Happy Tuesday!
To be honest, today really doesn’t feel like a Tuesday. It feels more like Monday 2.0, and we all know how tough Monday’s can be! Since yesterday was a holiday, the to do list for today has doubled in size. Still, having a day to enjoy family and rest was well worth it.
Speaking of yesterday, I know many of us spent time reflecting on the life and contribution of Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s safe to say that he is one of the most important people, not only in U.S. history, but I would argue in world history.
I find his sermons, spoken/written years before I was born, to still be powerful and prophetic. His challenge to a prejudiced society then, still challenges us today. One quote that I read recently really speaks to and challenges our contemporary society. In April of 1967, Dr. King offered the following statements in an address to clergy:
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
And he also added:
“We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.”
If we ever needed to listen to these words, that time is now. Hate can’t defeat hate. Darkness can’t drive out darkness. Only love and light can do that. May we take seriously our calling to be ‘light’ in the world that God loves. May we seek to make enemies friends, brothers, and sisters. May we choose to join MLK and countless others on the path of love and reconciliation–this is the path of Jesus, the path of the Kingdom.
Grace and peace.
Josh Scott 