Today I am blessed to be with a group of pastors and lay leaders who are working to start new ministries or revitalize existing ones. This group represents the cutting edge of the ELCA and abounds with people passionate about proclaiming the Gospel in creative ways.
This gathering focuses on issues of justice. It can be easy for mission churches to focus only on ourselves and our relationship with God. We proclaim a God who is not only concerned about faith and relationships. Over and over in Scripture we hear the call for justice.
It is appropriate that we will be in Atlanta over Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It shocks me to realize that 55 years ago many white Americans truly believed that African-Americans were inferior. They forced them into inferior schools. They gave them separate drinking fountains. They made them give up seats on their buses. In short, they treated those of African descent as less than human, not as brothers and sisters in God’s good creation.
Those abuses eventually became too much and the African-Americans couldn’t take it anymore. Amazingly, they fought back with non-violence. Martin Luther King, Jr. arose as a leader of what became the Civil Rights movement. He proclaimed a message of justice and love for the enemy. Those in power couldn’t abide such talk, so they did everything in their power to silence him (everything from arresting him for driving five mph over the speed limit to bombing his home). Dr. King took the abuse and refused to be provoked.
It took years, but justice finally arrived (though racism still rears an ugly head in sinister ways). Dr. King profoundly proclaimed, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Has that day arrived yet?
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