Qualitative Change of Soul
“Our
goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative
change in our souls, as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
I
wonder what Dr. King would think of America today. Not the beloved community he
envisioned, I’m afraid. But we are working on it. It’s easy to sit here in 2021
and say we haven’t made progress toward the beloved community, in fact, we’ve
turned around and run the other way. But that would be inaccurate. In my
lifetime we have gone from segregated drinking fountains to a black President,
and now, a black, female Vice President. We’ve moved from a nation terrified
of having a Catholic President, to putting a practicing Catholic in office
without fanfare. Progress has been made, and will continue to be made, but it’s
slower than many of us would like. Changing policy is one thing, but changing
hearts…well, that is kind of like dragging a battleship down 5th
Avenue. That is where the “qualitative change in our souls” is needed.
By “beloved
community” Dr. King meant one based in justice, equality, and opportunity for
all—just as our Constitution supports. We can legislate that, but we can’t
force it into the hearts of people who are afraid. Somewhere along the way, we
became convinced that for us to gain something, someone else had to lose
something—like balancing a scale with two sides. When it comes to justice and
mercy, that is not the case—there’s enough to go around, to spill over, and
flow like a river across the land. What is missing is the will to knock down
the dam that holds it back. But we are getting closer.
Dr.
King would weep, I believe, to see what happened at the U.S. Capital on January
6th. He would not, however, be surprised, because this anger and violence
has shown up every time big change is on our horizon. His response would be compassion
for the fear and rage that would drive people to do such a thing. To be sure,
they will pay the price for what they did, but Dr. King would pray for them,
because that is who he was—he was a true follower of Jesus. Punishment was not
his business. Love and justice were.
I still
have hope that we will fulfill King’s dream of a beloved community. It’s what
we all want, but don’t believe we can have. The closer we get to taking off our
fear-coats, the sooner we will feel the sunshine of a new day. And that day is
bright with kindness and understanding, mercy and equality, justice for all, with
malice toward none. Martin did not live to see it, but our children will, and our
grandchildren will inherit a different world—one that is color-blind. At least, that is
my prayer.
In
the Spirit,
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