But God

Living while Black (LWB) is hard in America. Black existence, while driving a car, attending a barbecue, coming home to an apartment, walking a dog, or even waiting for a cab is suspicious or threatening to someone. Unemployment is twice the national rate of unemployment. Black families have 5% of the wealth white families have. The national climate has rapidly changed from the hopeful “post racial” optimism when Obama was elected. Racism and xenophobia have become the new norm. Things are getting worse by the minute. There is an anecdote to this pervasive hopelessness, God. There is no problem too hard for God to handle. With God, there is always hope.

In Ghana, the Akan people developed an elaborate set of hieroglyphic symbols representing timeless wisdom called Adinkra symbols. Two of these symbols resonate with the current life situation of African Americans: Sankofa and Gye Nyame. Sankofa is often represented by a bird whose head is turned around to pluck an egg off of its tail. It means that in order to go forward, we often need to first go back. In other words, we should build our future on the wisdom and success of our ancestors. The other Adinkra symbol, Gye Nyame, means “except for God.” It is like the Biblical Hebrew name for God, El Shaddai, which means Lord God Almighty. Modern African Americans owe a lot to our ancestors. While toiling in conditions of unspeakable torture and humiliation, many of them kept their eyes on Jesus. They talked to him, listened to him, rejoiced in him, and danced before him. Their relationship with the living God was so precious that many of them risked whipping and even death because they kept praying and praising the Lord. They knew God was not the god of the slave masters. He was the God who sets the captives free. Their circumstances were many times more dire than ours. Unlike many of us, they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus. We must learn from them and copy them.

How? How can a modern day Christian have the faith which sustained Black ancestors. The first key is humility. Repeatedly, God says in the Bible, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Black Christians need God fighting for them and not against them. First, they need to start by humbling themselves. No matter how well educated they are, they are probably not well informed about their history. They are particularly ignorant about Christian history of their people.

Black Christians need to start by talking to their families. They need to capture the stories of their elders chronicling their faith. They should read biographies of early Black Christians such as Frederick Douglass, Amanda Berry Smith, George Washington Carver, William Seymour and Elizabeth Dabney. They should cultivate their own personal relationship with God. The emphasis is on a relationship with God and not getting busy at church. Being active in church is good but, service to the Lord in church is better. Working for God should stem out of a relationship with God. Work without relationship is similar to being a maid versus being a wife. They do many of the same things but domestic chores performed out of a relationship are different from the tasks maids perform. Restating Jesus’ answer to man’s concern for life’s basic needs in the latter part of Matthew 6. “First, seek to understand, do what God wants you to do, and reflect his holy character. Then, he’ll make sure your concerns and needs are addressed.