Thoughts for the Day from MLK

When I was in graduate school, I once did a study examining the rhetorical style of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s preaching.  What I found was that Dr. King was able to successfully combine preaching styles from both black and white homiletic theory.

What I mean is, Rev. King was able effectively to merge the best of black preaching style, with its powerful storytelling, vivid images and rhythmic cadences, with the best of white preaching styles, with its rhetorical structure and its use of logic and Aristotelian reasoning.  The result was preaching which appealed to both white and black audiences.

In other words, good communicators are always able, in every situation, to find the available means of persuasion – exactly as Aristotle himself taught in his book on rhetoric, so many centuries ago.

In honor of today as the day we remember and honor him, here are some of my favorite MLK quotations.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

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Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

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The arc of the universe is long, but it tends towards justice.

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Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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The times is always right to do right.

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But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. The type of love that I stress here is not eros, a sort of esthetic or romantic love; not philia, a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends; but it is agape which is understanding goodwill for all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It is the love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.

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I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners, will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

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Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”…was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand I can do no other, so help me God.”….And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”….So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?…Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

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I just want to do God’s will.  And He’s allowed me to go to the mountain.  And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land!  I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.

Run to the Darkness

(Thanks to David McQueen and Keith Roberson for their “tag-team” sermon that got me to thinking about this.)

People run OUT of burning buildings.  That’s simple human self-preservation: get as far away from danger as possible.  Yet we know there are those who run INTO burning buildings.  We call them firefighters.  We also call them heroes.

Normal human reaction is to get away from gunfire, especially if you’re unarmed.  But soldiers routinely run TOWARDS gunfire, especially when a buddy is in trouble.  And medics will do this, even though they are unarmed, to save a life.  Heroes in action.

These are examples of physical courage in the face of danger.  But there is another kind of courage, just as rare, and just as worthy of celebrating.  It is the kind of moral courage that runs into the darkness where another person is trapped.

As humans, we were meant to live in relationship with others – family members, co-workers, neighbors.  We were meant to live in community, to provide mutual support and encouragement.  But relationships are messy.  If we want to enjoy truly mutual relationships with others, that requires that we make ourselves vulnerable.  It also requires that we allow others to be vulnerable to us.

And there’s the problem: we like to keep our emotional distance.  Oh, we’re fine with relationships as long as they’re on the surface, or as long as it doesn’t require too much of a commitment from us.  But when a neighbor or a co-worker needs someone who is willing to listen, to “weep with those who weep,” to be willing to just make an investment of time, are we willing to be that person?

So I come back to our opening thoughts.  We admire the courage, the loyalty, the selflessness of a firefighter who would charge into a burning building, or a medic who races into a combat situation to save a life.  Are we willing to do the same thing for someone who needs a friend?

The world is desperate to see the love of God.  The world is aching to see Christians who will live out what they say they believe.  Are you willing to be that person?  Am I?

Are you willing to be the one who goes to the old man who lives down the street, and has no one to talk to?  Would you spend an hour a week just sitting with him and listening?

Or how about the single mom at work.  Will you be the one who reaches out to her and offers to baby-sit for a little while just so she can go buy groceries without the kids?

When Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of hell would not “prevail” against it, what did He mean?  That Hell would attack the church, but that the church would never fall to those attacks?  Well, that’s certainly true, but I think that interpretation misses the point.

I mean, think about it: Gates are for DEFENSE!  When Jesus said the “gates of hell” would not stop us, He’s telling us THAT WE NEED TO ATTACK HELL!!! Storm the gates! Rescue the prisoners trapped there!  Find those who sit in darkness and bring them out.  Somebody cared enough about you and me to go get us; now we need to go get someone else.  This is what the Kingdom of God looks like.  Each one matters.  Each one is important.  And no one gets left behind.

Be a friend to the friendless.  Be a neighbor to the lonely.  Be a brother or a sister to the one needing a family.  Be the hands and feet of Christ, reaching out to care for the least of these.

A few years ago, Kathy Troccoli released a song written by Chris Rice and Helena Teixeira: “Go Light Your World.”

There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings fire
Ignites a candle and makes His home
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

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Frustrated brother, see how he’s tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she’s been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the lonely, the tired and worn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

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We are a family whose hearts are blazing
So let’s raise our candles and light up the sky
Praying to our Father, in the name of Jesus
Make us a beacon in darkest times
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the helpless, deceived and poor
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world

Take your candle. Run to the darkness. Go light your world.

