Happy Lutheran

This frigid windy winter morning, I got up early and met other colleagues from Wartburg Seminary down at the Grand River Center for Dubuque’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration. I was really looking forward to the keynote speaker, The Rev. Dr. Joy Jittaun Moore, whom I had met previously through her connection with Luther Seminary. She did not disappoint, and so today, I thought I would share a brief reflection sparked by her remarks.

She talked about replacing a political imagination with a Christian imagination. This, I think is an incredibly timely message that is both desperately needed now, and really resonates with King’s life and work.

So, let’s take a look at our current political imagination–that is, the vision of society that this political administration embodies and is working toward. What characterizes it?

Bludgeoning is the strategy of the day. The tactic? Use violence–both physical and verbal–to coerce, bully, overpower and beat down others into silence and resignation.

Cruelty is the tone of the day. The environment? A climate of systematic removal of safety, dignity, freedom and hope, putting a knee on the neck of the vulnerable.

Deception and Misdirection are the principles of the day. Gaslight the victim, misrepresent facts, maximize social media echo-chambers, promote fake news. And, when all else fails, start a fire over there to draw our attention away from what is happening right here.

This administration has a stink of desperation to it as it works frantically to convince us of what we know in our hearts is not true. Might doesn’t make right. No person, or category of people, is expendable. Tyranny is not compatible with democracy. We are better than this.

Now, let’s think for a moment about what characterizes a Christian imagination.

Peace and Justice are the principles of the day. These values are the guiding light that illuminate the beloved community we glimpse in the vision of the kin-dom of God caught in bits and snatches. Swords become instruments of farming and fecundity. There is concord and trust between the lion and the lamb. The lowly are lifted up, the bounty of the land is shared, and a wide table is spread with abundance for all, and no one goes hungry.

Harmony is the tone of the day. There is reconciliation between nations who are historic enemies. Diversity enhances unity. We offer forgiveness freely, and ask for it as well. We attend to the log in our own eye before condemning the speck in our neighbor’s eye. We ask questions, instead of throwing stones. The peace of Christ passes between us, and holds us together.

And the strategy? Love, of course. For me, when I think of all the things that Dr. King said and wrote, I always think of love first. He believed so strongly and vibrantly in the power of love: the power to drive out hate, the power to transform an enemy into a friend, the power to implement the demands of justice, the power to save the world. King was right about so many things–and his confidence in the power of love was one of the best.

Wherever we see love, we see God; whenever we love, we bear Christ to another; whenever we foster loving community, we embody the vision God has for creation, and realize, even if just in fragments and moments, a Christian imagination.

This imagination is true; this imagination heals and reconciles; this imagination can change the world for good–against all forces that would oppose it.

I want to close with something else Dr. Moore said. A few times in her remarks she emphasized starting small, and focusing on your own sphere of influence–your family, your neighbors, your workplace, wherever.

I carry this quote around in my planner [from Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings, so you know it’s good!]:

Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

Inspired by a Christian imagination, may we find the courage for small acts of kindness and love. And hand in hand, may our courage grow.