NOT E FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2024
Today is the Fifth Sunday after The Epiphany, but it is also the First Sunday in Black History Month, a time of remembering and recognizing the significant contributions of African Americans to American and its way of life. .
Several year ago, I had a conversation with a former member of Covenant who asked me “why do we need Black History Month when we don’t have White History Month?” I responded, “We do. Look around, practically everything in our lives is premised from the perspective of white culture in America; our state’s politics, the images displayed in the public squares (back then) and even the images of Jesus in church with blond hair and blue eyes, though he was born in Palestine where everyone had olive color complexions and dark eyes.”
He said to me, “setting aside a Black History Month was unnecessary now, after all, slavery and Jim Crow was years ago. We are all equal now with the same rights.” I tried to give him an example of why his hypothesis was not true. I told him, “If both of our families wanted to move to the same city in California from Birmingham, but because of the financial, societal, and cultural privileges and advantages your family had over mine, your family was able to move 10 years before my family could afford to make the move. Even if my family’s move took significantly less time to travel the distance; when my family got there, we would not be equal. Your privileged head start would give you significant advantages my family still didn’t have.” That is true for African Americans who whose families had to live through slavery and Jim Crow that even the poorest white folks didn’t face. With civil rights laws, in some ways the distance to equality may have shortened, but there are still significant gaps. Not sure he got it; but I’m glad God does!
Even facing significant head winds in life based on all kinds of ethnic, religious & cultural discriminations, God didn’t promise to level the playing field, but God did promise to be with us, help us and sustain us. Isaiah says, “… They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, the shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Join us for worship in-person, by Zoom, Facebook Livestream, or YouTube. My sermon will be encouraging us to with God’s help, “Mount Up on Wings Like Eagles,” based on “Isaiah 40:21-22, 25-31.”
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