With thanks to St Paul’s Cathedral Adult Learning for these weekly reflections throughout Black History Month.
Alexandra Drakeford reflects on the philosophy of Martin Luther King.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King’s historic sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral. You may well be familiar with his principles, but allow me to introduce you to his philosophy.
Many say ‘Dr King was a civil rights leader who fought for racial equality.’ This is true, but it is not complete. Dr King was a leader – a civil rights leader, a moral leader, an economic justice and anti-war advocate. He spoke to heal the heart of the world, not exclusively the heart of the American South.
Across the world, our hearts and minds are living in a shared, never-ending battle between our flesh and the Spirit. Dr King was acutely aware of our shared struggle. He knew humans were destructive, so he framed the forces of love and forgiveness as ‘creative weapons.’ But he wanted us to use these creative weapons to destroy the forces of injustice, poverty, and hate so we could build a Beloved Community.
Dr King constantly steered us away from our purely human understanding, to live by spiritual principles. He wanted to bridge the gap between how we live and how we ought to live.
To do this, he acknowledged how weak our own human philosophy and judgment were. He surrendered his mental self-reliance to three principles, and it’s these three principles we’ll reflect on over the coming weeks.
The first is love. not the type of love we think of, but an unconditional love. God’s love – agape. This love, Dr King believed, was the ‘most durable power in the world’.
The second is forgiveness. Because without love, we cannot have forgiveness. And without forgiveness, we will be stuck in our shame and bitterness, stalling our ability to move forward.
The last is the Beloved Community. The Beloved Community is how Dr King envisioned our shared human experience. He wanted us to recognize our increasing interconnectedness and interdependence in our rapidly changing world. Many principles like love, forgiveness, dignity and justice come together and build the beloved community.
That was the whole point of everything he lived — and died – for. Building the Beloved Community where dignity, justice, and love washed away the sins of poverty, injustice, and hate. But these were not to be washed away by magic or newness, but earned through the active pursuit of redemption and reconciliation.
Bible verse and questions
Questions written by The Revd Canon Adéọlá Eleyae, which you are welcome to use by yourself or as a group.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
- How do you think that others would describe you and your philosophy? Would God feature in their description?
- What creative weapons can you frame to stand against prejudice and oppression in your context?
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