Let justice roll down....

I just finished reading the autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was interested in reading it one, because hello he's interesting, and two because I feel like although i have good idea of what he was about I really wanted to dive deeper into his life. This book was wonderful because it revealed his inner life of seeking God as well as his personal thoughts of the happenings going on around him, as well as just his journey to how grew into man that he was.
Something that really makes me look up to him as not only someone who always stood for what his convictions, and not only as a really wise and intelligent man and theologian, was his incredible faith in a God who can do all things. His whole life was an outpouring of the inner relationship and commitment he had to Christ. Everything came from that, and not the other way around. That is the same way I feel about Mother Teresa. Above all, she wanted people to look to Christ, not to her, because everything she did was just a simple outpouring of the love that she experienced with her Savior. Martin Luther King stressed over and over that he just answered a call-he was in the right place in history and basically said yes to God-it could have been anyone. I love that because it puts into perspective our humanity. We are all only human, and God is going to do what He is going to do, He is just looking for people to say yes. As someone told me last night, God is at work and will accomplish His plans, if we want to join Him we can.
I thought I'd share some of the quotes that really stuck out to me as relevant for us today. It is interesting to read about the struggles that were going on in the late 60's, for when I look around we are still facing a lot of the same struggles. I wonder what MLK would think today if he looked around, still seeing some of the same mess. However I do think that as long as we are trusting in God, there is hope. That hope is what we can cling to.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech from 1964:
"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!"

At the university of Olso, he gave a lecture which he presented what he believed to me the three largest issues we face. They are racial injustice around the world, poverty, and war. I think that is something to think about today.

A few years later he spoke out as an advocate for antiwar. He said "A nation that continues to year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." In light of the war we are currently in, I think that is very true. I am continually appalled at the amount of money poured into the military per month in the U.S.

At one point when people were giving him a lot of criticism he said this: "They seem to forget that before I was a civil rights leader, I answered a call-and when God speaks, who can but prophesy? I answered a call which left the Spirit of the Lord upon me and anointed me to preach the gospel." The gospel of Christ and justice for the poor and oppressed were inseparable. I believe this to be true.

Another one I love " We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries, or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity."

The last thing I will leave you with is what he said in a speech regarding the Poor People's Campaign, which he launched before his death to address issues of economic injustice but was killed before he could see it come to fruition. These words are of a man who is living in the now, living a kingdom life, a bold and fearless life full of freedom: "It really doesn't matter what happens now.... some began to... talk about the threats that were out – what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.... Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Sabbath Economics

I had the privilege of hearing a guy by the name of Ched Myers on two different occasions last weekend. (well, two weekends ago now) He spoke at Urban Jerusalem, the hip hop church I am a part of, as well as for Urban Homeworks and other small intentional living communities. I really appreciated what he had to say and learned a lot-and hopefully I will learn and grow in this more as I read some of his books!
The overall message is that God's dream, or original plans, for the economy is vastly different than how it looks. We are so far from what is laid out for us Biblically, as well as from the teachings of Jesus, in the way we spend our money it is hard to see how we can move away from it. I think for me, I have been so entranced by the world around me and the "norm" of the consumer oriented society I live in, I have come to accept it as the way it has to be. I am going to just go over some of the notes that I took that stood out to me, and hopefully be able to continue this conversation as I explore this more. God calls us to live in community and seek that out-the society we live in is always working against community. Society has us pull out of our home to work, people leaving their country to follow where the money is, there is a sacrifice of family for careers, always a sense of upward mobility, and the need to work up in wealth. All these things promote anxiety, addiction, and alienation. We have anxiety because we doubt, we are dissatisfied, we have deficit spending, artificial abundance, and artificial security-and we think all of this is natural. There is an addiction to money, to having more things, to working, to limitlessness. And through that all we are alienated from community, from commonwealth, from work, from the earth, from relational commerce, from spirit-we live in a placeless market. These things are not normal! We can't change because we are dependent on all of these things, and this is what is wrong. There are 4 things to look at: 1-we are all have an economic story specific to us, because we all buy, shop, loan, borrow money, etc. 2-Everyone is located in the larger economic story, from foreclosures to job loss, etc. 3-Sharing these stories break the silence around money and class! (he emphasized that this is the last thing we talk about, especially as christians; it is taboo in church and a such a "personal matter" that we don't talk about and therefore don't hold each other accountable, etc.) 4-Sharing our stories de-privatize the anxiety, as well as commune-itizes our imagination which leads to creative responses to the overall problem.
He created a 7-fold covenant for people who want to start to deal with these things together. Then he talked about money and the problems around it. We are really good at rationalizing money and we are trained to believe that money is morally neutral. But this is not true- money is definitely one of the principalities and powers that is talked about in the Bible, and it is risky to the soul, and intrinsically is spiritual corruption. He used the word "mammon" which is a term in the Bible used to describe material wealth or greed, often personified as deity. Money is an instrument of social exchange-whether positive or negative. It can maximize private interest, give us personal gratification and security, and it is also a social exchange with providers of good and services. Now, with that we can use money to exploit others or help others. How we spend is predicated on relationships and values. An example of this is with coffee-we can exploit poor farmers or build sustainable communities by purchasing fair trade.
Now, often our response is that we are either completely paralyzed (the problem is too huge so we do nothing) or we are righteous and critical of others (also not a helpful attitude). He said this "we are moderate in our actions, but forceful in our critiques." I think this is very true! He said something I think is important: no step is too big or too small, and no one ever "arrives." Obviously, you can always be doing more, but this doesn't negate the small steps that keep you moving forward. I think there is a lot of hope in that. For example, recycling didn't just happen one day. It took someone with a vision, and small movements on the local level. It was a big movement made possible by an individual conscience. In 20-25 years recycling became conventional wisdom.
Another point he spoke about was the concept of redistribution. One of the reasons we stay poor in the U.S. is because those who are poor have no equity-money just passes through them (to pay rent, bills, etc.). Therefore you can't get loans to, say, buy a home, so you are always stuck in a rental situation and never build that up. But this is so messed up because now days we can't get an education or a home without taking out a loan-so putting ourselves in debt and in a position where we are forced to use money we don't have to get something we need to become secure later. But if we don't do this, we are forced to make 10 dollars an hour, if that, and constantly stay in a position of instability as we never own a home, etc. It is quite interesting that this is the way that is normal now in our culture. This practice of usury, collecting interest, is forbidden in the Bible. Yet we are practically forced to live as such now... Some of the solutions to these problems involve coming back to community-through local credit unions and relying on communities to send their kids to college collectively. For example, if those with extra could move their investments into credit unions to be able to create money to give education loans and mortgage loans to those without equity. It takes some imagination and communities coming together.
Wow this is getting to be a lot. The last points he drove home was that addiction is the problem of the 1st world nations, and oppression is the issue of the 3rd world. The problem isn't poverty. The problem is the affluent taking too much.
He gave me a lot more to think about! I am encouraged by people like him who provide a hopeful outlook on these things. I do believe God has a bigger and better dream, and we have totally lost sight of those dreams. I believe that we have a responsibility as Christians to not only think about these things, but also figure out ways move in practice. I, for one, am hopeful in this. A big part of this is really looking at myself honestly and see what my "economic story" is. That is a scary thing....

If you are interested, here is the website:
http://www.bcm-net.org/
Also if you are interested in another look into our consumer-orientated mindset:
http://storyofstuff.com/