I was privileged to attend Boston University School of Theology for my training for ministry. I value the education I received and the experience of being in Boston, it is a great city rich with tradition and culture. I was able to take a course on the life and ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who studied for his doctorate at the same school I was attending. Dr. Cartwright who taught the course had marched with Dr. King, and had a personal relationship with him. We visited the special collections section of the Library which contained items donated by the family of Dr. King, notes from speeches, telephone message pads, books , etc. This helped me to see Dr. King, as a man dedicated to God even in the face of such adversity.
From the very beginning, Rev. King saw the possibility of a kind of community that transcended "our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation," not as a far fetched ideal, but something that could be created right now in history. Dr. King walked, preached, boycotted, went to jail, endured threats on his life because he believed with all his heart and soul in the vision of a completely integrated society. A "Beloved community" of love and justice. For him this was the ideal expression of what God intended for the human race.
Unfortunately, we have not reached that ideal, there is still so much work to be done, so many walls to tear down that separate us, that oppress us. For me this means seeing each person as a child of God, beloved and precious. I may disagree with their politics, or with their actions, but to love one another as God calls us, this will lead to a beloved community becoming a reality.
This week let us renew the effort to become a beloved community where all persons are included, where love and justice prevail, and our children will thrive.
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