We Can Not Wait..!

I actually wrote this a week or so before Mr. George Floyd was murdered. These thoughts and questions are no more relevant today than they were a week before this heinous crime. We are simply more aware of them...

We can not wait...We can not be silent..!
On 31 March 1968, while speaking at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., the great Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.””

But what can we do…What can we say..?

Earlier in 1963, as Dr. King prepared for the Birmingham Campaign, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love. In this work he stated,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 
Hate cannot drive out hate;  only love can do that.”.

What is “love”..?

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth (not a biased version of a truth). Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends, never fails, never falls, and never ceases.

Even though we often hear this text quoted at weddings, this “love” is not erotic/romantic love, not the love shared between close friends, and not even love between family members. It is very different. It is an act of will, not a feeling. It is a sacrificial decision; a conscious choice to cherish and preserve the life and well-being of another in the same way that you desire to cherish and preserve your own.

Who are we to love..?

We are to love our neighbor…

Who is our neighbor..?

Those who share our space (community, town, state, country, world?) but believe differently from us, look different than us, are in relationships that are different than ours, practice religion that is different than ours, eat foods that are different from ours, speak a language that is different than ours, who marry people that are different than themselves, that identify with gender differently than we do… [Do a close look at the relationship between the ancient Samaritans and the Jewish people. This is all there.]

Why is this so important..?

Out of these three: faith (be persuaded, come to trust), hope (expectation of what is sure, certain), and love (love which centers in moral preference); love is the greatest..

Why is love the greatest?  

Faith and hope serve only you, but love is directed to others. Love is your faith and hope being acted out onto others. Faith and hope can change you...love can change the world!

Is love weak and passive..?

Absolutely not! Love is active; not passive indifference or just remaining silent when you have “nothing nice to say”. Love is for the strong hearted and the confident. Love is not a sign of weakness but rather the antithesis...it is the supreme sign of strength. It is the ability to look into another and care for them in the same way that you care for yourself.

Judgement, indifference, resentment, and hatred; these are rightly the actions of the weak.

Breaking the cycle of silence and indifference...
How do I end my “appalling silence and indifference”?
How do I act and speak today...now… to make a difference?
How do I love strongly enough to “drive out hate”?
How do I raise my voice loudly enough to be heard?

These are the questions that wake me early in the morning and swim through my head every day! The simple answer is “to love”, but that feels so abstract; so intangible. What is my rubric? When have I been successful and where do I go from here?