If We Dare...

Stupidest Thing I Ever Saw

2012-01-23T03:46:00.000-08:00

So You Want to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus?

2012-01-23T03:26:00.000-08:00

It's 4:15 a.m. and I finally decided to deal with my obsession-induced insomnia.

Today's Christians are fond of the warm fuzzy metaphor, "to be the hands and feet of Jesus". What they mean, supposedly, is they want to be imitators of Christ in service, to be a reflection of His mercy and grace in acts of kindness to others. For me it's not very palatable, especially when I see it portrayed like the emblem above....embellished, ostentatious, and self-elevating. I think there's a secret spark of spiritual pride in saying, "Let's all be the hands and feet of Jesus this week." What are the appraisal criteria at the end of the week? The applause of the Bible study group? Self-congratulatory pats on the back? Maybe I'm cynical because I know how badly I fail at this and assume everyone else does, too.

Tossing and turning in my body and soul tonight, I have no treatise to offer but this:

...Those hands and feet bore nails.

Now what?

MLK: Letter from a Birmingham Jail - April 16, 1963

2012-01-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

If you read nothing else today, read this:

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

16 April 1963

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program would be the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things.

Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with.

Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation. Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions.

I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers.

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King - Loving Your Enemies...the Only Path for Change

2012-01-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 17 November 1957.

I am forced to preach under something of a handicap this morning. In fact, I had the doctor before coming to church. And he said that it would be best for me to stay in the bed this morning. And I insisted that I would have to come to preach. So he allowed me to come out with one stipulation, and that is that I would not come in the pulpit until time to preach, and that after, that I would immediately go back home and get in the bed. So I’m going to try to follow his instructions from that point on.

I want to use as a subject from which to preach this morning a very familiar subject, and it is familiar to you because I have preached from this subject twice before to my knowing in this pulpit. I try to make it a, something of a custom or tradition to preach from this passage of Scripture at least once a year, adding new insights that I develop along the way out of new experiences as I give these messages. Although the content is, the basic content is the same, new insights and new experiences naturally make for new illustrations.

So I want to turn your attention to this subject: "Loving Your Enemies." It’s so basic to me because it is a part of my basic philosophical and theological orientation—the whole idea of love, the whole philosophy of love. In the fifth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Saint Matthew, we read these very arresting words flowing from the lips of our Lord and Master: "Ye have heard that it has been said, ‘Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

Certainly these are great words, words lifted to cosmic proportions. And over the centuries, many persons have argued that this is an extremely difficult command. Many would go so far as to say that it just isn’t possible to move out into the actual practice of this glorious command. They would go on to say that this is just additional proof that Jesus was an impractical idealist who never quite came down to earth. So the arguments abound. But far from being an impractical idealist, Jesus has become the practical realist. The words of this text glitter in our eyes with a new urgency. Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.

Now let me hasten to say that Jesus was very serious when he gave this command; he wasn’t playing. He realized that it’s hard to love your enemies. He realized that it’s difficult to love those persons who seek to defeat you, those persons who say evil things about you. He realized that it was painfully hard, pressingly hard. But he wasn’t playing. And we cannot dismiss this passage as just another example of Oriental hyperbole, just a sort of exaggeration to get over the point. This is a basic philosophy of all that we hear coming from the lips of our Master. Because Jesus wasn’t playing; because he was serious. We have the Christian and moral responsibility to seek to discover the meaning of these words, and to discover how we can live out this command, and why we should live by this command.

Now first let us deal with this question, which is the practical question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self. And I’m sure that seems strange to you, that I start out telling you this morning that you love your enemies by beginning with a look at self. It seems to me that that is the first and foremost way to come to an adequate discovery to the how of this situation.

Now, I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t like you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because you can do your job better than they can do theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because other people like you, and because you’re popular, and because you’re well-liked, they aren’t going to like you. Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little shorter than theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little brighter than theirs; and others aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little darker than theirs. So that some people aren’t going to like you. They’re going to dislike you, not because of something that you’ve done to them, but because of various jealous reactions and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.

But after looking at these things and admitting these things, we must face the fact that an individual might dislike us because of something that we’ve done deep down in the past, some personality attribute that we possess, something that we’ve done deep down in the past and we’ve forgotten about it; but it was that something that aroused the hate response within the individual. That is why I say, begin with yourself. There might be something within you that arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.

This is true in our international struggle. We look at the struggle, the ideological struggle between communism on the one hand and democracy on the other, and we see the struggle between America and Russia. Now certainly, we can never give our allegiance to the Russian way of life, to the communistic way of life, because communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. When we look at the methods of communism, a philosophy where somehow the end justifies the means, we cannot accept that because we believe as Christians that the end is pre-existent in the means. But in spite of all of the weaknesses and evils inherent in communism, we must at the same time see the weaknesses and evils within democracy.

Democracy is the greatest form of government to my mind that man has ever conceived, but the weakness is that we have never touched it. Isn’t it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes? Isn’t it true that we have often in our democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn’t it true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and imperialism? And all of these things must be taken under consideration as we look at Russia. We must face the fact that the rhythmic beat of the deep rumblings of discontent from Asia and Africa is at bottom a revolt against the imperialism and colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many years. The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in its system.

And this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it that you can see the mote in your brother’s eye and not see the beam in your own eye?" Or to put it in Moffatt’s translation: "How is it that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.

A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.

I’ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."

So somehow the "isness" of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

The Greek language, as I’ve said so often before, is very powerful at this point. It comes to our aid beautifully in giving us the real meaning and depth of the whole philosophy of love. And I think it is quite apropos at this point, for you see the Greek language has three words for love, interestingly enough. It talks about love as eros. That’s one word for love. Eros is a sort of, aesthetic love. Plato talks about it a great deal in his dialogues, a sort of yearning of the soul for the realm of the gods. And it’s come to us to be a sort of romantic love, though it’s a beautiful love. Everybody has experienced eros in all of its beauty when you find some individual that is attractive to you and that you pour out all of your like and your love on that individual. That is eros, you see, and it’s a powerful, beautiful love that is given to us through all of the beauty of literature; we read about it.

