LOWLY LIFE

"Lowly Life" by Paul Laurence Dunbar (sometimes life is like this, and somehow we hope and dream on...!)

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
And never a laugh but the moans come double;

And that is life!
A crust and a corner that love makes precious,
With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;

And that is life!

Obama, King and War

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive to experience the 50th anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington and his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28. 2013, it leaves one to wonder what advice he might have for President Obama with regard to war and global conflict. Based on Dr. King's direct advocacy against war with both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and what he said in his sermon "Beyond Vietnam" on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, he would likely say to the President that we should seek to cease and avoid war at all costs, and that "the buck stops at the Oval Office."

Obama, King and Just Peacemaking

When President Obama speaks on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, I'm sure he will invoke the memory and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As we as a nation find ourselves on the brink of more global conflict in Syria, what I pray that the President will be mindful of in his remarks is that Dr. King was a peacemaker and was opposed to war (one of the "triplets of evil"). For, me, Dr. Glen Stassen's (Fuller Theological Seminary) framework for Just Peacemaking (as opposed to "just war") is helpful - 1. Support nonviolent direct action. 2. Take independent initiatives to reduce threat. 3. Use cooperative conflict resolution. 4. Acknowledge responsibility for conflict and injustice and seek repentance and forgiveness. 5. Advance democracy, human rights, and religious liberty. 6. Foster just and sustainable economic development. 7. Work with emerging cooperative forces in the international system. 8. Strengthen the United Nations and international efforts for cooperation and human rights. 9. Reduce offensive weapons and weapons trade. 10. Encourage grassroots peacemaking groups and voluntary associations.

STONES OF HOPE - REFLECTIONS ON THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON (1963-2013)

Rev. Dr. C. Anthony Hunt
August 2013

 

In just a few days on August 24, 2013, thousands of people from around the nation and world will gather in Washington, DC for the 50^th year anniversary and celebration of the historic March on Washington.  Deemed in 1963 as the March for Jobs and Freedom, the march came at the height of the American Civil Rights movement, as over 200,000 thousand persons gathered to call the nation to action as it regarded the rights of all people to opportunity, equality and justice. 

Among those who spoke at the Lincoln Memorial on that sunlit day in 1963 was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  King shared with the crowd, the nation and the world a compelling dream – a vision - of Beloved Community and a world where every “child would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  He articulated a hope that America would heed the true meaning of its creed as found in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (people) are created equal.” 

For the masses that will gather this year, this will be a time of remembering, celebrating, and hopefully renewing a commitment to King’s (and others’) dream of peace, justice and equality among us. 

Theologian Jurgen Moltmann articulated in his book Theology of Hope that “Hope alone is to be called ‘realistic’, because it alone takes seriously the possibilities with which all reality is fraught.  It does not take things as they happen to stand or to lie, but as progressing, moving things with possibilities of change.  Only as long as the world and the people in it are in a fragmented and experimental state which is not yet resolved, is there any sense in earthly hopes.”  

One of the things that King intimated in his 1963 speech was a hope that God would “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”  The despair that he was alluding to then was capsulated in what he deemed to be the “triplets of evil” – racism, poverty (classism) and war (militarism).  In King’s estimation, these were the major categories of the social disease that afflicted America then, and thus there was the need for the struggle for Civil Rights, human rights, equal rights and the March on Washington, and a renewed call/commitment to action.

FAITH UNDER FIRE

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 8/11/13.)

 

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”  They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”  He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”  (Daniel 3:24-25) 

It has been said that faith is most clearly evident in our lives when it has been tested.  This speaks to the very nature of faith.  As the writer of the Book of Hebrews so clearly articulated, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not (yet) seen.” 

There is a certain mystery imbedded in the whole matter of faith, in that we cannot see it, and yet it is at work in our lives if we are in relationship with God.

The testing of our faith can come in any manner of ways.  Serious illness, financial distress, relational problems, death – will, at some points, come into all of our lives.  These are but a few of the ways that our faith can and will be tested.  Often, if the truth is really told today, our faith in God can also be tested in moments of our disappointment with God as we might be praying and waiting on a blessing in our life that has been long deferred and appears to be denied, or we might be enduring suffering so long that we wonder why God - who created us, loves us and cares for us - would allow such things to happen in our lives. 

And it is also the case that we might find that our faith is tested in the light of our faithfulness to God.  In other words, sometimes it our very faithfulness, that somehow serves as an entrée for Satan to enter into our lives and to test us.

And so it is in Scripture that we find the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  These were three young men who were extremely faithful to God, and because of their faithfulness, they found themselves in the horns of a dilemma.

These young men were the cream of the crop, the pick of the litter, they were royalty.  They had the right stuff.  They had been trained in the most stringent ritualistic and dietary laws of their times.  They had been trained at the highest levels to become servants in King Nebuchenezzar’s court.

UBUNTU

 

UBUNTU is a life-changing concept.

 

(One of the members of Epworth Chapel, Baltimore posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was worth sharing)

 

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ...ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''

'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"

COURAGE IN THE FACE OF CRISIS

 

 

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 8/4/13.)

 

“O Daniel, servant of the living God, who you have faithfully served, is your God able to deliver you from the lions?”   “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you.  O king, I have done no wrong.”  (Daniel 6:21-22)

 

Each and every one of us will face times when we are confronted by crisis in our life.  It has often been said that “if it’s not one thing it’s another.”  Crises will confront us at virtually every juncture of life, whether it’s in our homes or on our jobs, or in our neighborhoods.     

In the midst of crisis, psychologists have indicated that it is the human tendency for people to react in one of two ways.  Either we will act and react through fight, or we will react through flight.  In other words, in the midst of trouble, people will confront their crisis head on, and seek to fight their way through and out, or they will run from their problems. 

It is indeed true that we all struggle from time to time in our ability to overcome all of the trouble that is in our midst.  And in the midst of this, we wonder about the very presence and providence and power of God.  Where is God in the midst of our struggles?  It is one thing to proclaim that God is a provider – an on-time, right now God – but it is yet another thing to know that when you call on God, God will indeed show up when you need the Lord.

And so it is in midst of crisis and trouble in our lives, we who are people of faith  need to know where God is in the midst of our trials and tribulations.  For if we know where God is, then we will know where our courage and strength really lies – not in us, but in God.

And so it is that we find evidence of the presence of God in the face of crisis in the story of Daniel.  The book of Daniel is part of the biblical genre known as apocalyptic, a type of literature that appeals to an oppressed and down-and-out people, and emphasizes God’s ultimate power over all that will confront God’s people.