Tag: MLK

Our God Is Able: the YMCA, Martin Luther King Jr. and The Strength to Love

“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a great benign Power in the universe whose name is God, and he is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.”

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, from his sermon “Our God Is Able”

War. Tyranny. Disease. Famine. Fires. Drought. Hate. Bigotry. Terror. Death. Grief. Sorrow. Hopelessness. Heartache. Despair.

The YMCA continues to love, care and serve all across the world amidst every kind of disaster, tragedy, and conflict. What keeps us going?

This sermon by MLK speaks for many of us as we strive to humbly lead and work as Christians in the Y during the darkest days and longest nights.

May it be a source of strength for you in these times, these struggles, these sorrows, these tears.

(On a very personal note: in 2014 I discovered this sermon by MLK, it became deeply formative to my spirit as I struggled to make sense of the untimely deaths of my brothers years earlier and of my father more recently. And like any Christian leader, struggling to resist the ways of the world, and tend to the condition and health of my own soul. This sermon is still relevant to me….

As I continually reflect on the writings of those who also strive to follow in the ways of Christ Jesus, and suffered more than me, and still chose to trust and serve the Lord, they are an inspiration to me to keep going, in faith, hope and love, by the strength of the Spirit.)

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling.”

New Testament, Letter from Jude, verse 24

At the center of the Christian faith is the conviction that in the universe there is a God of power who is able to do exceedingly abundant things in nature and in history. This conviction is stressed over and over in the Old and the New Testaments.

Theologically, this affirmation is expressed in the doctrine of the omnipotence of God. The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. 

The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.

The devotees of the new man-centered religion point to the spectacular advances of modern science as justification for their faith.

But alas! something has shaken the faith of those who have made the laboratory “the new cathedral of men’s hopes.”

The instruments which yesterday were worshipped today contain cosmic death, threatening to plunge all of us into the abyss of annihilation.

Man is not able to save himself or the world.

Unless he is guided by God’s spirit, his new-found scientific power will become a devastating Frankenstein monster that will bring to ashes his earthly life.

At times other forces cause us to question the ableness of God.

The stark and colossal reality of evil in the world – what Keats calls “the giant agony of the world”; ruthless floods and tornadoes that wipe away people as though they were weeds in an open field; ills like insanity plaguing some individuals from birth and reducing their days to tragic cycles of meaninglessness; the madness of war and the barbarity of man’s inhumanity to man – why, we ask, do these things occur if God is able to prevent them?

This problem, namely, the problem of evil, has always plagued the mind of man.

I would limit my response to an assertion that much of the evil which we experience is caused by man’s folly and ignorance and also by the misuse of his freedom.

Beyond this, I can say only that there is and always will be a penumbra of mystery surrounding God.

What appears at the moment to be evil may have a purpose that our infinite minds are incapable of comprehending. So in spite of the presence of evil and the doubts that lurk in our minds, we shall wish not to surrender the conviction that God is able.

Let us notice that God is able to subdue all the powers of evil.

In affirming that God is able to conquer evil we admit the reality of evil.

Christianity has never dismissed evil as illusory, or an error of the mortal mind. It reckons with evil as a force that has objective reality.

But Christianity contends that evil contains the seeds of its own destruction.

History is the story of evil forces that advance with seemingly irresistible power only to be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.

There is a law in the moral world – a silent, invisible imperative, akin to the always in the physical world – which reminds us that life will work only in a certain way.

In our own nation another unjust and evil system, known as segregation, for nearly one hundred years inflicted the Negro with a sense of inferiority, deprived him of his personhood, and denied him his birthright of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Segregation has been the Negroe’s burden and America’s shame.

But as on the world scale, so in our nation, the wind of change began to blow. One event has followed another to bring a gradual end to the system of segregation.

Today we know with certainty that segregation is dead. The only question remaining is how costly will be the funeral.

These great changes are not mere political and sociological shifts. They represent the passing of systems that were born in injustice, nurtured in inequality, and reared in exploitation.

They represent the inevitable decay of any system based on principles that are not in harmony with the moral laws of the universe.

When in future generations men look back upon these turbulent, tension packed days through which we are passing, they will see God working through history for the salvation of man.

They will know that God was working through those men who had the vision to perceive that no nation could survive half slave and half free.

God is able to conquer the evils of history. His control is never usurped.

If at times we despair because of the relatively slow progress being made in ending racial discrimination and if we become disappointed because of the undue cautiousness of the federal government, let us gain new heart in the fact that God is able.

