The Letter itself

(Martin Luther King, Jr., Leaning on a Lecturn: March 26, 1964: Library of Congress)

This letter speaks volumes about the cause of MLK, Jr.: it is long, but extremely interesting.

Hope you enjoy, Paul M. Pace

*LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL*

April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

------- *AUTHOR'S NOTE: This response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama (Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray. the Reverend Edward V. Ramage and the Reverend Earl Stallings) was composed under somewhat constricting circumstance. Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to. leave me. Although the text remains in substance unaltered, I have indulged in the author's prerogative of polishing it for publication. -------

I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I. compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place In Brimingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self- purification; and direct action. We have gone through an these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro .leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants --- for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttles worth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.

As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves : "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to schedule our direct-action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic with with-drawl program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoralty election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run-oat we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run-off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct-action program could be delayed no longer.

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 so to 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. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved South land been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken .in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor. will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited .for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God- given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may won ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal .law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distort the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I- it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression 'of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to ace the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's anti religious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fan in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "An Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to 6e solid rock of human dignity.

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At fist I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best- known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black- nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or. unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides-and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we viii be. We be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime---the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jeans Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some-such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle---have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative .critics who can always find. something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who 'has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of Rio shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leader era; an too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious. irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, on Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Walleye gave a clarion call for defiance and .hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great- grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jai with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, ham and all over the nation, because the goal of America k freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation-and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if .you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a .degree of discipline in handing the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face Jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My fleets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They viii be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he k alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us. all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

Martin Luther King, Jr.

University of Pennsylvania, African Studies Department

Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 09:49:35 -0800 (PST)

From: "Arthur R. McGee"

Subject: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Message-Id:

Aren't we just one happy family??

This quarter of school work is finally over. I finished two classes, one was entitled Race and Identity in Paul taught by Dr. Love Sechrest and the other was Systematic Theology II, The Reconciliation and Healing of Persons taught by Dr. Ray Anderson. Both classes were amazing and I always find it amusing when two classes complement each other. The first class, Race and Identity in Paul talked about Paul's understanding of ethne (ethnic identity) in the 1st century and from that position we then attempted to understand our ethnic identities in this century.

In order to do that we must attempt to understand race as having in many ways replaced the language of ethnic. People in the 1st century were separated by geography, ethnic identity, and class, but the premise of race had not been developed yet. Race is a social construction developed mainly in the U.S. to determine for social and political reasons who was white and who was not. African-Americans during the writing of the Constitution were not considered "whole" persons, so race became a deciding factor of how we determined who had the "inalienable rights" which we claim so dear in the country.

From this discussion, we would then look at the New Testament, Paul's writings and attempt to understand the conflicts which he faced in unifying this uniquely diverse church in Christ. He faced many of the same issues we today face within our homogeneous churches, and how then can our churches which represent the "coming new age", not reflect this "present evil age" in which we live. How can we work towards unifying the body of Christ?

Galatians 3:28 of course is the main verse that we used where Paul says, "Neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, no male and female". Many churches have claimed that within this statement Paul is doing away with ethnic identity, but Dr. Sechrest claims that through this verse he is in actuality doing the opposite by affirming identity, but attempting to form a "third race" of people, i.e. the church as a non-homogeneous entity. Paul firmly believed in ethnic identity, but would not claim ethnic identity over against love in and for Christ. If we are honest and look around our churches, we will come to the conclusion that what we believe Paul was saying in these versus "may" determine the identities of our churches also.

The "neither, nor" in these versus was also only used in the Jew-Greek; slave-free; but not in the male-female statement. Paul used a "no" in that statement which has been interpreted as a possible dismantling of the societal and cultural "roles" which men and women have been given. Paul may be referencing Genesis 1.27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Paul did not want to say that we are not "sexed" beings, meaning we still possess a sex, (male or female). Paul also believed himself to be "of Israel" (Romans 11.1), but as James Dunn has said, "To say that Paul was simply Jewish is yes and no, because he does claim the heritage of Israel, but not the boundary markers which makes one Jewish, i.e. circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath." This makes what Paul says not fit neatly into our modern presuppositions of what we think the New Testament is saying. With all that said, what does Paul mean by "neither Jew, nor Greek" in Galatians 3.28?

