The Black Church and Christmas

"Please remember: Our spirituality should be a vitamin - not a drug."

Dear friends,

Churches need to play a strong role in Our community building. The Black church is the oldest institution that We have. Beginning in the holds of enslavers' ships through chattel slavery, manumission, and the series of freedom movements that have led up to this point for African Americans, the Black church has been there.

Unfortunately, too often, today, Black churches seem to betray the mission of Our predecessors. There are far too few activities that deal with Our liberation, such as church folks freeing captive workers (so-called slaves) as they did during chattel slavery to helping out with marches and breakfast programs and such as they did in the Sixties and Seventies, while later helping to lead the fight against apartheid in the Eighties. Too much concentration is on “being saved” and using the word “God” in every other sentence as some type of password. Many folks are even using religion as a narcotic - like heroin or cocaine; a common refrain from them is: "I'm high on Jesus!". Please remember: Our spirituality should be a vitamin - not a drug.

Also, having “fellowship” is another term that is being bandied about these days. I went to a church, quite recently, whose Sunday program sheet read at the bottom, after the hymns and prayers listed: Worship ends, Service begins. Unfortunately, and shamefully, this was NOT in a Black church. 

Black preachers must imitate the life of the historical Jesus who fed the hungry and healed the sick - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The latter did not just sit around and pray. He "worked" for change. During 1963, in his now famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King wrote, in part:

"There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being 'disturbers of the peace' and 'outside agitators' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were 'a colony of heaven', called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be 'astronomically intimidated'. By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets..."

While, at that time, Dr. King's "letter" was largely directed towards European American or "white" clergy, today, those words, very much, apply to most African American clerics across the nation, as well, regrettably. That is a fact that should bring a feeling of shame to many who call themselves ecclesiastics. The Black Church has the power to change things! It is not up to "God" to make this world better. After all, if it is, then why does "He" - or We - need clerics?

At any rate, Our church facilities should be open to Our youth, so that they can study Our history (with no membership or attendance at the particular church required). In other words, We need to actually set up libraries in Our communities within Our churches. Historians, librarians, community activists, and college professors can contribute tremendously to making this happen.

A major problem with fighting against Our oppression and becoming a community lies with the fact that We are often Our own worst enemies, because of Our self-hatred. That is, from African American bank tellers who treat Us differently than other customers to drive-by shootings, both feelings and acts of self-hatred make it difficult for African American men and women to even form genuinely loving relationships of any kind, much less encourage Our youth to get along with each other. We must learn to love Ourselves and Our fellows.

Note: "Love", as it were, is only of any use as an "act of being" as opposed to a "state of being". That means that love is only effective as a verb - not a noun. In other words, in this society, love, as a "state of being", is a passive experience that we hear about through so many cheap songs on the radio and see on tv soap operas. However, as an "act of being", love means that people are "actively" loving towards one another. Consequently, love should be an active, not passive, practice of caring about, being concerned for, concentrating on, trying to understand, and feeling responsible towards not just Our mates and other people, but Our work, and Our communities, as well. Besides, when love is passive, it doesn't last long, because it is then just like a "mood". To be sure, moods change, all of the time. Hence, the serial polygamy practiced by so many of those involved with the institution of marriage and other such "love" relationships, in this country.

Finally, education is something that you get for yourself. It is NOT something that someone gives to you. Notwithstanding, the Black church should be the place where young people in Our communities can get helpful knowledge and ideas, along with developing useful skills. The public schools will, ultimately, follow, if Our churches show them the way. Our young should know that the adults of the community will provide the type of environment where their minds can develop in a manner that will make them be able to control their own destinies. Consequently, for Our youth, We must all embrace the old Nigerian proverb that goes, “If you pick a good tree to climb, I will help lift you up.” Moreover, where is a better place for Our children to learn to appreciate scholarship than the Black Church?

One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus