Podcasts about hope the essential writings

Faith Lutheran Church (Okemos), Pastor Julie Winklepleck Pr. 7A, L12, P+4, June 25, 2023 Matthew 10   Grace, mercy, and peace are yours, through God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I begin this morning by quoting that great princess, Carrie Fisher, who said: “Stay afraid, but do it anyway.” We are going to be afraid. That's human. Someone who is brave…it doesn't mean they are not afraid… it means they hold their fear in tension with their ability keep moving, and to do what they need to do. Jesus is sending us out to proclaim God's love, to proclaim the kin-dom. Last week, God told us through Jesus to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. That means to go out, and share God's love, and be prepared for anything. You can't prepare yourself for anything, right? But God can prepare you for anything. God prepares us for the jobs God gives us to do. This kin-dom, which God forms out of us, it is an upside-down world in which sparrows matter, and we are valued even more. Even though the word “trust” does not appear in this passage, the concept of trust is shot through it, the idea of letting God use us, letting God hold us, as we do the things that we need to do, trusting that God will guide and direct us. Our work may not be flashy; we're not building kingdoms, or nations, like Isaac and Ishmael did; but we are creating love in our corners of our world. In those places, in this house, in this community, we are making God's vision come alive. Our passage holds many surprises. It begins, A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master [v. 24] … that is in response to last week's reading about going out, being wise as serpents, innocent as doves… the idea of running into trouble. Running into people who aren't going to listen to you, who are going to reject you. Jesus is saying, don't worry about them. If they have called the master of the house Be-el'zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household [v. 25b]… Jesus is saying, you have to go to the people who are going to listen to you. Larry Foster, who was a pastor, who died recently, he taught Healthy Congregations, what we also call Family Systems, which Pastor Ellen may have talked to you about. He used to say, Work with the motivated. He would say, don't worry about the people who aren't with you. Work with the motivated, the people who get your vision. When you have visions, as this congregation does, for the work you do with refugees, the work you do feeding people, and through your personal needs pantry… if someone isn't on board with that vision, don't worry about them. Just go ahead, carry on, carry out your vision. I love when Jesus says, What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops [v.27]. Jesus doesn't operate in secrets. Jesus makes himself known. And God makes God's love known. If someone says to you that they have a secret, something they know that you don't … don't worry about it. Trust the knowledge that comes to you from God. I'm avoiding talking about the hard part, which is this sword thing [v. 34]. This is not what we expect to hear from Jesus, right? that he has come not to bring peace, but a sword. Because I think this is a difficult-to-understand concept – what is Jesus talking about here? I am going to invoke Martin Luther King, Jr., who in a speech given in 1961, called “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience,” talked to Southern liberal whites about the student movement, the Freedom Riders, addressing the question, why are they coming to the South? Martin Luther King talked about the students' responding to a negative peace that had encompassed the South. True peace is not merely the absence of tension, but it is the presence of justice and brotherhood. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, “I come not to bring peace but a sword.” Now Jesus didn't mean he came to start war, to bring a physical sword, and he didn't mean, I come not to bring a positive peace. But I think what Jesus was saying in substance was this, that I come not to bring an old negative peace, which makes for stagnant passivity and deadening complacency, I come to bring something different, and whenever I come, a conflict is precipitated, between the old and the new, whenever I come a struggle takes place between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. I come not to bring a negative peace, but a positive peace, which is brotherhood, which is justice, which is the Kingdom of God. [from A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James M. Washington (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), pp. 50-51]. This sword that Jesus brings has the potential to divide us; it also has the potential to reveal where our work is, to reveal where oppression is, to reveal where hunger is, to reveal where God's people need to be shining God's light and love. Jesus says, don't be afraid. Even though the devil may come after you… all right, he doesn't say the devil, but he talks about those who can destroy both soul and body in hell. I think of that as the devil. Jesus says, do not fear this. God has your back. God, who loves sparrows, and values you even more. Our thread is always love. Our thread is doing God's work, which we are called to do. I think about… as the end of Pride month is coming… I think about division, those things that can divide families, and I think about all the lgbtq persons who have been isolated from their families. One of the blessings of the AIDS crisis, back in the 90s… there were many stories… obviously of the gay community coming together to take care of