I will leave this question to be answered by anyone who reads my blog, since I am not sure if anyone does anymore.

MLK, jr.

So, I did it again, I wrote another rap. The framework for this rap is derived from wanting to give credit to Martin Luther King, jr. for initiating the Reformation. October 31st is Reformation Day, so I decided to write a poetic/rap honoring the leader of the Reformation, MLK, jr. I know some would say that actually Martin Luther was the leader of the Reformation, but I have not seen how Luther's, "Justification by faith alone" creates a willingness to "bear the cross" and follow Jesus. It seems that justification by faith alone makes people rely upon a "belief in 'belief in God'", which is somewhat dangerous, since then I can believe that I am justified as long as I "believe in God" (whatever that means). Sanctification for Luther was somewhat non-existant, therefore, we need to rely upon others for the process of sanctification.
Hope you enjoy! Also, I am not finished, so it ends abruptly. Thanks.

Alabama, jim crow, why can't we know
Speakin’, preachin, walkin’ ridin’ comin’ all up on ya’
Wasn’t what we thinkin’ it was just too much for ya’
Holdin’ the torch, lightin’ the flame’ this ain’t Ellis isla’
Marchin’ on the capital, up town down town, does it matter to ya’

Blame game, no name, I know we ain’t the same
CIA who’s to say, I wouldn’t it past ‘em
Drinkin’ over there why they gotta’ stare?
What he was speakin’ they didn’t want to hear

In a non-violent protest he spoke of the injustice
Laid it out simply so we could comprehend it
Didn’t want to offend, but he couldn’t help it
Lyrical, beautiful, the man was a miracle
Lyrical, beautiful, the man was a miracle

Just as an outcast what he say come to pass?
Pushed aside marginalized, for redemption, pay the price
Civil Rights, civilized, beatin’ so unrecognized
Couldn’t walk couldn’t write snuffed out, prime of life

Proclamation to this nation, isn’t this God’s creation?
Holdin’ in the tension, livin’ the crucifixion
Incarnation for the mission; speakin’ of God’s whole vision
Segregation for the Christian, societial humiliation

Hearin' in that Southern drawl, we gonna' make you crawl
Stand tall, don't fall, in the South what gall
Usin' all that violence, law and order, Common Sense
Lovin’ on the people, white, black, it was the call

Hearin’ the oppressed, never did he dismiss
Articulate, communicate, why there so much hate?
Be for, not against, MLK crushed the fence
Holdin’ people in chains, walked with ‘em in their pain

This rhyme, no time, he paid the price for the climb
Up hill, slowly, white pride, apartheid
Speakin’ with confidence, trustin’ in intelligence
Callin’ people in the street, this cause is gonna’ defeat

Lookin’ at all the hate, who do they incarcerate?
Racialized, close your eyes, don't want to here their cries
Children of innocence staring through that prison fence
Make no sense, penniless, spiritualize my witness
Sit down, don' t rise, know your place, demonized
Liftin' up, head high, blood comin' out your side

Who cares, who’s there, projectin’ out, societies stare

The words are here, the marks we bare, why ain’t life fair?

Does God care, can’t you hear, what’s that, sirens blare

One more time, don’t resist, hatred collapsed in a brutal fist

Simply askin’ for the equity, promised in this democracy

Inalienable equality, who me? It Couldn't be that I'm free?

When will freedom ring? When will we "hear the people sing?"

Where, oh, where is our Martin Luther King?

Construction of Race in the U.S.