In our sometimes difficult and often lonesome walk up freedom’s road, we do not walk alone. God walks with us. 

He has placed within the very structure of this universe certain absolute moral laws. We can neither defy nor break them.

If we disobey them, they will break us. The forces of evil may temporarily conquer truth, but truth will ultimately conquer its conqueror. Our God is able.

Let us notice, finally, that God is able to give us interior resources to confront the trials and difficulties of life.

Each of us faces circumstances in life which compel us to carry heavy burdens of sorrow.

Adversity assails us with hurricane force. Glowing sunrises are transformed into darkest nights. Our highest hopes are blasted and our noblest dreams are shattered.

Christianity has never overlooked these experiences. They come inevitably.

Like the rhythmic alternation in the natural order, life has the glittering sunlight of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters.

Days of unutterable joy are followed by days of overwhelming sorrow. Life brings periods of flooding and periods of drought.

Admitting the weighty problems and staggering disappointments, Christianity affirms that God is able to give us the power to meet them.

He is able to give us the inner equilibrium to stand tall amid the trials and burdens of life.

He is able to provide inner peace amid the outer storms.

The inner stability of the man of faith is Christ’s chief legacy to his disciples.

He offers neither material resources nor a magical formula that exempts us from suffering and persecution, but he brings an imperishable gift: “Peace I leave with you.”

This is the peace that passeth all understanding.

At times we may feel that we do not need God, but on the day when the storms of disappointment rage, the winds of disaster blow, and the tidal waves of grief beat against our lives, if we do not have a deep and patient faith our emotional lives will be ripped to shreds.

There is so much frustration in the world because we have relied on gods rather than God.

We have genuflected before the god of science only to find that it has given us the atomic bomb, producing fears and anxieties that science can never mitigate.

We have worshipped the god of pleasure only to discover that thrills play out and sensations are short-lived.

We have bowed before the god of money only to learn that there are such things as love and friendship that money cannot buy and that in a world of possible depressions, stock market crashes, and bad business investments, money is a rather uncertain deity.

These transitory gods are not able to save us or bring happiness to the human heart.

Only God is able.

It is faith in him that we must rediscover.

With this faith we can transform bleak and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of joy and bring new light into the dark caverns of pessimism.

Is someone here moving toward the twilight of life and fearful of that which we call death? Why be afraid? God is able.

Is someone here on the brink of despair because of the death of a loved one, the breaking of a marriage, or the waywardness of a child? Why despair? God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed.

Come what may, God is able.

Let this affirmation be our ringing cry.

It will give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.

It will give our feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom.

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a great benign Power in the universe whose name is God, and he is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

[selections taken from pages 107-114, Strength to Love; MLK was part of the Y as a young boy, and is still a dynamic influence upon the YMCA as a preacher and Civil Rights leader]

YMCA & Faith as a Dimension of Diversity

YMCA & Faith as a Dimension of Diversity ::: what are some ways we can elevate the role of religion and build a healthier, stronger “C” in the Y as a way to be even more inclusive and equitable?

The extraordinary effort the Young Men’s Christian Association is putting into being inclusive and equitable in light of its diverse and global reality is impressive and inspiring.

Yet, not without critique or flaws, and still in an agile learning mode, humbly trying to do better.

There are many aspects I value about the Dimensions of Diversity Wheel, including how it reveals then builds awareness of many key dimensions of diversity; having been through a training with it, I developed a more complex awareness of myself, as well as a richer perspective on those around me.

Nobody comes to this wheel or training or Association neutral, so I confess that this blogpost comes from a close analysis and personal reflection on my professional work with the Y as a Christian Emphasis Director and ordained Protestant minister.

The dimension of Faith is of particular interest to me regarding my vocation, my identity, my purpose, my lens personally and professionally, though it’s not the only important dimension, nor is it isolated from many others like culture, race, birthplace, etc.

I do want to humbly reflect publicly on the role of faith as a dimension diversity in the YMCA, as it seems to occupy an awkward space in the wheel and our associations.

For example, religion and faith traditions are like culture and ethnicity, you are born into it, they are often all intertwined, and it deeply shapes your whole sense of self, purpose, identity and community.

Yet it can also be experienced as interchangeable like economic status or geographic location; we all know people or have heard of those who “left” their religion or faith tradition.

While these are simplistic examples, they get at the wider discomfort of the role of faith and religion in the Y; as a matter of principle we ought to include it in an equitable and honest way – BUT: it is unlike all the other dimensions in a way that makes it socially and spiritually awkward.

