Sunday at the Square… the African-American faith experience: “You are children of God!”
The African-American Christian experience is one sown in unique historical fields, as the faith grew in America among slaves despite its support for (or at the very least its failure to oppose) the institution of slavery. The principles argued to free the colonies of her British oppressor argued convincingly at the same time against slavery. At the start of the Revolution, slaves issued a series of petitions for freedom, this one penned by someone who – while not permitted a formal education – eloquently states the airtight case that tragically took centuries to prevail (the misspellings poetically adding weight and truth to the heart the plea):
“Cannot but express their Astonishment that It has Never Bin Considered that Every Principle from which Amarica has Acted in the Cours of their unhappy Deficultes with Great Briton Pleads Stronger than A thousand arguments in favour of your petioners . . . [who] ask” to be “restored to the enjoyments of that which is the Naturel Right If all men. . . . so may the Inhabitance of these Stats No longer chargeable with the inconstancy of acting themselves the part which thay condem and oppose in others. Be prospered in their present Glorious struggle for Liberty and have those Blessing to them…”
The tragic position they labored to worship in impacted the growth of a unique style of worship, still in evidence today in many churches, with worship becoming an emotional catharsis on a beautiful roller coaster ride of rhythm and crescendo. From Canaan Land, A Religious Histories of African Americans:
Once or twice a year the master of the plantation allowed a slave preacher from the neighboring plantation to preach to his slaves. The preacher, following an old tradition, would always bring the sermon to its climax by dramatizing the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He would dwell on the agony of Jesus hanging on the cross…by this time the preacher was exhausted but his congregation felt uplifted and restored to face the following week. When the preacher had finished his sermon, he would pause, and stare into every face. Then he would tell them as forcefully as he could: ‘Remember, you are not slaves! You are children of God!”
(Photo credit.)
Add comment July 12th, 2009