Then the Greek language talks about philia, and that’s another type of love that’s also beautiful. It is a sort of intimate affection between personal friends. And this is the type of love that you have for those persons that you’re friendly with, your intimate friends, or people that you call on the telephone and you go by to have dinner with, and your roommate in college and that type of thing. It’s a sort of reciprocal love. On this level, you like a person because that person likes you. You love on this level, because you are loved. You love on this level, because there’s something about the person you love that is likeable to you. This too is a beautiful love. You can communicate with a person; you have certain things in common; you like to do things together. This is philia.

The Greek language comes out with another word for love. It is the word agape. And agape is more than eros; agape is more than philia; agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them. You look at every man, and you love him because you know God loves him. And he might be the worst person you’ve ever seen.

And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says, "Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does not say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it.

Now for the few moments left, let us move from the practical how to the theoretical why. It’s not only necessary to know how to go about loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. [tapping on pulpit] It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love.

I think I mentioned before that sometime ago my brother and I were driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was driving the car. And for some reason the drivers were very discourteous that night. They didn’t dim their lights; hardly any driver that passed by dimmed his lights. And I remember very vividly, my brother A. D. looked over and in a tone of anger said: "I know what I’m going to do. The next car that comes along here and refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to fail to dim mine and pour them on in all of their power." And I looked at him right quick and said: "Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some sense on this highway."

Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble, isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim theirs. And Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two civilizations that have risen up, all but about seven have found themselves in the junkheap of destruction. It is because civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights. And if somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful and powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our civilization will be plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we will all end up destroyed because nobody had any sense on the highway of history. Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For the person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that person can be beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater. And this is why Jesus says hate [recording interrupted]

. . that you want to be integrated with yourself, and the way to be integrated with yourself is be sure that you meet every situation of life with an abounding love. Never hate, because it ends up in tragic, neurotic responses. Psychologists and psychiatrists are telling us today that the more we hate, the more we develop guilt feelings and we begin to subconsciously repress or consciously suppress certain emotions, and they all stack up in our subconscious selves and make for tragic, neurotic responses. And may this not be the neuroses of many individuals as they confront life that that is an element of hate there. And modern psychology is calling on us now to love. But long before modern psychology came into being, the world’s greatest psychologist who walked around the hills of Galilee told us to love. He looked at men and said: "Love your enemies; don’t hate anybody." It’s not enough for us to hate your friends because—to to love your friends—because when you start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative response to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any point is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and your existence. It is like eroding acid that eats away the best and the objective center of your life. So Jesus says love, because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

I think of one of the best examples of this. We all remember the great president of this United States, Abraham Lincoln—these United States rather. You remember when Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States." He went on and on and on and went around with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. And if you read the great biography of Lincoln, if you read the great works about him, you will discover that as every president comes to the point, he came to the point of having to choose a Cabinet. And then came the time for him to choose a Secretary of War. He looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?" Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yes, I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job."

Mr. Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made by, about Abraham Lincoln was made about this man Stanton. And as Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the stature of this man. If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would have not transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.

That’s it. There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us and says, "This isn’t the way."

And oh this morning, as I think of the fact that our world is in transition now. Our whole world is facing a revolution. Our nation is facing a revolution, our nation. One of the things that concerns me most is that in the midst of the revolution of the world and the midst of the revolution of this nation, that we will discover the meaning of Jesus’ words.

History unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some people oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are oppressed can deal with their oppression. One of them is to rise up against their oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred. But oh this isn’t the way. For the danger and the weakness of this method is its futility. Violence creates many more social problems than it solves. And I’ve said, in so many instances, that as the Negro, in particular, and colored peoples all over the world struggle for freedom, if they succumb to the temptation of using violence in their struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. Violence isn’t the way.

Another way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign yourself to the oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties of the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather go back to the despots of Egypt because it’s difficult to get in the promised land. And so they resign themselves to the fate of oppression; they somehow acquiesce to this thing. But that too isn’t the way because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.

But there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love is the only way. Jesus discovered that.

Not only did Jesus discover it, even great military leaders discover that. One day as Napoleon came toward the end of his career and looked back across the years—the great Napoleon that at a very early age had all but conquered the world. He was not stopped until he became, till he moved out to the battle of Leipzig and then to Waterloo. But that same Napoleon one day stood back and looked across the years, and said: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended upon force. But long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on love, and even to this day millions will die for him."

Yes, I can see Jesus walking around the hills and the valleys of Palestine. And I can see him looking out at the Roman Empire with all of her fascinating and intricate military machinery. But in the midst of that, I can hear him saying: "I will not use this method. Neither will I hate the Roman Empire." [Radio Announcer:] (WRMA, Montgomery, Alabama. Due to the fact of the delay this morning, we are going over with the sermon.) [several words inaudible] . . . and just start marching.

And I’m proud to stand here in Dexter this morning and say that that army is still marching. It grew up from a group of eleven or twelve men to more than seven hundred million today. Because of the power and influence of the personality of this Christ, he was able to split history into a.d. and b.c. Because of his power, he was able to shake the hinges from the gates of the Roman Empire. And all around the world this morning, we can hear the glad echo of heaven ring:

Jesus shall reign wherever sun,
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom spreads from shore to shore,
Till moon shall wane and wax no more.

We can hear another chorus singing: "All hail the power of Jesus name!"

We can hear another chorus singing: "Hallelujah, hallelujah! He’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah, hallelujah!"

We can hear another choir singing:

In Christ there is no East or West.
In Him no North or South,
But one great Fellowship of Love
Throughout the whole wide world.

This is the only way.

And our civilization must discover that. Individuals must discover that as they deal with other individuals. There is a little tree planted on a little hill and on that tree hangs the most influential character that ever came in this world. But never feel that that tree is a meaningless drama that took place on the stages of history. Oh no, it is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity, and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power-drunk generation that love is the only way. It is an eternal reminder to a generation depending on nuclear and atomic energy, a generation depending on physical violence, that love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the universe.

So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, "I love you. I would rather die than hate you." And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who despitefully used us.
Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to work out this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve every problem that we confront in all areas. Oh, we talk about politics; we talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization. Grant that all men will come together and discover that as we solve the crisis and solve these problems—the international problems, the problems of atomic energy, the problems of nuclear energy, and yes, even the race problem—let us join together in a great fellowship of love and bow down at the feet of Jesus. Give us this strong determination. In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray. Amen.

The Joy of the Father

2011-12-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a year since my last post. How does that happen?