No Fear

I will not give in to fear. I refuse to give in to hate.

Do I like the direction in which the country is heading? I do not. Do I believe the current occupant of the White House shares my values? I do not.

But I will not give in to hate. I will not give in to fear.

For many though, this election was far from an easy decision. Yes, the positions of the Democratic party on abortion, on gay marriage, and on other issues, are not in line with what I believe. On the other hand, I reject the extreme greed, selfishness and materialism that seem to drive many of the Republican policies. I’m not sure Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt would recognize what has become of the party they once proudly championed.  But John “ask not what your country can do for you” Kennedy probably wouldn’t recognize some of the Democratic positions, either.

For once, I actually found myself agreeing with Bill Clinton when he said that he preferred a national attitude that says, we need to help one another, because we’re all in this together, rather than one that says, “I’ve got mine, you’re on your own.”

The scripture says, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak.” Might that not include economic failures as well? In Bible times, landowners were required to make provision for the poor, the alien, the widows and orphans. What should that provision look like for today? I don’t know the answer, but I do believe that the fact that some people abuse the system, shouldn’t mean that we refuse to help others.

Granted, we should not reward laziness, and simply throwing money at a problem – whether it’s taxpayer funds, or private donations – rarely solves anything. And yes, Jesus did say that the poor will always be with us. But I don’t think He meant that we should be content with that, or that He meant to let us off the hook from trying to help.

So I will not give in to fear. I choose to live in hope. I will “make every effort” to reach out to the poor, the lonely, the disenfranchised. What does that mean? It means knocking on some doors, offering a hug, delivering a meal or a sack of groceries. It means opening my door for some people to come eat with our family, and opening my heart to others, to build friendships with people who aren’t like me.

It DOESN’T mean just volunteering on Thanksgiving morning at some soup kitchen, or giving a few dollars for a Sunday School Christmas project, so we can have a warm fuzzy. That’s sacrificing to the LORD my God that which cost me nothing.

But I will not harbor resentment, or hate, or despair in my heart. I will not look to Washington for answers, nor wait for the election of 2016, nor put my hope in princes, of either party. The weapons that I fight with are not the weapons of this world, and my struggle is not against flesh and blood.

I will pray for the President and for Congress, because the scripture commands me to do so, and because it’s the right thing to do. I will submit to lawful authority, so long as it does not require me to disobey God, because every civil authority is established by God and answerable to Him. I will render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto to God what is God’s.

The same Roman government that Paul urged his readers to pray for and submit to, was the same government that executed him. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego refused to bow to the king’s statue, they didn’t question his right to exercise authority over them.

God establishes seats of power, and brings down nations, to accomplish His purposes, and He doesn’t ask my opinion. Do I like the fact that some states have legalized gay marriage? Of course not. Do I approve of the way my taxes are being spent? Certainly not, at least not in every case. Do I approve of laws making assisted suicide legal? No. (More on that later.)

But these are all symptoms of a larger problem. The human race is fallen. We need a Savior. Relationships are broken – between people and God, and among us as humans and neighbors.  Unless and until we deal with that brokenness, nothing will really change.

(By the way, legalizing marijuana is just one more symptom of that brokenness. It just shows people looking for some peace – they’re just using something that cannot satisfy.)

But I will live in hope. Not some pie-in-the-sky kind of mindlessness that refuses to recognize the seriousness of the situation, but the kind of hope that knows that God is still in charge, even when I don’t understand. The hope that comes from knowing that greater is He Who is in me, than he who is in the world.  Knowing that my God will one day wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more pain, or crying, or death, for the old order of things will pass away.

And there will be no more hungry children. Or crack-head welfare mothers. Or economic oppression. Or injustice against the weakest among us. Or abuse of power. Or corporate greed. Or bloated government. Or environmental disasters.  Or any of the other things that plague us because of our brokenness.

Until Jesus returns to bring the Kingdom in its fullness, I will work to make it real in my life, and in the lives of those around me. I will share my food with the hungry, and not turn away from the stranger in our midst. I will declare good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim release from captivity for those who sit in darkness. I will work to bring justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with my God.

I will live in hope. And I will not give in to fear.

Days of Encouragement

As some of you know, I have spent the last several days at the annual conference of the Christian Community Development Association, also known as CCDA. I’ve been here with two dear friends and colleagues from CCC, Laura Herridge and Janet Mendenhall. It’s been a great trip, and a great conference, and I just wanted to share a little bit of it with you.

