I had a good weekend, but two things have depressed me this morning.

First, I looked unsuccessfully on the net this morning for any kind of celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr in my area. I wanted to take my family to something where we could learn about and remember this man's life and teaching. I could not find anything. I then looked around at the large and very nice library where I am studying. I couldn't even find a mention of the fact that today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They are showing a film this morning - Cinderella Man; seems like it would not have been that difficult to find a movie that deals with King, or at least issues of race. The church should be leading the way in remembering this great man, but I've found no honoring of his life at any church anywhere close to where I live. He gave so much to the church. He used love to help us see the evils of segregation and racism. Love. Not hate. Not power. Love. The same way Jesus taught us.

Second, I read this article on LaHaye and Falwell. It tells the story of the rise of the religious right and the evangelical obsession with the end times and the evangelicals' affect on the peace process in Palestine/Israel. I am sad that the theology of "a renegade Irish Anglican preacher named John Nelson Darby" can have so poorly affected such a large portion of the church that injustices (to Palestinians) are once again deemed part of God's plan and thus fought for vehemently with evangelical time, money, prayers and lives. I am also sad that such theology has so separated the church from the world in which and to which God has called it.