Sympathy

...I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--
I know why the caged bird sings!
(-Paul Lawrence Dunbar, "Sympathy")

AND YET THE MELODY LINGERS!

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 2/26/12)

"... How do we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (PSALM 137:4)

A few years ago, the popular singing group, “Earth, Wind and Fire” recorded a song in which the title encouraged us to “Sing a Song:”
“When you feel down and out…
Sing a song…It’ll make your day…
Here’s a time to shout…
Sing a song… It’ll make a way.
Sometimes it’s hard to care…
Sing a song…It’ll make your day…
A smile so hard to bear…
Sing a song… It’ll make a way.”


Indeed, there is something about the melodious music that we sing that serves to soothe our hearts, and lift our spirits. A good song can offer hope in despair, and bring us joy in sadness. A good song can make our day.

And if there is anything that we - the people of the African Diaspora - share in common – it is that we are a singing people. This is to say that if there is any one thing that defines African people, it is our ability and willingness to sing. This has been one of our stamps, one of our marks, that we are a singing people.

Over one hundred years ago, renowned sociologist, W.E.B. DuBois, in his classic work, "The Souls of Black Folk," shared that black people have offered three significant, indelible gifts to American life as a whole – (1) the gift of the sweat and brawn; (2) the gift of the spirit; and (3) the gift of the song and story.

We are a people of the song – a people of the rhythm - a people of the beat. Whether in the church or at the party, we have had a song to sing. Whether in the great cathedrals of the land, or the best of concert halls, it has been well-known that African peoples are people of the song. Whether the spirituals or the blues, jazz or gospel, hip-hop or reggae, we have been a singing people.

What is impressive in travels to the various corners of the earth is that African people - wherever we are physically located - and whatever our lot – are a singing people. Whether in Mutare, Zimbabwe, or Capetown, South Africa or Sierra Leone on the western shores of the African continent, it is evident that we are a singing people. In the Caribbean or Central and South America, or in any neighborhood in the United States, it is clear that African people are a singing people.

The Psalmist reminds us of the predicament of the Israelites in Psalm 137. Here they are, trapped in bondage by the rivers of Babylon… trapped in a strange land. Their captors asked the people of Israel to sing one of their songs of Zion. In their exile, they are provoked and prodded by their captors to sing their song. And in their desperation, the Israelites respond by asking a question, “How do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

The Israelites found themselves in no mood to sing. How were they supposed to sing in the midst of adversity? How were they to sing amidst exile, separation and alienation? They were in no mood to sing … trouble all around them… no hope and no joy. How were they supposed to sing the Lord’s song?

The turbulent and tempestuous nature of contemporary life can lead us to ponder this very same matter in 2012. How do we keep singing… and keep worshipping… and keep praising the Lord… and keep trusting in Jesus in the midst of adversity?

How do we sing in the midst of abject poverty and virulent racism? How do we sing in the midst of suffering and sickness? How can we sing amidst violence and death, where too many of our young people are dying on our streets? How do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

The Israelites teach us something about singing the Lord’s song. You see, it’s easy to sing when life is rosy and cozy. It’s not hard to sing when the bills are paid, and good health abounds. It’s easy to sing amidst comfort and convenience.

But the true challenge of singing comes amidst of the “strange land” situations of life. The diffulty of singing comes when the nights are darkest, and even the days are dim - when there is no money in the bank…when it seems that loved ones have forsaken you… when it seems that you’ve done all that you can do to stand.

This is why we need to take time every now and then to be reminded of the importance of our perpetual song, and our need to keep singing our song. We will all face "strange land" situations in life. There will be times for all of us when we sit beside the proverbial “Rivers of Babylon.”

We will all face moments of feeling separated and segregated from God, and from one another - times of lostness and alienation - times of desperation and disillusionment. It is in the strange lands – on the banks of Babylon - that we need to keep on singing our song.

And we need to know that it’s all right to ask, from time to time, “How can we sing God’s song?” It’s all right to talk to the Lord. For to ask the question indicates that we are still in conversation with God. This is an indication that we are still seeking and searching for the Lord to help us sing even though we may not feel like singing.

To ponder the question “how?” is to acknowledge - in the depths of our souls - that we may be bent, but we are not yet broken. We may be hurting, but we know that healing is possible. We may feel helpless and hopeless, but we know that if we hold on – our help is on the way. It’s all right to ask, “How do we keep on singing?”

The problem comes not in asking the question of “How do we sing?” The problem comes when we stop singing altogether. The problem comes when we feel that there is no use in singing. The real predicament of faith lies at the point where we sense that we may as well throw in the towel, give up, and stop singing. The problem really is evident when we stop singing the Lord’s song.