What do I mean? A basic understanding of religion – scholarly or experientially – reveals the comprehensive nature of faith traditions; the role of it is to give overarching meaning and existential purpose to the totality of life in spirit, mind and body as an individual and a community (or tribe or nation).

Yet, in the Y it is generally uncomfortable to talk publicly about ones personal faith tradition or religious commitments (I’d love to hear exceptions to this assumption).

What factors might be keeping the faith/beliefs dimension of diversity in a awkward, suspicious, suppressed, role in the Y?

While there are no simplistic answers, here are a few of my observations framed by my experiences and research:

1. The complexity of secularization in a religiously and ethnically pluralistic society (keep your faith private) [for more read Charles Taylor and Lesslie Newbigin]

2. The critiques of religious violence, sexual abuse, and financial scandals (credibility of faith is corroded) [for more read Rene Girard and William Cavanaugh]

3. The centrality of technology as a means for organizing and and making sense of reality (control comes from us) [for more read Jacques Ellul and Miroslav Volf]

Or, some might perceive it like this: overly religious people do a lot of good, but then they get disagreeable and divisive and at the Y we really want to emphasize what builds harmony and healing; so, since too many religious people either want to be right/exclusive more than loving/inclusive, we will downplay our religious heritage and faith as a dimension of diversity and emphasize that which seems to more effectively forge unity and equity.

Trust me, I get it.

But…

Religion is still a powerful existential reality amongst our diverse membership; if we ignore it, downplay it, dismiss it, degrade it, we will be blind to the way it shapes (for good or bad) our culture, thus preventing us from fulfilling our purpose, cause and mission successfully.

The more people who become ignorant of religion and faith traditions, the more religious bigotry that will be fomented.

If we want less religious violence and abuse, we need to shine more light on religion, not keep it in the dark; more wisdom not less.

With the National influence the YMCA has in 2,000+ communities, imagine the positive effect we could have if we more wisely, bravely, authentically, publicly discussed and educated on religion/faith as a powerful dimension of diversity.

Christians in the Y often don’t want to offend anyone, especially those who are religiously diverse; it’s a warm sentiment, but it often leads to squelching religious expression instead of building up hospitable inclusion.

Christians in the Y too often fail to recognize the vast diversity that exists within there own faith tradition; it’s naive to think that the differences between Protestants and Catholics are irrelevant, or that the tension between conservative and liberal Christians is insignificant.

Factor in the generational and geographic, ethnic and racial dimensions of diversity as it is expressed through religion, and Christians will discover an incredible variety.

But rather than enter into the complexity of a diverse and global Christianity in their YMCA, Christian leaders too often over-emphasize a private expression of faith, or a bland version that doesn’t want to offend anyone, or a suppression of any public religious expression.

What if the YMCA of the USA embraced a intentionally public, responsible, honesty about its extremely religious origins in George Williams and Thomas Sullivan, in Anthony Bowen and John Mott, etc.?

What if the Young Men’s Christian Association cultivated a care-full spirit of mutual respect for the vast diversity of Christians who founded the Y, and for the complicated and rich Christian traditions which nourished the YMCA which we enjoy and steward today?

It could then more robustly and wisely critique that within the diverse Christian traditions which undermines or corrupts equitable inclusion in our generation.

So why does it seem that the Y is sometimes awkwardly embarrassed about the “C” in our name?

I won’t pretend to know all the reasons, and I would welcome many honest responses from readers.

From what I have heard and seen though, my understanding of the conflicted identity is rooted in the three reasons I listed earlier: secularity & pluralism, violence & hypocrisy, science & positivism; it’s a cultural/religious revolution deeply affecting Western civilization and the global community.

This means, at some level, we aren’t even sure what it means to identify as Christian now, belief in God is contested and seemingly unnecessary for the pursuit of happiness; especially when it comes to managerial and economic decisions, prayer seems less effective than benchmarks and best practices.

Yet: religion just won’t go away.

The Y can draw on powerful historical and contextual realities as resources for animating an inclusive Christianity which honestly respects our diversity while strengthening how we responsibly care for all we embrace.

Or the Y can continue to awkwardly stumble into a complex religious-shaped future conflicted about its identity and how to bring healing and hope to our society’s most dangerous and vicious evils.

