WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden remembered Martin Luther King Jr. on the federal holiday honoring the civil rights leader.
"Let's be guided by Dr. King's light and by the charge of Scripture, which is let us never grow weary in doing what is right for if we do not give up, we will reap our harvest in due time or we're going to reap the harvest," said Biden.
"Let's remember who we are. We're the United States of America. And there is nothing beyond our capacity."
Biden's comments came during a speech at an MLK breakfast hosted in Washington by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
Watch the event in the player above.
The speech also comes a day after Biden made a historical pilgrimage Sunday to "America's freedom church" to mark Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
As the first sitting president to deliver a Sunday morning sermon at King's Ebenezer Baptist Church, Biden cited the telling question that King himself once asked of the nation.
"He said, 'Where do we go from here?'" Biden said from the pulpit. "Well, my message to this nation on this day is we go forward, we go together, when we choose democracy over autocracy, a beloved community over chaos, when we choose believers and the dreams, to be doers, to be unafraid, always keeping the faith."
In his remarks, the president also said that for all the progress the United States has made, the country had now reached a critical point in its history. He said democracies can backslide, noting the collapse of the institutional structures of democracy in places such as Brazil.
WATCH: Martin Luther King III reflects on Dr. King's legacy in divided times
"Progress is never easy, but it's always possible and things do get better in our march to a more perfect union," he said. "But at this inflection point, we know a lot of work that has to continue on economic justice civil rights, voting rights, protecting our democracy. And I'm remembering our job is to redeem the soul of America."
This moment, he said, "is the time of choosing. … Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy? Couldn't ask that question 15 years ago because everybody thought democracy was settled. … But it's not." Americans, he said, " have to choose a community over chaos. … These are the vital questions of our time and the reason why I'm here as your president. I believe Dr. King's life and legacy show us the way and we should pay attention."
King, who was born on Jan. 15, 1929, was killed at age 39. He helped drive passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Members of King's family attended the service, including his 95-year-old sister, Christine King Farris.