Creating the Beloved Community

Over the course of the next three Sundays, January 10, 17 and 24, I will be preaching on The Beloved Community. Creating the Beloved Community was an idea that was central to the thinking and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Accordingly, my blogs for the next three weeks will explore aspects of Dr. King's thought and practice that relate to this idea. In addition, I'm going to explore how Dr. King's religious faith found expression in political and social action, all of it filtered through the lens of the Beloved Community.


A good overview of Dr. King's concept is found in an article by Kenneth L. Smith and Ira G. Zepp, Jr. entitled "Martin Luther King's Vision of the Beloved Community." The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia is also an excellent place to find out about Dr. King's ideas and work. The Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service has extensive information concerning the 40 Day Pledge of Nonviolence. 


These are all good places to begin. Check this blogspot frequently for updates and more information.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 17, 2010 at 5:52 PM

    I really like your message about non-violent resistance in today's sermon. It is a concept that can be applied to our personal lives.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the UMC an Old Car?

Image
When I was in graduate school in the mid-90s, I drove a 1980 Toyota Corolla. It had a standard transmission, manually-operated windows, and no air conditioning. But it was fairly dependable for the decade I drove it. During graduate school, it got me between Salem, Oregon, and Berkeley, California, at least once a month, as I returned home to see my family. The drive North and South could be a trial during the Summer months, especially in the Central Valley when the temperatures reached 115°. Not having air conditioning was a problem, so I figured out a system wherein I wrapped an ice cube in a bandana and wrapped it around my forehead, and drove with the windows down. The rapidly-evaporating ice cube cooled my head, but I had to add a new ice cube every rest stop. But it worked. It was not a glorious or glamorous car, but it got me dependably between Point A and Point B. I used it to take my German student friends to experience the Redwoods and to drive down H...
Read more

Taking Grace for Granted

This Sunday is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Therefore it is an appropriate time to reflect upon the act of giving thanks, of expressing our gratitude. This year for Thanksgiving I will gather with my family at my parent's home. Most of my brothers will be there with their families. One of my brothers will be there without someone very dear to him: his wife who died two years ago. Whenever we have gathered, we always took for granted that everyone would be there. The kids would be a little older, and there would always be the latest exploits of our children to share. But the death of my sister-in-law came way too soon, at way-too-young an age. So when I look around the family, I don't take it quite for granted anymore. The blessings that are there are not necessarily a given.  How many things in our life do we take for granted? How many things do we fail to give thanks for? How many times do we receive a gift and forget to express our gratitude? I know that I have do...
Read more

Shaking the Dust

Image
On February 25th, United Methodist delegates to our General Conference Special Session voted to preserve the status quo of our Book of Discipline's current bans on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriages. While I am not surprised, I am deeply disappointed. There was strong support for a plan (called the One Church Plan) that would not force any pastor or church to perform same-sex marriages, nor did it force anyone to change what they believe about the Bible, but would allow individual conferences to decide if they would ordain LGBTQ pastors, as well as allowing churches to host and pastors to officiate at same-sex marriages. In other words, instead of allowing for theological differences around 4-5 verses in the Bible ( the only references to homosexuality found in the Bible , and two of those are disputed as to whether they refer to homosexuality at all), the theological and political right wing of the church muscled its way to force ...
Read more