Wednesday 25 February 2009

Today's piece is directed to the "Negroes" of King's day - but we must listen to his wisdom as he writes of the integrity of all.

We as Negroes must bring together toughmindedness and tenderheartedness, if we are to move creatively toward the goal of freedom and justice. Softminded individuals among us feel that the only way to deal with oppression is by adjusting to it. They acquiesce and resign themselves to segregation. They prefer to remain oppressed. When Moses led the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land, he discovered that slaves do not always welcome their deliverers. They would rather bear those ills they have, as Shakespeare pointed out, than flee to others that they know not of. They prefer the "fleshpots of Egypt" to the ordeals of emancipation. But this is not the way out. Softminded acquiescence is cowardly. My friends, we cannot win the respect of the white people of the South or elsewhere if we are willing to trade the future of our children for our personal safety and comfort. Moreover, we must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to co-operate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.

As we begin the season of Lent, it is good for all of us to consider the road that is before us as free people who are invited into a life where all people are honored and respected. It is in such a place that we will find ourselves having to pick up the cross and follow our Lord - for not all people are concerned about nor will they work for the welfare of all. The promised land is not just for some...it is for all.

Connection: How often does liberation and new life become that which we ignore or walk past because what is has control of us?

God of our weary year, you have been alongside us in all times and yet we do not remember your presence. When we forget, we fear and tremble and do not live as the beloved we are. By the water of our baptism, remind us of whose we are and the life that comes to us as we walk wet with your love that overflows all the days of our lives. Amen.