their own. But there were also stories of families who had thrown out their queer kids… bringing those queer kids back home to nurse them… and learning, in the midst of a crisis, to look beyond their fear, and to look beyond what they had been taught, to learn something new. These divisions that can happen… it breaks my heart how much they happen in the church, because of the church. How many faithful people rejected their queer kids because they thought that was somehow pleasing God… and I know that's not what you believe here, I know you are a Reconciling in Christ congregation… I know that you are very supportive of the lgbtq community and indeed have lgbtq members. Therefore, I feel safe talking about this, talking about the ways the church itself can go astray, and the way that we as church can learn something new, can listen to the voice of God's love bringing us back together. Our Romans reading calls for unity, and I struggle with it, because there are going to be as many kinds of churches as there are people… I don't think there will ever be one great church again. So perhaps this is a cliché, but I would say we are being called to unity but not uniformity; that's the distinction, that we are called to unity in Christ, Christ who loves us, who died for us, who shows us how to live and serve… how to form a new family. Hopefully it includes our old family. But what is important is the work we do together. What is important is the support we give one another and the witness we take out into the community, of who we are, who God is, and how that love shapes and directs us. Fear not, Jesus says three times in this passage. I think he's trying to normalize the idea that there is fear. I think he's saying, together, find the strength and fortitude to conquer that fear, to hear God's voice, louder than the voice of our fears. To hear God's voice… telling us to love, telling us to embrace people who are different… telling us that his eye is on the sparrow… so we have no fear, and we know that God watches us (and not in that creepy stalker way, in the good way). God undergirds everything we do. God's love surrounds and fills us; God's love makes everything possible. In the name of the Creator, the Child, and the Comforter, Amen.

Jeff and Lucas Morel, on this special MLK Day episode, discuss the ideas, actions, and legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and Malcolm X. What were their core philosophies and beliefs? How did their actions reflect these? How did their ideas impact their followers, opponents, and each other? And how did these two men play off and shape each other?You can find Lucas's latest book, Lincoln and the American Founding, on Amazon. The other books mentioned are here:I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the WorldWhere Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and SpeechesMalcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and StatementsBlack Power: The Politics of LiberationHost: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Greg McBrayerProducer: Jeremy GyptonApple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/3jcrp73mGoogle Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9n67aSpotify: https://tinyurl.com/ysw8xjtkAmazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/ytp6jwnzRSS Feed: https://tinyurl.com/2p9u2bvePodvine: https://podvine.com/podcast/the-american-ideaYouTube: https://tinyurl.com/3wwdre3a

The nation celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day this week, honoring what would have been his 93rd birthday. In this special episode of We the People, we examine King's thinking about the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as his views on agape and universal love, and more, through a close reading and analysis of some of his most significant speeches and writings. Joining host Jeffrey Rosen are two of the nation's leading experts on civil rights and American history. William Allen is emeritus dean and professor of political philosophy at Michigan State University and Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University, where he teaches courses on the civil rights and Black Power movements.  Speeches and writings discussed include: “An Experiment in Love,” A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, by Martin Luther King Jr. (1958) King's essay discussing the concept of agape and how it undergirds nonviolent resistance. “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1958) King's essay explaining the intellectual and philosophical influences that led him to embrace agape and nonviolent resistance. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (April 16, 1963) King's seminal open letter — written from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama — on civil disobedience, justice, and the ethics of violating unjust laws. “I Have A Dream,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (August 28, 1963) King's iconic speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial about civil rights, freedom, and equality “Our God is Marching On,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (March 25, 1965) King's speech at the conclusion of the marches from Selma to Montgomery “Beyond Vietnam,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1967) King's speech at New York's Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1967) King's speech on the future of the civil rights movement, given at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The National Constitution Center relies on support from listeners like you to provide nonpartisan constitutional education to Americans of all ages. In honor of the 234th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, every dollar you give to support the We the People podcast campaign will be doubled with a generous 1:1 match up to a total of $234,000, made possible by the John Templeton Foundation! Visit www.constitutioncenter.org/we-the-people to donate, and thank you for your crucial support. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue today's conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