If I was going to make some proposals for how a more robust Faith as a Dimension of Diversity could empower the Y to flourish as an anti-racist, multi-cultural institution – I would offer up these as a conversation starter:

  • Elevate faith/belief/religion as a dimension of diversity
  • Responsibly respect the existential and overarching reality religion and faith traditions have cross-culturally, trans-nationally, and inter-generationally
  • Cultivate care-full honesty about Y members/staff/volunteers experiences with the best of and worst of religion – for the sake of healing, wisdom, and mutual empathy
  • Resuscitate our gratitude and indebtedness to Christian Y workers in the past for their religious motivations – ie. invention of basketball or camping, George Williams organizing and John Mott’s fundraising, etc.
  • Become curious to the ways many different Y workers have religious motivations for their service, and how it is mixed with other motivations.
  • Celebrate our identity as a Christian Association which strives to be welcoming and hospitable to people from all types of religious and faith traditions, as well as every kind of dimension of diversity.
  • Have YUSA publicly engage in the Paris Basis and Challenge 21
  • Be willing to openly critique behavior of Christians in the Y who are behaving badly, without it resulting in the suppression of Christianity as a result.
  • Be willing to embrace the complexity of public expressions and embodiment of faith in the Y as a way to model for our 2,000 communities how we can do grace-full and faith-full inclusion.

Here are some concluding observations of this post: if I was going to frame in a historically positive way the different kinds of Diverse and Global Christians in the Y since 1844, I would describe them as Evangelical, Ecumenical, Equitable.

George Williams was Evangelical, with an ecumenical and equitable heart.

John Mott became Ecumenical from his evangelical spirit, and raised enormous sums of money for equitable causes.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is our inspiration for Equitable, who embodied an ecumenical yearning with evangelical zeal.

If you had a primary pulse as a Christian in the Y these days, who do most resonate with for how they embodied their faith – George, John, Martin?

If you’re like me, all of them are central to how Christianity can be embodied today in the Y!

But if we revise their Y story and minimize the role of religion, we undercut their powerful example of ways Christianity can inspire, unite, and heal.

It is always easier to critique and see the log in the eye of Christianity; its failures are legendary, some chilling and evil; but: if people are not defined by their worst moments, let’s not do that with any religion or faith tradition.

May many more humble and dedicated conversations continue to multiply around ways we can strengthen faith as a dimension of diversity towards flourishing for all.

What would you propose for a healthier and stronger Faith as a Dimension of Diversity in the YMCA?

What are some examples you have for ways Faith as a Dimension of Diversity has positively contributed to flourishing for all in your Y?

For more on this theme read Is The YMCA Still Religious? Still Christian?

The YMCA & Forgiveness For All

The YMCA & Forgiveness For All :: June 6 is YMCA Founders Day, when we remember Sir George Williams and his 11 Christian friends who prayerfully and courageously started the Y in 1844. We celebrate all who have inspired the Y to be for all, empowered by the life and love of Christ Jesus. In these difficult times, we need the Y more than ever to support and train our members on how to do forgiveness for all. This will deepen our inclusive equity work in our communities. Read for more on this proposal.

The emphasis on inclusion in the YMCA is admirable and crucial.

For Christians in the Y we see inclusion as central to our original purpose, which is why we highlighted the prayer of Jesus “that we all may be one” in our early logo (John 17:21).

The adapting logos of the YMCA since 1881

The religious and social motivations for initiating the Young Men’s Association are an example of what radical inclusion looked like in 1844 industrial London.

On Founders Day, June 6, YMCA’s pause to remember Sir George Williams and his 11 Christian friends who prayerfully launched the Y in order to save young men in spirit, mind and body.

Sir George Williams, London

Here we are, almost 180 years later, benefiting from their religiously and socially inclusive work, still striving to keep living out our mission; remarkable really.

Inclusion in the YMCA and our world has gotten more difficult and complicated, for many reasons which include globalization, technological and proliferation of social media, and cross-cultural human migration.

More diverse people are more uprooted from their traditions and tribes, are more scattered across the globe, and thus more kinds of different people must interact with each other.

It doesn’t always go well.

Which is why the Y is so wise to emphasize inclusion the way it does.

However, one element I have rarely ever seen taught in the YMCA regarding inclusion is the practice of forgiveness.

What happens when people are bigoted and exclusionary? Is this just a misunderstanding? Is it just lack of understanding? Is it at least a character flaw? An area for improvement? Is prejudice wrong or just unpreferred?

Can we call bigotry “sin” in the Young Men’s Christian Association?

