Chaplain’s Column
I look forward each year to February’s observance of Black History Month, especially since I have spent a significant part of my ministry career in majority-Black communities and contexts. It is a time of listening and learning for me, though, because appreciation for ethnic diversity and the American Black experience cannot make me an insider to it.
I invite you this season, to see the role of faith in Black history. It is good theology to celebrate our Creator’s art, painting humanity in His image, in a broad variety of skin tones and cultures. It is good hopefulness to anticipate the unity of men and women of every tribe and tongue, as a key element of God’s vision for the world. And it is good history to look at the ways in which faith has shaped human experience.
To be honest, that has not always proven good for black history. Religious teachings have been twisted to justify biases, including outright racist beliefs. The Bible, an account of God’s overwhelming love for all humanity, has been distorted in the ugliest of ways, to divide us instead of unifying. Passages have been wrested from their context to justify slavery, to demean human dignity, and more. The institution of the Church has, at its worst, undergirded slavery and injustice.
Yet those stains are not the whole – or even the bulk – of the story. While acknowledging that the religious history of Black Americans is diverse, it has been a rich and resilient Christian faith that sustained the generations with vibrancy and hope. In particular, faith has transformed Black history with conviction, community, and contribution.
By conviction, I mean the transforming personal faith that has dignified and driven Black American leaders. Against the cultural storms of racism and injustice, faith has provided a bulwark for the soul: assuring everyone of God’s profound love for him or her, of each person’s dignity and value, and of God’s desire and plan for a future of justice and peace. Virtually every voice for abolition of slavery, for civil rights, and for racial reconciliation had its roots in these underlying convictions of faith. Countless celebrations of beauty and pride have been grounded in this relationship with God.
This conviction, in turn, has led to the strength of community. For generations, the Black church has been the locus of hope, identity and empowerment. Beyond merely companionship amid suffering, the faith community has been a key arena for organizing, educating and inspiring Black Americans. It has given a voice to the voiceless. It has been, and continues to be, the forum for assembling social connections, political and economic strength, and irrepressible hope.
This community of hope invites and inspires contribution to the world. Racism expects an inferior people to be swept along in the current of others – and this month, we celebrate how spectacularly that has failed! By contrast, faith expects that if we are created in God’s image, then we have something to offer the world. In February, we celebrate the contributions of Black authors and orators; inventors and scientific pioneers; musicians and artists; architects, athletes and chefs. The church has been the venue and launching point for many of these to make their impact. Yet even more important, their faith has been the impulse that has inspired and overflowed into world-changing lives.
My invitation to you this month, then – regardless of your ethnicity – is to celebrate Black History Month with curiosity and pride. Let your curiosity discover the power that faith has had in history, and open your mind to its power in your own life. Let your pride celebrate what God has done in and through people of faith, to make our nation and our world more beautiful, more just, and more complete.
WORSHIP SERVICES ABOARD NASCC: Protestant Worship Service
Base Protestant Chapel Sunday Service: 10 a.m.