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1.16.06 journal entry
Published by bryan | Filed under journal entries
January 16th.
I’ve been watching documentaries about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. The surprise, running through my head, has been the difficulty he encountered as a leader in the civil rights movement. What to me seems obvious, to a country seemed ridiculous, that all people are created equal, and have unalienable rights. At the time, the words of our own constitution, just as the words of scripture, lay silent in the background, oppressed by desires to believe we were right, to believe we were better, desperate to find a difference in “other people” no matter how ridiculous the logic. The genius of the American system lay in checks and balances, in the idea that man, unchecked, will lean toward evil. Our founding fathers knew this, and knew that freedom would only come when people in power were kept in check. It is that system that Martin Luther King used to change America. He pushed truth against the prejudice, and when the prejudice bit back, he proved truth was good and right, because it had the moral authority to turn the other cheek, and in time, create peace where there had been violence, and unity where there had been division. I am reminded again, as I watch these documentaries and think about the struggle that took place in this country, how good for the world the methods and messages of Christ are, and how strikingly different this message is from a conquering mentality employed by the church of old, by religious systems all over the world, and by financial interests when salivating from the mouth of some corporations who neglect individual responsibility by hiding inside a monstrous construct.
In changing a social landscape, Jesus did not employ common sense, He employed sacrifice, even to the point of death, both for Him and for His many apostles and members of the early church. The true Christian legacy, then, is distinct from a Constantinian religion. Ours is a legacy of non-violence, which assumes one lose doing the right thing rather than win doing the wrong. We might laugh at the insignificance of one moral victory, but a million moral victories cannot be ignored. King, following Christ, proved this to be true.
There have been points of light, as it were. Jim and Elizabeth Elliot showed us the power of turning the other cheek, and revolutionized an entire tribe, cutting the homicide rate by more than 80%. The question may be, what does non-violent resistance look like in the information age? Perhaps we can turn to Bono, whose ONE campaign now boasts a larger enrollment than that of the National Rifle Association. Millions of lives will be saved by a Rock Star, who used a microphone and a handful of anthems instead of a gun.
I think we change the hearts and minds of America’s citizens the same way Christ has changed our hearts; with a persistent commitment to what is good and right and true, and without lifting a finger against us. Can you imagine, early in your Christian maturity, Jesus showing as little patience with you as the religious right shows against their supposed foes? I, for one, would have never made it. Save His patience, I am lost.
King was not popular, even amongst his own people. Many wanted to fight. They wanted to lift a fist out of pride and a desire for vengeance. But somebody who knows the truth knows also you cannot build God’s kingdom with Satan’s methodology.
So for the church, in the face of the crisis in Africa, in the face of our disastrous union with western economic imperialism, and in the face of apathy about the revolutionary message of the gospel of Jesus, I am reminded that when making progressive changes, we do so in kindness, in love, and with relentless forgiveness, not because we are right, but because there is a right. And in Martin Luther King we see our methodology matters as much as our message, because the two cannot be separated.
Today we launch the Burnside Writers Collective Magazine, an online magazine that will change every month. In the pages you will find plenty about culture, plenty about entertainment, but also a stream of thought about what is going on in the world, and what we can do about it. Do check it out if you get a chance. The link is: www.burnsidewriterscollective.com
All the best to you as you follow Christ in peaceful resistance, against the powers of the world, and against those same powers when they show up in our own hearts.
Don
February 4th, 2006 at 2:09 am
Martin Luther King Jr. is a very interesting person and there were several things which stood out to when I recently listened to his autobiography. As a young teenager, he took a job over a summer which involved grueling physical labor and he recognized that he was treated badly because he was black, but he also recognized that poor white men who were working along side him were also mistreated. This observation led him to conclude that hatred, oppression, prejudice, power plays, etc…these are not limited to how whites treat blacks, rather they are a symptom of the human propensity for evil (I found this particularly remarkable considering that at the same age I was more concerned with de-alphabatizing my mother’s spice rack and figuring out ways to avoid cleaning the toilet). He is credited as a leader of the Civil Rights movement but I believe he recognized that he was fighting against something and for something much greater; thus, he avoided falling into the trap of self-aborption which can all too easily come when we fight against oppression we ourselves have endured. King was not fighting for blacks; he was fighting for humanity, for our souls, because he knew we could be far more noble with a little patience, love, and eloquence.
This got me thinking about feminism and my response to that as a woman (granted, a woman who has endured only mild oppression which normally comes in the form of being denied an iced latte in a timely manner). I don’t like that feminism is a “woman’s issue” or racism is a “minority issue”; as soon as I take up a cause which so intimately involves my personal identity, I risk getting lost in the battle for my “rights”. Gender inequalities hurt everyone; racial strife hurts everyone. Ideally, members of the group of oppressors would see the injustice and lead the fight to end it. Bono is doing just that, even as he recognizes the irony of a multi-millionaire campaigning for the poor. But if we wait for the poor to fight for themselves, they will probably be motivated by anger…or maybe even worse, they won’t ever have the strength to fight and our comfort will go unchallenged. King was a black man, but more a thinker than a doer. He would have been content teaching at a college and publishing for journals if it weren’t for this little thing he called “spiritual leading”. But what made him unusual and an unlikely leader of a tired, embittered, downtrodden group of people, eventually allowed him to change the world.
An addendum to this might be that Christians could spend less time feeling like the world is “oppressing us”, and more time fighting for others who are oppressed; if we got better at the latter, then perhaps there would be more who would defend us whether or not they became Christians themselves. Christ did come to “save souls” but I think he also came to re-fab houses, bring food to shut-ins, volunteer to teach GED classes, and do whatever else it takes to restore the world ever so slightly back to its intended state.
February 6th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Don’s MLK entry got me thinking. I think I really like the real Dr. King. What I mean by this, is that there is often an overly idealized image of MLK that is presented to us on TV, at school, or by people in general. And then there is another MLK who is demonized and purported as a horrible sinner and hypocrite and communist and etc.
And then there is a debate between these people on whether he was a god or a demon.
I believe he was neither or both (the original martin luther coined the term ’saint and sinner’ as a way to describe us all). It seems to me that he was in many ways an amazing person who struggled with his own problems and had to deal with the hardships of being in a position of great power among those dedicated to his movement.
But, he never let these things stop him… stop him from doing what was right… from doing what he felt Jesus asked of him. You see, my demons often slow me down, often get me second guessing my value to society and to God. Dr. King, on the other hand, was able to move beyond his demons… he was able to ‘not let them win’, but let Jesus win in his life and in the world around him. He did not use common sense or logic to change the social landscape. He did not try to change the political system through slow legislation or by violently overthrowing the government… he employed sacrifice, even to the point of death. All for social justice. All in attempt to make our world more just. To me this is true worship.
What I mean, is that I often think of worship as ‘that which pleases God’, and while I’m sure God absolutely delights in our songs and praises to him in church… I’m sure he is eternally pleased when we put aside ourselves to help a world (His world) that is broken and in need. Whether by fighting for social equalities for the marginalized in our societies, or by feeding the hungry, or by encouraging the depressed, or by curing his beautiful and deteriorating creation… God loves it when we worship him through social justice… no matter how imperfect we are… or how broken we are… or not together we appear… he loves our acts of service.
ReN
more thoughts at soulfoodoffering.blogspot.com