----My knowledge of Martin luther King Jr. has certainly been limited up until I completed the required reading for this course. I have always known about him, and as a young child I often confused him with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton; my mother quickly corrected my error. Because of my conservative upbringing, while I knew the importance of the civil rights movement, I cautiously handled anything that called for social action. I was extremely impressed with the Martin Luther King I encountered in these readings, and I was excited to find that he was so much more than what I heard him to be.
Martin Luther King called to our country's attention the plight of those who were being oppressed. As Christians living in a comfortable, middle class society we forget that God cares for the oppressed and the downtrodden because we often are unaware of their presence. Sometimes in our effort to pursue inward spiritual holiness, I believe we neglect those in need around us because we are focused upon ourselves. I was impressed that King was able to show through quotations of church fathers and scripture that the oppression of the African Americans was wrong and that it was necessary for Christians to actively pursue justice.
I was intrigued by the way King used peaceful protest as a means of direct force to bring about the process of change. He was dealing with a hard issue for Christians; to what extent may we use force, yet remain peaceful and loving? Sometimes it seems as though Christians (and others) will condone force when it is not directly related to them, for example, we will fight for justice through endorsement of a war for the protection of our country. But, when it comes to protecting the rights of people of a different race, economic status, the elderly, or the unborn, we are afraid to rock the boat because the consequences of our peaceful, yet forceful protest will hit too close to home. We are afraid to sacrifice anything, resources or peace of mind, for the good of someone else.
King wrote in his Birmingham letter that when the ministers said that the gospel had no social concern, they were actually separating the secular from the sacred, and the body from the soul (299). This is unfortunate because Christ provided for the physical and spiritual needs of the lost that He came to save. He did not simply forgive the sins of the lame man, but gave him the ability to walk. While we will not be able to heal the way Jesus did, we can make life better for those around us by speaking up for their rights and showing them the love of Christ by caring for their needs. We cannot separate our love for our neighbor from our love for God.
It is interesting that King pointed out that we are afraid as Christians in America to be nonconformists. Perhaps we believe that we are in a Christian nation, and thus things are mostly alright and much change isn't necessary. Are we willing to take a look around us and see who is in need? The manifestation of need is different than it was when King wrote his letter, but last time I checked we are still living in a fallen world that has more problems than we can solve on our own strength.
I want to live out my Christian spirituality in a way that is deeply personal, yet purposefully active in a pursuit of peace and justice for those who are oppressed by poverty or injustice. King is an example of this, he saw that the oppression of his people was unjust, and because of his commitment to Christ he found it necessary to speak out on their behalf and be a force for change.
In one of the other readings we read in class, Loving Your Enemies I found that we can still apply much of what King said to our present day struggles with race relations and other social issues in our country. This statement sums up the main thrust of his argument, "There will be no permanent solution to the race problem until oppressed people develop the capacity to love their enemies. The darkness of racial prejudice will be displayed only by the light of forgiving love" (Tyson 430). It is so important for us to recognize that in any pursuit of peace or justice we must love and forgive those who are causing the suffering. This is a difficult truth to swallow. How can we love those who exploit the innocent through sex trafficking? How do we love those who harm and hate people of other races? And even more difficult, how do we help those who have been hurt learn to love those who have offended them? These are questions that can only be answered through the healing power of the gospel and the example of Christ.
As Christians who are completely sold on the power of the gospel to transform the lives of hurting people, I believe it is important for us not to just show concern for those who are physically and emotionally hurting. We must actively pursue their good and seek peace and justice. Loving your neighbor is not just a feeling; we must prove our love for others by our actions.
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