Following Jesus May Lead to Good Trouble

Deacon’s Corner

Following Jesus May Lead to Good Trouble

Summary: In every human being there is spark of divinity.

On Thursday, the five-year anniversary of Rep. John Lewis’s death, tens of thousands of people around the world stood up to protest the policies of discrimination that are taking hold of our nation. Perhaps you were one of them.

The name for the Good Trouble Lives On protests comes from the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis. Lewis insisted it was important to engage in "good trouble, necessary trouble" in order to achieve positive social change. 

The son of sharecroppers, Lewis preached to the chickens as a child. As a young man, he took part in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery - a day that would become known as “Bloody Sunday.”

His deep faith in both God and humanity drove his life. An ordained minister, his religious beliefs demanded his activism and fight for social change. He believed in the power of love and nonviolence to transform society.

In an interview in 1995, Lewis said, “So, I view nonviolence as Christian love in action. It is a part of my faith. It is believing that love is the most powerful force in the universe—and somehow, some way, you have to live it.”

He went on to say, “We have to arrive at the point, as believers in the Christian faith, that in every human being there is a spark of divinity. Every human personality is something sacred, something special. We don’t have a right, as another person or as a nation, to destroy that spark of divinity, that spark of humanity, that is made and created in the image of God. 

A question for reflection this week: How do I live out love in action?

Deacon Joanie+

Rev. Dcn. Joanie Cahill

Deacon

St. Augustine of Canterbury