Praying with African Americans
For the current class I’m taking in Theology at Fuller, we have a number of books we must read and then a list of books from which we can choose to read. One of the books I’ve chosen is James Cone’s God of the Oppressed. James Cone would probably be considered a black liberation theologian. If I remember correctly, this book had some influence on Obama’s former Pastor. It’s a powerful book and the prayer that I want to pray together today, comes from this book. But first I need to set up the context.
In the sad days of the Jim Crow laws in the United States (1876-1965), there was an occasion where a white preacher, in his sermon to a black congregation suggested that “in heaven there must be some Jim Crow partition, with the white saints on one side and the black saints on the other. And after the sermon, when one of the black deacons was called on to pray, he got his chance to reply to this white preacher; for like many praying people, the old black man knew how to talk to the Lord and talk at other people, in the same phrases…” This is what he said:
And, O Lord,
we thank thee fer the brother preacher who has spoke to us,
we thank thee for heaven,
we thank thee that we kin all go to heaven,
but as to that partition, O Lord,
we thank thee that we’se a shoutin’ people,
we thank thee that we kin shout so hard in heaven,
that we will break down that partion an’ spread all over heaven,
an’ we thank thee that if the white folks can’t stand it,
they can git on out of heaven an’ go to elsewhere!
Amen.
Don’t you just love that. From God of the Oppressed by James Cone pg. 19,20
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