Dr. King continued

 

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking.   But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

We continue to dive and dwell into Dr. King’s words from a Birmingham Jail.  So far this week we have considered the challenge to find the network of mutuality amid the fraying state of our countries ties to each other across neighborhoods, state lines, and especially the political divide that is wider than the Grand Canyon.  I find myself confessing that as a country we have been a people who often choose violence over love.  I find myself confessing how much loathing has an exhilaration to it (Yes, that is a quote from a song from Wicked, bonus points if you caught it).  I find myself confessing that my clinging to information as a weapon of transformation doesn’t work and isn’t helpful.  Today, the quote above teaches us about non-violent actions.  As with the previous days, I invite you to 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. 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. 

Where do you find constructive, nonviolent tension necessary for growth in your life today?  Where can the church lean in, learn from, and live out these words in ways that continue to share God’s care for all people and all creatures. 

Where might this tension push some people way?  Dr. King wrote this letter to white ministers who were uncomfortable with his presence in Birmingham and called for him to “wait”.  Too often we want to kick the can down the proverbial road rather than deal with the brokenness of the world before us.  Too often we stand silent on the sideline rather than engage in conversation that awakens all kinds of emotions within us.  Too often we get cynical and critical of efforts because, in a world where we crave immediate and instant gratification and resolution, we don’t like messy mangers ~ even though that was where God is born.  There is no perfectly polished law that will solve everything, regardless of what a politician tells you.  There is no magic wand to take away all the wounds of the world.  What there is God working through us, especially when we are open to God’s guidance and grace each day.  May these words continue to challenge us and call us to be God’s people in these days.  Amen.