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The traditional themes for Advent are foundational to how we live our faith in Jesus Christ. The themes of Advent are hope, peace, joy and love. Each week we focus on one in light of the upcoming celebration of Christ’s birth into the world. 

As we journey through Advent this year, what if we think about these themes in light of racial justice? By doing so, I hope that we can see yet again how working for racial justice is part of our Christian discipleship, challenging and changing our own hearts as well as others’.  There’s no better guide to these Advent themes in light of racial justice than the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. I know that a lot of you are reading many contemporary books related to addressing the racism in our nation and church, but I encourage you to read MLK’s words, too, especially his sermons in light of these themes. As we reflect upon these historic words, we realize that we’re not in exactly the same context as he was then, but we recognize the same sense of urgency to address racial injustice and its deeply biblical basis.

The first Advent theme is hope. In MLK’s writings, he often says that people might be surprised how optimistic or hopeful he actually is as a person and, I would add, as a person of faith. He had great hope for what could be when he addressed the crowd in Washington, D.C. in August of 1963, declaring in spite of all the evidence to the contrary that he had a dream (dare we say hope) that racial justice and reconciliation is possible.

But then it was just a matter of a couple of weeks later when four little girls were killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was a direct affront to a dream, aimed at dashing all hope. MLK reflected on this a couple years (1967) later. He said in a Christmas Sermon on peace:

I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes, but in spite of that I close today by saying I still have a dream, because, you know, you can’t give up in life. If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all. And so today I still have a dream.

The second Advent theme is peace. MLK was an advocate for non-violence, a method of social change that refused to harm others. He insisted that people working for racial justice be trained and disciplined in non-violence. There were many who resisted this philosophy of social change, but MLK remained true to it.  Imagine women, men and children up against beatings, blasting hoses and dogs…and to remain non-violent. Yet it was these very images that are believed to have shifted hearts and minds for many at a high cost for these adherents to non-violence. 

As we work for racial justice today, people of color may need to reflect upon what non-violence means for them. I can speak as a white person of privilege! We need non-violence of hearts even in our efforts to bring people to a new awareness. In 1957, MLK said to group of students at UC Berkeley:

…the nonviolent resister does not seek to humiliate or defeat the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding…our aim is…to win the friendship of all of the persons who had perpetrated this system in the past. The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community.

Are our words as well as actions non-violent? Do they seek to humiliate or defeat others? Or in fact do they add to justice and reconciliation even in the speaking of truth?   

The third theme of Advent is joy. MLK’s joy was more embedded than articulated in his words and actions. We’ve all seen informal footage of him and his colleagues teasing and cajoling each other. But MLK did speak of happiness – a less theological term that speaks to what joy is —through service. Throughout his preaching and writing, he was clear that happiness only comes through service to others, commitment to something bigger than yourself:

Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

And he believed that “everybody can serve,” no matter who we are or what our gifts or limitations might be! It’s not what you know or what you have. As he said in his sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct” in February 1968: “You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

Speaking of love, a constant theme in MLK’s teachings and preaching. A word rarely used these days when we talk about working for racial justice. But it is the fourth theme of Advent that leads us to Christ. One of his most famous sayings about love, simple as it is: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Yet of course by love, he didn’t mean a sentimental emotion, based on whether we like someone, but because the other is a beloved child of God. In order to have a beloved community, we must be people who see in each other the face of God. As followers of Jesus, we are called to make hope, peace, joy and love incarnate in our very lives; those are the markers of discipleship. 

My prayer for you this Advent and Christmas is that you will become agents of incarnation, making real hope, peace, joy and love. Let us pray as MLK once prayed:

Use me, God.  Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.  

Amen.