It was the year after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination that the thin paperback version of his Strength to love was published and, it appears, I bought it for 80 cents! This is another of those thin books, but again not with ‘thin theology’.
King was famous for his sermons, so many preached in public gatherings in the civil rights movement, to which he gave his life. Literally, in the sense of his living, and not just his dying. For King would in fact have preferred to be an academic and scholar. By disposition, he preferred the study and reflection which are evident in his addresses to the events themselves.
In this little book of 15 sermons or addresses, his theology is evident. It is not a dogmatic theology, formulated around doctrines as such, but rather a theology engaged with the demanding issues of his context. That is indeed his theology: and nothing about it is ‘thin’. I would like to demonstrate that with reference to just three of the addresses.
First, though, to note the range of themes addressed in the book: ‘Love in action’; ‘Loving your enemies’; ‘Shattered dreams’; ‘Antidotes for fear’; ‘Pilgrimage to nonviolence’. King’s great gift was to address profound human struggles, which he analysed with insight and deep empathy, with a scriptural and theological vision of God’s way of justice and peace. Never does he pretend that faith means an escape from the challenges of life. Nor does he allow those who oppress his people to substitute religion for authentic discipleship.
My first example is his sermon A tough mind and a tender heart. This sermon was based on Matthew 10. 16, where Jesus urged his followers to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. King contrast soft and tough mindedness. He drew upon the propagandist dictum, articulated by Hitler, for instance, that shrewd lies, ‘unremittingly repeated’, can convince people of what have now been labelled ‘alternative facts’.
It is necessary, in the struggle for justice and freedom, to maintain a tough mindedness, both individually and as a community. But it is also essential to maintain a tender heart. Thus on page 15 King first introduces the idea of non-violent resistance—which he had learned from his study of Gandhi. This combination of tough-mindedness and tender-heartedness, he said, ‘avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the soft-minded and the violence and bitterness of the hard-hearted.’ In this way it is possible to oppose the unjust system and yet love the perpetrators of the system. That is the hope!
King goes on immediately to affirm that this seemingly impossible hope is groudned in the nature of God: here again, theology, strong and, if you will, ‘thick’!
The greatness of our God lies in the fact that he is both tough-minded and tender-hearted. … The Bible is always clear in stressing both attributes of God, expressing his tough-mindedness in his justice and wrath and his tender-heartedness in his love and grace. God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace.
In a much longer reflection, based on an image of Jesus related in Luke 11, about a neighbour asking for help at midnight, King spoke about the midnight angst of individuals, the whole society, and his own community, and experiences in such times as the Montgomery bus boycott. He observed a moral malaise, when people sense that their values and principles are somehow losing meaning—and it is in this midnight situation that people ‘desperately seek to obey the eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt not get caught”. According to the ethic of midnight, the cardinal sin is to get caught and the cardinal virtue is to get by.’ (p.58).
After further exploration of both the biblical parable and the moral ambiguities of the current social and religious environment, King observed, ‘Midnight is a confusing hour when it is difficult to be faithful. The most inspiring word that the church may speak is that no midnight long remains.’
King went on to recount the events of November 1956, at the height of the Montgomery struggle. At the regular weekly mass meeting, he felt he had to tell his followers the truth: it looked very much as if the ‘system’ had won and the communal car-pooling system would be ruled illegal. He wanted nonetheless to conclude on a note of hope. All this time, he said, we have moved ‘in the daring faith that God is with us in the struggle. The many experiences of days gone by have vindicated that faith in a marvellous way. Tonight we must believe that a way will be made out of no way.’
The next day, there seemed every reason to believe that they had lost, until a message came through that the Supreme Court of the United States had ruled that the bus segregation in Montgomery was unconstitutional.
King simply commented, referring to all those forms of midnight he had described: ‘The dawn will come.’
Late in this collection we find a profoundly personal reflection on the benediction found in Jude, verse 24: ‘Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling.’ Here, Martin Luther King directly relates his own challenge to trust God, acknowledging that in many ways modern humans do not need God as perhaps other generations may have. Nonetheless, when we are truly up against the forces of violence and death, King’s simple confession is, ‘Only God is able.’ He recounts the impact upon himself of anonymous phone calls threatening his life and those of his family. He was warned that he would very soon regret that he ever came to Montgomery (where he had accepted the call to serve a Baptist church).
Late at night, one such call shook him profoundly, as his wife and children slept along the hallway. He put the situation simply to God: Having stood up for what he knew was right, he is at the end of his powers, and if his own strength fails, so too the people will lose hope. ‘I have nothing left. I can’t face it alone.’ Then comes this exceptional response:
At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.” Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm. (p. 113)
It was just three nights later that his home was bombed—yet KIng accepted the situation with the calm that he believed he had received from God, and indeed was able to comfort and assure others as they continued the struggle.
This is what he meant by ‘the strength to love’. In many ways, foolishness. It cost him his life. But this was the hope he had received and handed on, in the rich tradition of the Christian and Hebrew scriptures. The strength is not in us, alone. The community was a deep source of encouragement, even as they struggled together. But in the darkest moments, at midnight, King found a presence that casts out fear and darkness: a love stronger than death. That strength enabled him to continue, with a tough mind and tender heart.
I am so grateful for this thin book, with its now yellowed pages, and all the inspiration I have received from its profound insights.