Approaching Black History Month Faithfully

As February marks Black History Month, I had the opportunity to see Dr. Angela Davis, famed civil rights activist lecture. Before she took the stage to speak we all joined in singing the hymn that has been dubbed the “African-American National Anthem” the hymn, Lift Every Voice and Sing can be found in many of our church hymnals. The hymn was written at the turn of the 20^th century in an effort to subtly speak out against racism and the South’s Jim Crow laws.

            One of the best lines of the hymn comes from the third verse. James H. Johnson penned the following, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.” It got me thinking about our silent tears. Tears that have rested through the ages on the cheeks of humanity, tears that create division amongst the people God created.

            Tears of despair, depression and anguish have flowed while racism, hatred, war and prejudice take the center stage. The weary years of time spent fighting for equality and justice have brought about change, but as I look to God and what God has in store for humanity, we have miles to go on the path to righteousness.

            I am reminded of what the Buddhist faith speaks of when the Buddha said, “If we were see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change” When we experience the newness of grace in our lives, how them do we translate that to our reality? God calls us to abandon the racism, hatred, and prejudices that have plagued us for too long. When God claims us with grace we are washed away into the newness of life. We are water washed and spirit born in a way that brings about new things, like love, peace and justice.

            There is a legend that during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Decius around 250AD there were seven Christian youths who were set to be executed, before this happened they went to a cave and began to pray. They fell asleep and woke up some 150-200 years later during the reign of Theodosius the Second, where they found crosses openly displayed and Christianity accepted and encouraged. Whenever I hear the story of the Seven Sleepers as they are called, certainly it can be considered miraculous but in reality they slept through the revolution of Christianity. The question we can take from this is, are we going to sleep through a revolution and let it pass us by? Are we going to be a people who change the world or let the world change us?

            People like Martin Luther King Jr., the Tuskegee Airmen, and many others join hands with people like Mother Teresa, John F. Kennedy, along with others to create revolutions. How are we going to respond when God calls us to be the revolution that society needs? How are we going to respond when God calls us to be the change we want to see in the world? Hopefully we will join in singing that wonderful line from that wonderful hymn, “Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty.”