Martin Luther King Day: On Making a Difference By Taking a Stand and Living What You Say You Believe

This morning, as I pondered what to write on the celebration of Martin Luther King Day, the stark contrast between the Poor People's Campaign and last year's Women's March came to mind. I envisioned the mule-drawn wagons and the women wearing vagina-style attire, and shook my head. 

I have no idea what the women hoped to achieve nor what they protested. Those ridiculous hats are all that stuck in my memory. Did they accomplish what they hoped? I doubt it.

I will never forget Reverend King's march, however, nor the civil rights for which he protested. Did he accomplish what he hoped? Yes. His protests didn't change every heart, every circumstance, but they changed a lot. 

We live in a far different society, in many ways, than the one in which I grew up.  We can all enter by the same door, sit in the same waiting room, eat in the same restaurants now. If we work hard, we can all go to college, get a good job, make a nice living for our families. We can attend the same church and worship together, side by side. 

It was not so when I was a child, for the color of your skin determined your opportunities.

One man saw injustice, prayed it through, then took a stand. He endured threats and persecution, yet he persevered. Photos taken on the day before he was killed show a man who knew what his actions were about to cost him. He knew he would soon be killed, yet he pressed on because he had taken a stand for right and he would not back down. 

It's one thing to talk a good line. It's another thing entirely to live what you say you believe. Where are the people today who take the kind of stand Martin Luther King took? Where are the people today who live what they preach in the public arena? 

I wrote the words you're about to read last January, but they're as pertinent today as they were then. I'm repeating them, because I can't write it any better.

* * * 

I've sat here for an hour, trying to find a topic for today's blog. The visuals echoing through my mind are the photo of one of the women's march participants shrouded in a vagina costume and the ones of the women in various stages of undress, slogans painted across their bare chests.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do those pictures say? I'll let you draw your own conclusions. 

There are all kinds of protests, but the one that I've never forgotten is the Poor People's Campaign, organized by Martin Luther King. 

I didn't understand what it meant, but I knew it was important. 

Protestors left Marks, Mississippi in mule-drawn wagons, headed toward Washington D.C. It was the spring of 1968, not long after Rev. King was assassinated. 

My mama carried my sister and me to see the protestors. We parked on the side of the road and stood beside the car. Silent. Watching. 

The mules, heads down, pulled the wagons. Protestors sat quietly as the mules walked, the wheels turned. It was slow progress, but it was real.

There was no doubt in my mind that something powerful was happening. I didn't understand it, but I knew, at the core of my being, that life would change. 

And it did.

No one dressed in vulgar costumes. No one shouted obscenities. No one waved blasphemous signs. 

They counted the cost and took a stand.

That one protest will always be the epitome of effective protest for me. Quiet. Peaceful. Intense. Powerful.

Not everything was rosy and beautiful when they reached Washington, but that moment in time, watching at the side of the road, stands out in my mind. It's a sharp contrast to protests like the recent Women's March on Washington. 

I recognize that there are still inequalities. I'd like to see them corrected, and I've tried to accomplish that very thing. I went to college, then medical school, worked hard, made it through. 

There was sexual harassment. I took it for a while, then I counted the cost and took a stand. When I spoke up, it was clear I meant business. I didn't shout, carry a sign, or wear a costume. When I stood up to the bullies, they stopped, because that's what bullies do. They back down when confronted. 

I practiced medicine, worked hard, made it through. No one bullied me. No one treated me differently because of my gender. 

I know inequality still exists. I expect that, as long as there is evil in the world, inequality in some form will always exist. 

I know that most of the protestors probably dressed in regular clothes. The media has, as usual, shown us the most outrageous, because that's what draws views and makes money. 

I'm not opposed to peaceful assembly and I support the right to free speech. I'm not opposed to the recent march. I'm not even opposed to costumes that look outrageous to me. 

My grandmama taught me something, though, that we'd all do well to remember. Especially the people in the vagina costumes. 

Actions speak louder than words. 

"... let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18 niv.

We demonstrate who we are (and whose we are) by what we do, so we'd do well to choose our actions wisely. 

The most effective protestor of all time was Jesus Christ. He entered a world filled with violence, poverty, oppression, and cruelty, and He chose love. Every single time. He chose sacrifice. Open-handed giving. Equality. Peace.

In a male-dominated culture, women traveled with Jesus, and demonstrated, by their lives, the power of Christ to transform. 

After the resurrection, His followers chose love, as well, and that love was unstoppable. It changed the world and turned it right side up.

I doubt I'll ever protest with signs, slogans, costumes, or marches. I hope to spend the rest of my life protesting the evil in this world by choosing love. Demonstrating love. Giving it freely and without complaint. 

