The urgency of now and the need to speak of and be loved

In August 1963 as part of his great, “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial the Rev’d Dr Martin Luther King spoke of the “fierce urgency” of the present moment the world faced. He said,

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.””.

The violent racist disorder orchestrated by the far Right in UK towns and cities based on lies and misinformation this summer suggest we face a key moment in our own national life. It suggests that years of hate speech, persistent misinformation and lying, the promotion of hostility and the denigration of the humanity of others can create a climate in which some feel they can act with impunity.

In the “Steeler Lecture,” one of five lectures that King delivered in November 1967 at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama King said,

It has been encouraging to see communities resisting racism, reaching out to their neighbours of all faiths (and none), offering food, clearing up debris, escorting anxious people to their work. The group of faith leaders in Normanton, Derby who sat and drank tea together on the street and spoke with each other for the first time in the face of a far-right protest which never materialised having “found” each other after a threat of violence were keen to keep meeting and to build relationships.

The parable of the Good Samaritan (as we call that story Jesus told) contrasts the inaction of the religious leaders who walk past an injured man with the actions of a Samaritan who stops and helps the injured man, carrying him to help, paying for his recovery. We often assume that the Good Samaritan is the Christ figure and we are being invited to behave as he does. A more radical reading of that portion of scripture is to grasp that the wounded man, our neighbour, is Christ and we are being invited to see our neighbours, all of them, those who look like us and those who don’t, as those made in the image and likeness of God.

Inter-faith engagement was once an urgent priority for the Church. It received generous funding and it received skilled resourcing. It remains a key priority for ministerial formation but I wonder how many of our preachers have engaged at depth with the history of, and the need for care in avoiding antisemitism, for example, in engaging with key scriptural texts.

We must not wait for far-right threats of violence to discover our neighbours of all faiths, and none. We meet Christ as we meet the needs of the world. People all around us in our communities don’t just need us when the far-right threaten. They need us now, they need our interest, our support and encouragement, and they need our love.

The beautiful film and excellent resources produced by the Connexional team “See the Love” in the aftermath of the violence are superb. I was sitting in the pews on a holiday Sunday when the film was played within worship leading to moving prayers of intercession.

Silence, the failure to speak the truth and inaction in the face of racism and aggression towards people of colour and people of other faiths is a great temptation for many white people. We can tend to protect our privilege, walk by, stay silent, be glad we don’t experience this ourselves. What do we do to counter clearly untrue rhetoric about migration, asylum seekers, Islam, Judaism and more?

I am led to ask what might we do in this next connexional year as Methodists to actively pursue paths of peace and reconciliation as people of faith?

1. Speak to your neighbours, those who live next to you and those who live in your community. Meet and talk, eat and plan together with your neighbours.
2. Educate yourself about another faith, about migration, about asylum and being a refugee from a variety of sources not just one. Be willing to change your mind. JPIT offers excellent resources.
3. Be brave and speak out when you hear prejudice and discrimination spoken even by those closest to you. Remember the Liverpool grandmother pictured with her “Nans not Nazis T shirt. See, and be the love.