This academic quarter at Fuller Seminary has been very enjoyable. One of the classes which I am involved this quarter is a class entitled, Race and Identity in Paul. It is taught by an incredible professor, Dr. Love Sechrest. This class has facilitated my ability to research the issue of race within the context of the New Testament, where I have learned that the term "Race" is a social construct within the walls of this country, whereby the political society needed a term to determine who was white and who was not, for purposes of 'land rights', voting, etc. This gives new meaning to the Declaration of Independence, since it states that:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
"Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed?" Therefore, the governed have to agree to the power instituted within the structure of the Government, but if certain human beings are not considered equal, then the entire Declaration of Independence does not apply to them.
This started me thinking about Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wrote another book which is not so well known, entitled Notes on the State of Virginia where he was seriously wrestling with the issues of slavery, but does not concede that Africans should in any way be considered equal to whites. It does not seem difficult to understand how Jefferson as a European white Enlightenment thinker would believe such a lie, yet many within modern Christianity look at Thomas Jefferson as the greatest Christian of all time, even though he was a Deist, not a Christian. He believed in God, but Jefferson's God does not involve himself in the affairs of humans, but allows humans to "run the earth". Jefferson has approximately 25o slaves by the early 1800's, and signed a bill to end the importing of slaves into the U.S., implicitly knowing that the value of slaves would rise, i.e. laws of supply and demand, then Jefferson sold his slaves to creditors to free himself from debt. Jefferson in his earlier career had wanted to end slavery, but his career as a politician would never have maintained such a bold move. Without actively moving towards justice, we as humans will become entrenched in the environment in which we live, which is what I believed happened to Jefferson.
Since this is now well known concerning the construction of race as a politio-social development of late modernity, how does this affect our theology concerning the engagement with God's creation? Should then integration, i.e. the church as another race of humans be something which we are pursuing, or should we merely let segregation continue?

Jesus to Luther or Luther to Jesus??

Reformation Day was on October 31 and if you are like me, you had no idea that Reformation Day fell on Halloween, nor did you know that there was a Reformation Day. I spent Halloween by handing out candy to children, not mulling over how Martin Luther "discovered" God's grace. How on earth did Jesus make it without Martin Luther? Anyways, I am definitely not against traditions and to think that someone does not possess traditions is simply silly. We are shaped by our traditions, whether formal, informal, or tacit, the traditions of our churches can not and must not be ignored. See that is the point of the Reformation; not ignoring traditions which place dogma upon humans shoulders which prohibit them from understanding, comprehending, or seeing God in his glory. Therefore, Reformation Day should be spent thinking of ways to "Reform" our culture, our world, and our relationships.

Martin Luther of course did not "discover" God's grace, he discovered that some traditions, i.e. religious society was prohibiting people from experiencing God's grace. The problem in my opinion has become that we somehow believe Martin Luther had a "pure" interpretation of Scripture and understood God more than others. This again is to ignore the earlier statements that no one is free from traditions and it shapes our thinking, our lives, and how we interpret the mission of God in the world. Luther was deeply flawed and ignorant (not knowledgeable) in his worldview concerning certain groups of people. I do not ignore these aspects of his life, but I seek to understand why Luther made the comments he made.

In one such discussion, someone stated that "Luther was a product of Europe at the time he lived." This is true, because we also can not separate our culture from how we think concerning culture, but if culture is racist and I follow the culture is that satisfactory with God? Jesus was so angry at the end of his life because he knew what God's truth was and the ones to whom he had extended grace, failed to see that he was also extending to them, an amazing opportunity for life. Jesus said, "I will die on a cross to display this life". In many ways this happened with Luther, whereby he extended God's grace to a group of people to whom he believed God wanted to give life, but when they rejected his offer, he took up his humanity and derided them. Luther was an amazing person, who failed as we do, but in his failure, we must learn to live the life of Jesus.

Gas Station Football

The other day I was pumping gas at a Mobil in Pasadena when I noticed two teenagers standing on the curb watching me pump gas. I looked at one of the teenagers who was smoking a cigarette and his friend said, "I know, he (the smoker) shouldn't be smoking near the pumps", which is something that had never crossed my mind. I was thinking to myself that he was filling his lungs with something harmful to himself. I said to the one smoking, "You shouldn't smoke since you look like a 'baller". Now, of course I had no idea if he was good at basketball, and yes, I was making an assumption, which I did believe was true, but immediately he smiled and said, "You know I can play 'ball." I did not have a basketball, but I did have a football in my car, so I reached in the car, took out the football and pointed him, to "go deep", at which point he took off running across the "empty" section of the parking lot, catching the pass in stride. His friend had decided to cover him, so he took off running also. They threw me back the football, then I threw a pass to the other teenager, then they started throwing passes back and forth in the parking lot. When they were done, they ran back over to me, handed me the football and stated in the most respectful gesture I have ever been given, "Thank you sir." I felt a little shameful that they called me sir, because it hold such an ideal of respect, I am not exactly sure why I felt like that?

