A Word from Bob: You’re reading Part 5 of a 5-part blog mini-series on One America; Two Experiences. I’ve taken my thoughts from chapter 10 of my book Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. You can read Part 1 here: Racial Reconciliation: Understanding 2 Vastly Different Views of America. Read Part 2 here: The God of the Promised Land. Read Part 3 here: God’s Chosen People. Read Part 4 here: God Comes Down!
The African American Faith Journey
We follow the North Star guidance of African American faith narratives by remembering that life is the story of God’s conquest of evil in our lives and on our planet. God is the Hero of our biblical faith story. Our heroic Savior has sovereignly chosen to work with us, in us, and through us.
The ultimate evil adversary in our story is Satan. He inspires all sin, including the sin of slavery.
Emancipation from sin is God’s grace-work. He saves us by grace through faith then calls us individually and corporately to work out our salvation with fear and trembling—in childlike dependence upon him.
Faith is childlike, yet it is adult and mature. Faith requires courage which is inspired by hope which motivates us to love one another for God’s glory. Such daring adult faith refuses to deny the realities of suffering and sin. Instead, it faces life head-on.
The African American National Anthem: Lift Every Voice!
Such faith faces life with the faith of James Weldon Johnson. Johnson is the author of Lift Every Voice which has been called “The African American National Anthem.”
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
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.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.[i]
But God!
This is the faith journey for Africans in America. This is their National Anthem. This is the Black national narrative.
Freedom did not ring for enslaved African Americans. Instead, bondage reigned.
But God!
Enslavement is not the end of the story—not earthly enslavement and not spiritual enslavement.
The new personal and national narrative for the African American Christian sounds something like this:
“We’ve come this far by faith. The journey has been dark, but it’s taught us great faith lessons leading us toward the light. The journey isn’t over yet. Our path remains strewn with obstacles, but the goal is in sight. God calls us on our voyage to live an emancipated spiritual life. Whatever bondage the world, the flesh, and the Devil hurl at us, through Christ’s power at work within us, we can stand, as one, true to God and true to our native land.”
The Rest of the Story
We all—Black and White and Asian and Hispanic and Native American—have much to learn from the faith journey of African American Christians—our predecessors in the faith, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We have much to learn especially about moving beyond the suffering. The Black experience in America has been filled with suffering—and it continues to this day. Yet, in Christ, African Americans experience an exodus in the midst of suffering as they follow in Christ’s steps by entrusting themselves to the God who judges justly (1 Peter 2:21-25).
Join the Conversation
Of everything in our five-part series, what has surprised you the most about the African American experience in America? How can you apply this new knowledge as you work toward racial reconciliation?
In your life, how can you follow the African American example of facing suffering face-to-face with Christ moving beyond suffering to clinging to Christ so you can sing a song of faith and hope?
Endnotes
[i] McClain, song 32.
