Parker Palmer
Parker J. Palmer (Facebook photo)
Parker Palmer has influenced me in many ways. Today I am thinking about his emphasis on the necessity of courage, and the need for it in our day. He believes this so deeply that he named the ministry he founded Center for Courage & Renewal. [1]
Without courage we remain silent when we should speak, passive when we should act, and complacent when we should be compassionate. The lack of courage is the cork in the bottle that prevents the Wine of God from being poured out into the world.
With courage the fruit of the Spirit is harvested, feeding us and others. With courage truth speaks to power. With courage the needle is moved (even if only slightly) in the direction of righteousness. With courage the "already" dimension of the Kingdom of God is increased.
The sign that we lack courage is not fear, it is rationalization. In the absence of courage we can always allege, "this is not the right time"--"this is not the right place" to speak and act as we should. In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that the greatest enemies of the civil rights movement were those who agreed with the cause, but said the movement was premature.
The absence of courage is always the characteristic that creates the space for evil to exist and advance. The presence of courage is the way we move forward into light, life, and love.
[1] Find out more about Courage Renewal at www.couragerenewal.org The site includes resources, not just information.