Devotion - Monday, January 17, 2011

Among the seminary courses which had the greatest lasting impact upon me was the one I took on "The Life and Theology of Martin Luther King, Jr." It was team taught by a Lutheran professor and a professor from the Methodist seminary. Remember that King was a Baptist. The first learning in the course was to break down barriers between differing theological traditions.

King was a student of Hegel. From his writings, King had learned that we remain at an impasse when neither side is willing to see the strengths of the others argument. He refused to believe that coming to understand my opponent's viewpoint was a compromise of principal. King said (paraphrased) "Do I not remove an enemy when I make of him a friend?" King knew that while there may be degrees of separation between us, there are also many points of agreement. He sought the opportunity to lift up those points as a way to reach common ground.

King's theology spoke of the "Strength to Love." He pointed out that Jesus' strength was revealed most powerful in his love. He loved, even as he as being betrayed, condemned, and executed. King pointed out that it takes greater strength to love than it does to hate. We are not strong in our hatred, only in our ability to love.

King's thoughts, with regard to race issues, remain pertinent for us today. We have not come to the place for which our forbears trod. We need to hear, again, his invitation to look in a mirror and ask whether we are satisfied with what we see. But the aspect of his insights which might need the greatest playing time this year is his call to compassion; his insistence that we begin and end our debate and disagreements with a commitment to display the strength it takes to love.

You decide who is on the "other side" of your divide. Is it racial? Or political? Perhaps is involves issues of human sexuality, or immigration status. Pastor King would remind all of us that it is much easier to hate than to find the strength it takes to love. But if our faith is in Jesus, then we must admit that only love will overcome. Betrayal, condemnation, nor execution is able to stop the power of love.