Seed and Yeast

 

I am Convicted 

Opening Prayer

God creates people from every race, tribe, tongue and ethnic community.

God calls us to live in community marked by love, peace, justice, respect, and mutual support.

Yet we draw lines between peoples. We raise barriers. We treat one another with prejudice.

In every generation, God raises up prophets, speaking forth God’s desire for all people to live together in love.

Today we come together to give thanks to God for Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we live into the dream of all people living together in beloved community. 

— written by Ron Allen and Linda McKiernan-Allen. Posted on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Worship Resources, on the Disciples of Christ Council on Christian Unity website. 

Scripture: Gelatins 3:28 (CEB) 

There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Musing

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been revisiting some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings and speeches. The one that continues to haunt me, to convict me, to make me honestly contrite is his Letter from Birmingham Jail. Here are extended quotes from that letter that I must not ignore. I share them with you so that you will feel their call upon all of us who are white moderate Christians.

Martin Luther King. Jr. – Letter From Birmingham Jail

National Park Service Photo

April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds…

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed… We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."…

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice… Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection…

But as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label [extremist]. 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 Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." 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 for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?…

 

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action…

 

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership… I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find. something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen…

 

…I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

 

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists…

 

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

 

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

 

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?... I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future… We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation--and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

(Excerpts from the of the letter copy posted on https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/mlkbirm.htm copied and downloaded on January 20, 2021.)

Ending Prayer

May we dream of a world made new,

Where together we shout for justice, And as one we fight against oppression.

May we dream of a world made new,

Where together we seek God’s righteousness And as one we sing God’s praise.

May we dream of a world made new,

Where together we climb God’s mountain, And as one we enter the promised land.

May we dream of a world made new,

Where together we proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, And as one we enjoy its peace, and abundance and love.

~ from Christine Sine’s Godspace website. http://godspace.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/i-have-a-dream-a-prophetic-speech-now-50-years-old/