At any rate, it's been a miraculous year to say the least. We now have Duncan Rick Baguma Neill in our family, age 4, and are now expecting his 2 best friends (both girls, age 4) to join our family in early 2012. When he first came to us, I kept thinking, we have to have Spunky, too, and if her, then the other little girl, too. Kendra and Rick thought so, too. We prayed. And now, the family will grow. It's too detailed for here. Read the Neill's blog for the journey story. We're just speechless on this end! Vail and I are blessed beyond belief. How could we ever imagine what a great life this would be, full of His grace and mercy and joy?

We have seen firsthand what it means when God says that He sets the lonely in families...that He is a father to the fatherless...that He delights in His children...that He sees the mark of His people as those who love the "least of these". It is indeed, a taste of heaven. The joy of the Father in His children. The joy of the children in their Father. For Vail, especially, as a father and grandfather, the analogy of the earthly father to the Eternal Father is unspeakably real. For me, it is new insights of His marvelous care for me. How awesome that God created us to understand His love through how we love our own children and those we adopt to call our own. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

2010: The Kimyal People Receive the Translated New Testament

2010-12-09T19:30:00.000-08:00

The translation of the Bible for the Kimyal people in New Guinea began in 1963, then was halted due to the murder of two of the translators by a neighboring tribe. The work resumed, and now in 2010 this video documents the receiving of the first shipment of the complete New Testament in their own language.

This is a very touching video that reminds me of the important things in life. I hope you enjoy it.

Kimyal New Testament launch in Indonesia from United Bible Societies on Vimeo.

Faith & Fear

2010-12-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

(Photo from floor mosaic in ancient Israel)

I've been struggling with all the possibilities that exist for life after the PhD, and some of those possibilities involve international work of various kinds. I have visions of what could be accomplished. I am inspired by the work of many present and past people. I am overwhelmed with thoughts of, "Who, me? What could I possibly do?"

In Matthew 14: 13-21, Jesus said to the disciples that the crowd (5,000++) was getting hungry and that they should be fed. The disciples responded that they only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes which they gave to Jesus. After thanking God, Jesus directed the disciples to feed the crowd. Everyone ate until they were satisfied. The disciples then picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.

The burden for me should not be "What shall I do?" but "Whom do I trust?"
My fruitfulness will always be dependent upon God's faithfulness to Himself, to do what He has purposed. My fruitfulness is not dependent upon my own meager talents. If He has called me to something, then He will accomplish it. In that sense it is His doing. But His work through my life does not exist apart from a humble faith.

My responsibility for the moment is not to fret or be anxious about what I will do or how I will do it or how much I will earn. I am powerless on my own to bring about any internationally important effects in orphan advocacy or in the nursing profession. My responsibility for the moment is to be in communion with Christ. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He who calls me will also bring it to pass.

Five loaves and two fishes cannot feed 5000++ people. Unless God multiplies it.
I am just one insignificant, average person on this planet. Unless God. Unless Christ.
I don't need more self-assurance, I need more faith.
I don't need obstacles removed, I need more faith.

Because He does abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)

Depraved Indifference...

2010-12-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

To shake us out of our complacency ... what life as a Christ-follower looks like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHJ6-YhSYQ

Secret Books

2010-09-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

My grandbabies have no knowledge that they are the subjects of my secret books. As I was journaling tonight for my children and grandchildren, I wondered what God's secret books about us might be like. I think He would stake His claim: We are His, we are engraved on His palm, and we are like no other person. He knows each of us in profound intimacy. Buried in God's secret books are the confidential details of our lives where curious eyes dare to peek. Did I see a new name? A new face? More than one? If only the ink weren't so blurry! If only I could see the entire page!

Goose bumps and shivers!

"...I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save...Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49:25-26)

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:16)

Write Right

2010-08-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

Classes this summer sapped all my energy and motivation. One of my research papers counted for 100% of the class grade. In the 12-hour home stretch of proofing & editing every detail, a fire grew in me to present the absolute best paper possible. When I hit the "Upload" button to catapult those 44 pages into cyberspace, I was deeply satisfied that I did the best I could have done. The rightness of my efforts, the joy (finally!) of creating that work, and the hope that the quality of work is a testament to God's beauty of order and logic, elevated my spirits tremendously. It was the pursuit, the progress, and the pleasure of enjoying my life as imago Dei, (made in the image of God) to create with purpose, passion, and truth.

Write right: The key to going from a mundane research topic to deep contentment.

Be Thou My Vision

2010-08-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of the very best hymns ever written. The lyrics are from Ireland, dating back to the 6th or 7th century. The Irish church above dates back to about the same era. My paternal ancestors on the Nolan (Nowlin) side all came from County Carlow, Ireland, and the genealogy records predate this hymn & church.

Be Thou My Vision

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,

naught be all else to me, save that thou art;

Thou my best thought by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word,

I ever with thee and thou with me Lord;

Thou my great Father, I thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my battle shield, sword for the fight;

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;

Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower:

Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:

Thou mine inheritance now and always;

Thou and thou only first in my heart;

High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,

May I reach heaven's joys, O Bright Heaven's sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Anticipating the Seemingly Impossible

2010-08-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

The hardest day of my life is coming in about 3 years. I can't imagine what that day will be like. How do you send your son and his family to another continent for the rest of their lives?

Somehow I thought things like this would become easier with the years...after all, I'd be more mature and my son would no longer be a little boy. What they don't tell you is that these moments become harder in some ways. We've had almost 30 years to love and pray over that boy. Our prayers were answered: We've seen God pour out His love on him with salvation, godliness, a beautiful wife, and 4 adorable children. He desires nothing more than to see unreached people groups worship and experience Jesus Christ, the fount of true life. This is the kind of heart we want our children to have. It's what we prayed for. God was delighted to grant it!

Thankful beyond words that Christ Himself is this family's hope, light, unity, courage, and fortress no matter what comes. Thankful beyond words that Jesus, the Hope and Light of the world, will be made known in the darkness...it is His spirit in us that grows these desires of ours.

How can we not rejoice? We do and we shall.

Facedown...Lord, ready my heart for that day.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree: Vail's Letter to His Parents in 1975 (Senior Year)

2010-07-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

What a gem I found tonight in the desk (I'll put up a scanned version later). It was written on an old piece of notebook paper, folded into sixths with "For Mom & Dad" written on the outside. It was with his parents' belongings.

