We continue with a living word from the perspective of the African American Slaves.
Professor Jacquelyn Grant is correct in her assessment of what is gong on here when she writes, "What we see here is perhaps more than a mere rejection of a White preacher's interpretation of the Bible, but an exercise in internal critique of the Bible." In other words, if the biblical words on slavery were the last word on slavery, they were too dead a word to keep living for them.
The Word "too dead to keep living for them." That is a powerful notion and can seem almost offensive. And yet, if the word destroys life, how can it be the Word? Such a word is and must be 'dead among us' for it is antithetical to what is known among us as the "Living Word" - Jesus in the flesh. I was just wondering - imagining - what this Living Word would be among us today. Part of that imagination is to settle for a Living Word that would be no different from that of biblical days. It would be a word radically alive and life-giving even if people were resisting the freedom with which this life is given away to all. Are we content with being a lynching people with a word that cannot bring life. Never! Never must we use the Word to create an atmosphere of death and fear and coercion! We must listen to the voices around us who continually call for the Living Word to really bring on the new life.
Connection: Listen for the offer of new life...listen for the voices that try to dismantle it. It is a discipline that is greatly needed among us.
Come, O Lord, and stir us up so that as we walk through this day we will come to know your voice as times change and your loving presence seeks to persist among us. Amen.
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