Claiming Non-Violence! Our Choice?
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day coming Monday, Rev. Jean-Marie will explore the relevance of non-violence in our every day lives and what additional opportunities we might have to practice this important action of compassion and kindness.
Join us this Sunday for another uplifting message, inspiring us to let our Spirit flow, before, during, and after the service in fellowship.
Listen & Watch
Sermon Notes
Opening Prayer
[inspired by MLK quotes]
As we come together today in community, we once more remember our ability to share our Divine Love with each other because “[a]t the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.” We are precious as individuals, and we are powerful as a community. We are not bound by limitation and only inspired by our infinite potential.
Sometimes, we may only see darkness and “darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” So we shine as this Light and be Love itself, “…avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.”
Because again, “Returning violence with violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”
“We must learn together as brothers [and sisters] or we will perish as fools.”
“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial…questions of our time.”
Because in the end, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”
A goal we already intimately know. A goal we affirm together right now. A goal we seek in every moment in our lives. And a goal, for which we bring forward the means to be at Peace, that very Peace that passes all understanding.
In gratitude, we rejoice, always, because this the Will of God, our Will, in the likeness and image of the many Wayshowers that came before us.
And so it is. Amen.
Scriptures
Main Scripture
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also,” —Matthew 5:38-39
Supporting Scriptures
“Do not envy the violent,
and do not choose any of their ways,” —Proverbs 3:31
The Necessity of Mental Discipline
“Now, this universal recognition of the necessity of disciplining the mind (education is simply mental education) should give us a clue, to the oft-repeated references in the Bible to the right attitude of mind.” —Charles Fillmore, 1917