The nation celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day this week, honoring what would have been his 93rd birthday. In this special episode of We the People, we examine King's thinking about the relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as his views on agape and universal love, and more, through a close reading and analysis of some of his most significant speeches and writings. Joining host Jeffrey Rosen are two of the nation's leading experts on civil rights and American history. William Allen is emeritus dean and professor of political philosophy at Michigan State University and Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University, where he teaches courses on the civil rights and Black Power movements.  Speeches and writings discussed include: “An Experiment in Love,” A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, by Martin Luther King Jr. (1958) King's essay discussing the concept of agape and how it undergirds nonviolent resistance. “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1958) King's essay explaining the intellectual and philosophical influences that led him to embrace agape and nonviolent resistance. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (April 16, 1963) King's seminal open letter — written from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama — on civil disobedience, justice, and the ethics of violating unjust laws. “I Have A Dream,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (August 28, 1963) King's iconic speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial about civil rights, freedom, and equality “Our God is Marching On,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (March 25, 1965) King's speech at the conclusion of the marches from Selma to Montgomery “Beyond Vietnam,” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1967) King's speech at New York's Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1967) King's speech on the future of the civil rights movement, given at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The National Constitution Center relies on support from listeners like you to provide nonpartisan constitutional education to Americans of all ages. In honor of the 234th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, every dollar you give to support the We the People podcast campaign will be doubled with a generous 1:1 match up to a total of $234,000, made possible by the John Templeton Foundation! Visit www.constitutioncenter.org/we-the-people to donate, and thank you for your crucial support. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org. Continue today's conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

Mom and I are back after our 2021 holiday break, and we're celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by unpacking one of King's most radical and controversial speeches Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, given one year before his assassination on April 4, 1968.  Focusing on three quotes (with clips), we'll explore how his prophetic words are ever-relevant, and a call for all of us to embrace the urgency of speaking up against injustice, despite the challenges. Resources for Further Study: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (video) A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (print version, PDF)  King's anti-war activism, short reference (Stanford University)   Support Pray with our Feet Podcast -  If you're able to send a donation to further our work (on Venmo). We are working on a Patreon page. Snag our Pray with our Feet mug and The Revolution Needs our Joy, Too mug now!  Snag our NEW tee: Love is the Revolution, a collab with our friend Kris Earth is an Island Designs. Choose Pray with our Feet as an org. to donate to at check out, and we receive a portion of the proceeds. Use the CODE - Invest20 and save 20% off your purchase.  Stay in Community with us on Social The conversation continues on IG and Twitter.  Special thanks to my husband Keston De Coteau (founder of Keystone Productions) who edits all our episodes! 

What we think and allow ourselves to avoid doing has a huge amount of effect on the outcomes we see in life. In this audio version of my Youtube episode, I share 4 thoughts I think everyone needs to avoid playing on repeat. ---- Hire Me To Speak At Your Event: http://www.DavidPrideSpeaks.com --- Books I'm reading this month: Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact - https://amzn.to/3hEHgVCA Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. - https://amzn.to/3kjgYcZ --- If this episode helps you out, step on over to Buy Me A Coffee and show some love! http://www.buymeacoffee.com/davidapride​ --- Feeling totally alone and like no one would care if you weren't here anymore? That's a thought pattern you should talk about more. Call the anonymous Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255 (Some links are affiliate links. )

