Loving your enemies

I was preparing this week's sermon on Matthew 5.38-48 and reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s book Strength to Love which includes his sermon entitled "Loving Your Enemies".  I am certain he preached this sermon many times, so I turned to the internet for more information about the contexts of his preaching and I discovered an original audio of his sermon preached November 17, 1957 at the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL.

His voice should be heard not mine.

Dr. King "Loving Your Enemies"

The God of humanity

Chief Seattle (Si'ahl) said, "One thing we know, which the White Man may one day discover - our God is the same God.  You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot.  He is the God of humanity, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white.  The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.  Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny.  We may be brothers after all.  We shall see."

-as translated by Dr. Henry A Smith, 1854

How much have we fallen to the idolatry of creating God in our own image when we cannot imagine God's love and justice being relevant to the minority, un-empowered, alien among us?  We the franchised "faithful", in hopes of protecting our "entitled" interests, appeal to God as if we were a fortune 500 corporation lobbying government.  With scriptures full of appeals for the people of God/followers of Jesus to give deference to the stranger, the poor and the outcast, is it anything less than sinful idolatry to be so self-convinced of our life and conduct?  Let the privileged comfortable not assume that our values systems, norms and cultural expressions be the acceptable norm, while "others" remain on the fringes of God's family.

The evils of American Manifest Destiny will continue to be promoted by evangelical Christians as long as they believe themselves more justified in their membership in the National Rifle Association than advocating for a compassionate immigration policy.

Thank you, Lord, that you do not claim to be God over just some people.  You are, in fact, the creator and redeemer of all creatures.  Help us spread the good news that no one can claim ownership of you, because each of us belongs to you.  Amen.

-prayer adapted from Common Prayer: a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, (Grand Rapids:Zondervan, 2010), p.117

Radical Anabaptist Spirituality

John Driver is a former South American pastor, teacher and the author of many books which were written as gifts to the churches of the Anabaptist movement throughout Latin America.  John and his wife, Bonny, have become an integral and passionate witness in the congregation where I am a pastor, the East Goshen Mennonite Church.

In the Fall of 2008, I had the privilege of accompanying John on trip in Colombia, South America, where for ten days he taught in groups of Colombian Anabaptist pastors and servant leaders.  His teaching with these inspiring people was on the subject of the Radical Spirituality of the Early Anabaptist movement and has been published in a little Spanish language book entitled, "Convivencia Radical: Espiritualidad para el siglo veintiuno".

On our flight back to into the U.S. I plied John with excitement for this subject and the need for his book in the North American congregations who desire to be connected with Anabaptism, yet are inundated with evangelical fundamentalist voices of Christian spirituality.  A few weeks later John sent me an English translation of Convivencia Radical in number of documents.

Here is an edited pdf of Radical Spirituality for the 21st Century by John Driver (in English):

Radical Spirituality for the 21st Century

Ron Sider at the Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg, France, 1984

Over the past 450 years of martyrdom, immigration and missionary proclamation, the God of shalom has been preparing us Anabaptists for a late twentieth-century rendezvous with history. The next twenty years will be the most dangerous—and perhaps the most vicious and violent—in human history. If we are ready to embrace the cross, God’s reconciling people will profoundly impact the course of world history . . . This could be our finest hour. Never has the world needed our message more. Never has it been more open. Now is the time to risk everything for our belief that Jesus is the way to peace. If we still believe it, now is the time to live what we have spoken. 


“Unless we . . . are ready to start to die by the thousands in dramatic vigorous new exploits for peace and justice, we should sadly confess that we never really meant what we said, and we dare never whisper another word about pacifism to our sisters and brothers in those desperate lands filled with injustice. Unless we are ready to die developing new nonviolent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword . . .

"Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society." -Jaques Ellul

Mother Brown testifying at the Church of the Blessed Trinity (Centerville, VA)

There is something here I envy.  I sense a release in such expression like a dance which cannot be explained, but flows from the heart.  I honestly cannot understand what Sister Brown is saying, but I feel it.  In an anglo Mennonite community where we don’t even “amen” a moving point in the Sunday service, we have something to learn from such deeply expressed gratitude.

As citizens of Christ’s kingdom, we must recognize that all people are our brothers and sisters in God’s family. We would want the best for our family. We would want good education and health care for them and we would willingly help in any way possible for that to happen. If they are being victimized and oppressed we would move heaven and earth to speak out against such evil. If dictators do not respect their rights, we will not stand by and say it’s none of our business. It is our business to be where there is pain and suffering and to oppose injustice with all our strength. Our brothers and sisters are in trouble and we cannot enjoy peace if we do nothing.

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu