Don't Cancel The Celebration

Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr and Kamala Harris have a lot in common.

Both are African American. Both are barrier breakers. And next week, both will be celebrated.

On Monday, we will celebrate the birthday of Dr. King, the legendary leader of the civil rights movement, whose impact changed the course of American history and sent aftershocks throughout the entire world. Then on Wednesday, we will celebrate Ms. Harris, who will be sworn in as the first woman to hold the office of Vice President.

Both of them are history makers.

But let’s also remember something else they have in common: they are both HUMAN. Like you, and like me. That is soooo easy to forget. We have a tendency to hold other people to a standard that we don’t hold ourselves.

Here is a picture I posted on our church’s Instagram account when Vice-President Elect Harris was selected as President Elect Biden’s running mate.

Ms. Harris has visited our church several times, both when she was a District Attorney and as a Senator. This picture was taken when she came to announce a partnership to reduce recidivism back in 2010. Since I knew of her commitment to the betterment of our community and was proud of her historic achievement, I posted this photo to celebrate her.

If you read comments, someone (let’s call them “Cancelria”) reacted quite angrily to this post. Ms Harris made some tough choices as a prosector (many of which she now regrets) some choices that made Cancelria wonder “which side she is on.” Cancelria even called her “undercover evil.” I felt compelled to respond, and I asked her accuser to remember that there are “no perfect servants, only public servants.”

I thought about this incident earlier this week, when I heard about a new documentary by Sam Pollard entitled “MLK/FBI.” The film examines how the FBI investigated Dr. King from 1963 until 1968, and explores the implications of what the investigation found. Although the full batch of the wiretaps won’t be released until 2027, enough have been released for us to know that Dr. King was unfaithful to his wife, a fact that Dr. Ralph Abernathy, (one of his best friends and sidekick in the struggle) revealed in his autobiography, ”And The Walls Came Tumbling Down.”

When most people learn of Dr. King’s misdeeds, they will immediately respond the same way that “Cancelria” did when she discovered some of VIce President elect Harris’ lapses as a prosecutor. They will question his legacy, his motives, and whether he deserves the Holiday we will celebrate on Monday.

Now please do not think that I am equating Dr. King’s behavior with that of Vice-President Elect Harris. Nor am I attempting to rationalize, defend, or minimize their mistakes and misdeeds. We must hold everyone, especially our leaders, accountable for their actions.

I am presenting a simple truth, and here it is:

Whenever you make perfection the standard for making a contribution, no contributions will ever be made. We all would do well to remember that there are no perfect servants. Or prophets. Or preachers. Or people. This is the fatal flaw in cancel culture. If you cancel everyone who has ever or will ever make a mistake, no one will be left.

We all live east of Eden, the last place perfection reigned. If you are looking for a perfect husband, a perfect wife, a perfect church, a perfect job, or a perfect body, your search will be in vain.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says …”we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves.”

God uses imperfect, frail, flawed, and error prone people to do his will. It’s all He has! Noah got drunk, Abraham and Jacob were liars, Moses was a murderer, Gideon was afraid, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer, Elijah was suicidal, Jonah ran, Peter denied, and Paul persecuted. But these are the men and women God used to advance His kingdom.

It’s the only kind of people He ever uses.

Get the idea?

So let’s not cancel everything or everyone who makes a mistake.

Let’s celebrate anyone trying to make their lives, their families lives, or the world a better place.

In celebrating them, we celebrate the God in them.