because some were in Washington for Obama’s inauguration.

“It doesn’t take a lot of people to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Bernice Henry, who served as mistress of ceremonies for the service.

JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2649.