We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
The Life and Death of MLK and What it Might Have to Say to Us
Here is an EXCELLENT reflection from Jonathan Martin in answer to a question that was posed to him on how he reconciles his rejection of the politics of this world with the social justice work of MLK. This is a must read.
From the article:
So to come to the question, I feel like the best thing I can do as a pastor is to form people in the shape of the cross and the hope of the resurrection. This will have political implications, but they do not come first. It may be that God works through us to an extent in the sphere of American politics, but that will be an extension of people shaped and formed by the message of the Kingdom of God and cannot work the other way around. If we do impact that political world, my sense is that it will also come as it did for King—less through lobbying and more through sacrifice, less through legislation and more from not loving our own lives even unto death. I also think as it was for King, it will come from power exercised underneath the established powers rather than from on top of them.
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Martin Luther King, Politics, Social Issues
Related Reading
Don’t Be a Functional Atheist at Christmas
All of us raised in Western culture have been strongly conditioned by what is called a secular worldview. The word secular comes from the Latin saeculum, meaning “the present world.” A secular worldview, therefore, is one that focuses on the present physical world and ignores or rejects the spiritual realm. To the extent that one…
Little Pacifism
Richard Beck spoke about something he names Little Pacifism on his Experimental Theology website. It’s so easy, in the name of peacemaking, to become angry and aggressive. I suppose this is just part of what it means to be human. However, if we hope to bring the Kingdom of God closer the earth (and to…
Zombies
What would Halloween be without a post about zombies? Image by rachel a. k. Sourced via Flickr.
In your Anabaptist view, should Christians get involved in politics at all? Do you think they should even vote?
Ultimately, each person must follow their conscience when it comes to whether or not they vote, how they vote if they decide to vote, and the extent to which they should involve themselves in the political system. But we must always remain aware of the dangers involved in participating in the political system, for it…
Engaging the Culture
Mark McIntyre shares some thoughts here on the culture wars that often define our relationship to the world outside of the Church. We are called to be a people who are known by our love rather than our stance on this or that social issue. Are we really known this way? Mark’s words are a…