How's that for a statement you don't hear every day.
The funeral was held at an African-American Church of God in Christ in Pleasant Grove. I was one of five white people at the service and I could not have felt more welcome. As the service began, the family entered. The pastor came to the pulpit and started the ceremony according to the wishes of the family.
The mother in law of the deceased came up and sang a hymn that she said her daughter in law used to love to hear. It was beautiful, and as we always see, the congregation, would sometimes stand, clap, and yell out affirmations. A colleague and her son were sitting next to me. She is very spiritual and religious, as is her family. I could tell that she was enjoying it, although in a different way than I.
The second singer was the an aunt of the deceased, who, along with her husband, the pastor of a church in Ohio, and some members of that church; had driven in for the occasion. This was a "wow moment." This woman belted out a gospel song that was as inspiring as any music I have ever heard. Everyone was up and clapping, saying Amen!, and being joyous in the spirit. When the song was over, my colleague made a remark that I think I heard correctly. It sounded like she said, "I'm a pretty good singer, but when I get to heaven, Ill be able to sing like that." High praise, I think.
The choir sang beautifully, the preachers preached well. The family was stoic, until the end. At the end of the service, one of the universal emotions of mankind took over, grief induced sadness. A family had lost a 33 yr. old daughter, wife, and mother.
After the service, I was approached by the pastor from Ohio, who asked about my relationship to the deceased. I told him, and without even knowing me from Adam, he asked if I would like to come back to the Church later for a meal for friends and family. I couldn't, but I was touched by his kindness and openness.
My take on the service is a cultural one. Every culture has rituals. I am trying to figure out if the rituals of a race that has been Christian for 2000 years have become stale, or if the rituals of African Americans who have been Christian for about 350 years at most, are immature and naive. I like the African American service because it incorporates rituals from a time thousands of years ago into a "new" religion.
I don't know what all this means in my quest for rhyme and reason in this messed up world. I wish that we could all have proof of the existence of an after-life and a supreme being. However, if we did then there would be no need for faith. If there was no need for faith, then organized religion wouldn't be needed.
If organized religions didn't exist, then there would be no reason to kill millions of people in the name of a merciful God. The Shamans (priests, rabbis, Ayatollahs, pastors, etc.) would have to get a job that makes mankind better.
Faith is an odd thing. It is kind of like a the motivation that the horse has to get the carrot. Why can't humans do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do? I know, I know, it's the whole Eve and the apple, original sin, devil in our midst, thing.
I would say bologna, but that wouldn't be the right thing to do.
OUT
I have heard it said that the only 2 genuine Christian group outworkings in America to date have been the Christianity of the African American (rising from the enslavement) and the Christianity that was evidenced in the founding and work of Alcoholics Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteAn aside: I have to say bull$&*% to those who say America was founded as a "Christian" nation. So, the slaughter of the Native American that allowed the European "founding" was Christian?
Oh, yeah, I remember Jesus saying something like: "When the other guy offers you a turkey, eat it with joy. Then, in the morning, round-up your guys and shoot, poison, and plunder that stupid turkey-offerer and his entire village! After all, you've got guns (provided by God, obviously!) and the guns will outperform the bows and arrows (Satan's tools!)."
That Jesus just loved killing people.
And then we Christian Euro-Americans who "founded" America went straight from slaughtering folks to enslaving them. I think that was pretty Jesus-like too.
But the African Americans who went through the enslavement became a foundation upon which real faith was evidenced. Anyone who wants to argue, please read Uncle Tom's Cabin or the Autobiography of Frederick Douglass and then let's talk. (Not that I believe all the theology of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but see what Faith did for a people who were going through atrocities we can't fathom in our present day American reality, or read about Douglass's observations of the traditional Christians operating as slaveowners in his day.)
Which leads me to another observation. If you conducted a poll on Christian voters, the overwhelming black Christian vote in 2008 went to Obama. And the overwhelming white Christian vote went against. And the overwhelming sentiment of the white Christian vote held that voting for Obama was only marginally better than casting a vote for the Anti-Christ himself -- so much so that Snopes had to have a response to Barack Obama being the Anti-Christ. (Anti-Christ being, I believe, a misunderstood concept among most Christians...but I digress.)
So, that genuine Christian faith that "held" together a people that went through some of the greatest suffering known to man in enslaved America gave rise to that same people group making an anti-Christian choice some years down the road while their white counterparts were in line with the true will of God in voting the other way?
I don't think so.
The white Christian vote was, by and large, for Sarah Palin. And I could go a lot of directions here, but for the sake of brevity, let me say one thing: one of my non-Christian friends said listening to Palin speak was like having a cigarette put out on your face.
Which I think lines up with Jesus, where he said, "let your words be like a lit cigarette smushed to the face of your listeners."
And I'm not trying to hate on cigarettes, which have gone through more hell in our present day America than any other vice. In fact, I think the suffering of the cigarette...oh well, never mind.
But if we Americans are so Christian, why is "church" still one of the most segregated institutions in our society?
Methinks Jesus was left out of that equation.