And so, we have to keep on singing. We are reminded of those who sang the blues. Those like Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, B.B King, Muddy Watters and Etta James were really helping us to understand that whatever the circumstance… whatever the predicament, we have to keep on singing. Whatever blows have been directed our way, we need to keep on singing.

And it's good to know that persons of faith like Dr. Thomas Dorsey, Dr. Charles Tindley, Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, Rev. Shirley Ceasar, and Rev. James Cleveland were so inspired to take the blues, and turn it into Good News. These persons of faith knew that despite the blues, it was incumbent upon African people to keep on singing.

And so Tindley could sing:
When the storms of life are raging
(Lord) stand by me…
When the storms of life are raging
Stand by me
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship upon the sea
Thou who rulest wind and water
Stand by me…

And then Cleveland could come along years later and declare:
I don’t feel no ways tired
I’ve come too far from where I started from
Nobody told me that the Lord would be easy
I don’t believe (God) brought (us) this far to leave (us)…

LENT: MAKE A U-TURN

(This is an abridged version of the Ash Wednesday sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 2/22/12)

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and God relents from sending punishment.” (Joel 2:12-13)

The road signs are familiar to many of us, and often serve as a point of frustration. “No U-Turns” – the signs say, and they serve as an indicator that it is impermissible to change directions and to go another way. Thus, we are forced to continue going in a direction that we do not choose to go. We want to turn around, but we are not allowed to do so.

Often life itself is similar to the times when we are driving in the wrong direction. If the truth is told, there are things that each of us needs to change and adjust in our lives – things that we need to turn around. This is the purpose of Lent for the church and the people of God. These forty days leading up to Easter afford each of us an opportunity to take stock of our lives, and the direction in which we are going, and to seek – with God’s help - to change course as necessary.

This is the place where the people of Israel found themselves in their own faith journey. Joel’s instructions to the people are found in these words:
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and God relents from sending punishment.” (Joel 2:12-13)

The context here is the wickedness and waywardness of the people of Israel – God’s people. They had strayed away from the ways of the Lord. The prophet’s message includes words of judgment and repentance. Joel here is urging the people of God to turn away from their sin, and turn back to God with their whole hearts - to make a U-turn.

For people of faith, to make a U-turn is to repent. Lent is really about repentance. Repentance calls each of us to turn away from sin and to turn back to God. To repent, in essence, is to turn around.

The message of Joel is as appropriate today as it was in his day. We look at the events that continue to take place around us. A look at our daily news clearly shows us that drugs and violence continue to ravage and demoralize our communities. Our society is increasing polarized along political, economic and racial lines. It seems that people are ever more likely to fuss and fight, than we are to seek peace with justice.

Our season of Lent, then begins with our acknowledgement that we have gone astray and need to make a U-turn in some aspect of life. This is to acknowledge as the apostle Paul reminds us that “we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And it is to live in the hope that ultimately, God loved us so much that as Paul also declares, “God demonstrated God’s love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The good news is that with God, U-turns are indeed permitted. In-fact God wants us (wills and desires for us) to make a U-turn. It is at the point that we decide to turn around and turn back to God, that God’s forgiveness becomes real for us.

What are some of the things you need forgiveness for?

After encouraging the people of God to turn back to the Lord, Joel declares that the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

Many people have become accustomed to giving something up during Lent as a form of self-sacrifice. But in as much as we might decide to give up some material things, Lent is also about journeying, and searching for God, and seek a closer walk with the Lord, with the hope and prayer that as we press our way toward Easter, there will be real signs of renewed life and resurrection for us.

In other words, the Lord desires to walk with us on this Lenten journey – as we make a U-turn.

It’s good to know that as we engage in this wilderness journey called Lent, Jesus also went on a journey like ours. We are told that Jesus lingered in the wilderness for 40 days. In the wilderness he got hungry and tired, and was tempted by Satan. But each time he got weak, the Lord looked to God, his father, for help.

They tell us that he bore an old-rugged cross at Calvary. We can imagine that the Lord wanted to give up… that he wanted to quit, as the burdens on his life got heavier and heavier.

But Jesus suffered, bled and died for you and me. Isaiah tells us that "he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of the world was upon him… and by his wounds we are healed.”

The good news is that he suffered, bled and died so that we might make U-turns in our lives.

At the cross, at the cross,
Where I first saw the light,
And the burdens of my heart rolled away.
It was there by faith,
I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day…

THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S!

