Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] January 16, 2022 "Let Us Be Dissatisfied” Luke 4: 14-21 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Listen to this clip first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz6d-BdUPZs&t=76s This excerpt you just heard was from a speech Dr. King gave to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August, 1967. The speech was entitled “Where Do We Go from Here,” which was also the title of a book he wrote in 1967 which asks of his question where do we go from here: Chaos or Community? It’s a question we are still asking today. Especially the last few years. 1967 was a bleak and difficult time for Dr. King. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 was a distant memory. Other than the right to vote and to drink from any water fountain, very little had fundamentally changed in the lives of individual people. Poverty was inextricable. Because it was and is inextricably linked to unrepaired systemic injustice resulting from centuries of slavery and decades of Jim Crow, including such things as redlining – literally red lines on a map where banks wouldn’t lend to those people. Wealth is often transferred from generation to generation by the increasing value of a home. Did you know that the original covenant in Mission Hills forbid People of Color from living in this very neighborhood? The words “Caucasian only” are actually on paper. In 1967, Dr. King had few friends left. And he lost even more when he got “too political.” Stay in the your lane, preacher. Stick to racism, he was told. Preach salvation, not liberation. But he couldn’t help but tie racism, economic exploitation, and war together as triple evils. They’re all interrelated. Dr. King called for nothing less than the restructuring of the whole of American society. He said poverty would never change without systemic disruption. But people in power never want to hear that. Their place on the hierarchy and wealth is threatened. But pressed from the other side, young African Americans had had it with the idea of non-violence and gave voice to Black Power. Cities were in turmoil. That further frightened white people and gave what many thought was the higher moral ground. Still today, the destruction of property for many people is more problematic than the issues of suffering and injustice they illuminate. So, Dr. King asked, where do we go from here? Among a decades worth of brilliant speeches and sermons, to me, this is one of his best and still relevant. Chaos or community? First, he said, “we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amid a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of value. We must no longer be ashamed of being Black.” Then, he said, we must “discover how to organize our strength into economic and political power. From the old plantations of the South to the newer ghettos of the North, the Negro has been confined to a life of voiceless-ness and powerless-ness. Stripped of the right to make decisions concerning his life and destiny he has been subject to the authoritarian and sometimes whimsical decisions of the white power structure. The plantation and the ghetto were created by those who had power, both to confine those who had no power and to perpetuate their powerlessness.” Dr. King acknowledged that the word power makes some people uncomfortable. But, he said, “there is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly. One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love. Now, we’ve got to get this thing right. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, (repeat: power without love is reckless and abusive), and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” Third, Dr. King said, “we must develop progress, or rather, a program that will drive the nation to a guaranteed annual income. We must create full employment, or we must create incomes.” He cited John Kenneth Galbraith, the acclaimed economist, who said that “a guaranteed annual income could be done for about twenty billion dollars a year. And I say to you today, that if our nation can spend thirty-five billion dollars a year to fight an unjust, evil war in Vietnam, and twenty billion dollars to put a man on the moon, it can spend billions of dollars to put God's children on their own two feet right here on earth.” This a long and central part of his speech. Then he went on the respond to unrest in cities and calls for Black Power and separatism, as Malcolm X and others advocated. He continued to argue for non-violence and integration. And his speech goes into this extensively. He said, “without recognizing this we will end up with answers that don't answer, explanations that don't explain, and solutions that don't solve.” “This is no time for romantic illusions and empty philosophical debates about freedom. This is a time for action. What is needed is a strategy for change, a tactical program… So far, this has only been offered by the nonviolent movement.” He concluded this long section by saying, “I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. Because through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.” Therefore, Dr. King said, “I have decided to stick with love, because I know that love is ultimately the only answer to [hu]mankind's problems. And I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I've seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I've seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate… because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.” I want to insert here that these words are not about telling others what they should do. People with power should never tell people without what their strategy should be. This is about people who have been victims of virulent violent hate, as Dr. King described, coming to this conclusion for themselves. Otherwise it’s just paternalistic patronization. That’s why people who love the “I Have a Dream” speech sometimes don’t like this one. The Dream, or at least selective quotes, doesn’t require anyone or anything to change. Dr. King concluded, “As we talk about ‘Where do we go from here,’ we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here and we must ask the question, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in America?’ And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. And when you ask that question, you begin to question the [entire] capitalistic economy.” He had already discussed at length that Marxism and communism were not better solutions. And that’s where the part of the speech we heard today starts. That’s the whole point behind his words that follow: “Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds” “Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.” I’m not going to read all of them. You already heard his soaring oratory. I encourage you to go back and read or listen to the whole speech.[1] [2] So, you many ask, what does this have to do with the gospel reading from Luke today? Well, after Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah he sat down and everyone praised him. We’re so proud because he’s a hometown boy made big. If Jesus had just stayed in his seat and kept his mouth shut, the people would have loved it. And loved him. He talked about people who are poor, prisoners, people who are blind, or rather, who act blindly. But then, in the section you’ll hear in two weeks, he talked about “those other people” in ways they didn’t want to hear. He “got political.” And he riled them up so much that they dragged him out of the synagogue and out to the edge of town so they could throw him off a cliff. He should stayed in his own lane, preach salvation, not liberation. Save souls, not societies. The words in today’s reading mark the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. We know how it ends. Religion and state conspired to have him executed on a cross and send a message to other would be “messiahs.” That will shut him up and scare away his followers. It didn’t work. And that’s why we’re here as Christians today. Dr. King gave this speech in August 1967 and in April 1968 he was assassinated. He should have stuck with the more palatable message about the color of the skin and the content of character. His literally fatal mistake was to talk not only of racism but to change their economic exploitation tied to war. Triple evils. By doing so, he lost the admiration of both friends and many moderates. As we honor the life and legacy of Dr. King tomorrow, remember the challenges he named and callings we still have. The question remains today: Where do we go from here? Chaos or community. PRAYER OF HONESTY All: God of Justice, whenever we settle for the way things are instead of the way you would have them to be, forgive us. Whenever we are paralyzed by fear or limited in vision, increase our trust in you. Whenever we offer charity, but fail to work for justice, show us the more excellent way that your love requires. Whenever we tire of our struggles and tomorrow feels overwhelming, restore our hope. Whenever we forget those who have gone before us or act is if we were the first to struggle, allow us to recognize our arrogance. May the witness of our brother Martin encourage us to be dreamers for Jesus. ASSURANCE OF GRACE One: If, by reflection, analysis, and prayer, we are freed to acknowledge the wrongs around us, the pain among us, the selfishness within us, and the work before us, be assured that God’s call is constantly being revealed in us. Always remember and never forget: The liberating love of God is already at work within you! [1] https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/where-do-we-go-here [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whkvt3uLblA whole speech or excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHJQCzv3dko&t=421s
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