November 23, 2008
My favorite tourist site in Memphis, Tennessee was the Civil Rights museum. It truly was a surprise, since downtown Memphis itself was a disappointment. Much of the area was comprised of abandoned shops. It reminded me of Ogden in that it seemed like the little city that could. You could tell at one time there was something going on, and the city is trying to revitalize itself, yet it just can’t chug up that hill. The museum was formerly the hotel where MLK was staying when he was shot. In fact they kept his room in the same condition it was in when he was staying there. So I walked around with my headset, and tried to soak in the vast history of civil rights movement cruising the various interpretive displays and exhibits.
MLK bore witness to the truth. He preached for the end of time. He preached peaceful resistance to the racism that all African-Americans faced at that time. He was a prophet because he preached the ideals of the Kingdom of God. He followed in Christ’s footsteps by speaking out for all people who had no voice.
Jesus bore witness to the truth. He preached for the end of time. According to the Jews of Jesus’s time they expected this time to begin with the messiah. The world would be transformed. All people would live peacefully and give worship to the one God of all creation.
If we think of all revolutionary people who worked to bring greater justice, they seem to embody this idea that they work for the end of time. Dorothy Day and Mother Theresa, and countless others worked for those without voices and without influence. All of these people including the ones today who work either in Catholic Worker house or are in the Missionaries of Charity have a vision for the Kingdom of God. If they did not have the vision, I don’t think that they could do what they do. They would not have the energy to continue to build the Kingdom.
In the second Vatican council, the constitution in the Church in the modern world drafted this ideal for the end of time. It preached that the church and all of the people in the church must work towards building the kingdom of peace, justice and love. It said that all people must use their gifts to try to accomplish this noble goal. The Church cannot be silent but must be a voice in the world, yet not only the pope and bishops should raise their voices but all of the Christian faithful. All of the Christian faithful should use their God-given gifts to bring greater peace and love in the world.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel to stay awake, and not to become to focused on the present world. We must be aware of the Kingdom that is present and growing. Those who are like MLK and Mother Theresa are aware of the present state of the world but work to spread God’s Kingdom. The source of the Kingdom is the relationship between the father, son and holy spirit. We look towards the trinity if we are to discover what the Kingdom is. The trinity is the image of perfect love between father, son and holy Spirit. The father loves the son. He gives himself perfectly to the son holding nothing back. The son receives the father perfectly and loves him back. The father and son share the love for the spirit. So the kingdom of God is about giving love, receiving love, and sharing love. Within our communities and within our families, if we do not have these 3 elements in our lives then we may have a problem. We need to give love to others. We need to support them. We need to receive love. We need to allow others to support us. We need to share love. This is the image of the Christian community here gathered. We share love for God. We give and receive love from each other.
So we work for the end of time. This is the end of the liturgical year. We see in this week the end of time, when all that will be left is God the Father, the son, and Holy Spirit, and the communion of Saints. We wait for that time and we expect that time.