Reverend MLK Day
For years I have been intrigued by the man this holiday claims to honor. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Though Today observance of the man has been shortened to MLK on our calendars, His title was “Reverend”. For me it is not just a reminder of the civil rights movement that this honored Reverend represented. But a testimony to what our church has seemingly, at least in my experience in my small corner of the world, lost sight of. That is that the church, I am speaking of the true Church, the Kingdom of God on this earth, is and always should be at the forefront of the charge to recognize when and where injustice exists and to fight the good fight to right these wrongs.
In as much as the church has abandoned this task it has been left to what is now referred to as “The Woke Mob” or other organizations like Black Lives Matter and I am sure there are many.
But the issue we see in what is characterized by much of the “Woke “mentality, though I am sure not all, is, as is usually the case, a desire to right the wrongs observed without a practical scriptural reference as to how to go about identifying the problems and accomplishing the needed corrections.
Often it comes down to protests and complaints and little plan of action.
I find myself though surrounded by the other end of the spectrum. The Religious deniers. Those of affluent Caucasian persuasion who deny that racism still exists in our cities, that there are still elements of systemic racism within our country. Who would lull themselves to sleep with the notion that racism has been totally eliminated from society.
Statistics show that minorities are approved for loans much less often than their Caucasian counterparts in America today. Even government programs that claim to help the poor have systemically shattered lower income families incentivizing couples to split up in order to qualify for higher levels of assistance leaving especially minority children in single parent households.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. And many of those in our affluent churches far removed from the issues or the problems, instead of giving Grace, condemn and criticize minorities for the issues they face or how they react to the culture and authority.
Have we forgotten that Grace is extended to the sinner not just the righteous?
Even the Slogan for the Trump Campaign perhaps had some err in it “Make America Great AGAIN”. When exactly was America “Greater” for minorities? In the 60’s and 70’s? with the unrest of the Civil Rights movement? Or perhaps when there were still Jim Crow laws in the south? Or was it when slavery was legal in this country?
Progress is never achieved by going backwards.
My challenge to the American Church is this. Let us stop condemning the “Woke” mentality, let us stop criticizing minorities for how they react to injustice, both real and perceived. And let us do as we once did, lead the charge for civil liberties.
We say that Jesus is the answer. Well, there are many Americans today who see injustice and are crying out for answers!
God charges his people with this instruction found many places throughout scripture like in Psalm 82:3 “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed.”
Reverend Martin Luther King is most remembered for his “I Have a Dream” speech.
But there is a telling and poignant aspect of his personal struggle recorded in his "Letters from Birmingham Jail"
These probably provide a more Biblical like context as just like The Apostle Paul wrote His New Testament Epistles from jail, The Reverend King wrote these letters of correction to the churches from a jail cell.
