We provide the readings, reflection, and a listing of music from our service each week at Sunshine Cathedral in Second Life. If you were unable to attend or simply do not use Second Life we are delighted to share this portion of our service with you.
Join us each week at Sunshine Cathedral in Second Life. Download the software and make your avatar at http://www.secondlife.com. Search Sunshine Cathedral in Classifieds to find your way to us. We meet each Sunday at 5pm EST/ 2pm SLT My name in Second Life is CristoferAslan Muircastle.
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Bending the Arc of the Moral Universe 20120115
(*Text for the reflection at the bottom of this page)
The Lessons
The Wisdom of Toni Vincent (“For Martin Luther King, Jr.”)
We gather once again to remember a fallen friend, and nourish ourselves from the fountain of reflections. [May our hearts be opened] to the anguish of our pain, to the tired taste of swallowed tears, and to our unrealized vision. In this place we bring our scattered lives together, groping for meaning and looking for truth.
…We continue our search for understanding of the mystery of the temporal.
…We wander through our memories, seeking pathways to the future.
…We unravel the implied imperatives of hopes unfulfilled.
Justice makes tireless demands, and we grow weary. As we touch one another in common cause, and with the great Spirit in our midst, Let us find the way and the courage to realize the dream which still lives within us.
Acts 19.1-7 (NRSV)
19While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7altogether there were about twelve of them.
Mark 1.9-11 (NIV)
9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
The Music
We Shall Overcome 4:45 Joan Baez Carry It On (Remastered) Singer/Songwriter 1
Lift Every Voice and Sing 3:03 Joslin Grove Choral Society 100 Best Loved Hymns Christian & Gospel 2
Spirit of Life 1:51 All Souls Choir Music from All Souls Christian & Gospel 4
Spirit of God Within Me 4:20 Michael Joncas God of Life and of the Living Christian & Gospel 6
Spirit 3:58 R. Kelly Happy People / U Saved Me R&B/Soul 1
Reflection Text
Bending the Arc of the Moral Universe
Tomorrow is the day set aside to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was tireless in his peaceful advocacy for the full rights of African-Americans in the US. Dr. King looked at segregated schools and inequality throughout American society and said this cannot be the way my children will live. He preached and marched, organized and trained leaders in non-violence. He was the face and the voice of a generation and his work, leadership, and sacrifice have brought about at least part of his dream.
In his time none of us could imagine the day when a black man would be president. We could not imagine black actors winning academy awards, or black coaches in the NFL. These things, so common place today, were unimaginable just a generation ago.
On April 4, 2008 President Barack Obama said this: "Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice...." I believe this is true. But what is it that gives us the courage and the strength to put our hand on that arc and bend it? I believe our readings give us the answer.
Our readings today speak of one common theme, the spirit of God, the holy Spirit. This is not some ghostly spirit, nor is it some ethereal concept. It is the real presence of the Divine moving in us. And we see it first in the gospel reading. Here we have Jesus going to John to be baptized in the Jordan. When he rose out of the water, the ritual cleansing in his act of repentance, he hears the voice of the Holy One saying that Jesus is beloved and the Spirit descends in the form of a dove. I’ve often wondered how many times Jesus thought about this experience when times got tough or when his work seemed hard.
The second instance is in our reading from Acts where Paul calls attention to a baptism not only of water but of the holy Spirit. This Spirit gives strength, courage, wisdom, and will to those of us who might otherwise live lives of quiet safety standing behind our own privilege instead of working for justice.
And our reading from Toni Vincent refers to the great Spirit in our midst, the vision of the realm of God that Jesus tried to teach us about. He says that “Justice makes tireless demands, and we grow weary.” But he encourage us to continue to be in relationship, to continue to work together for justice. Because when we work together we “touch one another in common cause.” The relationships we form in the struggle for justice reminds us of this great Spirit in our midst. Toni Vincent says that there is a dream, Dr. King’s dream, Ghandi’s dream, Jesus’ dream, that lives within us. And he reminds us that working together remembering the spirit of the Holy One in our midst gives us the courage to carry on the struggle.
We have not achieved the justice that Jesus preached. We do not yet feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, and clothe the naked. We still blame the poor for being poor and glorify material wealth as if it could add one second to our lives. But we can’t do it alone. And we can’t do it all at once. It’s our task to acknowledge the Spirit in our midst and simply work for justice in our own place and time. Little by little the moral arc of history bends toward justice. It bents slowly and not without our effort to bend it.
This week as we go out into the world let us look at injustice around us and acknowledge two things:
First that injustice exists.
Second that we can do something, even if it is a very small thing, to work for justice this week.
The Spirit of the Christ is with us, helping us, giving us strength, giving us courage, and showing us the way. All we have to do is acknowledge its presence and follow it’s leading. If we listen we, too, will hear the words, “this is my beloved child with whom I am well pleased.”
Amen.
