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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
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The Image of Cross-Like Love: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 6
In the previous blog I argued that God is cross-like love. In this blog I’d like to take this a step further by demonstrating why the cross alone could function as the definitive revelation of God’s true character and by showing how this revelation weaves together everything Jesus was about. If you want to know…
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Does Prayer Really Make a Difference?
I know the traditional cliché that prayer is for our sake, not God’s. It changes us, not God, or God’s plans. Even C .S. Lewis said that! I have the greatest admiration for Lewis, but on this account I think he is dead wrong. Prayer does certainly change us, but that’s not why we’re told…
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The Wrong “Bulls-Eye”: Reflections on the “Christian Left”
As it has since the fourth century, the Church today for the most part operates with a Constantinian (“power-over”) paradigm. Because of this, most socially concerned Christians are inclined to define the Church’s mission as adjudicating between and tweaking political options “in Jesus’ name.” We accept Caesar’s definition of “power” as the ability to get…
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Podcast: Is Pledging Allegiance to the Flag a Big Deal?
Greg discusses allegiances and pledges. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0442.mp3
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Memorial Day
For Memorial Day, we thought we would repost Greg’s thoughts from 2007. In this post, Greg expresses his conflicted feelings over this holiday and gives a brief defense of Christian pacifism. *** Hope you all had a happy Memorial Day. (Isn’t that something of a misnomer — a happy time remembering people killed in war?) Memorial Day…
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Why do you argue that discipleship and politics are rooted in opposite attitudes?
Question. At a recent conference I heard you argue against the idea that there could ever be a distinctly “Christian” political position by contending that political disputes are premised on a claim to superiority while discipleship is fundamentally rooted in humility. I don’t think I get what you mean. Can you explain this? Answer: In…