Ask not

As with the MLK post, this comes from Google bringing to my attention the fact that today is the 50th anniversary of John F Kennedy's inaugurational speech.

Id never read/heard the whole speech. But people (including my very un-knowledgable self) know it because of the phrase: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". This sentence, in an of itself is pretty iconic, though we can miss its true context if we don't see what comes before, and what comes after it. I believe that if we do, we will know the "whats" that Kennedy speaks of.

There are three other sentences that caught my attention as I read this speech, the first is: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich". Yet still today the rich have their needs and wants over indulged and the poor continue to struggle, we do not see it as a responsibility of a free society to change this, on the contrary, we see our freedom as an excuse NOT to help. We say to ourselves "why should I? I'm free to do what ever I want, they are free as well, I'm not the one holding them back" How ignorant and selfish we become, when we do not help the least of these, I believe Jesus had something to say about "the least of these", but then again we don't tend to do what HE told us to do. Oh how foolish we are.

The second quote is: "(The) common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself". All of which we expect our government to take care of for us, and since we do, we don't tend to worry or do very much about it; well probably every four to eight years or so when we are called to cast a vote. Biblically, where do we stand? I can bring to the front verses like: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, to which we add, unless he attacks you first then you can attack him back, (did you not pay attention in kindergarten, its always the kid that hits back that gets in trouble), we are called to care for the poor and diseased, but we once again answer, I pay my taxes let someone else do it, or I guess someone else must be doing it, i haven't meet any poor people lately, OPEN your eyes, the poor are all around us. Diseases, not just physical but also of character are spreading. And war, well now a days we usually forget we are at war. I mean, it has no effect on our daily lives, we hear about it on the news and it doesn't even register anymore.

The third is probably my favorite, it comes immediately after the "ask not what your country..." part but i bet that not even the people who heard the speech on the day it was given really heard it. It says "My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
And so America ended up with this "hero" complex that we have not been able to shake off. Like the Beatles sing "we all wanna save the world". And since we do we split the world into three categories: the ones being saved, the ones being saved from and the ones doing the saving. Ironically, the ones being saved don't always ask to be saved, the ones being saved from never thought they were doing anything wrong, and the ones doing the saving are the ones that get away with murder. Ohh! what a tangled web we weave.
Let us all, brothers and sisters in this world, truly come together for the freedom of man, but freedom from what? Ahh! the true question is being asked. To which I answer simply: ourselves.

Because in ourselves we create our own condemnation, we sin, and its all over. Ohh to have been Adam and Eve before the fall. But yet, here we are, thousands of year later, and we still have that special something that Adam and Eve had before the fall, its our relationship with Christ, his death for us, it untangles the entrails of ourselves and brings forth this glorious redemption. We are made new, we are free! and what do we do with our freedom, sadly we forget about those still enslaved.
So let us not forget, let us see the poor and by such save the rich, let us overcome the common enemies of man and work together to bring about the freedom of man.

Once again some thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. (i know im a day late)

A couple of years ago I was introduced to a speech given by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. during the Vietnam war (here), which in my heart became a comparison to the current war we are in (yes folks we are at war!, i think i a lot of the time we forget). Today I am once again looking (un-biastly, which I know is hard for a lot of you) at a speech given by Dr King, this one is entitled "Paul's Letter to American Christians" .

There is a 1900 year gap between Paul and Martin Luther King, and now a 55 year gap between Dr King and us now, in this moment of 2011. Goodness how the times have changed, and just as King says in his speech, we have made many advances, though where has it left us morally as a country? Has our moral and spiritual developments kept pace with everything else?

He speaks of our technological advancements, capitalism, segregation in the church both racially and denominationally. He brings these things to the table to be seen in a eternal perspective. These things that in 1956 were at the heart of the speaker, the eyes of the nation, and the pulpits of the church.

The speech is ended in an exhortation to LOVE; and before I loose you because the first thing that comes to mind is SEX, let me bring back a lesson in Greek that many of us learned in Jr High youth group (but have not been able to truly comprehend until now that our hormones aren't crazy!) the LOVE he is speaking of is not EROS love, but AGAPE love, love unconditionally, love in spite of our failures, love that makes us do crazy things even though we have thought them through logically, love that builds, love that endures. Love for those who do not deserve or have earned it. This is what we are called to.

Oh! Christian, that you would take up your cross, bring forth the life that you have been called to. Let not your burdens hold you back, let not your failures intimidate you, stop over thinking and analyzing and start DOING.

Link to Martin Luther King Jr's speech "Paul's Letters to American Christians"

and then we begin a new year

I was ready for 2010 to be over. Usually at the end of the year i make a picture montage to show what the year was like, this year, i was just ready to be done with it, no looking back, only looking forward.
I don't know what 2011 have in store, and that is a glorious feeling. It almost feels like a new book is starting, not just a new chapter, but a whole new book.
I do have a list of "fun" things i am hoping to accomplish this year. Things like camping, seeing the grand canyon, traveling to a new city, going home and visiting old friends, climb a considerable mountain.
Another big goal for 2011 is to develop my Etsy store more. I need to get some creative juices flowing for valentines day things. There are also other holidays that needs some advanced though.
This is all for now, we still have 348 of the year left, lets make good use of them.