Monday 2 February 2009

Today we start a series looking at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s writing "The Strength to Love."

...The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. Not ordinarily do men achieve this balance of opposites. the idealists are not usually realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. the militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant. Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble. But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony. The philosopher Hegel said that truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.

But it is so hard to hold onto both of these opposites. It is a challenge...but more so it is a discipline. Again and again we are invited to see from many sides and often the various sides present a reality that is hard to keep together. Therefore, it can be so easy to drop one side and claim that the other is right and good and true. What is so important when we are placed between two different views or opinions is to listen and then...listen again. The miracle of change and transformation comes when we hear all the voices and become familiar with their gifts and their draw backs. Unfortunately, too often we are asked to pledge allegiance to one side without considering the other. How quickly we descend into a world of "us" and "them." How quickly we give up the miracle of full life that comes within the harmony of voices present to us.

Connection: Do you know your own bias - the voices to which you listen and the ones that you rule out without even giving them your ear?

When you come to us, O God, we do not always hear you because we are waiting for something we want to hear and not something that will pull us out of our way. Encourage us to open our hearts to the many voices you use to bring life to the world. Amen.