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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in Gods work to save the world.

King's Vision of the Beloved Community 11/18/09

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      Here is more, as promised, on Ched Myers' and Elaine Enns' book AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION. (My apologies for writing "Ministers" of reconciliation in last week's email. Some of you looked for a book by that title and could not find it!) They begin with Martin Luther King's vision of "the beloved community," in which, he says, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."

      Myers and Enns open Part I (of the 4 part book) with these words (an extended quote follows):

     "Martin Luther King's word as a minister and public theologican was defined by the historic struggle to overcome institutional racial segregation in U.S. society. His concern for equality and social justice shaped his preaching and public oratory, focused his organizing with the Southern Christian Leadership council (SCLC), and led hiim repeatedly to acts of civil disobedience....

     ""In 1957, wriiting in the newsletter of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he described the purpose and goal of that organization as follows: "The ultimate aim of SCLC is to foster and create the 'beloved community' in America where brotherhood is a reality...King's was a vision of a completely integrated society, a community of love and justice...In his mind, such a community would be the ideal corporate esxpression of the Christian faith"" (Smith and Zepp quoted in AMBASSADORS, p. 2).
The "beloved community" was King's way of talking about the reality Jesus called the Kingdom of God.

     "This vision took King into an Alabama jail in 1963--American apartheid's heart of darkness--from where he penned his famous epistle [Letter from a Birmingham Jail]. In the letter, King expresses his conviction that his mission was simply following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul. Yet few North American Christians today see that connection, much less appreciate that Paul was also fundamentally concerned with issues of race and class justice. To explore this, we turn to an examination of II Corinthians." (p. 2)

       What follows is an amazing study of 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13, the first of four studies of pivotal New Testament texts which make up the essence of the book.

John K. Stoner jstoner@ecapc.org

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