Many consider Hope to be essential for sustaining social movements where change is slow, setbacks are frequent, and the odds aren't good. As Rebecca Solnit once wrote, "To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” But when it comes to the existential threats of climate change and mass extinction, what if hope is part of the problem? What if it obscures the enormity of our crisis, or makes us complacent, allowing the public to defer responsibility onto other people or the future? When you look at the scale of our climate emergency and the inadequacy of society's response, hope can feel like a throwaway term, a cheap neon sign we dutifully switch on at the end of climate rallies. But those reservations about hope are not the whole story. Research shows that environmental discourse has long fueled public hopelessness by perpetuating apocalyptic narratives and the sense that it's already "too late" to act. That hopelessness becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as those who believe we're already doomed -- or that solutions don't exist -- chose *not* to act, thus ensuring the very outcome they imagined. Episode 5 explores the complicated role of hope in the fight for a livable planet, and the different forms it takes in environmental debates: hope as complacency or "cruel optimism" (a secular religion that keeps the public in line), as well as more subversive versions like "active hope," "intrinsic hope," and "critical hope." “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. Hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency." ― Rebecca SolnitWritten and narrated by Jennifer AtkinsonMusic by Roberto David RusconiProduced by Intrasonus UKSupported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council EnglandDr. Jennifer Atkinson is a professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, where she leads seminars that help students cope with the despair, anger, and anxiety that arise from environmental loss and mass extinction. Her teaching and research have helped activists, scientists, and students build resilience to stay engaged in climate solutions and avoid burnout. She has also spoken to audiences across the U.S. about the global mental health crisis arising from climate disruption, and advocated for addressing emotional impacts in the fight for environmental justice. This episode introduces some of the experiences and insights behind that work, and explores how we can move the public to action by addressing the psychological roots of our unprecedented ecological loss.References and Further Reading:Jason Box tweet: If We Release a Small Fraction of Arctic Carbon, 'We're Fucked': Climatologist. Vice, August 1, 2014.What caused Earth's biggest mass extinction? Stanford Earth, Dec 06, 2018. Martin Luther King Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches. Emily Dickinson. “Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314) Mary Heglar. Home is always worth it. Sept 2019. Greta Thunberg. "Our house is on fire." Jan 25, 2019. Lauren Berlant. Cruel Optimism. 2011. Hua Hsu. Affect Theory and the New Age of Anxiety: How Lauren Berlant’s cultural criticism predicted the Trumping of politics. Mar 25, 2019. Tommy Lynch. Why Hope Is Dangerous When It Comes to Climate Change. July 25, 2017. Derrick Jensen. "Beyond Hope." 2006. Michael Nelson. "To a Future Without Hope." 2010. Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope. 2012. Lin Yutang. In Visions from Earth, 2004. Lisa Kretz. "Hope in Environmental Philosophy." 2012. Elin Kelsey. "Propagating Collective Hope in the Midst of Environmental Doom and Gloom." 2016. Rainer Maria Rilke. “Go to the Limits of Your Longing.” Elin Kelsey. Climate Change: A Crisis of Hope. June 2020 Emily Johnson. Loving a vanishing world. May 9, 2019 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Many consider Hope to be essential for sustaining social movements where change is slow, setbacks are frequent, and the odds aren't good. As Rebecca Solnit once wrote, "To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” But when it comes to the existential threats of climate change and mass extinction, what if hope is part of the problem? What if it obscures the enormity of our crisis, or makes us complacent, allowing the public to defer responsibility onto other people or the future? When you look at the scale of our climate emergency and the inadequacy of society's response, hope can feel like a throwaway term, a cheap neon sign we dutifully switch on at the end of climate rallies. But those reservations about hope are not the whole story. Research shows that environmental discourse has long fueled public hopelessness by perpetuating apocalyptic narratives and the sense that it's already "too late" to act. That hopelessness becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as those who believe we're already doomed -- or that solutions don't exist -- chose *not* to act, thus ensuring the very outcome they imagined. Episode 5 explores the complicated role of hope in the fight for a livable planet, and the different forms it takes in environmental debates: hope as complacency or "cruel optimism" (a secular religion that keeps the public in line), as well as more subversive versions like "active hope," "intrinsic hope," and "critical hope." “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. Hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency." ― Rebecca SolnitWritten and narrated by Jennifer AtkinsonMusic by Roberto David RusconiProduced by Intrasonus UKSupported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council EnglandDr. Jennifer Atkinson is a professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, where she leads seminars that help students cope with the despair, anger, and anxiety that arise from environmental loss and mass extinction. Her teaching and research have helped activists, scientists, and students build