let's not forget the extremist for love.

This photo (taken by Melissa Scott) was at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade at the historic Sweet Auburn District this past Monday. Just across the street from this picture was the church Dr. Martin Luther King preached at, Ebeneezer Baptist Church. This part of Atlanta is full of deep history.

This is part of a response of a letter from Dr. King to a few fellow clergymen who accused him for being an extremist. It was written on April 16th, 1963 from a Birmingham jail:

"Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

I encourage you to read the whole letter here.:
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
It's encouraging to hear how loving and gentle one man can be, sitting in a jail cell, once again, for something his conscious tells him to stand up for. Please, dig in.