Stand with the truth, not with the party, pastor exhorts MLK attendees

Love cannot see injustice and remain unmoved. Love cannot see injustice and remain silent.

That was the Rev. George Logan’s message Feb. 10 at the 28th annual Swannanoa Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast at Camp Dorothy Walls. King was not unmoved by the injustices he saw, Logan pointed out.

“God made Martin Luther King feel,” Logan told a crowd of about 350. “He made him feel pain. He made him feel marginalization. Love is conscious. Love is generous. It is exclusively inclusive. Love works for the betterment of all.”

The annual prayer breakfast attracts residents, activists, politicians, pastors and parents with children, among others, all of whose tickets contribute to the college scholarships awarded by the corporation that puts on the event. Last year the organization awarded four scholarships worth a combined $18,000. In its time, through the breakfast and donations, it has awarded 74 scholarships.

The “core issues” that the U.S. is dealing with, Logan said, all have to do with race. But Logan believes in only one race – the human race – he said to the applause of the crowd. Identifying as black or white is to segregate oneself from the larger human body, he said. Insulating oneself in the doctrines of the Republican or Democrat parties separates a person from the rest of humanity. And to separate is not Christian, that’s not the way King lived, Logan said.

It is impossible to be both partisan and Christian, if someone’s beliefs create boundaries between themselves and others, Logan espoused. “I can’t be pro-black and pro-Christian,” he said. “I don’t want to be labeled, other than a child of God.” A true believer is pro-people and pro-Christian. That’s the Christianity that King practiced, Logan said.

If God can combat injustice through King, God can combat it through any of us, Logan said.

“If you take up the cause, take up the whole cause of life,” he said to white Christians whose support of civil rights is more talk than action. Logan himself knows the ire that stance might bring. He has taken stands that were unpopular with other blacks, he said. “I want to be on the right side of truth,” he said. “Love is confrontational, and love is divisive. We should be able to confront injustices in our community,” he said by way of inspiring his listeners to activate their beliefs. But be prepared.

“When you stand for truth, somebody is not going to like it,” he said. “Love always sides with the truth, not with Republicans, not with Democrats. (Love) isn’t black or white. Love transcends.”