Field Trip

Yesterday afternoon we took the Compassion Leadership Team down to Atlanta to visit the King Center -- we were learning about the word reconciliation, so the goal was to familiarize students with Martin Luther King Jr.'s work for racial reconciliation as a door for better understanding interpersonal and spiritual reconciliation.
I am interested to hear feedback from the students who went ... it ended up being logistically interesting because it was a four-hour adventure (almost two of which were spent driving and/or getting students gathered) and we spent an hour in conversation over lunch and only an hour at the actual King center. I was a little disappointed in the students' lack of preparation - I think everything is more meaningful when you are aware of the context.
But, if nothing else, it was incredibly meaningful for me. I wish that I had been alive in the early sixties so that I could have been a part of such a wonderful movement for justice and reconciliation! I will NEVER stop being inspired by King's intentional, powerful and creative oration. And this trip made me all the more aware of his powerful leadership. One of the men who worked closely with him described King as a "leader of leaders." I think that phrase will ring in my mind for some time ... I would like for people to be able to see that in me someday.
And I was struck afresh with the intentionality of his work ... he went to India for several months to study Gandhi's nonviolent techniques so that he could employ them well. His heart beat for the movement, and so he fought to lead it well.
Perhaps my favorite King story that was refreshed in my heart yesterday is the story of him awake late at night in his kitchen ... after another threat on his life, he made a pot of coffee and began to ponder how he could back out the movement without appearing a coward. He had expended the whole of his abilities, and sat with nothing left to offer. In the middle of his helplessness, he heard the Lord say to him, "Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever." He said his fears disappeared and he was instantly imbued with the courage to face anything. It is a personal treasure to know that great men and women were only great in the power of Christ ... it makes me feel like the Lord could actually use me.

After we got back from Atlanta, I got to spend a couple of minutes drying off before Engage started up for the spring. We were studying Acts 7, where Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin, defending the gospel. In his monologue, he point to the many times in history when Israel has killed its prophets, culminating with the crucifixion of Christ. And then he was brutally murdered. Somehow, in the midst of being stoned, he has a vision in which he looks up and sees the heavens open with Jesus standing at the right hand of God. I couldn't help but think of MLK Jr.'s last speech, in which speaks with glorious cadence that sounds almost like a song,

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything, I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

It is so sweet -- literally, it is like honey to my heart -- that the Lord gives such valiant courage to those facing death on his behalf. Both Stephen and MLK Jr. trampled fear as they proclaimed truth in their contexts. I want to be like that!
It is becoming ever-clearer to me that fighting for the Kingdom comes with great personal hardship ... as Gandhi said, "rivers of blood may have to flow before we gain our freedom, but it must be our blood." Lord, shed my blood if necessary ... break my spirit if necessary ... expend my whole if necessary ... just use me!