To my most loved Mom and Dad,

I am writing this late at night while the thoughts are still coming. I am writing this in case something might happen to me and I would never have the chance to say Thank You and how much I Love You. And until I get the courage to tell you face to face how much I appreciate your love. I am going to be at college soon, and I look back at all the years and patience and trying times it took to get me here. I know there have been millions of times when I have made you angry & frustrated. I thank you for your patience through these times. There are also times when you have made me feel the same way but even if I do not see right now the reasons for your actions I know it was for my own good and out of your own love.   When I have children of my own I am going to try to rear them in much the same way as you brought me up. I will try to remember the things you did for me and the things you let me do. The freedoms & responsibility that go with the freedom that have taught me & shaped my thinking, I will try to teach my kids. I really can't thank you enough for your love, but now before it is to late I want to let you know.

                                                                I LOVE YOU,
                                                              Vail

I'm not sure when this letter will get to you, whenever I get up the courage to send it, or you find it for some other reason. I give thanks to God for you.

Thoughts on Ethics & Being

2010-06-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

(This is a slight modification of my comments posted on my son's blog regarding giving to the poor as a part of ministry.)

The bigger picture, as I see it, is that we make a false dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual, which leads us to "formulas" and "plans" for evangelism, and then if we don't "share the gospel" we somehow failed. This is a product of modern evangelical churches that is rooted in the last one hundred year history or so of the Protestant church. A more helpful conceptualization is one of holistic ethic in which all of being is ethic, and all of ethic is being; all of doing is ethic, and all of ethic is doing; all of being is doing, and all of doing is being. Ethic = Being = Doing*.

We cannot separate our daily life from ethics or from ministry (doing). It is a way of being, that while manifested by doing, does not consist materially of doing. We almost would have been better off without the word "ministry" as it implies something we add to our daily to-do list.

When churches emphasize and teach how to be the right person and grow into deeper union with Christ, then "ministry" is spontaneous. The flip side of the coin is that meeting physical needs IS gospel, IS ministry, IS love, and needs no specific "preaching" until such time as God leads. There is a profoundly deep experience of healing in a soul as a need is met by us, that IS Christ in us and IS Christ through us. It is not a dichotomous process of being and doing.

Rare are you if verbal messages from others constitute the pinnacle touchpoints in your life. I venture to speculate it is more likely that your touchpoints were experiences of proclamation of deep gratitude in the abyss of your soul as you marvelled at the grace shown to you by another as your physical or spiritual need was met. In other words, meeting needs in any context IS totally spiritual. In this framework, then, ministry can never be something "added in" to our lives.

*(I had envisioned this model in rudimentary form in 2006 as a framework for nursing philosophy/ontology. Much to my delight, John M. Frame had created and exposited this same perspectival model. His book, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (1987, P&R Publishing), is a philosophical and theological argument for the inseparability of ethic (normative), being (existential), and doing (situational). I am indebted to Dr. Frame for allowing me to adapt this model for nursing philosophy. E-mail correspondence 01-23-08.)

Sacred Silence With the Least of These

2010-05-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

I never know. I just never ever know when, where, how, or why Jesus, the living Christ, communes with me as he does. It's so unspeakably holy when he does. The overwhelming reality of whose presence I am in is intensively invasive and renders me speechless on my knees.

Today while doing nursing home rounds I went to see Mr. LeaveMeAlone who has a myriad of medical problems, the latest of which is pneumonia. He has spent the majority of the last 6 weeks in bed. He hears us talking to him, but he rarely opens his eyes. If he answers at all, it's no more than a mumbled "hmph, yes, or no". He doesn't make eye contact. He is just not interested, it seems.

When I went to see him he was lying on his side. No acknowledgement of me at all. After a few questions where I was really just talking to the wall, I did his physical exam. He didn't move. Then I sat down behind him in the vacancy of his bed. Thinking I would be talking to the wall again but hoping something would connect with him, I put my hand on his upper back, kind of half-scratching, half-rubbing his back while I told him what I found on his exam.

"Would you scratch my back?" he mumbled, without opening his eyes. I happily obliged. Once I started, I realized I just couldn't do a quick scratch and pat and be gone. NO! I wanted this to be delightful and refreshing and relaxing for him. At one point he even rolled over a little more so I could get to the unreachable spots. It was a beautiful silence. For a long time he got scratched and rubbed from the nape of his neck to his tailbone. I loved it. I loved doing for him what he could not do for himself. I loved making him feel good. I loved being able to convey love through touch. It was transcendent.

Then came the holy encounter. I was overwhelmed by the consuming presence of Jesus. As if sitting next to me, he said to me in my soul, "Thank you for doing this for Me." I could hardly breathe. I stopped Mr. LeaveMeAlone's backrub momentarily. This was REAL. I KNEW it was Jesus. Without a doubt. I've known that voice many times before...so very loud, real, holy and sacred all at the same time.

When Jesus said to me, "Thank you for doing this for Me," I knew what he was referring to. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells what the last judgment will be like: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?"

And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it for me."

Likewise, those who did not do these things were condemned because their lives were void of any evidence of belonging to God. What you do, matters. It matters big time. The test of belonging to God is doing the things of God. What he does for us is he comes to us in our nakedness, our poverty, our hunger, and our thirst and quenches us with himself. So while we're here on earth, our task is to do the same for "the least of these".

It is so simple. Feed, clothe, welcome, give drink, visit the imprisoned and visit the sick....take care of the ones right in front of you, the ones who are starving for love. Scratch their back when they won't ask. That's what you're responsible for. The person right in front of you. The least of these.

Mr. LeaveMeAlone whispered to me, "Thank you, that felt so good. Thank you so much," though he never did open his eyes to look at me.

It was a Sacred Silence with the Least of These. An experience of the holy that left me trembling.

Knees to the earth, casting these crowns at his feet, and rejoicing in the glimpse of today's TRUE REALITY. A glimpse of heaven, and of all that will be made right some day.

Am I Crazy? Unrealistic? Romantic? Visionary?

2010-03-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I often keep my visions and dreams to myself, but today I'm going to be transparent to you, though I feel vulnerable in showing you who I really am. But I can't keep it in any longer.