In my mind I was thinking that I need to develop an organization where opportunities are created for teenagers who "hang out" at gas stations. The problem is not engaging in dialogue, that is the easy part, as I am sure most Christians engage strangers in conversation, but how to invite those "strangers" into our worlds is more difficult. I also have fear, because obviously I don't know these people and I have a wife which I of course need to consider, but I was thinking of creating an organization whereby people who may not have had opportunities are given the abilities, which have been granted to others. In honest reflection, I can say that it has not been my own "hard work" which has allowed me to participate in everything God has created, but it has a lot to do with the fact that I am part of the dominant culture. I want that to change.

Gangs of the Church!

Personal Update: I am currently in my "almost last year" at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. It has been and continues to be a wonderful journey. I have personally gained some marvelous insights into the inner workings of human development and interaction, as well as, processed my own faith journey, seeing how the "faithfulness OF Christ" has allowed me to experience God's amazing grace in difficult times. Kelly and I have taken on new responsibilities and we share our daily lives with one another, whether at home, at school, or at work, each area of our life overlaps one another.
So, enough about me. Anyways, I am currently doing some research on the appeal to gang life in the U.S. It is funny how some people can not understand why gang life is appealing to youth in our country as well as other countries. The question that I have encountered is, "Why do people want to join gangs?" To merely say that it is a "breakdown" in effect of the nuclear family does not encapsulate the overall appeal of gangs. Gangs are formed by a bond which transcends what only families can offer. Gangs are outlets for people to be able to freely express their anger, conflict, and sense of abandonment which they have experienced at the hands of other human beings. The Church is called to be that outlet for the anger, conflict, and therefore the reconciliation of being abandoned by other human beings.
When I was a police officer, the community offered within the Police Department, although sometimes extremely unhealthy was still more appealing than the community offered in the church, because meeting once a week could not provide the basis for dialogue which I needed as a human being to survive. If someone asked me the question, "Sum up Christianity in one sentence", I would have to say (although I do not believe it is possible to sum it up in a sentence) that, "Jesus liberates our language in order to express everything which is in us, so that we can be at peace with ourselves, others, and God." Without this language we can never experience healing, freedom, and release from sin. Gangs offer a language to others which may only be understood by other gang members and although unhealthy is still appealing to someone to know that they have a "brother or sister", i.e. another gang member who will die for them. Until gang members understand that God himself took their anger, rage, and death upon himself, and manifested it in the body of Jesus, i.e. THE CHURCH, what appeal is for them to walk in a different lifestyle. This is not the job of individual Christians to display this to other, but the vocation of the Church.

Fixin' what ain't "broke".

The longer I am a follower of Jesus, the more I understand that Jesus continually invites us into his "space". When I use the word space, it is defined as the ministry in which Jesus himself is doing. The word "doing ministry" is thrown about in Christian circles, as if somehow, we are called to "do ministry" like I am fixing a car. "If anything is broke, we fix what is broke", whether it is people, churches, whatever. I have to confess that I have fallen into this paradigm, whereby I think that I "fix" whatever I need to fix.