If we can, then we open up opportunities to really nurture a transformation in the spirit, mind and body of our fellow members that hold on to ugly stereotypes and bigoted habits.

To be honest, every single Y member has some kind of prejudice that they have to work on. If bigotry and prejudice foment hate and violence, we need a strong word and concept to describe it: sin.

Within the Christian tradition of the Y there are beautiful examples and practices for people to be transformed from sin-full exclusive bigots to grace-full inclusive neighbors.

One example is the life and teachings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His Christian faith was undeniably central and crucial to his accomplishments for civil rights and a just peace.

When MLK taught about inclusion, it required teaching about and modeling forgiveness.

The Y is at a place in our inclusion work where we need to recover the teaching and practice of forgiveness. Without it we will have slogans with no spirit, policies to embody but no way to recover from hurt hearts and broken promises.

Social responsibility and being for all includes the practice of forgiveness – this is what enables there to be any kind of diverse social cohesion and survive the chronic misunderstandings and human foibles.

If the Y is as serious as we say we are about our inclusive mission, we must utilize our Christian heritage, in particular its tradition on forgiveness.

The brokenness and violence in our communities is more than just poverty of jobs and resources, it’s the sinful spirit of us all without recourse for letting go of grudges and making amends.

If nothing else, for the majority of Y members that identify with a Christian tradition, the Y ought to resurrect specifically Christian teachings on forgiveness so that Christian Y members who are racist or bigoted or holding on to grudges have proximity in the Y to the Jesus of John 17:21.

When it comes to forgiveness for all, where to start for resources and models?

For the many Christians in the Y, we start with Jesus Christ and what he taught and modeled on forgiveness. The Y ought to explicitly endorse and encourage Christian Y members to be more like Christ Jesus. It’s needed, no?

It’d be worth remembering and reflecting on the Christian sermons of Rev. Martin Luther King, especially the collected in the edition Strength To Love in particular his writings on forgiveness for all.

For a fresh and startling Christian perspective on forgiveness for all, I strongly recommend these provocative reflections by Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish Christian who wrote extensively around the time that George Williams was forming the YMCA. Kierkegaard was also a deeply formative influence on MLK. And me, for what it matters.

Take these Christian comments on forgiveness for all by Kierkegaard and reflect on them with a humble, inclusive spirit and mind.

I think they could be a powerful catalyst for Christians in the YMCA to reawaken as a powerful force for radical inclusion and reconciliation, healing and just mercy, inspired by the truth and grace of Christ Jesus.

That Jesus Christ died for my sins certainly shows how great his grace is, but it also shows how great my sins are.

Christ abandoned ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ and turned the relationship around. He introduced a different like-for-like: as you relate yourself to others, so God relates himself to you. Forgiveness is to forgive.

To forgive sins is divine not only in the sense that no one is able to do it except God, but also because no one can do it without God.

It is God’s joy to forgive sins. Just as God is almighty in creating out of nothing, so he is almighty in uncreating something; for to forget is to uncreate something.

When I hate someone or deny that God is their Father, it is not they who lose, it is I. It is I who then have no Father. With unforgiveness there is always the reversed echo.

The anguished conscience alone understands Christ.

Is this the test: to love Christ more dearly than mother and father, than gold and goods, than honor and reputation? No, the test is this: to love the Savior more than your sin.

God created out of nothing – marvelous you say. Yes of course but he does something more marvelous- he creates saints out of sinners.

You will get a deep insight into the state of Christianity in each age by seeing how it treats Judas.

Father in heaven! Hold not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins, so that the thought of you when it wakens in our soul, and each times it wakens, should not remind us of what we have committed but of what you forgave, not of how we went astray, but of how you saved us!

The need for forgiveness is a sign that one loves God. But both parts correspond to one another – when a person does not comprehend what a great sinner he is, he cannot love God; and when he does not love God, he cannot comprehend how great a sinner he is. The consciousness of sin is the very passion of love. Truly the law makes one a sinner, but love makes one a far greater sinner! It is true that the person who fears God and trembles feels himself to be a sinner, but the person who in truth loves feels himself to be an even greater sinner.

You may think that the sin remains just as great whether it is forgiven or not, since forgiveness neither adds nor subtracts. But this is not so. Rather, when you refuse to forgive you increase the sin. Does not your hardness of heart become yet one more sin? Ought not this be brought into the reckoning as well?

All Kierkegaard quotes in this article taken from Provocations, pgs 283-287
For more YMCA resources on forgiveness for all, try out this devotion series called Living Stones developed by Y leaders.