Beloved Community Quotes to Stimulate Your Imagination

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In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  -- Mark 1:9-11

"Beloved Community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world."
                -- bell hooks

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
                -- Mark 1:14-15

"Our goal is to create a beloved community and that will require a qualitative change in our soul, as well as a quantitative change in our lives."  --Martin Luther King, Jr.

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come not to call the righteous but sinners."  --Mark 2:16-17

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."   --John 13:34-35

"Love is creative and redemptive.  Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys.  The
aftermath of the 'fight fire with fire' method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos; the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community.  Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that.  Yes, love--which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one's enemies--is the solution . . ." -- MLK

"The beloved community is the new social space of reconciliation introduced into history by the Church, empowered by the "triumph and beat of the drums of Easter."  -- Charles Marsh

Which of the quotes engage your imagination?

Comments

  1. Scott HutchinsonOctober 11, 2018 at 6:32 AM

    The quotes from Dr. King and Charles Marsh are particularly meaningful to me. King's quote about love frames the identity and mission of the Community in wonderfully challenging ways.--particularly in defining love as "understanding, creative, redemptive goodweill, even for one's enemies!" Marsh's reference to the Community as "the new social space of reconciliation" will be for many a different way of understanding and engaging church.

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  2. UnknownOctober 13, 2018 at 8:17 AM

    The bell hooks quote speaks to me. What a beautiful thought, a community where our differences are treasured and come together to make a whole that could not exist without each "different" contribution. A community that is beyond our personal experience.

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