MLK Day

Dear Friends in Christ,

Many years ago, I heard a story of someone who during the Gulf War protested every week outside the federal Building in San Francisco. When asked by a reporter if he thought protesting would change the world he replied, “I don’t do this to change the world, I do this so the world won’t change me.”

As a person of faith, I have thought long and hard about how to respond to the increasing political division and resulting social injustice in our nation and world. There is much in our world right now that threatens to change who we fundamentally are as beloved Children of God; much to be sacred and angry about. There are just so many reasons to lament and too many injustices that seem to demand our time and attention. It would be easy to feel helpless and become overwhelmed. And all too easy to give in to frustration and anger, even hate.

But that is not what are called to do. Jesus told his disciples to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. Sounds good in theory and anything but simple in practice. So how are we called, as people of faith, to respond to the uncertainty and chaos of our current social and political climate? I have landed on the belief that following the Jesus of the Gospels, committing to our baptismal covenant, living as God calls us to do every single day, will automatically hold the line for what we believe to be good and right and true, no matter what the world does. This is the best form of resistance, and I am encouraging each of you to do the same. Even if we can't change the world, we should not allow the world to change us. That is the work of all of us who follow Christ.

How do we do that? For me, a line in a blessing adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer says it best, “Be patient and loving with everyone, but make no peace with oppression.”i

The only person I can change is myself. And so this Monday, I will be remembering a man who gave it all for his vision of the Kingdom of God on earth, and participating in the MLK Day of service by volunteering at Fremont Elementary service (details below) and I invite you all to join me. Not to change the world, but to make sure the world doesn’t change me, and to maybe in the process change a small corner of it!

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+

i https://www.sophiasociety.org/blog/make-no-peace-with-oppression https://acollectionofprayers.com/2016/08/01/go-forth-into-the-world/