Some people say I'm a romantic, to which I agree though I think it's a flimsy descriptor. I am frequently simultaneously awed and plagued by the beauty of perfection, a perfection that transcends this world, but in which this world offers a foretaste...a foretaste of the near-palpable glories of love, truth, forgiveness, fellowship, joy, equality, and justice. The way the world was meant to be. The way it will be someday. My tumultuous unrest until that time.

I cannot squelch this obsession to be a part of a globally significant something that will benefit humankind, a something that is of eternal significance, a something that engages my head, heart, and will at a level far from where I'm at right now. I know there are astounding things to be had in this life, some of which I've already tasted.

Astound me, O God!

Direct my passions into an astoundingly beautiful something so that the world is astounded by You.

Drawn From Water...Rescuing African Babies from Infanticide

2010-03-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

NOTE (October 2011): Drawn From Water dissolved several months ago due to circumstances beyond their control. The Benkerts have joined with another group dedicated to preventing orphaning in Africa.

In Africa there are tribes that practice culturally mandated infanticide by drowning for being "Mingi"...for being a child cursed by evil spirits. It is believed that Mingi children bring curses upon the land and the tribe. The Mingi designation is based on superstitious beliefs, like a child's top teeth coming in before the bottom teeth. The Mingi babies and children are bound and thrown into the river. Some children are deemed "Mingi" before they are born. Imagine being a parent of one of these children.

Drawn From Water is a small organization that started an African-sanctioned orphanage to house these rescued children. They work with Lale, a university-educated tribesman who believes infanticide is wrong.

Get involved. Please consider what you could do to further justice and hope for these little children. Join us on Facebook.

Anyone have computer skills? They need a better web site. Contact them.

Do you have an extra $20? All the money except the 3% for credit card transaction fees go towards the support of the children. Contact them.

Can you pray? Contact them and encourage them with your intent to pray for them.

Do you have other skills or resources for the orphanage, for the children, for the nannies, for anything? Contact them.

For a certain funny friend...

2010-03-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time....
I went to Stroud's.

The end.

Adoption & Exaltation

2010-03-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Our family faces uncertainty about a Kyrgyzstan adoption because of governmental delays that have no definable end point. The question now is if Rick and Kendra should pursue local adoption with a future eye towards Kyrg. The difficulty with this is that it is a murky dilemma from all perspectives. There is no perceivable clarity at this point. Everywhere they turn there are no answers in sight.

This morning before church I was reading Exodus and made some brief notes about God's message here. The sermon was essentially the same message but from the perspective of Jesus Christ as the fount of mercy. This was confirmation to our family that the action right now to be taken is to worship Him. Set all anxiety aside, and bask in the peace of God's sovereignty. It is His work to be done, and when it all comes to fruition, we will not want, nor be able, to praise ourselves at all. Only Him.

“…and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.” (Exodus 4:31)

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” (Ex. 6:2-8)

The Israelites response to their miserable slavery was to humble themselves and worship God when they heard that God cared for them. They did not curse God who had allowed this to happen, nor did they plot an escape to a better life. They worshiped. An odd response at first glance. Indeed, for those accustomed to this world and its philosophy that one should be a “self-made” man, bowing down to worship God in such a circumstance is utter foolishness.

Moving ahead to Exodus 6, we see that this “foolishness” is holy wisdom, for only God Himself, by His own hand, nothing more and nothing less, will bring to pass the good that He has promised to His people, to those who worship Him.

What God said to the Israelites through Moses:
They worship and He frees.
They worship and He redeems.
They worship and He vindicates.
They worship and He makes them His children.
They worship and He is their God.
They worship and He makes Himself known to them.
They worship and He leads them.
They worship and He gives just what He promised.
They worship and He is their Faithful Lord.
They worship because there is nothing else to do and nothing else required.

My thoughts on this continue:
His glory He will not give to another.
He is the Lord.
He will do it.
He will bring it to pass.
He is the Alpha and Omega.

We are asking God to “free” a child for adoption into our family, where they can experience abundant tangible and intangible provision of every kind that all families dream of for their children. It is His work to do in His time.

“…and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.”

Home Again!

2010-01-23T02:05:00.000-08:00

(Our home in 2007. Vail and little Vail....Looks like they are waiting for me...)

January 1, 2010: New chapter of life.

Home again. Yes!

Vail came with me to work Dec. 30 & 31, the last two days of my job. He was my moral support and anchor. After taking lots of pictures of me with my friends, he loaded the remainder of my personal items into the car. It was more strange than hard. Emotionally I had prepared for 3 1/2 months, with the most tearful times during the last two weeks, but after that, I was more focused on tying up loose ends while continuing with a very full work schedule.

I had reached the point of framing this departure in the context of aspirations instead of in the context of abandonment. It's so hard not to feel like you're forsaking your boss and co-workers. Yet if any of them decided it was right for them to pursue a different avenue, they would go with my blessings and wishes for success. I know they wish that for me, too.

The first month home has been wonderful. Beyond words. I can see the children and grandchildren any time I want. My German Shepherd won't quit smiling. I can stay up all night (which I've done twice now). I have lunch dates with Vail. I get to see Vail's blue eyes when we talk. We get to sweat together at the gym. We are together every night now. Life is good.

For the first time in ages, I have been able to (1) stay awake through an entire movie, and (2) enjoy the movie without being distracted by the "busy-ness" of life. A milestone, indeed.

My mind has been revved up on eight cylinders this month dreaming of many good things of the past, present, and future. I've spent countless hours on the internet and the university library exploring all kinds of topics. One thing just leads to another. You know how it is. (Not to mention I need to nail down a dissertation topic...)

Home again. WE are home. Yes, indeed!

Title of the New Chapter: YES!!

"I'll call you Hamster"

2009-10-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just can't quit giggling this evening!

Ian and I rounded on patients after surgery today, which included a visit to our pleasantly confused little elderly lady I’ll call Hazel, who is two days out from a hip fracture nailing. Ian was talking to her son who was standing on the other side of the bed. I was at the foot of the bed. While the men were talking, she made eye contact with me, pointed her finger at me, smiled a little, and said, "I'll call you Hamster".

It's all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I was trying to control myself so as not to interrupt the men. Ian has called me Hammy Pammy (from "Over the Hedge"), but that actually has a rationale behind it. I'm not sure that "Hamster" does.