This causes Christians to insert and assert themselves into the space of others, but never invite others into their own "space". I think that this happens because we have objectified the subjective, meaning those things which truly feel, think, change, reason, and love are not invited into our lives, but in some ways are objectified, things which we can control and attempt to fix. I think we should also use different language in Christianity in terms of our language of "brokenness". Human are created in the image of God, so maybe we should start there, (Genesis 1 &2) instead of Genesis 3. It also happens because we are shaped by our surrounding culture of the nuclear family and suburban living, this is the reason that it is so hard to communicate effectively to people we don't know, meaning make friends with people we don't know. (This is why so many people go to college, for the social networks)

Take for example the story in Exodus of Mt. Sinai, when Moses was on the Mountain receiving commandments from God, the Israelites, instead of focusing on the "subjective", Yhwh himself, they focused on an "object" which could be controlled, i.e. the golden calf. (Exodus 32)

The reason that I have been thinking about this concept is because I sometimes keep people at distances, because it is safe for me to do that, an invitation implicitly involves vulnerability, the possibility of rejection, so a lot of times we do not invite others to participate with us. Maybe if we started with this understanding, "Humans are going to hurt one another, whether on purpose or accidentally." Our churches have in many ways dulled our senses, they have created us in their image, which is an image of complacency, and image that says, "If there is no conflict, then I am becoming more like Christ."

I am also a person who continuously invites others into my space, so I continually have conflict. Sometimes I convince myself that the conflict is because of my sin or anothers sin, but then I think, "Jesus had so much conflict it is unbelievable, and I can be relieved." I still believe that these invitations into my space need to go further into the depth of God's care, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation though. Anyways, these are simply thoughts about what following Jesus should maybe look like.

Where is the language of pain?

I have recently been reading a story about what has been termed, "The Jena 6", who are six African-American youths and I say youths, not because they are under sixteen, but because they are teenagers, who have been charged with an assault against a white teen in Jena, Louisiana. The reason that the African-American teens assaulted the white teens is due to he and his friends hanging three "nooses" on a tree; a tree which has an unspoken rule that it is only for "Whites". One of the black teenagers asked the Principle if he could sit under this tree, whereby the Principle stated that he could sit anywhere he wanted to sit it is "free country". The African-American youth sat under the tree and the rest is history.

It seems to me that the Principle has a responsibility to be aware of what is taking place at his high school. Was the Principle aware of this "rule", was he aware of the racial tensions? We have such an individualized culture that when these African-American youths reacted with rage and anger, (which I am not condoning), at three "nooses" being hung from the tree, after the African-American youth sat there, we can not understand his reaction. We in white suburban America say, "He should have contacted the Principle, he should have contacted the police." The Principle is the one who told him to sit there. Did the Principle set him up, knowing what would happen? Is that too far fetched? It is so difficult for people to understand how human beings function from a physiological perspective (adrenaline, tunnel vision) and from a historical perspective (slavery, dominant white culture), that when these situations do take place, we think it seems so "inhumane".

In our higher education institutions, i.e. Academic Universities and Colleges, there are numerous professors who will teach classes aimed at understanding the African-American experience, Western Culture, and Religion, yet in high schools, these classes are definitely lacking. We are not cultivating humans to develop a language in order to express grief, doubt, fear, anxiety, of which were all feelings associated with this situation, on both sides. Our culture has created humans to react with anger, rage, contempt, and violence, then when they do, we wag our fingers at them and act with disdain that they reacted violently. The U.S. reacted extremely violently after 9/11, this situation is NO DIFFERENT!!!! We expect individuals to react differently than this Nation, but in reality God believes forgiveness is for individuals and for Nations. The hanging of the "nooses" IS a violent crime, because violence does not have to be something which is actualized, it can be something which only creates a violent reaction in another. (Uh-Oh, that means that the white students "need" to be prosecuted in this case).

The goal of reconciliation to remember rightly, and remembering rightly surely needs to be done in this case. We need to remember that the Principle told him to sit under the tree, that at other points in the African-American students' lives they had been ridiculed, insulted, and possibly suffered assaulting themselves. In order to remember rightly we also need to know the story of Jesus Christ. Dr. Ray Anderson of Fuller Theological Seminary has said that the fullness of Jesus' humanity and Deity was found when he cried out on the Cross, "Eli, Eli, Lama Sabacthani?", "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Why are we as Christians not developing this language in other humans? Probably because we don't have this language ourselves. The Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King, Jr. was exactly that, to form a language which had not been know before. It is in the heart of God for humans to finally speak about what is in them, it frees us from bondage.

