WHAT I LEARNED IN CHURCH TODAY: August 17, 3014 SLEEPWALKING WALKING THROUGH A MINE FIELD 1 Thessalonians 5:6-16 For clarification, people who sleep walk appear to be awake but are still asleep. A land mine is an explosive device hidden underground designed to destroy. Out of the riots of the 60s came a movement that changed the world. Today we are more interested in pop culture than the devastation brought on by Ebola, the warring factions in the Middle East or the death of a unarmed black youth at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson Mo. This is evidenced by the fact that the suicidal death of a comedian was the lead story on the news network this past week. We are sleep walking through a mine field. We are asleep at the wheel. We must be aroused from your coma of convenience. We are so consumed with pop culture that we cant be concerned about those things that are affecting us daily. All is not well in American. Despite the fact that we have a black president, more hate crimes were perpetuated against blacks than any other race. Our school systems are in trouble while our prisons flourish. We make up 13 percent of the general population, but 40 percent of the prison population, leaving them unable to get jobs because of their criminal records. Black officials are not doing the jobs they were elected to do. Race is considered before any decision is made in this city but we keep electing sleepwalking people. We are a majority in Memphis but only 30 percent of us voted in the last election. Ballots are more powerful than bullets, people. But we wont vote! Why did we not question the very people who owned slave while declaring that all men were created equal We have normalized racism of the modern age. We wear the blindness of ignorance and conform to a present day racism that we have become accustomed to, without questioning it or fighting against it. In the civil rights struggles of the 60s, we had a plan and we had leaders. Todays generation does not appear to have direction and are fighting authorities in the streets. They have no plans or end goals and seem to be operating off of emotions, which gives the racists a perceived right to come out of the shadows and declare them unlawful. They need to see has what God did for us and through us when we put Him in the midst of our struggles. Civil rights leaders from the past came out of the church. It was a process of peaceful demonstration, prayers and informed people that got us through the racism and turmoil of the 60s. Violence alone would have never gotten gotten us the rights we were seeking. Freedom is more than just being free. Freedom is a state of responsibility to those coming after us. And even today we are not free. We are loose but we are not yet free. To be free we must be aware and must have a sense of self determination. If we think what happened in Ferguson wont happen again we are sleep walking. Do you think youve made it? Each step forward can be erased. If we lose our place with God and forget how far He has brought us well find ourselves back on the back of the bus. We must not allow our children to forget. God must be in our homes; in our daily conversations. Talk to the children about what God has done for us in the past and will surely do again if we keep Him in the fight with us. Before a stick of dynamite can go off there has to be a fuse. Ferguson might be that fuse. But there has to be rhyme and reason behind our actions. Why would we mindlessly destroy the things that are convenient to us? We must meet brute force with Integrity not ignorance. The Black church must shed the illustration of inclusion and get back to the business of awakening and uplifting the people that are still sleeping. Wake up everybody!! (Videos and tapes of this and other sermons are available through the church bookstore)
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 21:59:24 +0000
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