resilience to stay engaged in climate solutions and avoid burnout. She has also spoken to audiences across the U.S. about the global mental health crisis arising from climate disruption, and advocated for addressing emotional impacts in the fight for environmental justice. This episode introduces some of the experiences and insights behind that work, and explores how we can move the public to action by addressing the psychological roots of our unprecedented ecological loss.References and Further Reading:Jason Box tweet: If We Release a Small Fraction of Arctic Carbon, 'We're Fucked': Climatologist. Vice, August 1, 2014.What caused Earth's biggest mass extinction? Stanford Earth, Dec 06, 2018. Martin Luther King Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches. Emily Dickinson. “Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314) Mary Heglar. Home is always worth it. Sept 2019. Greta Thunberg. "Our house is on fire." Jan 25, 2019. Lauren Berlant. Cruel Optimism. 2011. Hua Hsu. Affect Theory and the New Age of Anxiety: How Lauren Berlant’s cultural criticism predicted the Trumping of politics. Mar 25, 2019. Tommy Lynch. Why Hope Is Dangerous When It Comes to Climate Change. July 25, 2017. Derrick Jensen. "Beyond Hope." 2006. Michael Nelson. "To a Future Without Hope." 2010. Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope. 2012. Lin Yutang. In Visions from Earth, 2004. Lisa Kretz. "Hope in Environmental Philosophy." 2012. Elin Kelsey. "Propagating Collective Hope in the Midst of Environmental Doom and Gloom." 2016. Rainer Maria Rilke. “Go to the Limits of Your Longing.” Elin Kelsey. Climate Change: A Crisis of Hope. June 2020 Emily Johnson. Loving a vanishing world. May 9, 2019 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Show Notes:Two years ago, long before we launched The Weight, Chris and Eddie sat down with Pastor Michael McBride of LIVE FREE, a faith based movement dedicated to stopping gun violence and ending mass incarceration. In addition to this role, Pastor McBride has served on a number of local and national task forces with the White House and Department of Justice regarding gun violence prevention, boys and men of color and police-community relationships, most recently as an Advisor on President Barack Obama's Faith Based Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.Though recorded in 2018, this conversation is just as relevant as ever, engaging topics of racial justice, gun violence, and the Church's need to consider and overcome the blockades that stop it from proactively addressing these issues. Recorded soon after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that took the lives of 17 students, McBride reflects on his experience as a pastor in communities that have faced significant levels of gun violence and how it informs his advocacy, pastoral care, and perspective on what “faith in action” must look like in the face of societal injustice. He also reflects on the racial injustices he has personally faced as a black man and has seen systemically embedded in society in a way that often goes overlooked or ignored. Pastor McBride challenges the American church to do the “soul-searching” necessary to recognize the places in which we need to further let our values, both individually and collectively, be transformed by the message and power of Jesus Christ. Resources:James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Treehttps://www.amazon.com/Cross-Lynching-Tree-James-Cone/dp/1626980055A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Hope-Essential-Writings-Speeches/dp/0060646918Willie Jennings, The Christian Imaginationhttps://www.amazon.com/Christian-Imagination-Theology-Origins-Race/dp/0300171366/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+christian+imagination&qid=1592406687&s=books&sr=1-1Follow Pastor Mike McBride on the web: www.pastormikemcbride.comFollow Pastor McBride's organization LIVE FREE: livefreeusa.orgFind Pastor McBride on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.mcbride.3956

Martin Luther King - Uma Pequena Biografia *Apoia-se: https://apoia.se/canaldosocran Texto Baseado na Obra - Alma Sobrevivente - de Philip Yancey - Editora MC - Cap 2. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PARA INICIANTES Como introdução à vida de King, Philip Yancey recomenda The autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., um audiolivro produzido pela Time Warner. Montado a partir de textos de King e lido por LeVar Burton, a biografia é incompleta e subjetiva, mas as fitas trazem também sermões e discursos feitos pelo próprio King em seu empolgante e inimitável estilo, com trechos de legítima música gospel americana. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speechcs of Martin Luther King, Jr. reúne todos os famosos discursos, com excertos da maioria dos escritos de King. Bearing the Cross, de David Garrow, é a melhor biografia de King em um único volume. O completo Parting the Waters, além de Pillar of Fire, ambos de Taylor Branch, expandem a cobertura para incluir outros eventos paralelos do movimento pelos direitos civis. Estes livros podem ser adquiridos pela internet.

So often it seems that the words and witness of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are removed from the context of his deep faith. In this message, we present three excerpts from Rev. Dr. King paired with scriptural reflection: "The Most Durable Power" (Romans 12:9-21); "Letter From Birmingham Jail" (I Corinthians 12:12-26); and "Our God is Marching On!" (Romans 8:18-25). Texts for these quotes come from "A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr." edited by James M. Washington. 

