Praise for the Black Church

Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b

It’s hard to be humble—for those of the majority race
who are always favored first when it comes to power.
Oh, sure, there is empathy: imagine the horror!
But no one is thinking seriously of trading places.
Like Joseph, west Africans once had independence.
Mercenary brothers sold them into slavery
and they bore brutal bondage from birth to grave
on our soil. No one is wiser than their descendants.
It is difficult for whites to accept that the last are first
and the first last. Some believe the Haves
and the Have Mores on earth are bound for glory
where we are saved by following private paths,
but black churches proclaim the true story
of inclusion as taught to us by Jesus Christ.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 13, 2023