What do I do about my skin...
Jeremiah 13:23...
Sermon #3
DRIVING THEME:
Genuine community is a realizable goal for the human family
PROPOSITION:
God's family transcends our imposed prejudices, unfounded biases, self-righteousness,
and carnal conclusions.
ANTITHESIS:
The legal oppression of African Americans has been the most blatant and well
documented. After the abolishment of slavery in 1865, blacks could own land,
vote, and hold public office. However, at the close of the Civil War Reconstruction
era the southern states began to pass "Jim Crow" laws, which required
segregation of blacks from whites. Today, to be black still carries a stigma
of exclusion.
The black cat is bad luck. A black comedy is gruesome, vile, and wicked. The
bad guys wear black hats and ride black horses. To cheat or double-cross some
folk is to blackmail them. To arbitrarily exclude people from a group is to
blackball them. The black list is for revenge and rejection. Black magic is
satanic and demonic. The black market is the illegal economy.
To be black in America is to be a partner in evil sociological statistics.
To be a black Christian is to wrestle with the meaning of a God who loves and
died for all, yet experience the exclusion and rejection by the very adherents
of the Christian faith.
To be black means that our history and culture is insignificant.
THESIS:
Acts 17:26 states that the creation was not a result of a cosmic accident but of a divine design. Genesis 1:31 states that God's own attitude toward creation was appreciation. Psalm 139:14 is traditionally accepted as David's own celebration of the very way he was made. Appreciation of God's creation is not only a religious impulse; it is a rational imperative! Because God designed the physical features of every ethnic group, and all God's designs are essentially good, the physical features of every ethnic group are essentially good.
God has used people of color to perfect God's creation in history. Blacks
were the first scientists: Imhotep (c. 2980 B.C.E.), father of medicine, Hermes
Trismegistus (c. 50 C.E), Egyptian founder of the arts and sciences, and Al-Jahiz
(778-868 C.E.), an African Arab who was an expert in anthropology and founder
of Arab literature. We were the first architects and builders: Zoser (c. 2980
B.C.E), builder of the stepped pyramid at Saqqara, Cheops, or Khufu (c. 2900
B.C.E.), builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh.
We were the first philosophers
and mathematicians. There was Manetho (c. 304 B.C.E.), the Egyptian priest
who composed a philosophical and religious history of the Egyptians for Ptolemy
1 Soter (d. 283 B.C.E.), and Ptolemy of Alexandria (c. 151 C.E.), and astronomer
and mathematician who codified the teachings of Alexandrian scholars. God
has used us in history regardless of our skin, and God is still using us today.
RELEVANT QUESTION:
How can the church of Jesus Christ partner with God to advance the message
of inclusion of black people into the membership and leadership of the church?
SYNTHESIS:
Be honest about the Past. History has been thwarted by the wicked designs
of white America. Marcus Garvey was not exiled because he didn't have administrative,
organizational, or leadership skills. The Daughters of the American Revolution
did not reject Marian Anderson because she couldn't sing. Thurgood Marshall
was not barred from admission to the University of Maryland because he wasn't
intelligent. Adam Clayton Powell was not censured by the congress because of
lack of integrity. Nelson Mandela was not put in jail because of a lack of
leadership qualities.
The church must be the place where history is corrected.
We cannot continue to ignore the cruelty to a race of people simply because
of the color of their
skin. If we do not come to terms with history, we are apt to repeat it. The
church must tell the story.
Be honest about the Present. There are yet today
ever-widening areas of racist attitudes that must be addressed:
Personal prejudice:
values, attitudes, and behaviors that lead some to believe in the inferiority
of persons from other ethnic and racial groups.
Interpersonal racism: white
people may not hold conversation or cordial relationship with a person of
color because another white person may disapprove.
Cultural racism: certain
forms of food, music, hairstyles, clothes, behavior are considered "too
black."
Institutional racism: black people working as professionals
in a predominantly white environment live under pressure to prove that
they deserve
to be where they are.
Be honest with the Future. The economy of America
is forever intertwined with people of color. We must move forward in constructive
alliances
if we are to
remain a superpower. The future of the white church is inseparably
bound up with evangelistic efforts among people of color. The
church must take
the lead
in insuring that it becomes truly diverse and just. As Frederick
Douglas warned the church, "Drive out the Negro and you drive
out Christ, the Bible and American liberty with him."
Fleecy locks and dark complexion
Cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skin may differ but affection
Dwells in black and white the same.
Were I so tall as to reach the pole
Or to grasp the ocean at a span,
I must be measured by my soul
For the mind is the standard of the man.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
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