Jesus forgave because it is in the heart of God to forgive and offer this gift of forgiveness to all humans, all nations, the entire cosmos. Through this offer of forgiveness, we are then brought to a position of stability, forming our identity in the one who has deeply loved and given himself for us, therefore calling Jesus followers to do the same for others. Reconciliation is part of the world to come, when God will "set right", the injustices done against humans, why not do it now?

"Remember" to Reconcile

This is the longest time between two posts, since I started blogging. I have been writing a paper on Forgiveness and Reconciliation, but in the midst of writing the paper, I took a break and watched The Bourne Identity. There were so many aspects to this movie which I missed the first time I saw it. I never truly understood that the reason Jason Bourne could not remember anything in the movie was that he had to forget his life in order to be able to function. I have been thinking about remembering, since I also read a book entitled, The End of Memory, by Miroslav Volf, who talks about how and why we need to remember rightly in order to be healed and reconciled. I have known through my own experiences that this is true, because without proper remembering, the past recreates itself in my present, dictating what my future will look like. I also sent an e-mail to Miroslav Volf at Yale and he responded within one day, so I gained more respect for him than I had before, which was difficult, because I have much respect for him and his writing.

When I became a follower of Jesus, after about the first six months, I started to look at my past, and realized that I wanted to reconcile with people to whom I had offended. Jesus had removed the shame from my life, so that I was able to look at my past and understand that not everything which I had done was my fault. I myself had been a victim of oppression, anger, and violence, which robbed me of my innocence to violence, and created me in the image of violence.

When God appeared in the midst of the depression which encompassed me, he freed me from the power that evil held over my life. It was through this encounter with Jesus that enabled me to feel again and at times I was overwhelmed by the emotion that forgiveness brought.
At some point though, my faith became institutionalized and I no longer had to remember rightly, forgive, or reconcile, because following Jesus became only about attaining a 'spiritual' perfection, i.e. "living rightly".

Forgiveness needs to be social, if for nothing else, because when forgiveness is received by another human to whom we have offended, and we are reconciled, it gives me the ability to see clearly that I am truly forgiven by God. Unless we have reconciliation with other humans, forgiveness with God will always be questioned.

Connecticut Connection

Kelly and I just returned from a too short trip to CT. As we were in CT, it brought back so many memories from having worked there from 1995-2005, before venturing to Pasadena for Fuller Seminary. When I was back in CT, I had many conversations, but I started to think after riding with my former partner in police work, "Who will embrace the message of the gospel?" I talked with many of the police officers and came to the realization that it is very difficult to truly follow Jesus and work within the system of the state. It made me think who the gospel, i.e. 'the good news' of God's kingdom proclamation is proclaimed to. The ones who have no hope in this world, God is giving hope to. There is so much turmoil though in the lives of humans, it sometimes makes me think, "Where is God?" I think that the stories of Jesus need to become real in the lives of Christians, first on the personal level, then in the corporate level of the church.

Kelly and I had lunch with my mom and her mom in downtown Hartford. Hartford, CT last year was rated as the seventh most violent city in the U.S.. Not a good statistic for a city. There is a huge amount of New Urbanism going on in Hartford, with the design of the downtown area, being built for the sake of foot traffic, where people can walk around in the city, interacting with the cultural milieu of Hartford.

Many of the quandaries we face within the structure and system of the church I believe have less to do with "spiritual" issues, or inner dynamics of church life, but have to do with the structure of suburban life. The suburbs do not produce an environment of interaction or engagement with the culture at large. I could probably open my garage door, drive my car to my work, leave work, drive my car back home, close my garage door, and never interact with another person, other than my family members.

There is a new Community College in Hartford, we toured called Capital Community College. The ethnicity of the college is representative of the ethnicity of Hartford. I was excited to see this College, developed in the middle of downtown Hartford, and I could feel the excitement of the students at this new college. It is always exciting to see students who are contributing to the development of the city in which they live.

"Freely you have received, now freely give." (Matthew 10:8) I have thought that this verse meant only 'spiritual' gifts, but it means whatever we 'possess', we 'possess' it from God, who has liberally extended all things to us, now we should liberally extend all to anyone who has need.