Conflict is everywhere and some of us are better than others at resolving it. Join Matt Miller as he talks about a healthy way of resolving conflict that will encourage your life. He shares some wrong ways to resolve conflict and a healthy way. He also talks about how Martin Luther King, Jr was a great conflict engager and resolver. "A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr." "The Peacemaker" by Ken Sande, Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash

Righteousness A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, April 8, 2018, the first Sunday after Easter. Polyphony sermon series. Sunday following the 50th anniversary of MLK’s assassination. Text: Mark 10:35-45   “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  What a pile of hooey.  This old saying is just so…untrue.  Words can hurt us deeply, leaving wounds much more difficult to heal than even the worst broken bone.  As we journey through this Easter season, we’re going to think about some words from the Christian spiritual tradition that have been used in very hurtful ways.  We’re calling this series “Polyphony,” a term describing music that includes many parts, voices, or sounds.  The words we will explore—abomination, believer, saved, evangelical, born again—are words that get spoken by many different and disparate voices.  Our goal is to reclaim some of these words, to listen for the sound the words make when spoken in the context of God’s grace and mercy.   Today we begin with the word “Righteousness.”  Growing up as a teenager in the 1980’s I heard the word “righteous” used alongside words like “awesome,” “rad,” “gnarly,” and, I’m slightly ashamed to say this, “tubular.”  It generally meant “great” or “neat” or “cool.”  But the word “righteousness” in the Christian context has been spoken in ways that are not awesome.  Here’s the first definition that popped up in an online search: “Righteousness is the state of moral perfection required by God to enter heaven.”  If this is true, we’re all in trouble.  That particular site did hasten to add that we are not able to achieve this moral perfection on our own; and then launched into a very legalistic explanation that Jesus’s blood “satisfies God’s justice” by paying the debt for all our sins—like a bloody “get out of jail free” card.  I take issue with this theology and, if you are interested in my alternative take, I encourage you to look online at the Good Friday homily I preached last year entitled “Ultimate Witness.” The thing I want to lift up today, however, is the way “righteousness” becomes a tag for the “in” and the “out” crowd the “good” and the “bad” people. If I am righteous, I can judge another for not being righteous.  When righteousness is understood as saying certain words or showing up in a certain place at certain times, when righteousness is strict adherence to a list of “do’s and don’ts,” then it is very easy to smoothly slide into self-righteousness.   I submit that righteousness is not about figuring out how to get into the “righteous club,” but rather about faithfully nurturing loving and just relationships that reflect God’s wisdom and way.  In the Hebrew scriptures (aka the Old Testament) righteousness is connected to God’s nature and covenant with Israel; in the New Testament, righteousness has to do with the kin-dom of God and life in Christ.  Covenant and kin-dom are the ways of living in right relationship with God and with one another.  Righteousness is about right relationship.   And that brings me to our text for today.  James and John ask to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in his kingdom.  At this point, they don’t understand that Jesus isn’t going to establish the kind of kingdom that the Hebrews had been longing for, an earthly kingdom that would set them free from Roman oppression, that would reestablish the throne of David.  They wanted to have cabinet positions in the new administration; after all, they’d earned it, leaving everything to follow Jesus, being devoted and hard-working.  Why shouldn’t they sit at his right and left hand in the throne room?   The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously preached on this text, pointing out how quickly we might want to condemn James and John for their selfish request but that, if we’re honest, we’ll acknowledge that we have the same basic desire to put ourselves forward so that we can be seen and recognized, so that we can get attention or praise, so that we might feel important.  This instinct to be “out front,” to be first, is what King called “The Drum Major Instinct.”  You may not want to stand up in front of people to speak or to be in charge of an event or movement or to lead the marching band.  But, even for those who are more shy or who like to work behind the scenes, in one way or another, the need for attention and praise and recognition is part of us all.  In ways both overt and subtle we try to get the attention that we desire, to put ourselves forward in whatever way we know how to be acknowledged and to feel that we matter.   It is perfectly human to need attention and affirmation, but the drum major instinct can easily become perverted and get in the way of right relationship with God and others. Pitfalls include comparing ourselves to others and being driven to outdo others through our material possessions, through our appearance, through joining this group and that group, through collecting letters after our name or striving to always come in first. A personality distorted by the drum major instinct will begin to boast or may become an “influence peddler,” dropping names and manipulating situations to try to seem more important.  