Saturday, January 13, 2007

rage against complacency




"What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: "Faith, hope and love"?

That sounds beautiful. But I would say -- courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature... we lack a holy rage -- the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of a God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth... a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God's earth, and the destruction of God's world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against the complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.

And remember -- the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish... but never the chameleon."

Kaj Munk, Danish priest. He was killed shortly after delivering his sermon by the Gestapo in 1944. His words continue to ring true.


6 comments:

paris parfait said...

Amen, amen and amen!

JP (mom) said...

I think all faiths need to stand up and say: WE choose Peace, WE choose Humanity, WE choose Grace, WE choose Tolerance, WE choose Compassion and WE choose Forgiveness.

Bar L. said...

Thank you for sharing his powerful speech - its so true.

Rainbow dreams said...

I have never read this before - thanks for sharing this message, where did you come across it?

That it does ring true all these years later is tragic...

awareness said...

Hi there.

I literally stumbled across it this morning while searching for some other topic completely. It stopped me in my tracks, especially when I read a bit about the author. Not only was he a priest, he was a playwright and activist.....

Sunny said...

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light"

True, true.