Or does it? Hazel just may know what she’s talking about. I researched hamsters on the internet this evening. I found some excellent information to share with you:

1. Choose a young hamster not only for cuteness, but for sociability. Choose a hamster that relaxes in your hand, washes herself and seems plump (I'm sure this part is optional), bright-eyed, alert and curious about you. Choose only one hamster. Seems I meet most criteria, Hazel. And lucky me! You chose me to be the only Hamster around here.

2. Tame your young hamster by handling daily and rewarding calm behavior with vegetable treats. Hazel, that’s a misprint. They meant Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

3. Children as young as three can be good hamster owners, but must be closely supervised when handling. I agree, Hazel! My grandchildren certainly own me and do it well.

4. Keep hamster bedding warm and dry--moisture can cause fatal infections. I like having a genetic excuse for self-indulgence. Hazel, thank you for pointing out this is a good health habit.

5. Hamsters can catch the human cold virus, so avoid contact if you are sick, and keep your hamster away from people with colds. Ah, yes, Hazel, I was indeed a wise little hamster to avoid sicky Vail all week.

6. Basically, hamsters eat almost anything. But do not feed them: Canned or frozen veggies (I agree!), anything humans won't eat (definitely agree with that one!), raw beans (I agree!), sprouting potato buds (agree again!), onions (agree for the most part!), garlic (small amounts are okay), or toffee (they meant 'tofu'). Chocolate is a bad idea too (disagree!), but there is a special variety of chocolate that's sold at pet stores that is safe for animals. Just ignore that last statement, Hazel. I’m a special Hamster: I need real chocolate.

Seems like I meet all the important criteria. Especially #1.
Well, alrighty, then, Hazel, you can call me Hamster!

Hazel, I’m tired and hungry! Throw me some chocolate and put me in a warm, dry bed.

Sweet Dreams, Hazel.
See you on rounds tomorrow.

A Very Happy 20th Anniversary Celebration...A Story of Hope in Darkness

2009-10-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Debbie and Mark, celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows two days ago at their country home near Pratt, KS. Today is their actual anniversary and they're on their honeymoon in Oklahoma enjoying lakes, cabins, boating, fishing, and, we hope, good weather!

It was an anniversary they almost missed…

Their marriage was all but gone a few years ago. With every justifiable reason to wash their hands of each other, God’s mercy, grace, and love exploded in one dark winter night.

We had never seen such a miraculous healing of hearts like we did that night. It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. In the darkest moments for both of them, God rescued them and their marriage from utter destruction that very night. What should have been the most despairing, anxious, grievous night was a night blessed with hope, love, healing, forgiveness, and divine renewal of body, mind, and soul.

Being a first-hand witness that night is something we will never forget. Words fail. Time has proven the genuineness of that renewal. After 20 years of marriage, they are more in love now than they ever were before. Their commitment to each other is amazing, a testament to the God who makes all things new. Not a retooling of the old. He makes it NEW.

Debbie, the beautiful bride!

Debbie, Rev. Fred Pinkerton, and Mark

"Forever, I do."

Mark, you may kiss your bride!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Mark Anell!

And they lived happily ever after...

Happy honeymooning, you two! We'll leave the light on for you.

Congratulations, Debbie and Mark!

Here's to the next two decades of your marriage!

With joy and love,
Pam and Vail

(In case you're wondering....the lantern was used during a 13-day power outage from an ice storm that fateful winter)

Letter to Pratt Regional Medical Center

2009-10-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

(If you keep landing on this page from Google, CLICK HERE to view entire blog.)

Dear PRMC friends,

As most of you know, I have resigned effective December 31. These last ten years have been some of the very best of my life. I can't imagine a better workplace than PRMC, and it is the reason I kept driving here from Wichita.

I thought I would be here longer. My agenda was open-ended until three weeks ago when I was solidly convicted that this is the proper time to close this chapter and move into the next phase of life. For me, that means attending to doctoral studies and to my ever-increasing passion for international adoption in general, and more specifically for the needs of Kyrgyzstan's orphans.

Kyrgyzstan is a very poor country, a forgotten place bordering western China. Just this week one of the hospitals received word it would no longer have to heat water in an old pail or wash linens by hand. For $400 they will get running hot water and a washing machine. The people told our friend who is in charge of this, "We have such hope because of the foreigners coming to us." My point here is that international needs are huge, and it costs so very little to bring relief and hope to a suffering world. I hope you will make room in your life for forgotten and rejected people.

We still do not know when our adopted grandchildren will come from Kyrgyzstan, but I know it will be at the right time. I am so grateful to all of you who have contributed in any way to our family's adoption effort. I will keep all you honorary godparents updated. You'll be among the first to know!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and friendship. I am a better person today because of all of you. The Lord is truly good and kind and beautiful...I am immensely, incredibly, and undeservedly rich, indeed. I will never forget you!

This is Love...

2009-09-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Blog music can be muted on the Playlist at the bottom of this page.

What just happened?

2009-09-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

I love my job. I'm an orthopedic nurse practitioner who has worked alongside the same people for ten years, people who have become like family to me. The surgeon I work with, Ian, is one of my very best and dearest friends...and Debbie, Brad, Rick, Yvonne, Sheila, Cynthia, Thelma, Natalie, Peggy, Jenny, Dedre, Calvin, Martha, Mary, Lisa, Staci, Tesha, Andrea, Pat, Vicki, Nancy, Jamie, Susan, Natalie, Traci, Vicki, Lynn, Sandy, Cecile, Marilyn, Diane, Mary, Eric, Shelley, Jon, Louise, Aaron, Jeremy, Lyndel, Nikki, Linda, Dawn, Ronnie, Lora, Deb, Julie, Janita, Susan, Amanda, Micah, Barb, Janice, Tammy, Megan, Brenda, Lisa, Kandi, Jen, Cindy, Lisa, Jeffrey, Charlie, Jerry, and dozens more. The love I have for these people combined with the challenge of work is what fueled my desire to work here. I thought I would be here at least another five years.

But something radical happened on Friday, September 18, 2009. As instantaneous as flipping on a light switch, I knew I would no longer work here past December 31. This was very different from the occasional fleeting "wish I could stay home more often" desire that everyone has from time to time. On this day there was no inciting event, no discord, no extraneous trigger at all. Nothing. It was a very strange and foreign experience.