Preseason College Football: Rutgers #16

Last season, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, made its first football Bowl appearance in 137 years, playing Kansas State in the 2006 Texas Bowl to an impressive 37-10 win. Although Rutgers last year was in the competition for the BCS, with an 11-2 overall record, after beating sixth ranked Louisville, they eventually lost to West Virginia, knocking them out of contention. Rutgers has returning running back Ray Rice who adds an incredible speed dimension to Rutgers' overall program. Head coach Greg Schiano had previously said that he wanted to make Rutgers football better by recruiting from within the state of New Jersey, because New Jersey (in my words) is a "hotbed of athletic talent". Of course I am saying that because I went to high school in New Jersey, and the level of competition is phenomenal.
Rutgers opens the season on August 30th against Buffalo. While the competitive level of the teams Rutgers plays in the Big East is definitely lacking, if they continue to win, they will be able to move into either a tougher conference or play better teams.
For the entire season to honor Rutgers Football, I have changed the border font to the closest color to Scarlet, since Rutgers are the Scarlet Knights.

prophet to Prophet...dust to Rain

The book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Scriptures has absolutely transformed so much of what I think about Jesus. As I read Jeremiah, chapter 2 always grips me and I end up never reading much past it. I did an in-depth exegetical study of Jeremiah last summer, where I understood Jeremiah from the perspective of the historical context of which it was written.
So much of our Old Testament study within the Western Church is done through allegory, or spiritualizing what O.T. scriptures are saying, but I do not believe that justice is done unless the historical significance is thoroughly discussed. What is Jeremiah the prophet saying in our day, because the word spoken is not that different from what Jesus spoke. As James Sanders has said, "The false prophet never speaks of love for the enemies of God," which is true of the false prophets in the book of Jeremiah.
We read Jeremiah sometimes from such a "personal" narrative that it loses the overall effect that it was written to an entire kingdom, i.e. the southern kingdom of Judah. At the time Jeremiah was narrated by Jeremiah to Baruch the scribe, Israel was the northern kingdom and Judah the southern kingdom. Approximately one hundred years earlier in 722 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel has been lay ed waste by Assyria and the capital city, Shiloh has been destroyed. Important to note, because when Jeremiah starts to bring a prophetic word in approx. 627 B.C., the word is that Judah is worse off, because she has seen the destruction brought upon her sister Israel, and yet fails to turn from following after other gods.
The main sin of Judah was that she placed hope in Ba'al, the god of fertility rather that Yhwh. Ba'al is the 'god of rain', which in a Middle Eastern climate is important.
That is why I can never get by chapter 2, because Yhwh is crying out in his heart that he loved Israel/Judah when she was in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. In a place where they cried out to Yhwh, "Do not let us die and he continually provided." The wilderness is not a spiritual place where we go to dwell, such as Monasticism, but it is where we live continuously with Christ. It is a place where our every breath, and sustenance is provided by Yhwh. When Israel developed the kingdoms, she no longer had need for Yhwh, until she realized that Ba'al was in all actuality not actually a god, because it could not bring rain. Fear caused Israel to want a king in the first place, but the heart of Yhwh was that they be 'wilderness' dwelling people. The kings by their very nature kill in order to maintain their land and way of life. The translation today would be "Sojourners and pilgrims". Anyways, if you get a chance also read Jeremiah 30-31, renewal of creation themes, as well as Climax of Covenant themes. Jesus started a "wilderness movement", or else why would the gospel have been proclaimed to "all" nations? In many ways, the Church over the past 2000 years has done what Israel did in wanting a "kingdom" where they no longer cry out to Yhwh, but kill in order to sustain what it has.
The life of Jesus completely embodies what Jeremiah is saying, which would make sense since it is the "Word" of God, i.e. the Logos.
Word! Peace!

WOW, it's cold!