From helping at soup kitchens to collecting supplies for the homeless, to helping rebuild homes after disasters (and everything in between), I want to be a change-agent of love in this struggling world.

Today, look for the evil, inequality, and injustice around you and take a stand. Make a difference. Protest like Jesus did, and let your actions help change the world.  Pursue mercy and justice. Use words if you must, but protest with love. 

"And now remain faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor. 13:13 nasb
______________
In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the link: When the Answer to Our Prayer is a Much Needed Delay

#MLK #MartinLutherKingDay

How to inherit eternal life, part 13: From Jerusalem to Jericho

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. (Luke 10:30 NASB)

... So the people crossed opposite Jericho. (Joshua 3:16 NASB)

We are studying the passage from Luke in which Jesus paints a word picture of loving your neighbor as yourself. I have a little treat for you at the end, so be sure to read all the way through. (You can read about loving your neighbor as yourself and being a friend to sinners with these links in a separate tab and still keep this one open.) Today, we turn to the journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. 

Jericho is an interesting city and merits a closer look. Most people will remember the "battle" at Jericho in which the people walked around the city, day after day, as God prescribed, until the walls came down. The victory was, quite literally, won by their walk of obedience. What we often forget is that Jericho was the place where the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. You may remember that they stood, after forty years of wandering, at the edge of the Jordan River. The water was rushing past and the walled city of Jericho was nearby on the other side. (BTW, this is the place where I was baptized and may have been the place where Jesus was baptized by John. Imagine that! Baptized in the place where Joshua and the children of Israel entered the promised land, where John the Baptizer ministered, and where our Lord Jesus was baptized as well. How incredible is that?) 

Jericho was a relatively large city, likely an affluent city (because of the walls), and well-populated. It was also filled with fear. They were terrified because of the vast numbers of the children of Israel who had just crossed the Jordan, and well they might have been, for their destruction was near. It would not, however, be the multitude of wanderers that would destroy them, but their God. 

Jericho is a beautiful city. It was known for its "aromatics" and had a wonderful fragrance. It is surrounded by desert, but because of the Jordan and the spring known as Elijah's Spring, it serves as a kind of oasis in the desert. Getting to Jericho was, however, difficult. The distance from Jerusalem to Jericho is roughly 18 miles. The journey is difficult, in part, because of the change in altitude between the two cities of more than 3000 feet, making at least a portion of the journey extremely steep. Because of the altitude difference, there is an accompanying change in the environment, becoming increasingly dry and arid as you approach Jericho. There are several excellent hiding places along the way and it was a popular place for robbers to hide. In fact, the robbers had been so successful in their crimes that it had become known as the "way of blood" because of the amount of blood shed in that place.

Some commentators suggest that, in this story, Jerusalem is symbolic of God's government and that Jericho symbolizes man's government. Others suggest that Jerusalem symbolizes paradise and Jericho, the world. Certainly, either of those are possible, but Jesus may have simply chosen this literal road for His parable because it was well known to His listeners and familiar as a dangerous path, albeit one that many of them would travel. The man traveling along the road may have simply been going about his business, living life as usual, when he was brutally attacked and left for dead. Those who passed him may have also been simply going about the business of life, hurrying through a dangerous and difficult path to get to an easier part of the journey as quickly as possible. That's the interpretation I favor.

You see, loving our neighbors isn't a scheduled event. We don't set an alert on our smart phone for "love your neighbor time". Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as we go about our day. While we are walking from one destination to the next (or driving, as the case may be), going about the business of life, we are to love our neighbor. The critical factor here is our ability to see our neighbor. Unless we are paying attention, looking around us, with the eyes and heart of Christ, we are not likely to see the need of our neighbor in distress. If we fail to recognize the need, we will never meet it. If we fail to see our neighbor, we will never love Him. 

There's another little problem that we often have, and you likely know it as well as I.  Busyness. When we allow our lives to be overtaken by "busy", we remove the margin that allows the adventure of God. We eliminate the opportunity to love our neighbor when we become too busy to "take the time" for the loving acts God places in our path.

God has not called us to be busy, but to be faithful. Let's begin today to ask God to develop in us the eyes of Christ, eyes that see the need around us, as well as the heart of Christ that responds to that need with ready assistance, willing to go to the distance until all that is needed is done. 
~~~~~~~~
Here's your treat! The day before his death, Martin Luther King spoke to striking sanitation workers about this very passage. It is insightful, wonderfully written, and well worth the read. You can click on the link below to read it. You don't want to miss it!
https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/04/why-didnt-they-stop-martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-parable-of-the-good-samaritan/