The Beloved Community

The Beloved Community

(to be published March 21, 2009, Centre Daily Times)

The election and inauguration of America's first African American president made some feel, with a sense of awe, that Martin Luther King’s dream was realized. Even with the economy sliding downward, some saw God’s hand in our history and politics.

Current economic stress calls us to work to realize King’s “other dream” as well—his dream of a Beloved Community. More than 50 years ago he said, "We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. There is still a voice crying out in terms that echo across the generations, saying, 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you, that you may be children of your Father which is in Heaven': ...The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community."

The Beloved Community means divine love made real in our social relations—the way we live with one another, the way we treat each other and care about each other.

Beauty for brokenness, Hope for despair
Lord, in your suffering world, This is our prayer:
Bread for the children, Justice, joy, peace
Sunrise to sunset, Your kingdom increase!

God of the poor, Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts, Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love, From a spark to a flame...

Graham Kendrick’s beautiful hymn communicates that walls of shame and suffering may divide people from one another. One person remarked to me recently that we are extremely uncomfortable talking about our economic problems even with a pastor or other members of our faith community.

Another noted that even if we are all occupied with the current economic crisis, some are barely affected, while others suffer devastatingly: If we lose a job or a home, or suffer the threat of living in poverty, we can feel isolated: No matter what others are going through, the pain, grief, and humiliation feel like ours alone. The suffering is intensely lonely, like a grave illness. Even friends who might help cannot get through our misery.

Is there a way churches and other faith communities can create “safe spaces” for members (and others?) to share about their economic problems? Can faith communities mobilize, organize, and empower economically challenged members—and all who care—into support groups, to help themselves and others as well, especially those who have no way to pay, and in turn help meet members’ own needs for personal dignity, meaningful work, and basic sustenance? Chore services for low-income elderly; safe childcare that allows people to hold part-time jobs or attend classes; community gardening; etc., etc. Possibilities generated could be endless if we get together and put our minds to it. Continued and deepening economic difficulty calls loudly for us to create Martin Luther King’s “other dream,” the Beloved Community.

Sarah Q. Malone, an ordained minister, serves as a deacon at University Baptist and Brethren Church.