(The following is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 2/19/12)

2 Chronicles 20:10-15

The movie from a few years ago, “The Lion King,” which has also become a popular Broadway stage-play, leads us to pause and consider the nature of authority and power in our world today. Though deemed by it’s Disney creators as being strictly entertainment – the movie and now the play – with its assortment of personalities – many aspiring for authority in the lion kingdom, and all wanting their respective “piece of the pie” – seems, whether intended or not, to be a sort of reflection on the world in which we live.

“The Lion King” brings to mind the thought that this a “dog-eat-dog” world in which we live –a world of “what’s in it for me?” If you know like I know, life is a battle. The apostle Paul characterized life as such when he said in the book of Ephesians that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in high places,” and encouraged people of faith to “put on the whole armor of God.” (Eph. 6)

As we consider the matter of life’s battles, I’m convinced that we can all relate to the sentiments of Paul. We’ve all been confronted by situations and circumstances that have seemed to be impossible and insurmountable. We’ve all been driven and buffeted - from time to time – by the trials and tribulations of life. As the song-writer intimates, “We’re tossed and driven by the restless seas of time.”

Life’s problems indeed have a way of consuming us - wrapping us up, tying us down, and turning us around. Life, and its ups and downs, can stress us out, burn us out, and eventually shut us out.

Today, we find battles all around us - with economic despair, political unrest, social discord, and family disarray all around.

And the truth of the matter is that there are some battles that we simply can't fight - and shouldn't fight in our own strength. Sometimes God tells us to take our positions, stand still and see His deliverance. Sometimes we need to take our hands off, stand back and let God fight for us.

In our Scripture lesson from 2 Chronicles, we find hope, encouragement and power for the battles that we are apt to face in life. Here, King Jehoshaphat was preparing to lead the people of Judah into battle with their arch enemies, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and the Meunites. History would indicate to us that in terms of military might, Judah was overmatched by their enemies (all the odds were against them).

Judah was mired in what appeared to be a no-win, hopeless, dismal situation. Given their predicament, instinct would have told them that they should throw in the towel, retreat and accept their defeat. They were between a proverbial “rock and a hard place”… they were “up a creek without a paddle.”

How many of us have found ourselves in situation where we just wanted to give up… facing apparently insurmountable enemies in life?

It is interesting that as King Jehoshaphat prepared Judah to face their enemies from Ammon, Moab and Mt. Seir – as they prepared to fight this great military alliance that had been forged against them, the spirit of the Lord spoke through Jahaziel to remind Judah that they despite their enemies, despite the odds, they should not be afraid or discouraged, for the battle was not theirs, but the battle is the Lord’s.

Here is a word of hope and promise for us – good news for the times when we might feel like underdogs – feel overmatched and overburdened by life. Jahaziel declares that the battle is the Lord’s.

On the surface, Judah’s battle seemed to be simply a military battle… a battle of physical might, but I’ve come to know that any physical battle we might face, whether it is illness, or a financial challenge, or a problem relationship always has a spiritual dimension. And what we need to know is that in the midst of spiritual battles, we must deploy spiritual weapons.

After the powerful word from Jahaziel, Jehoshaphat realized that battle that Judah faced was spiritual in as much as it was physical. The word says that after consulting the people, King Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise God for the splendor of his holiness, saying:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever.”

And as they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

In other words, as Judah looked up to God, the Lord showed up and showed out their lives. What Judah may not have realized, is that even before they went into battle, the fight was already fixed for them. All they needed to do was look up and praise the Lord, and God would fight their battle for them.

The battle is the Lord’s. What does this mean to us today? What relevance does the story of Jehoshaphat and Judah have for you and me?

It is important for the church – people of faith – to understand the importance of entering into situation knowing that God can and will fight our battles. God knows what we’re going through and already sees the way out for us. God stands waiting to help us. And it is our place in the midst of battles to turn our attention to God.

To know that whatever battle we might face is the Lord’s - is to know that God won’t send us into situations that God won’t go into with us. It is to know that the Lord can and will make a way out of no way. It is to know that we can depend on Jesus…

The word says that the people of God sang and praised the Lord, and the Lord showed up and defeated their enemy.

The battle is not yours; the battle is the Lord’s.

The words from the great Gospel singer Yolanda Adams help us today:
There is no pain what Jesus can't feel
There is no hurt, he can not heal
For all things work, according to
The master’s purpose
And his holy will
No matter what you are going through
Remember that God wants a chance to use you
For the battle is not yours, it’s the Lord’s!

THERE IS A BALM!

(The follwing is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 2/12/12,and at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC on 2/17/12)


“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healing there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?“ (Jeremiah 8:21-22)


The writer of the book of Jeremiah asks the community of the faith of his day these provocative questions amidst their exile in a strange city. Here the Israelites found themselves in Babylon – alienated from their land, alienated from their God, and alienated – many of them - from their loved ones.

