The post below is written by Jeff Bruce.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. day, and this weekend I have been reflecting on his words, his life, and his ministry. At some point in my seminary journey, I purchased Martin Luther King, Jr’s book: Strength to Love, which is a collection of his sermons. I pick it up every year around this time, and I am always struck by the poignancy of his words. And then I remind myself that I should pick up this book more than once every year, because King’s words are as relevant today as they were in the 1960’s. When I read the prophets of scripture, I always try to reflect on how the prophet might be pointing the finger at me and calling me to repentance and transformation, rather than someone else in some distant time and place. Likewise with King's words, I think it is important to move beyond the niceties of Facebook short-quote memes that sometimes seem to sentimentalize and neuter the poignancy of King’s prophetic proclamations and dig into the larger context of those particular words. And when I do that, I find myself challenged. I often find the finger pointing at me. I wrestle with King’s call upon me as a white Christian minister. I recognize how often I fall short. And I attempt to reflect on how I can better live out King’s God-inspired vision for the church and for the world.
I am a nine on the Enneagram. If you don’t know anything about the Enneagram, do yourself a favor and look into it here: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com I’ll leave it up to Anne to share more about the Enneagram, as she knows much more than I do. Being a nine, I am a Peacemaker. Now, that doesn’t mean I fight for peace. In fact, it often means the opposite. I want harmony in my environment, and often that means that I avoid conflict and tension. The Enneagram has helped me to recognize this about myself. Nines, at least in my understanding, are often status-quo people that tend to preserve things as they are and resist things that would disturb that balance.
That means that King’s words often cut me to the core. His Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which begins: “Dear Fellow Clergymen,” calls out my “white moderateness,” and my “moderateness” in general. I’d rather just get along with everyone than cause conflict or stir the pot. I want balance. I like equilibrium. It’s my nature. But King calls me to more. God calls me to more.
So below I have inserted some long quotes from MLK that speak to me and challenge me, and perhaps will speak to and challenge you as well. The first comes from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. The rest come from his sermons in his book Strength to Love. If there is a popular quote floating around on a Facebook meme, I have tried to highlight it so it can be read in its original context.
Letter From a Birmingham Jail
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; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." 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.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
-Letter From a Birmingham Jail, https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
On Being A Good Neighbor
We often ask, “What will happen to my job, my prestige, or my status if I take a stand on this issue? Will my home be bombed, will my life be threatened, or will I be jailed?” The good man always reverses the question. Albert Schweitzer did not ask: “What will happen to my prestige and security as a university professor and to my status as a Bach organist, if I work with the people of Africa?” but rather he asked, “What will happen to these millions of people who have been wounded by the forces of injustice, if I do not go to them?” Abraham Lincoln did not ask, “What will happen to me if I issue the Emancipation Proclamation and bring an end to chattel slavery?” but he asked, “What will happen to the Union and to millions of Negro people, if I fail to do it?” The Negro professional does not ask, “What will happen to my secure position, my middle-class status, or my personal safety, if I participate in the movement to end the system of segregation?” but “What will happen to the cause of justice and the masses of Negro people who have never experienced the warmth of economic security, if I do not participate actively and courageously in the movement?”
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous paths, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more whole life.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr , “On Being A Good Neighbor” Sermon by MLK, Jr. in Strength to Love, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), 34-35.
Loving Your Enemies
Let us move now from the practical how to the theoretical why: Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says “Love your enemies,” he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing wars – must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr , “Loving Your Enemies” Sermon, in Strength to Love, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), 52-53.
A Knock at Midnight
In many instances the church has so aligned itself with the privileged classes and so defended the status quo that it has been unwilling to answer the knock at midnight. The Greek Church in Russia allied itself with the status quo and became so inextricably bound to the despotic czarist regime that it became impossible to be rid of the corrupt political and social system without being rid of the church. Such is the fate of every ecclesiastical organization that allies itself with things-as-they-are.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travelers at midnight.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr , “A Knock at Midnight” Sermon, in Strength to Love, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), 64.
