I have observed MLK Jr holiday in different ways over the years. I’ve marched, read essays by MLK, and volunteered locally. Today, I watched as the Sacramento Black Lives Matter marched up J Street, I thought about my intention to visit Birmingham, Alabama this year. I need to wait until after April so I can experience the National Memorial for Peace and Justice also known as the national lynching memorial. I learned about it from a TED talk by Michael Murphy.
After watching this, are you interested in going too?
This morning I was reading Marcus J. Borg’s Heart of Christianity. Coincidentally he was writing about justice. Something to meditate on today.
“…a common misunderstanding of “God’s justice.” Theologically, we have often seen its opposite as “God’s mercy.” “God’s justice” is understood as God’s deserved punishment for us for our sins, “God’s mercy” as God’s loving forgiveness of us in spite of our guilt. Given this choice, we would all prefer God’s mercy and hope to escape God’s justice. But seeing the opposite of justice as mercy distorts what the Bible means by justice. Most often in the Bible, the opposite of God’s justice is not God’s mercy, but human injustice. The issue is the shape of our life together as societies, not whether the mercy of God will supercede the justice of God in the final judgment.”
P.S. If you have young people in your life, consider sharing Angie Thomas’ novel, The Hate U Give.
americanjulie.com 