I have been trying to keep my posts short because according to this blogger one of the essentials of having others read your blog is keeping it short.  I have this sneaking suspicion I am going to fail this time around.    Here is how this will work:  I am going to give you a quote, write a few words, and then give you the author of the quote.  I would like to ask you to read it, guess who the author is, then finish reading (or go to the answer at the end). This person was labeled an extremist.  Here is his answer:

“As I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.  Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”  Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.”  And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”  And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”  So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be.  Will we be extremists for the preservation of justice or the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified.  We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime-the crime of extremism.” (Note: there is more but that will suffice).

First, write down who you think made that quote.  Now for a comment or two.  As I have stated recently, I have been reading The Hole in Our Gospel and this quote comes from that book.  I am having to rethink some of my ministry focus as God continues to work on me.  I have never been one for promoting justice per se, but am now questioning where I need to speak up.  We talk a lot about relevance and churches go to a lot of trouble to be “relevant” in their approach, programs, and “projected demeanor” (my word).  But is it possible that in all of our attempts at being “relevant” we have actually become irrelevant?  To not speak out for the cause of justice is showing we have lost our relevance.  To not speak out for the orphans and widows in our country and in others (like sponsoring a child through World Vision or Compassion); to not speak out against human trafficking; to not speak out against mistreatment of homosexuals (without accepting their lifestyle); to not speak out against homelessness- are they not all evidence of our irrelevance?  Those are  just a glimpse of what I am wrestling with/through.

How do you feel about these issues?  Are you an extremist when it comes to them?  Do you find yourself just turning a blind eye to those less fortunate? I have been and with God’s help…no more.  I would like to hear your thoughts.

Answer: Dr. Martin Luther King in “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.”  (1963)