Tuesday 31 March 2009

We continue this week with King on "Our God is Able" in "The Strength to Love."

The great changes are not mere political and sociological shifts. They represent the passing of systems that were born in injustice, nurtured in inequality, and reared in exploitation. They represent the inevitable decay of any system based on principles that are not in harmony with the moral laws of the universe. When in future generations men look back upon these turbulent, tension-packed days through which we are passing, they will see God working through history for the salvation of man. They will know that God was working through those men who had the vision to perceive that no nation could survive half salve and half free.

God works in and through history for the "salvation of humanity." I find this to mean that God continues to inspire us to be truly human - truly the image of God. Whenever other humans are treated as less than human by others, those who treat people as less than human really are displaying how antithetical their actions are to the Reign of God that is the dwelling place of the truly human one. When the time comes in history for people of differing colors to see one another needed piece of the vision of the fullness of human, we are then becoming a saving people. Saving people rock the boat and walk on water and will not stay away until all are included in this love of God that is the shape of the history of the Reign of God that is already unfolding. We look back in time and wonder how we could have been so brutal and so unloving and so willing to tolerate and silently endorse the sin of segregation. Racism is an ugly reality to look at and to own. It is my hope that soon and very soon, we will also admit to the ugliness and the brutality of our fear-filled actions that keep GLBT people out of the church - or within a less-than position. We are a saving people who forget that salvation in Jesus' name is for all - boundless - in and of itself the power to bring life?

Connection: If I am a white, middle class, heterosexual male who is tired of our devilish brokenness, I cannot even image the pain and frustration of any who are cast out of the fellowship of the church for reasons that cannot stand up to the vision of God's Reign.

Be our light, O God. Be our light in the middle of our fears. Be our light whenever we attempt to pull down the curtains in order to live as something less than your beloved community. Amen.