We can imagine that the Israelites here experienced what some philosophers have come to refer to as a certain nihilism – where a certain nothingness, meaninglessness, lovelessness, and hopelessness comes to define the existence of a people. It is against a backdrop such as this that Jeremiah poses these questions.

These were the same times and conditions that would lead the psalmist to write other familiar words of a people in exile –
“By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat and we wept when we remembered Zion. And our captors asked us to sing to them the songs of Zion… How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

Perhaps the context in which Jeremiah wrote is not much unlike that of our days. In many ways hope today seems fleeting - with political unrest, economic uncertainty, social disarray, and family distress.

I would suggest that Jeremiah’s questions here offer us today an important backdrop for thinking about where we are as communities, the church, and as an institution - and also where we’ve been and where we may be going.

Two weeks ago, I was honored to have been invited to give a workshop to a group of young, emerging preachers in Baltimore. There they shared their challenges, and dreams and hopes for the church of today and tomorrow. And despite the challenges that we all acknowledged, I left that night with a sense of hopefulness for the church, as I sense that these young, gifted preachers will continue to be instruments of hope – conduits of hope – for church today and into the future.

Jeremiah poses the questions:
“Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?”

The region of Gilead was known for producing a healing balm. This balm was known for its medicinal qualities. When people where hurting, they would seek out the balm from Gilead, for it was like no other in its ability to facilitate healing. The balm from Gilead was considered to be a miracle drug, and if it could not heal one’s wounds…there was perhaps nothing that could.

Is there no balm? For me this conjures images of visiting my Grandmother in Lynchburg, Virginia as a child. When we became ill and were hurting, my grandmother would often concoct a home remedy – what she called liniment – a balm – to soothe our hurts and pains. She would combine various ingredients as only she knew how to do, and she would rub the balm on the places we were hurting, and somehow the balm and my grandmother’s tender, loving care would make everything all-right.

In light of declines across much of the church over the past 40 years, one of the church’s primary theological tasks to be self-critical as it pertains to our role in addressing issues such as the proliferation of the prosperity gospel, the lack of activism in many circles, and the inability or unwillingness of the churches today to speak prophetically on matters of contemporary concern such as the war in Afghanistan, corporate greed, the widening gap between the rich and the poor in America and around the world, the ongoing proliferation of racial bigotry, and the marginalization of others in our society, along with the generally violent and misogynous nature of hip hop and other forms of popular culture.

Furthermore, it is the churches’ – and indeed the theological schools’ - task to articulate a framework for thinking and speaking about God amidst the apparent hopelessness around us. A question that I believe we must continue to ask is one posed by Howard Thurman in his seminal work, Jesus and the Disinherited. Thurman asked, “What does the religion of Jesus have to say to people who have their back against the wall?” In other words, how does Christianity today offer hope to the disinherited among us – the poor, the voiceless, the violated, and the oppressed? We are to be conduits – instruments of hope.

What is this hope of which we speak? In one of his later sermons, "The Meaning of Hope," Martin Luther King, Jr. defined hope as that quality which is "necessary for life."

"The hopeless individual is the dead individual." In King's view hope had a transformative quality that keeps human beings "alive" both spiritually and psychologically. Hope, therefore, is "one of the basic structures of an adequate life."

Hope helps us to look ahead with eyes of faith. Hope helps us to see the future with hearts of anticipation. Hope is the refusal to give up “despite overwhelming odds.”

In this month when we celebrate, honor and give thanks to God for those African Americans who were bruised over history by the atrocities of the Middle Passage slavery, and jim and jane crow, we are reminded that Martin Luther King, pointed out that the nature of the hope that many in the church have found in the resurrected Christ is imbedded in the questions posed by the prophet Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healing in the land?” (Jeremiah 8:22)

King intimated that the miracle of faith is that many were able to convert the question marks of the prophet’s lament, into exclamation points as they affirmed their faith and hope in the living and life-giving God. And so they could sing the Negro spiritual with hope:
There is a balm in Gilead,
to make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul
Sometimes I feel discouraged
And think my work’s in vain
And then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again!

SOUL FOOD

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preched at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 2/5/12)

Exodus 16:1-15

A careful analysis of the African-American community points to the fact that we are people of with soul. That is to say that I believe that we all can relate in some way to the matter of the importance of “soul” in the life of the Black community. “Soul” is defined as that which is found deep within each of us. In the early 1900’s Dr. W.E.B. DuBois – renowned African-American sociologist – sought to get at the essence of this matter in his seminal book entitled the “Souls of Black Folk.”