It was an arduous 80 mile trip home as I pleaded with God to understand this. What about finances? What about my co-workers? Who will take my place? It will be so difficult for them if my position is not promptly filled. The last thing I want is to inflict hardship on my friends. Yet I had such peace even while I struggled with the unknowns.

Part of the reason I've worked so many years was to provide additional income for family expenses like college tuition and to have extra to help others. Now what? Is it selfish to pursue an avenue that will greatly limit giving opportunities?

I've often advised people that when the time is right to do something different, God will change their heart in an unmistakable way. No doubt that's what was happening to me.

I laid awake most of the night asking God to reveal His wisdom to me about this. The next morning I opened my Bible to 1 Timothy 6:6-19 which speaks of being content with what you have, to avoid greed, to fix our hope on God (instead of on money), that it is God who richly supplies us, to be rich in good works, to be generous, to be ready to share as your riches allow you, and to take hold of that which is life indeed.

At some time I had written in the margin, "Proverbs 11:25" which says, "The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." Some of Vail's and my happiest moments have been "watering" others, of being a conduit of grace and provision for needy souls. Recently we gave away the largest single monetary amount in our lives. The happiness from that still lingers and will, I think, for the rest of our lives.

So what just happened on September 18?

I know what happened. God radically changed my heart's desire and not only mine, but Vail's also that very weekend. Now this chapter of my life will close. A chapter with no regrets. A chapter that concludes with profuse loving thanks to Him who does beyond all we could ever ask or think.

Next chapter, first line:

"It happened: A great and confident peace in their God who does beyond all that they could ever ask or think truly found a home in their hearts that September weekend."

The story is yet to be written...

Humility

2009-09-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

Praise, Pleasure, and Pride

2009-09-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

From CS Lewis:

Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says 'Well done,' are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please.

The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, 'I have pleased him; all is well,' to thinking, 'What a fine person I must be to have done it.' The more you delight in yourself and the less you delight in the praise, the worse you are becoming. When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom. That is why vanity, though it is the sort of Pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort.

The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a child-like and even (in an odd way) a humble fault. It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. You are, in fact, still human.

The real black, diabolical Pride, comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you. Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks.

But the Proud man has a different reason for not caring. He says 'Why should I care for the applause of that rabble as if their opinion were worth anything? And even if their opinions were of value, am I the sort of man to blush with pleasure at a compliment like some chit of a girl at her first dance? No, I am an integrated, adult personality.

All I have done has been done to satisfy my own ideals - or my artistic conscience - or the traditions of my family - or, in a word, because 'I'm That Kind of Chap. If the mob like it, let them. They're nothing to me.' In this way real thorough-going pride may act as a check on vanity; for, as I said a moment ago, the devil loves 'curing' a small fault by giving you a great one. We must try not to be vain, but we must never call in our Pride to cure our vanity.

(CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Constant Reminders

2009-09-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

My daughter has an amazing compassion and sacrificial love for orphans. Click here for a soulful look at Kendra. Read September 13, 2009, "Constant Reminders".

A Letter to Vail

2009-09-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

Dearest Vail,

Going home with you was good. “Home”, though, seems kind of arbitrary and elusive to me. Does it to you, too? What a strange silence. The empty farmstead just doesn’t mesh with our affectionate memories. Yet we know that life goes on, and that this monument of the temporal must continue to serve its purpose to bless others.

After two weekends of long hours and hard work in relatively cool weather, the farmstead is looking good, Sweetie. Good job. Your tenacity is amazing. A dozen-plus trees and shrubs cut out. Tree canopies raised and everything pruned. The flower garden has been dug up, the irises replanted, and new perennials will soon be planted. You are definitely a man’s man!

We certainly had a superb work crew: Jeremy, Kyle, Michael, Rick, Max, Jesse, Kendra, Calvin, Ann, and Bobbie. Calvin, "The Branch Master", worked so hard to load and dump branches. Such a little man. I don't think we'll ever forget Fallyn cutting dirt clods with the "tiny" pruners to help Gampa Vail in her own way.

Fallyn's happy singing in lieu of her Sunday nap was just too adorable especially since she just started to sing for the first time this week. That sure would have put a big smile on your Mom's face!

The “secret passage” in the fitzers that you made for Calvin and Fallyn was so sweet. I can’t quite believe we all fit in there! I know Dad would have done no less. He always had time to do something a little special right at the moment for the children. You were taught well, I'd say.

What a soul-full laugh we had sitting on that ancient sleeper sofa on the Bobcat! How funny was that! How refreshing these moments are to us….a reminder that life goes on and is pregnant with more such moments to be birthed at the appropriate time.

Dinner at Larry & Roma Ann Roehr’s after church with Paula Jo, Rachel, and their families was like a BIG HUG to us, wouldn’t you agree? Just like old times when we’d spend the whole evening together at their house or ours. True and faithful friends they are. What a legacy the Roehr’s and Fruechting’s enjoy! And the legacy continues…Calvin and Abby’s young, silly friendship as case in point.

We found three whole Easter eggs, two with money in them! :-) They must have been there four years or more since they were 4-5 feet into the fitzers. That sure brought back memories of decades of celebrating Resurrection Sunday with Mom, Dad, and all the extended family. A poignant reminder that the ultimate hope in Christ that this family embraces is what steadies our souls in the dark’s palpable grief. A profound security of the eternal in the midst of the temporal.

Labor Day weekend 2009. The Last Easter Egg Hunt at the Fruechting farmstead. Empty house. Full hearts. Prune the life. Remove the dead. Embrace the promise. Resurrected life. Finally Home. Shared tears of grief, thankfulness, peace, and joy.

I love you, Darling. I love that you love this farm, your family, and the heritage it holds. I love the way you cared for Mom and Dad, that you honored them in life and death, and most of all, that you love Christ above all. It is well with our souls, is it not? May God lift you up and place you on high.

You’re my hero,
Pammer
XO

Tribute to Rick

2009-09-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

My eyes unexpectedly flood with big tears this evening at my very first glimpse of this new photo of my son-in-love, Rick Neill. I am overwhelmed. Caught me totally off guard.

Where did that come from?

I don't hardly know where to begin. This man is one of the most humble, gentlest, self-controlled, strongest men I've ever met.

There is a piercing depth to those eyes through which I see a soul that loves God more than life....a man that would readily die for his family if necessary...a sweet joy to his children...a fierce protector of his wife...an uncomprising honorable man who stands for everything right...and who pours sacrificial love on anyone who needs it...his virtues are plenty, a storehouse indeed.

