Just Thoughts: Building a Just Kingdom

 “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Martin Luther King Jr.

All of us need to embrace that wisdom, refuse discouragement and continue doing what we can to resist the forces of empire and unlock those “Gates of Hell.”

The words above end a blog posting written by theologian Michael Rivage-Seul, in response to the readings of a couple weeks ago. Martin Luther King Jr’s remarks seem exactly right, but they leave out a couple of important points. One point is that it’s not a straight arc toward justice. It’s more like a long and winding road. It’s the old idea of two steps forward and one step back (and often many steps sideways!). We can’t let ourselves be discouraged by the hard road to justice.

The other important thing MLK’s remarks leave out is the role of human beings enacting God’s plan for justice, for the Beloved Community. It takes all the energy, ingenuity, labor, and will of human beings, cooperating with the will of God, as best as it can be discerned, to bring about this Just Kingdom. May this Kingdom Come! As we say in the Lord’s Prayer.

How do we work to bring about God’s Just Kingdom without getting exhausted or discouraged? In part, we do it with friends, in community, working together. We do it by not being impatient for results—God’s timetable is not our own. We can only do our part, do our best. And we do it by trying to maintain a balance in our lives: prayer, work, family, learning, fun, music, art, recreation, rest. The Lord’s Kingdom will come, will be achieved, if we all do our part, in partnership with God.

[Click here to get to Mike Rivage-Seul's blog: Mike's blog]