first a story...
Let me introduce to you a man call Will Campbell.
Now, Will Campbell was born on a farm in Mississippi (southern USA) & although he was born in those rural areas; he never quite fit in. He was a bookworm, and he worked really hard in his studies. He eventually made his way to Yale Divinity School and after graduation, he returned south to take on the role of the director of religious life at the University of Mississippi.
This was in the early 1960s, where most 'proper' Mississipians were againts integration (at that time, the black americans were regarded as nothing more than second class citizens and the intergration movement was a civil rights crusade where they demanded equal rights for them. So you have heroes like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks & etc coming out from that generation). When the school found out about Will Campbell's liberal view on integration (he was a integration supporter that is), he was asked to resign from his post.
So, he did & he soon found himself in the thick of the battle. He was leading voters registration drivers and also a big group of young idealistics northerners that have migrated to the south to help in the movement. One of them was a young man, who was a student of the Harvard Divinity School named Jonathan Daniels. After the big march in Selma, a lot of them went back to the North but Jonathan Daniels stayed on and Will eventually befriended him.
The funny thing was in those days, most of the opposition to the intergration movement came from 'good Christians' who refused to let people of other races into their churches & who hates it when anyone tries to change the laws back then that favors the white.
So, as a Christian himself; Will Campbell was going through a major testing on his beliefs not only from the non-Christian circles but mostly from the Christian circles; & ironically, most of his supporters came from the non-Christian circles who were concerned about civil rights.
P.D. East, a renegade newspaper editor whose personal view of Christians were not favorable at all. In fact, he viewed them as the enemy & as a intergration supporter himself; he cannot understand Will's stubborn commitment to his faith.
Then, one day; as they were either going to someplace or coming from someplace. P.D. East asked Will Campbell 'Let me have it. In TEN words; what is the Christian message?' and Will Campbell answered with much conviction ' WE ARE ALL BASTARDS BUT GOD LOVES US ANYWAYS.' 2 words short but that was his answer.
Unknown to Will, that statement actually stung P.D. East; because he was a illigitimate child and was called a bastard all his life.
Then, one day during the darkest period of Will Campbell's life, that statement was put to the greatest test. Jonathan Daniels, was arrested for picketing at a white store. When he was released from jail, he was making his way to a grocery store to make a call when a deputy sheriff by the name of Thomas Coleman appeared with a shotgun and emptied it in the twenty-six year old Jonathan Daniels' stomach. Jonathan died a bloody death in front of a grocery store. The shooting also critically injured a black teenager.
Will Campbell after receiving that news called the Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union & to a lawyer friend; calling the death of his young friend as a total break down in civil rights, a violation of federal & state law and he, in rage used words like rednecks, backwoods, Kluxer and many others to decribe people like Thomas Coleman.
Then, that very same night; in that grief - P.D. East who was with him throughout the ordeal turn to Will Campbell & said 'Come on, brother. Let's talk about your definition.'
Even in that grief; he kept asking Will! Then finally...
"Was Jonathan a bastard?" P.D. asked first. Will replied that Jonathan was one of the most gentle guys he has ever known but it is true that everyone is a sinner; so in those term he reluctantly said "Yes, Jonathan is a bastard."
"Alright", P.D. asked next "Is Thomas Coleman a bastard?" Will found it much easier to say yes to this question.
Then, P.D. pulled his chair close & placed his bony hands on Will's knees & asked the most hardest & penetrating question of all "Which one of these two bastards do you think God loves the most?"
Suddenly, from the mouth of an agnostic; that question made everything clear to Will Campbell. He cried but yet laughed at the fact that he could sooo missed out on the very truth that he holds dear to. He was griefed on his friend's death but overjoyed too at the revelation of that truth.
That night changed everything for Will. He underwent a kind of earthquake of GRACE. He resigned from his position with the National Council of Churches & bought a farm in Tennessee.
Today, He is likely to be seen ministring amongst the Klansmens & racists; as much as he is seen helping the racial minorities. His call he says (after that night's revelation); is amongst the 'Thomas Colemans' of the world.
Story modified from 'What so amazing about grace?' Visual edition
which was inspired from the book itself...
alright...sinking in yet?
i must admit this was a hard story. In fact, this was a hard book. but maybe it's not really much on the book but the truth it carries with it. It's a hard truth - plain & simple but not really :) is that messing with your head yet? :D
i honestly say i don't know if i could even come close to what this man did...but I love God with every strain of my being. During times when it's easier to take the side of the victim ONLY and be ruthless and demanding blood to be from the side of those that wield the 'torment', i pray i may remember grace.
during times, when i'm on the hurting part that i may see through a different eye & not dwell or indulge in the wounds that are mine.
i'm not one to stay down & die. with the little that i have i want to fight for what is mine & what i deem is right.
can the quest for justice and truth be fought but not with swords or hurtful words but with grace?
can truth be uphold with grace & not violence?
i want to do what is right but i want to remember grace! i have never deserved God's redemption & forgiveness but He gave it anyways. could i also in that same breath ask that the same way i have received grace, let me give it out the same? eventhough the demands & expectations on our lives is high & pressured - can we still exercise grace? eventhough the talks & words may hurt, i may remember grace?
i dont think grace reduce us to useless doormats but grace must be essential in our quest for truth and justice. If not, we will be as ruthless as any conquerers or dictators of history.
oh! that we may remember that we are ALL sinners and that our only hope is His grace!
