So, Today is the inauguration and it is Martin Luther King Jr. day. This year the focus is on the 50th anniversary of 's his "I have a dream" speech. I remember, as a child going to a "Christian" school, we didn't gel MLK Jr. day off. Everyone else did! And when asked why this was so, the administrators would simply say that they disagree with the man. I'm pretty sure the issue wasn't that he was black, because I always heard grumbling under their breaths about: activism, and moral failure, bad theology and so forth. For an elementary student this made no sense. We were taught to forgive, and here decades after his death they were still holding a grudge. Besides, I wanted a three day weekend. To make matters worse we always confused him with the German monk of his namesake, and we liked him... even though, when he became a scary old man, he liked to blame the Jews for everything. Which was also weird for me, because I was pretty sure we were a Zionist church.
Flash forward: Nowadays, more than 40 years after he was extinguished, his flame still elicits mixed response from people of faith: We love Him, We hate him. Or like the holocaust, we simply ignore him. Now don't get me wrong I am the first to admit that we are all human and make both moral and theological mistakes. But do you think that a few bad moments are the measure of a life? What is your take on the man?
People thought he strayed from the message of the gospel. And it is true many people make a hobby horse of too many things. Abortion, stem cell research, homosexuality, racism, taxes... We make these our focus instead of the cross. We focus on the symptoms of sin rather than the heart of sin which needs to be infused with the light of God's grace. We preach Kingdom come through politics and voting, rather than humility, service, and the Spirit. BUT... I will give Martin one thing, and it is the reason he will always be a hero in my book. He preached reconciliation. And that IS the gospel. God wants to reconcile the World! This was the vision of Dr. King, and this is our purpose here on earth. The rest are simply details.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."
Flash forward: Nowadays, more than 40 years after he was extinguished, his flame still elicits mixed response from people of faith: We love Him, We hate him. Or like the holocaust, we simply ignore him. Now don't get me wrong I am the first to admit that we are all human and make both moral and theological mistakes. But do you think that a few bad moments are the measure of a life? What is your take on the man?
People thought he strayed from the message of the gospel. And it is true many people make a hobby horse of too many things. Abortion, stem cell research, homosexuality, racism, taxes... We make these our focus instead of the cross. We focus on the symptoms of sin rather than the heart of sin which needs to be infused with the light of God's grace. We preach Kingdom come through politics and voting, rather than humility, service, and the Spirit. BUT... I will give Martin one thing, and it is the reason he will always be a hero in my book. He preached reconciliation. And that IS the gospel. God wants to reconcile the World! This was the vision of Dr. King, and this is our purpose here on earth. The rest are simply details.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."