Dr. King continued

 

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. 

 

This week we are letting the words of Dr. King unsettled our souls, move us from complacency into engaging the broken/bruised/beloved world God cares so deeply about.  Each day, I will offer a quote from the letter.  I want you to read the quote three times.  Read it first to see what word or sentence jumps off the page at you?  What emotions are provoked and evoked in the reading.  Pause, sit with what is stirring in you.  Read the words a second time, this time pondering where do these words challenge you.  For example, how do you collect “facts” on days when we are caught in the spin cycle of cable news?  If agreeing on the “facts” isn’t hard enough, which it is, what do we do when people disagree about the injustice taking place?  Too often, even if we can come to consensus on the evidence, the direction and destination that takes individuals is drastically different.  Pause, sit with what is stirring in you.  Read the words a final time to see how God, who is still speaking, is singing to you in these words.  One of the important parts of Dr. King’s words for me is “self-purification”.  This is not self-improvement; this is not self-assuredness.  To use a word that has fallen out of favor, this is “confession”.  Pastor Tim Keller once said, “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.”  It is not God on our side but being on God’s side which will always stretch us beyond our own self-limiting abilities.  How might you engage in these four steps?  Or maybe you disagree with these four steps.  Or maybe there needs to be more than four steps.  Hold the wisdom here in these words. 

 

Bonus, Bible Nerd Fun challenge, compare Dr. King’s words to Matthew 18:15-17:

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. ¹⁶ But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.

 

May God’s presence continue to infuse and inspire our living in these days.  Amen.