King goes on to say, “when one fails to harness this instinct…you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up.”[i]   King also points toward “snobbish exclusivism,” that self-righteous energy that wants to be “in” at the sake of others being “out.” And he calls out the church for the tendency to become focused on the so-called “important people” who attend—the doctors, lawyers, business leaders, presidents, and so on—as if the other folks don’t really count.  But he goes on to say, “When the church is true to its nature, it says, ‘Whosoever will, let him come.’ And it does not propose to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It’s the one place where everybody should be the same standing before a common master and savior. And a recognition grows out of this—that all…are [siblings] because they are children of a common [parent].”[ii]   The failure to see this and to embody it in our lives, puts us out of right relationship. This failure opens the door to the destructive tendencies of the drum major instinct, the need to feel superior over others.  Dr. King says this “can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he’s a little better than that person that doesn’t have it, or because [she] has some economic security, that [she’s] a little better than the person who doesn’t have it.” And this uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct also leads to “tragic race prejudice.” King says it “is a need that some people have to feel superior…to feel that they are first, that their white skin ordained them to be first” and that is a perversion of the instinct that leads to the “most tragic expressions of…inhumanity”[iii]  toward one another.  Perversions of the drum major instinct leads nations to endless war and violence, to selfish and cruel policies against other nations and peoples.   Now considering all of this, you’d think that Jesus would lay James and John out for their selfish request.  But he doesn’t do that.  Instead, Jesus takes the opportunity to offer a lesson, to help these faithful followers grow up a bit more and learn what it really looks like to be in right relationship.  Jesus teaches that the relationship we seek should not be that of ruler, but rather of servant. It is the relationship of kin-ship, of mutuality, of humility.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to abandon the drum major instinct.  Here’s how King imagines Jesus responding to the brothers:   “‘Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well you ought to be. If you’re going to be my disciple, you must be.’ But he reordered priorities. And he said, ‘Yes, don’t give up this instinct. It’s a good instinct if you use it right.  It’s a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it.  Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first.  But I want you to be first in love.  I want you to be first in moral excellence.  I want you to be first in generosity.  That is what I want you to do.’”[iv]   Righteousness, right relationship with God and others, is achieved through the grace of God that helps us to understand that we are all kin, all beloved children of a loving God. Righteousness is about relationships marked by humble service, compassion, and love.  Righteousness is about relationships that are just—that are not marred by prejudice, greed, ego, and insecurity.  This righteousness isn’t something we can achieve without God’s help.  It is so easy to slip into destructive attitudes and actions when we feel even the slightest hint of fear or insecurity.    But the heart of the message from our Gospel is that we are all on the same playing field when it comes to greatness in the kin-dom of God—because all that is required of us is a loving, servant heart that seeks to embrace each and every other as kin.  That’s the long and short of it.  Anyone can serve.  Everyone can serve.  Some will choose not to, but the door is open to all. The kin-dom’s message is “whosoever will, let them come.”   It has been intentional to lift up some of the teaching and insight of Dr. King on this Sunday following our remembrances and recommitment to the work he championed for racial and social justice and for an expression of the Christian gospel that truly has integrity.  And, as a closing for this reflection, I’ll share some of the final words from his sermon:   “Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s final common denominator—that something we call death…Every now and then I ask myself, ‘What is it that I would want said?’ And I leave the word to you… If any of you are around when I have to meet my day…I’d like somebody to mention…that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others…tried to love somebody… tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked…to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness…Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right side or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your best side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition, but I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.”[v]         [i] Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct,” A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. James M. Washington (New York: HarperOne, 1986), 262. [ii] Ibid., 263. [iii] Ibid. [iv] Ibid., 265. [v] Ibid., 267.

