Chosen Fury
I hadn’t been to Memphis’ Lorraine Motel in years.
The Lorraine is where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968. It is now the National Civil Rights Museum.
King was shot through the throat as he stood on the second floor balcony in the early evening of April 4th. I remembered being able to tour the King’s room and imagine what it would have been like to stand in his skin.
King was shot through the throat as he stood on the second floor balcony in the early evening of April 4th. I remembered being able to tour the King’s room and imagine what it would have been like to stand in his skin.
But this time I noticed the Museum now extended across the street from the Lorraine into what had been a boarding house in 1968.
So, on this visit, after standing where King stood to receive the bullet, I stood where James Earl Ray crouched when he pulled the trigger. I imagined what it was like to stand in his shoes.
It was an unsettling, intense experience. I recommend it.
When I think of fury, I think of rage. But, on a deep level, fury has to do with incredible intensity. Many people I know have a furious devotion to their children and to the Kansas City Chiefs. Brennan Manning says God has a furious love for creation, for us.
King had a fury to see people treated as people, even when that called him to question the Vietnam War and the treatment of sanitation workers in Memphis.
Ray also had a fury.
It’s weird, but we choose what we’re furious about.
What is it for you?
In Luke, God has declared Jesus God’s beloved Son. Jesus preaches in his home congregation and takes the words of Isaiah to express his chosen fury:
“The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, the year of the Lord’s Jubilee.”