As we embark upon the celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2016, we are still faced with the same question Dr. King asked back in the sixties—Where do we go from here community or chaos?
Our world seems to be filled with chaos. There is confusion and division everywhere we look. We still have racial hatred plaguing our communities. Democrats and Republicans do not like each other. Women are still struggling up the economic ladder.
The amount of violence in all communities is on the rise. Things are chaotic. But where do we go from here? We are at a crossroads. We do not have stay in this place. We have a decision to make—community or chaos. We have the ability to turn our chaos back into a community. When God stepped out on the earth, it was chaotic. But God re-ordered everything, and from the light God created to the human being, God made a community that worked together. (Genesis 1)
One filled with peace and cooperation. Each thing was different, but it worked together. If we are willing to work together and allow our differences to bring about change, we can turn chaos into community. For us to come together this way as God’s creation, we must operate in a power that is greater than who we are—LOVE. We need to love more. We need to look beyond the faults and difference of people and love them. If we do not love like we should, it turns community into chaos. A relationship or situation devoid of love turns chaotic. We can force anyone to love us, we must choose to love.
We must make a choice to forgive someone, forget that a person is different than who we are, or the fact that they hurt us, we must choose to love. Love looks like humility. Love looks like accountability. Love looks like correction. Love looks like taking the high road. Love looks like community.
It is easy to hate. It is easy to stop speaking to someone or cuss someone out or cut someone off, but it takes strength to love, and that strength is the grace of God.
As we find the strength to love in our communities, we will bring able to bring about a beloved community, one absent of all forms of oppression, and one that expresses joy and love in all of its forms. In the beginning, there was chaos, let us go from here to community. That’s love.
