Hi, WMF friends.
This last week, Asbury University invited me to speak for its MLK Jr. chapel. I’m deeply thankful to have shared for this event as so much of MLK’s work resonates with both who Word Made Flesh is and seeks to be as an organization.
For instance, an important aspect of MLK’s work is about Beloved Community. I find the hope of Beloved Community to be an important aspect of what we are doing at Word Made Flesh too.
The term “Beloved Community” originated via Josiah Royce, the founder of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) – an organization in which King held membership. The idea of Beloved Community took progressive root in MLK throughout his work and he further enriched its meaning and popularized its use.
In my address, I spoke about King’s conceptualization of Beloved Community.
As I presented in chapel, “King used the term Beloved Community in a speech offered in 1956 upon receiving a Supreme Court decision favoring the desegregating of Montgomery, Alabama buses after a 381 day campaign of choosing not to ride them because of segregation – a campaign initiated from the courageous act of Rosa Parks refusing to get-up from her seat when told to do so, so that a white passenger could have the seat instead of her;
King writes this about the matter:
‘the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men [and women].’”
You can find more on MLK’s idea of Beloved Community and other aspects of his philosophy/theology here.
At Word Made Flesh, in all we are doing, we seek the creation of Beloved Community as an expression of the great Love that God has for each and for all of us. You can listen to my whole talk via podcast here (my specific portion begins right around 11:55 onward):
Grace and Peace,
Clint