Dear Reader,

Those of us who are Christians – meaning disciples of Jesus Christ – understand how important Easter is as a time for extra special reflection on the symbol of the cross. But the cross is much more than a symbol of the manner in which Christ died. The cross is an attitude, a disposition – an acknowledgement and a commitment to walking the tough road. It is an acceptance of the struggles and challenges which are a vital and inevitable part of the journey for which there are no shortcuts.

The Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr put it best when he reminded us that “the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear”. King asserted that “to be a Christian, one must take up his cross, with all its difficulties and agonising and tragedy-packed content, and carry it until that very cross leaves its marks upon us and redeems us to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering”.

King uttered those words within the context of a call for “maladjusted” men in a world riddled with “stale conformity” and with men whose “hearts are hardened by the long winter of traditionalism”. Using Jesus Christ whom King described as “the world’s most dedicated nonconformist whose ethical nonconformity still challenges the conscience of mankind”, King asserts, “When we, through compassionless detachment and arrogant individualism, fail to respond to the needs of the underprivileged, the Master says, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ When in our spiritual pride we boast of having reached the peak of moral excellence, Jesus warns that ‘The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.’ When we allow the spark of revenge in our souls to flare up in hate toward our enemies, Jesus teaches “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.”

King was deeply concerned that Christians were gravitating to the “crown”, and instead of being “makers of history”, were being “made by history”. Quoting Longfellow, King said, “In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer, meaning that he is either a moulder of society, or is moulded by society. King asked, “Who doubts that today most men are anvils and are shaped by the patterns of the majority? Or to change the figure, most people, and Christians in particular, are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority opinion, not thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of society.”

Dr King had a special message for the church that seemed to have forgotten the significance of “the cross we bear”. Said King, “The erstwhile sanction by the church of slavery, racial segregation, war and economic exploitation is testimony to the fact that the church has hearkened more to the authority of the world than to the authority of God. Called to be the moral guardian of the community, the church at times has preserved that which is immoral and unethical. Called to combat social evils, it has remained silent behind stained-glass windows.”

The preacher and civil rights activist said, “We preachers have also been tempted by the enticing cult of conformity. Seduced by the success symbols of the world, we have measured our achievements by the size of our parsonage. We have become showmen to please the whims and caprices of the people. We preach comforting sermons and avoid saying anything from our pulpit which might disturb the respectable views of the comfortable members of our congregations. Have we ministers of Jesus Christ sacrificed truth on the altar of self-interest, and like Pilate yielded our convictions to the demands of the crowd?” King added, “The church became so entrenched in wealth and prestige that it began to dilute the strong demands of the gospel and to conform to the ways of the world. And ever since the church has been a weak and ineffectual trumpet making uncertain sounds.”

King’s utterances did not apply only to the church, but had deep resonance for the political establishment as well. As I reflect on our country, it appears as if we are desperately seeking to wear the “crown” without understanding that we must first carry the “cross”. Specifically, we in Jamaica want the “fruit” of development without attending to the “root” of development. We want the crown of economic glory, without tackling issues of poverty, dispossession, and the destruction of family life.

Within the partisan political realm, Jamaica’s leaders have completely embraced the notion that the “crown” precedes the “cross”. The impetus of party politics is to win elections at all costs, but little or no attention is paid to good governance. The thinking is “power first, governance last”. It is winning, not governing that has been the hallmark of PNP and JLP politics, and it is clear that when those objectives are skewed the way they are, the entire country loses in the long run.

Martin Luther King Jr carried a deep burden about the changing role of the church and about the “crown of conformity” that he saw as a growing evil. He concluded, “We must make a choice. Will we continue to march to the drumbeat of conformity and respectability, or will be listening to the beat of a more distant drum, move to its echoing sounds? Will we march only to the music of time or will we, risking criticism and abuse, march to the soul-saving music of eternity?” In other words, is it the cross or the crown?

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com