Transformative Disruption

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

This has often been misunderstood to mean that the universe itself has some moral orientation, or that all things work themselves out in the end.

But this is not true.

In the context of his sermon, he invited his listeners to understand an important truth: that not only are we co-creators with the Divine, but we are also deeply and intimately connected to one another.

Or, as Desmond Tutu taught: my humanity is caught up and bound up inextricably with yours.

For many Christians, today marks the beginning of the most intense events of Holy Week. The story moves from a meal, to betrayal, to an unjust conviction at the hands of the Roman State, and then to death.

It is a story of remarkable violence.

Violence that, in the words of the Rev. Timothy Rich in his Palm Sunday sermon, “could have been disrupted.”  

Of course, Holy Week does not end in death. The Resurrection disrupts the narrative – it breaks the cycle of violence.

Resurrection wakes us from our slumber – it reminds us that we too participate in the power of transformative disruption.

The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice when we get a little disruptive – when we cause some holy trouble – when we, in the words of my mentor Ed Bacon, reverse our spiritual amnesia and remember that our essential interconnectedness compels us to act courageously and love outrageously.

In an age of deep cynicism, polarized thinking, and grotesque violence, let us recommit ourselves to being people rooted in a faith that disrupts violence and embraces our common humanity – a faith grounded in love, inclusion, and the courage to cause a little trouble.