CCDA was founded by Dr. John Perkins. Dr. Perkins was born in 1930, the son of sharecroppers in rural Mississippi. He left home when he was 17 after a racist town marshall murdered his brother. Vowing never to return to the South, he moved to Los Angeles, carrying all the hatred against white people that you can imagine. But that’s when God stepped in.

His heart was touched by a song that his little son came home singing one day – a song he had learned at church. “Jesus loves the little children,” the song said. “All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” (I sang this very same song myself at VBS when I was a child! Many of you did, too.)

This simple, childish song led to his eventually giving his heart to Christ and later, becoming a pastor in L.A. But God still wasn’t done, and in 1960, he and his family moved back to Mississippi, and he began a community development ministry not far from his old hometown.

What is Christian community development? Well, to use a cliche, it’s a hand up, but not a hand-out. It’s moving into a neighborhood and reaching out to neighbors, but not with the attitude that says, “You’re broken, and I’m here to fix you.” Rather, it says, “We’re all broken, but let’s work together and learn from each other and come out of our brokenness.”

Over the years he marched for civil rights, was arrested several times, was beaten, worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, prayed and struggled. God cured him of the hatred in his heart against other races. Eventually, he founded CCDA as a way for like-minded groups and individuals to encourage each other and work together cooperatively.

There’s a lot more to tell about Dr. Perkins, but I won’t go into that. If you’re interested, you should read his biography, Let Justice Roll Down. I will say, we were honored to have him come to our Friendship House in 2010 on his last visit to Abilene, where he delighted in the interaction between the kids and the volunteers who were there.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Reconcile.” Racial reconciliation has been a buzzword for some time now, but this conference has been asking harder questions – is there a way to move beyond joining hands and singing “Kum By Yah,” to really healing the wounds between the races and actually bringing the Kingdom of God, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus?

The speakers have been challenging, and we have explored together the ideaa that we need reconciliation not just between races, but also between economic classes, education levels, generational groups, and in many other ways. The touchstone Bible passage for the week has been 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. Now all this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation – that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them, and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now therefore, as ambassadors for Christ, we beg you for Christ’s sake, as though God were pleading through us: Be reconciled to God.”

It’s been a great week, and I’m feeling recharged and ready to come home just as fast as Southwest Airlines and I-20 can get us there. But let me leave you with this: to whom do you need to be reconciled? If God can change John Perkins, and turn him from a race-hater into a world-changer, with whom do you or I need to make peace?

God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus, and in Christ, is not counting our sins against us. Let us extend each other that same grace, and forgive as we have been forgiven. And may we truly be reconciled to each other – breaking down walls of race, income, status, gender and age – so that they world may know we are His disciples, by the way we love one another.

The Column I Didn’t Want to Write

I’ve been meaning to write something for over a week now.  Intending to do so. Putting it off, because I really didn’t want to write about this.  But I find that whenever I start to try and write about something else, that little voice in the back of my head shouts me down, and keeps bringing me back to this.  So, rushing in where angels fear to tread…

I’m so sick of politics, I could just vomit.

Now, you have to understand, I’ve been interested in politics for as long as I can remember.  I actually remember the anti-Goldwater TV ad from 1964 with the little girl and the nuclear explosion.  It’s probably on Google if you haven’t seen it before.  And I remember well the ’68 election between Nixon and Humphrey, and George Wallace’s 3rd party candidacy that gave the election to Tricky Dick.  And I never fail to vote.

So when I say, I’m sick of politics this year, that’s big to me.

I have dear friends who are on the right, sending me vast amounts of emails about how absolutely disastrous it will be for the country if President Obama is re-elected.  And I have dear friends on the left politically, warning of the horrifying social catastrophe that would follow a victory by Governor Romney.

People, get over yourselves.  Frankly, I can’t stand either one of those guys.

When did the party of Abraham Lincoln become so filled with so much greed, hatred and xenophobia?  When did the party of Teddy Roosevelt – an arch environmentalist and trust-buster – become so devoted to hyper-individualism, at the expense of balance and common sense?

When did the party of Franklin Delano “All we have to fear, is fear itself” Roosevelt, become the domain of professional victims?  When did the party of JFK become the party of the guaranteed handout?  Wasn’t it Kennedy who famously asked, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”  Still sounds like a good idea to me.