Whether it is in the soul music of Aretha Franklin (the Queen of Soul) or James Brown (the Godfather of Soul)... the soul theology of Henry Mitchell or James Cone or Jacquelyn Grant… the “Soul on Ice” of Eldridge Cleaver… or the “Soul Train” of (the late great) Don Cornelius, blacks in America have been and continue to be a people concerned with the matter of soul. Whether it is Al Green or President Barack Obama singing “Let’s Stay Together,” or Etta James or Beyonce Knowles singing “At Last,” we are reminded that we are a people of soul.

Some of us might remember the movie “Soul Food” from a number of years ago. The movie offered a vivid depiction of the life of an African-American family, and how life – with all of its ups and downs – with all of its trials and tribulations – with all of life’s drama – can certainly be trying at times. And yet, through it all, black families have somehow found a way to maintain some sense of unity, hope, and most importantly love.

The image of “Big Mama,” even as she was advancing in age and experiencing failing health, having the ability to bring her family together around the table is vivid. And with whatever Big Mama’s daughters and their families were going through, and whatever mess and discord they were experiencing among themselves - gathering at Big Mama’s table and sharing in some soul food always seemed to make things better.

For me, the movie brought back memories, and served as a reminder of the importance of family, and how important it is for loved ones to come together and stay together. “Soul Food,” the movie, was a reminder of the Scripture as it is written in Psalm 133, “Behold, how very good and pleasant it is for kindred (brothers and sisters) to dwell together in unity.”

“Soul Food” also brought back memories of my Grandmother’s home-baked rolls and chocolate cake. There were none like them. And my mother’s chicken and dumplings. There were none like them. And Lisa’s macaroni and cheese. There is none like it. It never ceases to amaze me how everything they cooked seemed to turn out just right.

In Exodus chapter 16, we find a story about soul food. Here we find the people of Israel in the desert with their leaders, Moses and Aaron. The Israelites had been traveling through the desert for a short time. In the dessert we know that food and water are typically in short supply, and so the people, even in this short time in the desert, started to run out of food.

There the people found themselves grumbling and complaining, fretting and murmuring to Moses and Aaron. There the Israelites were in the desert after having been set free from their Egyptian slave masters by God, and now all of a sudden wondering how they were going to eat.

The Israelites said to Moses and Aaron, “we were better off when we were in captivity (slavery) in Egypt.” “At least when we were in slavery, we had food to eat.” “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve to death.”

The people were hungry, and they were angry, and they were looking to Moses and Aaron to provide some food for them. And so Moses spoke to the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “I have heard the grumbling of my people.” Tell them, ‘At twilight they will eat meat, and in the morning they will be filled with bread. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”

The word tells us, that evening huge flocks of quail came down and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost appeared on the desert ground - and they called this manna.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.” God wanted to teach the Israelites that God would provide for all their needs. Wherever they found themselves, and whatever they needed, God would and could provide for their needs. The same God who had created them – the same God who had parted the Red sea and delivered them - the same God who had made ways before in their lives - would do it again.

We are like the Israelites. We all hunger for the Lord’s provision in our lives. We all stand in need of the Lord’s provision in our lives. And while God desires to meet our physical needs, God also wants us to know that we cannot live on physical food alone. God wants us to know that God will also provide for our spiritual needs. God will feed our souls.

Our soul food comes through worshipping God, through spending time in prayer and studying God’s word, through fellowshipping and encouraging one another, and through serving and reaching out to others. How have you sought to have your soul fed lately?

And so, whatever “Big Mama” was cooking – whether it was chitterlings or spare ribs, collard greens or green beans, apple pie or blackberry cobbler – it really didn’t matter. What really mattered was that family gathered, broke bread together, and that together their souls were fed.

And so it was with the Israelites. As they complained and doubted, as they fussed and fretted with Moses and Aaron, it’s good to know that God showed up in their lives, and God rained down manna from heaven for them to eat. This was a reminder to them (and to us today), evidence, that God is a provider and God does indeed show up, and meets us at the point of all our needs. “Lord, All I have needed, thy hand has provided – Great is your faithfulness.”

And as the Lord provided, they continued on their journey. Maybe they sang:
Walk together children… Don’t you get weary.
Walk together children… Don’t you get weary.
Walk together children…. There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

God will show up on time, and God not only shows up, but the Lord feeds us until we want no more.

This is what the song-writer meant when it was written:
Guide me o though great Jehovah
Pilgrims of this barren land
I am weak and thou art mighty
Guide me with thou powerful hand
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven
Feed me till I want no more…