April 4, 1968, and the days that followed…
As a seventeen-year-old boy, I sat staring out our house window upon row after row of National Guardsmen lining our street. Baltimore had become a swarm of soldiers—a bastion of privileged power. They stood strong as columns; uniformed officers covering the paths of this city once known for its lure, literature, jazz and baseball. They remained on guard, ready and willing to defend against people who looked like me—a black teenaged male in the midst of a country divided by color.
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had led to explosive riots in our city. As a result, we (black Americans) were immediately placed under curfew, evoking in most of us a sense of fear. This fear came laced with confusion regarding the authenticity and integrity of those who touted our country as being one nation under God.
The siege lasted for over a week. It felt like a year. I barely left my parents' row house, for fear of being mistaken as a protestor intent on disruption. My mother, father, brothers and sister and I held up together, huddling as hostages in our own home, hoping and praying for this nightmare to somehow be awakened and end.
After many long days, rest was restored and the National Guardsmen funneled out. They had made their point. There would be no ongoing rioting to protest the loss of one of our nation’s most peaceful promoters of equity. Not on their watch. After all, this was Baltimore—once dubiously dubbed “Charm City” by advertisers and marketers thinking they could somehow sprinkle a new spin on a very old reality by coming up with a few choice words.
But words can never remove a reality; they can merely distract from it. The injustices and the chaos of 1968, and even those that lit my childhood city of Baltimore afire again just last year, affect us all. All of the cities under the siege of protest and rioting impact us. Yet likewise, they arise from us all. As Martin Luther King Jr. penned it, together we comprise an “inescapable network of mutuality… [our] single garment of destiny.” As he emphasized elsewhere, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
Our nation’s struggles arise from the collective conscience of her citizens who far too often are out of step with God’s overarching and comprehensive rule. We all live, exist and pursue our dreams in this interrelated structure of reality. Thus, when we face issues on every corner, we must look within at how to affect change rather than resort to complaining at how bad things are now.
After all, it seems that we have become a nation of complainers and critiquers, despite Christ’s command of compassion.
I do not write on this trying topic this month with the intent to judge or cast blame, but rather to enlighten. To cast a mental framework for how we as believers are called to something better than this. I understand that our lack of understanding and empathy of the problems people face in our nation has a lot more to do with the failure of the pulpit to make the modeling of Jesus the centerpiece for all we are as believers. Rather than grab basins and towels, we’ve built buildings and brands. Rather than promote humility and compassion, we’ve made platforms and honored pride. Why should we be surprised that this lack of spiritual leadership and unity has trickled down into the pews?
As a result, we—who call ourselves the body of Jesus Christ—are having, at best, an anemic impact on our culture and our nation for good. At worst, we are actively contributing to its demise. And, worse yet, we have lost claim to the one label by which God created us to ascribe: Love.
Martin Luther King’s call to a people struggling for freedom in his day is no less needed of a call and reminder for the many of us struggling to defend religious freedom and liberty today. He said:
Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
After all,
Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
Friend, rather than only focusing on what is wrong with our nation and bemoaning the depths to which we as a nation have dropped on so many levels, we would do well to live in light of this call. We would do well to love. We would do well to focus on what is right with God and how He can reverse what is wrong in our land. We would do well to BE the light that drives out the darkness.
Take ten minutes perusing any social media sites today (even, if not especially, Christians) and you will quickly come into contact with some of the most debasing, critical and insulting forms of language and images when it comes to discussions on matters regarding our nation and politics. Especially regarding the election.
Visit any church on any Sunday and you will (99 times out of 100) discover that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in America. I still cannot fully understand how we can so easily cheer a secular sporting team comprised of all races and yet continue to go to our separate corners to worship.
Something is amiss in our faith and its translation to our feet.
Something is amiss in the core of our Christianity, a core that ought to be pregnant with compassion, light and love.
Something is amiss in our souls.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was not for himself. It was for others. It was for generations to come. Dare we also dream beyond our own four walls and cushioned pews? Dare we also dream beyond our own brands and buildings?
Dare we do the diligent and devoted work of kingdom citizens so that those who come after us will be able to dream at all?
Testimony Time
“Wow! I have heard Tony Evans on the radio for years, but I just started following this page on Facebook yesterday. It's as though your posts are meant for me. Thank you God for this page being an instrument in my life right now.”
“I listen to your services on my iPad every day! Great teacher of the Word!”
“I have high respect for you Tony Evans. I hope this new book is as good as Kingdom Man.”
“I found a copy of The Alternative View from October 1996 today as I was looking for my college transcripts. The content of this particular publication is exactly what my children have been inquiring about this week. God is so good!”
