'Rosa Parks sat, so that King could walk, so that Obama could run, so that our children can fly'.
Yesterday, I quoted this at the end of my post. Afterwards, when pondering the next step in my argument, I realised I could see it in that quote from our local King / Obama celebration last night. The action of one woman, her determination to make a stand for justice by sitting, has had a ripple effect - she is known and is an inspiration to many in her own time and through to this day.
I read somewhere that our moods are affected by friends of our friends' friends. The moods of people three friendships away can still affect us even though we do not know them. So, perhaps it is possible that perfection (whether or not entire) has an incalculable impact, conscious and unconscious.
Theodore Runyon in The New Creation writes, 'One of the reasons Wesley is such an interesting figure is that he combines both an early stage of ... pietistic individualism and a vigorous protest against it.' (Page 103) It seems individualism emerged from pietism, reducing religion to what happens between the individual and their personal experience of God. 'Trinitarian spiritual energy not only constitutes the church but is its continuing dynamic. Human beings participate in this power and are incorporated into its dynamic ...'
Perhaps another example will help. President Obama invited nine people to his inauguration today because he found them an inspiration. In 1957 nine black students were enrolled into a previously all white school at Little Rock. Eventually troops had to be called in and the Little Rock Nine had to endure months of physical and mental abuse. They were young teenagers aged 14 and 15 and yet they persisted because they knew they were doing it for others.
This power that comes from non-violent courage; the ability to stand against evil and embody God's love, does not remain internal to individuals. It flows into the community, not even bounded by the Christian Community. How can it be that sanctification benefits all, not just Christians? Evangelists speak of Misseo Dei, the discovery that God's mission has gone before them. The mystery of the resurrection is that it opens up the possibility that the whole of humanity can participate in God's New Creation, perhaps unawares. I think this is also what Wesley meant by prevenient grace, the grace that becomes available to all through God's love expressed through ordinary people.
Comments