This week, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. While MLK’s birthday is celebrated on a national level, we spend time processing why his death holds a significant importance as well. We examine the months leading up to MLK Jr.’s death, including his iconic speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” and discuss the ways in which his ideals shifted after his “I Had A Dream” speech. MLK day is a celebration of King’s birthday, and we suggest that maybe what we should really be marking is the day of his assassination.Discussed This Week:“My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.” (Coretta Scott King, Henry Holt & Co.)“They Push. They Protest. And Many Activists, Privately, Suffer As A Result” (John Eligon, The New York Times)“Linda Brown, Symbol of Landmark Desegregation Case, Dies at 75” (Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times)A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. (Martin Luther King Jr., HarperCollins Publishers)

This week on StoryWeb: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In April 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Birmingham, Alabama, protesting racism and racial segregation in the city. He was arrested on Good Friday for demonstrating, which a circuit court judge had prohibited. While he was in solitary confinement, Dr. King wrote what is arguably the most important letter in American history. It was addressed to the white clergy of Birmingham, who had publicly criticized Dr. King for getting involved in a matter far from his home in Atlanta. Dr. King began drafting his responses on the very newspaper in which the eight white ministers had published their “call for unity.” According to the Washington Post, he continued writing on “scraps of paper, paper towels and slips of yellow legal paper smuggled into his cell.” The justly famous letter – now known as “Letter from Birmingham Jail” – draws both from the early Christian tradition of letter writing (often from jails) and the African American preaching tradition. Following Paul’s strategy of writing epistles while incarcerated for his beliefs (the origin of several books in the New Testament), Dr. King reaches out to his fellow brethren of the clergy, appealing to them on the basis of their shared faith. At the same time, Dr. King draws on the rich oratory of the black church. While this letter was printed in a variety of publications and was therefore meant to be read, it bears reading aloud to hear the cadence of the prose. Dr. King acknowledges his debt to many thinkers before him, among them Socrates, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Thomas Jefferson, T.S. Eliot, Martin Buber, and Paul Tillich. A particular influence here and throughout the entire civil rights movement is Henry David Thoreau. When he addresses unjust laws and the responsibility of people of good conscience to protest such laws, Dr. King echoes Thoreau’s essay “Resistance to Civil Government.” This essay, also known as “Civil Disobedience,” was composed after Thoreau spent one night in the Concord, Massachusetts, jail for failure to pay a poll tax. The tax would have gone, in part, to support the Mexican-American War, which Thoreau and other abolitionists believed was being waged to expand the practice of slavery in the United States. Thoreau was an ardent supporter of the abolitionist cause. In fact, his cabin at Walden Pond was sometimes used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Thoreau welcomed runaway slaves at his cabin during the day and took them to safe houses in Concord at night. Dr. King looked to Thoreau, among others, for inspiration for his theory of nonviolent direct action, a practice he outlines and defends in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” So closely linked are Thoreau’s essay and Dr. King’s letter that they have even been published together. Dr. King wrote in his autobiography: During my student days I read Henry David Thoreau’s essay “On Civil Disobedience” for the first time. Here, in this courageous New Englander’s refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery’s territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance. Fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, I was so deeply moved that I reread the work several times. I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement. . . . Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau’s insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice. King’s major claim in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” – that white moderates are standing idly by, telling black civil rights activists to “wait” – is a message that resonates today. In the wake of the Ferguson uprising and in the energy of #BlackLivesMatter, many in the white community have remained silent, and indeed many – both white and black civil rights leaders of an older generation – have criticized young activists for their seemingly aggressive, in-your-face protests. I can imagine Dr. King pushing back and telling the older whites and blacks, “’Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’” Dr. King had been criticized by the white Birmingham clergy and by many others as being “extreme.” He willingly accepted this label, aligning himself with Jesus and other great reformers who King said could be seen as extremists. “[T]he question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be,” writes Dr. King. “Will we be extremists for hate or for love?” In one of the letter’s most powerful passages, Dr. King explains why African Americans cannot “wait.” The passage contains an extraordinary sentence, exceptional not only in its length but also in the power of its message and argument. Dr. King writes, We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" – then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. You’ll find it moving and inspiring to read Dr. King’s letter. You can do so online at the University of Pennsylvania’s African Studies Center website. If you want to add Dr. King’s works to your library, consider buying A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches. Two book-length considerations of Dr. King’s letter are also available: Jonathan Rieder’s Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation and Jonathan Bass’s Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Visit thestoryweb.com/letter for links to all these resources and to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., read “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Top 10 books You Need to Read to Remember Tomorrow 10—A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King jr. Edited by James M. Washington 9—Let Justice Roll Down by John Perkins 8—God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights by Charles Marsh 7—Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 6—Sojourner […]