I guess there are two things that really bother me about the current political dialogue discourse arguments that I see.  One is the notion of political enemies.  They say politics is the art of the possible.  The fact is, our nation was built on political compromise.  COMPROMISE IS NOT A DIRTY WORD.  It just means recognizing that the other guy might also have a good point.

When the framers of the constitution couldn’t agree on whether the national legislature should be based on the states or the people, they compromised, and gave us a bicameral system – the Senate, where members are chosen by the states, and the House, with members chosen by population.  (Am I the only one who remembers 8th grade American history? Jeez.)  It was a compromise, and 200+ years on, it still looks like a pretty good one.

The other thing that bothers me, and maybe even more so, is the meanness with which Christians are attacking each other other this.  Right wing Christians don’t understand how people can claim to be believers, yet support progressive positions on various social issues.  Left wing Christians can’t see how conservative believers can fail to support programs to help the poor and the marginalized.  Both sides need to get off of their moral high-horse and realize our allegiance to Christ must supersede our political affiliation.

Yes, we should use whatever means we have to bring make the Kingdom of God come on earth, as it is in Heaven.  On the other hand, the problems we deal with are often caused by poor individual choices that bring terrible consequences.  Yes, the scripture is very plain that God expects us to help the poor, the widow and the orphan.  On the other hand, it is equally plain that the poor were expected to glean their own food, and that, “if any will not work, neither let him eat.”

It’s not either-or.  It’s both-and.

Both sides like to use fear to whip up their supporters.  But how often in scripture does God say, “Don’t be afraid.”  Over and over again.  So I am not giving in to fear.  I am trusting that whoever wins the election, God will still be in control of the future, of nations and events.

If this has made you mad, I’m sorry.  Both sides can make good arguments for their guy, but I’m not interested in turning this forum into a political debate.  In Romans 14, concerning other controversial issues, Paul said, “Whatever you believe about these things, keep it between yourself and God.”  Sounds like good advice to me.

Jesus is my Commander-in-Chief, regardless of whatever temporary occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may be making noise at the moment.

A Buck and a Quarter

I took the bus to work this morning.

Now, that’s not all that unusual – I often take the bus to work.  But today, Kathy had to keep the car with her, and so even though it was sprinkling, I had to take the bus to get downtown.  The fare is $1.25.

There’s something remarkably humanizing that can happen when you use public transportation instead of your private vehicle.  You share the experience of the trip with your fellow passengers.  There were two apparently deaf ladies, communicating furiously with sign language.  There was a heavy-set man, obviously a waiter, who got off at the same stop I did.  I’ve seen him a few times around the neighborhood, but I don’t yet know his name.  There were a handful of other folks, and a very young driver whom I hadn’t seen before.

Taking the bus humbles you just a bit.  You have to adjust your schedule to fit theirs – that bus is going to go by my house at 8:32, whether I’m ready or not.  I have neighbors who have to take two buses, and then walk some distance, just to get to work.  Sometimes that means they may have to leave their house way before time to be at work, to allow time for the ride, the transfer and the walk.  Or maybe they need a really understanding boss, who won’t hold it against them if they miss a connection and show up late for work.  And when it’s the end of the day, they still have an hour’s worth of a bus ride just to get home.

One of the disciplines believers are called to practice is fasting.  Remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus didn’t say, “IF you fast…” – He said, “WHEN you fast.”  Fasting, as we all know, means to voluntarily give up food for a specific time, skipping a meal to have extra time to pray or read the Bible, for example.  But fasting is also a good way to identify with the poor and the hungry.  When we discipline ourselves by going without food, we remember that there are those who are hungry, and we learn compassion by identifying with them.

Giving up food is not the only kind of fasting.  Sometimes we can fast from television, from the Internet, or from anything else – even our cars! – if it will help draw us closer to God, to realize that HE is our ultimate desire, and to enable us better to identify with others.

This idea of IDENTIFICATION with others is important to God.  I am convinced it is a major factor in Jesus’ coming to Earth – so that, as Hebrews says, we could have a High Priest who was tempted in every point as we are, yet was without sin.

Let me respectfully suggest that, from time to time, you leave your car parked at home and take the bus.  Yes, it’s good for the environment and all those reasons, but more than that, it’s a good way of identifying with, and sharing in the humanity of others.

Not bad for a buck and a quarter.