Ring the Alarm

Pull the Alarm
Originally uploaded by lanecia

"Too often the price exacted by a society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless people." -Howard Thurman

In the book 40-Day Journey with Howard Thurman (which I'm reading during this "Little Lent"), they suggest a prayer following this Thurman quote: "Pray for the church, that it may constantly and humbly wonder if it is faithfully following the way of Jesus, which is the way of love and justice."

What a beautiful church, the one that would daily put this prayer before the heartbeat of the congregation, that would question all of its ministries that do not align with this prayer, that would ring the alarm when they discover the path they are on makes a mockery of the very nature of Christ and then believe in the depths of their being that another way is, indeed, very possible.

I am receiving quotes and questions from Thurman that mimic my daily critique and frustration with the church today. What have we become? What are we becoming?

May we always question and desire . . .