Stand With Me On The Arc of the Moral Universe

I sat at the table in that old church as we planned the new ministry that would take place on Wednesday evenings. We would gather for a meal, open the church for the community, provide a place for young adults to come and mingle, maybe even play basketball, and a space for adults to talk about life and such things. As the meeting moved along in its planning stages I piped up and said I’ll provide the meal. Weeks later the pastor told me that if I hadn’t step up to cook, we may not have had meals. I remember expressing back to the pastor that I knew I would not be alone in the work of planning and cooking the meals. Just as I expected, the cooks of the church stepped up with me and helped cook most all the meals.

When I think of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressing his belief that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” I’m reminded of that feeling that I don’t step into this work alone. That this work of co-creating with God the beloved community is communal work and I stand with all those who are looking out into the world, gazing with an eye towards the spiritual, and feel the need to do something better than what we cannot unsee.

For you see we must take our place on this arc in order that collectively we stand and put our full weight and that we do our part to bend our collective morals towards justice.

Let us read that again: the universe is calling us all to put our full weight and do our part to bend our collective morals towards justice.

We are not talking about vengeful justice or justice that is based on retribution. We are not talking about a justice that begins with anger, punishment, or an economic growth model. We are talking about Divine justice. A way of ordering the universe so that all have a piece and place. So that all have the sustenance to live, and all have the freedom to thrive as fully human. A world that, a God, that is concerned with matters of abundance and enough for everyone instead of a worldview or a theology based on hoarding for our own gain at the expense of others.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may not have thought of the moral arc of the universe the way that I am describing it. I do believe that in a spiritual sense, a real-world sense, Martin stood strong and tall on that moral arc and helped bend it towards racial and economic justice.

Much the same way Jesus stood with the full weight of His divinity and His life in order that a new way of ordering the systems of the world would be born. One based on God’s abundance instead of a theology of scarcity that only serves the empire of greed and power.

Jesus may be, I dare proclaim that He is, God’s example of standing on the arc of the universe and bending our collective morals towards justice. We must ask ourselves in our own time and place in history, is the church going to take a stand on this arc so that we do our part to make sure that in our lifetime it bends. Too many times the church has stood idly by as the arc stays flat and anchored in the status quo of scarcity, oppression, and violence. We can think of the German church during the time of Hitler and our own churches in the United States during slavery as two examples of the church standing idly by instead of putting the full weight on the arc to bend our morals towards justice.

I wonder if God is calling each of us, beckoning us all, come, stand with me. Let us break the levy of greed and hoarding so that the rivers of justice flow and nourish the entirety of humanity. I wonder if we, the church, can consider ourselves standing hand in hand with Jesus in order that we bend the collective morals towards God’s justice.

I invite you to come and stand with me on the arc of universe in our time and place in history lest it stay flat, always heading towards the status quo, anchored in the false and sinful idols of economy and self-centeredness. 

Sometimes it may feel tiring, depressing, soul crushing even. But I promise you we are not alone. We are standing on the shoulders of our ancestors of justice, with Jesus, with Martin and others and that there are more of us standing tall and strong to create something better than what we cannot unsee.

When God invites us, we are not alone in this work. God puts people and entities in our path so that when we say here, I am, standing strong, we know that we are not alone. The Divine Presence, in all its images and forms, is not just calling us, it is standing with us to create a more just world for all of humanity. When we decide to step with strength and intentionality, we are deciding to be carpenters and co-creators with the God of this expanding universe. We are doing our part create a more just world for all of God’s children.

Come.

Stand with me on the collective moral arc of the universe as we bend it towards justice for everyone.

Trust me.

The good cooks will show up and help.

Most important: God shows up with us.