What's the temp. tonight? Oh, about two degrees. Good thing that I wore my thermals under my uniform. The apartment complex was unlit, but the suspects car was parked in the numbered spot for the complex. Do you think he is still here, I asked my partner? Ya, I know he is here. The apartment complex is leased to his girlfriend, but he is inside. How many warrants does he have? Three. He always runs; always, my partner stated.
I walked around the back of the complex, alone, in complete darkness, with my thoughts and the mist from my breath. Time was 11:00 p.m., and I should be off right now, instead of working this overtime. I could hear my partner knock, announce, "Police!" and begin a half hour conversation with the suspects girlfriend, as I stood freezing, watching the back door, in case the suspect decided to run. He has run every time we looked for him, but maybe the extreme cold kept him inside.
Finally, reluctantly the girlfriend let us inside, after denying for a half hour that he was in the house. As we searched her home, I could feel the sense of intrusion which we brought into her life. She was staring coldly at us, wishing we would drop dead.
As I walked into her bedroom, there was an eery sense that I was not alone. The other officer was checking another room. I slowly unlatched the button on my holster and drew my handgun, with a flashlight in my left hand a gun in my right hand. I walked over to the closet and I could hear the slightest sound of breathing behind the doors to the closet. I yelled, "Don't move!!" I opened the closet door and found the suspect crouching in sheer fear for his life. He was actually shaking, like a scared child, who was separated from his parents.
I did not let down my guard until I ordered him out of the closet and handcuffed him, but I truly and deeply felt sorrow for him, because his life was racked with fear, anxiety, and pain. This same person six months earlier during the summer had engaged me in a car chase, endangered my life, as well as countless others, to avoid arrest. Yet, all that faded into the past for me at this moment, because when I saw him shaking, every ounce of my being, identified with his fear.
As soon as he was caught, he immediately started to cry, because it was a time of release for him. I sometimes had to not look at him to avoid crying myself and all he could do was apologize to us, as if he was sorry for our inconvenience. He no longer had to hide, he no longer had to lie, he no longer had to fear. Although he was arrested, he was met with compassion and mercy, for I do not believe that God sees us as differently from one another as we see our situations.
As I study the life of Jesus, I realize that Jesus almost never brings Israel's past into the picture, except to show that the kingdom of God has dawned. Jesus is incorporating the past, to show that mercy is now extended to all, that the poor have entered into the "good news" of the kingdom, and that forgiveness is here. Jesus has an incredible way of integrating Israel's entire narrative into the culmination of his own life, I absolutely love this about God. God bless.

Personal doesn't always mean me

This is a personal update. I like to usually keep my posts close to my heart, which are not personal stories, per se, but a testimony towards the proclamation of the gospel, lived and embodied in the universal church of Jesus Christ. Amen.
With that said, I simply want to say that being at Fuller has transformed not just my thinking, but the expression of what I think. We don't usually have to tell people they need to live out what they preach or think, because we do it so naturally. If we live in fear, then we will act in fear. If we live in love, then we will act in love, it is the natural outworking of either the Spirit of God or as Jesus said, "Being of this world".
Fear is the antithesis of faith, and is probably the greatest contributing factor of why I blog. I believe that fear drives people to do horrendously evil things. I am guilty of evil and have lived in much fear for most of my adult life. I see a lot of the reasons are because I believed that Christianity is only an inner war, raging in my own heart, pulling me one way, when I deeply want to go another. As if God were neurotic like humans. We then say, "Well, it is all grace anyways", as if grace somehow enables humans to sin, when in all actuality grace enables humans NOT to sin.
I am reading another Miroslav Volf book called, The End of Memory and I will incorporate his three books; Free of Charge, Exclusion and Embrace, and this book into a paper that I will be writing entitled; Forgiveness as an Ethical, Social Movement. Volf writes that in order to forgive we must remember rightly, which means that we must allow the perpetrators of violence to speak, because only through their words, may we understand that they too are/were victims of violence. Forgiveness can also then bring redemption and healing to their lives, because one day we as Christians do believe God is going to set the world right, which means violence, will be truly known for what it is, and we do not want to be on the side of violence.
Volf says that we can live "active peacemaking" in this life, because we believe that God is a God of justice and vengeance, which is why God is a God of love. God sees things for what they truly are, we see things one dimensionally. This is why as Volf says, "we seek the truth, but do not possess the truth", because Jesus himself is the truth. I hope everyone has a chance to read Volf, it is truly life changing.