Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The picture (and quote) is from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famed “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” That letter, originally composed on scraps of newspaper and toilet tissue, is one of the most amazing documents of all time (in my humble opinion). In it, Dr. King responds to critics that claimed his fight for justice created too much conflict, and called for less showdowns with the authorities and more quiet talks. With a lot of newfound time on his hands (in a jail cell), he took the time to frame his response.
For some reason, I think tonight’s “Blog From a Birmingham Motel” won’t be as enduring in American history.
There are some similarities, however. For one, we are both writing in the same town (though he was in prison, and I am on my way to preach a funeral). For another, he and I share the same occupation (ministers) as well as the same time of life (both in our mid-30s).
Yet there are glaring differences. For one, our settings are quite different. Some may claim that Super 8 is not that much different from jail, but I suspect my accommodations are much more friendly (I mean, I doubt there was cute little “conditioning shampoo” bottles in Dr. King’s cell). But even more importantly, King was on the leading edge of a landmark fight for justice. And I’m not.
Now it isn’t because the fight for justice doesn’t grab hold of my heart…
* My years living in residential childcare attached my heart to the cause of abused and neglected children. It makes me crazy to realize that there are millions and millions of folks who claim to follow Jesus in this country while there are dadgum pictures on the Internet of kids without homes, all with no response. Give my family a couple of years and there will be one less kid’s picture out there. For starters.
* And the cause of poverty housing is important to me, too. Begin with Habitat for Humanity and continue through Hurricane Katrina, and I’ve seen firsthand this problem in the United States of America. The richest nation on the planet can’t seem to care enough to provide simple, decent housing for all its people.
* I’m just getting wound up on the cause of Single Parents. I first heard single-parent families referred to as “modern-day widows and orphans” in a recent phone conversation with Pam Willingham. That definition is apropos. And who is doing something about these modern-day widows and orphans?
So it isn’t that there isn’t injustice in my world; it isn’t that there aren’t causes to fight for and take risks for and possibly die for… And it isn’t that I don’t care, or that I don’t do anything at all about it…
It’s just that I take a look at Dr. King’s eyes in that jail cell, and I see someone so much deeper into it than me. So much more passionate. So much more committed to the cause.
Well, it isn’t jail, but maybe a little quiet time in Birmingham will do me some good, too.
