Only Light Can Do ThatSample

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.”

In a letter written from a jail cell in 1963, Dr. King explained why he had come to Alabama. He had just led one thousand people through town without a parade permit. Some people wished he would leave. They complained that Alabama was turning into an uncomfortable place to live because outsiders were coming to the state to protest. They thought that Black people were content with segregation, no representation, and being treated as less than human. These people accused Dr. King of bringing racial unrest to a peaceful place.

This was not true! In fact, only those complaining people were comfortable with racism. They didn’t notice the burning crosses, the murders, the unemployment, and the limited housing that their Black neighbors suffered. They didn’t notice that racism had made their state into a place of constant violence. They didn’t notice because their hearts were blind to injustice.

Racism hurts everyone. Black people were the victims of racial violence, but White people were also damaged. They limited their own humanity by the ways they treated other people as less. They got used to the way of violence. This is what Dr. King meant when he said, "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." We are all apart of one community.

A network is a system connecting things or people. The civil rights movement was a justice network created to stop the violent network of racism. The movement included all kinds of people who understood that human rights for Black people would improve the entire country. They understood that the fight for equal rights benefits everyone.

In the book of Hebrews, the author talked about the importance of encouraging one another. Following Jesus means understanding that believers are connected in one faith community. We are connected to the people in the past who showed faith in God. We are connected to people in the present, too, for mutual support.

You get to decide what kind of network you want to be part of. Will you pause your life to help people in need and encourage others to join you?

Stand up for justice, anywhere and everywhere.

Lord, give me eyes to see the network of love, and join it.