On the Shoulders of GiantsSample

Head and Heart

He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the street. -Isaiah 42:2

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lay in New York City’s Harlem Hospital in 1958, convalescing from a near-fatal stab wound by a deranged woman at a book signing, Christian pastor, theologian, and contemplative Dr. Howard Thurman urged him to ask his doctors to extend his recovery by two weeks.

According to Thurman’s autobiography, With Head and Heart, he counseled King “to reassess himself in relation to the cause, to rest his body and mind with healing detachment, and to take a long look that only solitary brooding can provide.”

Thurman has been called the “overlooked civil rights hero” because he preferred transforming society through meditating, preaching, writing, mentoring, and reconciling the races rather than protesting in the streets. He unassumingly counseled several civil rights activists who surpassed his renown: Dr. King, Vernon Jordan, James Farmer, and Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. to name a few.

Akin to Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah, Thurman did “not shout or raise his voice in the streets” (Isaiah 42:2). Rather he helped “establish justice on earth” primed through spiritual disciplines that drew him closer to God (v. 4). Isaiah suggests this as a spiritual antidote to human tendencies to falter or be discouraged (v. 4).

A timeless message for today’s generation of Christ-led activists: Bringing forth God’s justice on earth hinges on an equilibrium between drawing “nearer, my God, to Thee” and saying, “Here am I. Send me!” (6:8).

Tondra L. Loder-Jackson

In what ways do you maintain your equilibrium as you face life challenges and pursue purpose?

God, we thank You for the timelessness of Your wisdom and ways.