Simply, Rick's heart lives on its knees.

This picture I will keep forever.

What Wondrous Grace has placed Rick in our family.
I love you, Rick!!

"Isn't it kinder to let orphans remain in their own culture?"

2009-09-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Paperwork completed a year ago...We are pregnant with anticipation of one or two grandchildren from Kyrgyzstan. The wait may be much longer. We don't know.

It was Kendra and Rick Neill (daughter and son-in-law)who opened our eyes to the plight of orphans in the world. Such untold travesty and sadness that leaves us speechless. Vail and I are no longer naive sideline observers. Apathy is impossible once a right understanding rips your heart open to these seemingly insurmountable problems.

You don't have to be a missionary to do something kind for these orphans. Someone has to earn the money that can support these efforts. That someone might be you. A little goes a long ways in third world countries. Jesus said that whatever we do for the least of these (the disadvantaged, the poor, the outcasts), we do for Him.

Every act of kindness is significant.

Some have posed the legitimate question, "Isn't it kinder to leave orphans in their own culture?" Here's the answer posted by John Wright, who serves Kyrgyzstan's poorest souls.

You decide.

(I say they need a family to love and nurture them.)

"I have always said that I did not think that international adoptions are the best thing, and that in country adoptions would be better if suitable families could be found, but even better would be to make sure that everything had been done to remedy some of the issues for families forced to give there children up in the first place... I guess there are many different approches that must all work together for the sake of the kids.....All that said, I still believe that there is a place for international adoption... I believe it comes down to a global responsibility... My biggest concern was that there is a certain identity that comes with culture... one that will affect the kids in years to come...

"Last week I read this on the blog of a family brought together through international adoption....----

"There are those who argue against international adoption for many reasons, the most prevalent being that it us unfair to "rip a child from their culture", leaving them with no cultural identity to connect with. Sounds like a good point, doesn't it? Especially when one considers all that a child must leave behind that is familiar, how extraordinarily difficult such a transition must be. There was a time when I had a hard time arguing against this one...Not anymore.

"Adopting Kenny opened my eyes to an entirely new perspective on this issue. An older child has the ability to share more about what their life was like, how they perceived the world they lived in, and how they identified with their culture. We have had many stories shared over the past couple of years as Kenny has proceeded to meld his old life and new life into a new amalgamation that he can better relate to.

"What anti-international adoption advocates don't seem to understand, which even my 10 year old clearly does, is that children who are institutionalized in an orphanage setting are so disconnected from their birth culture it is already as if they have been removed from their country. They are dehumanized, they are essentially jailed and they reside in an unsavory sub-culture of their birth culture...one which exists behind closed doors and is not revealed much to the outside world.

"Kenny had to actually be taught about Kyrgyz culture, he had very little knowledge at 8 1/2 years old of the country he had been born and raised in. He thought he could speak Kyrgyz but was speaking Russian. He had no understanding of the nomadic culture, of the conflict between Russians and Kyrgyz as they try to stake out their claims, he had no idea that neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were so similar in so many ways. He knew he was Kyrgyz, but he had no sense of what that meant.

"Ask him about orphanage life and he could give you an earful, but he had never experienced every day life in his own country...his culture was that of an isolated orphan kept within the confines of an institution which could have been in Timbuktu for all he knew.So I ask you, really, what is it that he was giving up that related to culture? Was he walking away from a part of who he was when he left Kyrgyzstan? Yes, but not in the way some might like to picture it.

"As a cleft affected child he would have most definitely remained in an orphanage until he aged out with an inferior education and no safety net to save him from drowning in the sea of that Kyrgyz culture he barely knew nor understood...for he would have never lived within it"------

"Many of the adoptive families that I have met share this same concern... in fact, they do everything they can to teach the kids about their culture and give them an understanding of what there native home was like...

"Just last week I spent some time on the phone exchanging traditional Kyrgyz recipes with a mother who wanted to prepare a special feast to celebrate a Kyrgyz holiday with her kids ...I have stood at the gates of the orphanage on Got ya day and watched as families leave with babies in there arms... There is nothing that can be said that expresses the overwhelming feeling of HOPE and LOVE that takes place at that moment.... I have sat with children that were in turmoil because the adoption that they have been dreaming about is always just out of their reach, postponed yet again .... yet the hope of one day having a chance at a better life keeps them going...,

"And a few weeks back, we experienced the pain of one young man that had to be cut down when found hanging from the roof of the orphanage.... because he had no HOPE, and felt that there was no one that loved he and his brother ... What would have been the answer to heal HIS broken heart.... What possible reason or excuse could we come up with for preventing him from one day having a forever family..... and how many more like him are out there..... looking for an answer....."

Stargazing Again

2009-09-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

Nothing invokes such profound worship in me as an upward galactic gaze. What heights of joy and depths of peace there is in knowing that the God who brought such incomprehensible beauty and complexity into being is the same Love that reaches into the depths of my own soul.

Next time you're driving at night, pull off on a dark country road and lay down on top of the car. Lose yourself for hours in the stars as your spirit contemplates the Morning Star.

Immersed. Soaked. So lost but so found.

Miraculous Reality

2009-09-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

From twentytwowords.com:

There is only one kind of miracle that can be guaranteed to motivate a skeptic to believe.... No seeming miracle is so completely inexplicable, astounding, mysterious, or supernormal that the only possible result is belief—except for belief itself.

So true.

Belief in and love for Jesus Christ are created in us, not willed into existence by our feeble designs. It is not a bow to the "religion" of superficial rule observance. It is not a bow to culture. Nor a bow to morality. It is undeniable belief that Jesus is who He says He is, for this He proves to us in the depths of our being.

The creation of faith is the ultimate miracle....well, no....not exactly. It's the ultimate reality. (We just prefer to call it a miracle because until we see Jesus for who He really truly is, we have no paradigm for such events.) And all the while the world's squirming disbelief finds solace in mocking us.

But we love them deeply....because He loved us...because we once too squirmed with great disbelief until He broke in on our hearts and said, "Let there be light," and the light of Christ Jesus, the glory of God, became our reality.

Jesus' healings of physical ailments and defects were but faint shadows of the spiritual resurrection of failed bankrupt hearts that have nothing to give.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

...What love is this?