On the Call to Love - In Memoriam of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mr. George Floyd (part two of three)
I write today in honor and in memoriam of Martin Luther King, Jr and Mr. George Floyd. In my blog post over a year and a half ago for the anniversary of the murder of Mr. George Floyd I wrote about righteous anger and personal and systemic resistance to change.
On the Two Year Anniversary of Mr. George Floyd's Murder
Today, as we celebrate the memory and birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., I call to mind Dr. King's focus on love, which pervaded his thought, actions and being. As a Christian, Dr. King's call to love required spiritual growth and expansion.
"Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit."1
This braiding together of humility, strength and love allows the power of God to flow in and through us as we act daily, with courage, on behalf of justice. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cardondelet, St. Paul Province, share this focus on love as they boldly identify their mission statement, "moving always toward the profound love of God and neighbor without distinction." Yet, understanding the importance of the dynamic of self-love in pursuing this mission is also important.
In my own life and in my work as a spiritual coach, I often encounter the challenge of working with people who are growing in their own capacity to love themselves. The second part of the Great Commandment asks people to love their neighbors as themselves (Mark 12: 28-31), yet in truth, we may not love ourselves very much. We may not know how to actively love ourselves and hence cannot actively love our neighbors. Dr. King notes this spiritual challenge as well.
In a sermon entitled, "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," King refers to a book, Peace of Mind, by Rabbi Joshua Liebman. King argues along with Liebman that,
"before we can love other selves adequately we must love our own selves properly. And many people have been plunged into the abyss of emotional fatalism because they didn’t love themselves properly. So we have a legitimate obligation: be concerned about ourselves. We have a legitimate obligation to set out in life to see what we are made for, to find that center of creativity, for there is within all of us a center of creativity seeking to break forth, and we have the responsibility of discovering this, discovering that life’s work."2
Loving ourselves and letting God love us opens our spirits to the action of God's Spirit in our lives. It frees us to open up to "breadth of life is that outward concern for the welfare of others." This balances love of self along with imaginative and risky altruism.3
Finally, King calls us to mind the cosmic nature of love which connects us to God and all of creation. In a note, likely from the mid 1960s, King wrote that "Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God."4
My desire is that in serving as a school of love, Wisdom Ways can help each of us to grow daily in just and active love, no matter how we experience our spiritual path.
For reflection: How are you called to grow in love and in understanding of racism in the United States today?
For action: Visit and explore the website of The King Center's website and their call to Be Love. Read and consider taking the pledge. Be Love
1 Martin Luther King, Jr, Strength to Love, New York, NY: Beacon Press (1981) 17.
3 The Three Dimensions.
4 See https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/09/us/martin-luther-king-jr-handwritten-note-for-sale-trnd/index.html.