In a sermon preached in the fall of 2014, shortly after the shooting of Michael Brown and weeks of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III spoke about the unique way Black Americans hold the tension between despair and hope:
It’s a strange affair to be Black and live in America, and even stranger to be Black and a person of faith in these yet-to-be-United States, to carry around the burden of a socially constructed idea called race and yet be filled with a divinely inspired mandate to eradicate all limitations to the human soul. Being Black means you are born with a Blues song tattooed on your heart, and at the same time you still have a Gospel shout that is welling up in your soul about to come out.
Another way to say it is that we live with repression and revelation simultaneously swimming in the same tributary of our spirit. There is nothing more confusing to the postmodern personality, to the millennial sojourner, than to have to exist between the strange life of dealing with your Blues and Gospel all the time. Madness and ministry, chaos and Christ. My father heard an elder in Georgia say it this way. When he asked her, “How are you doing, Mother?” she said, “I’m living between Oh Lord and Thank you, Jesus.”
For the most part, many of us are living in between, not quite at “Oh Lord” and not quite at “Thank you, Jesus,” but somewhere in between. If you choose to be conscious and understand the system at work, study the history of repression, know what hate will do when it’s turned inward onto your own spirit, examine the forces of consumption, get a picture of colonialism, understand the root of imperialism, and begin to deconstruct the powers that be. At some point, you will find yourself leaning upon the Blues and facing despair, and wondering if you should give up.
Moss offers the example of Rosa Parks (1913–2005) as someone who faced despair and chose hope and nonviolent action. Moss preaches:
For those of you who have fallen into a level of cynicism, thinking that we “cannot” and “nothing will work,” let me tell you, when you get up tomorrow on Monday morning, it will be December first. That means nothing to you, but let me break it down, because you should shout every December first. December first was the day … Rosa Parks sat down so you could stand up.
When you get up tomorrow, you say, “God, I thank you for Rosa. That she could sit down so I could stand up.” And only God can teach you to do two things that sound contradictory at the same time, that she sat down and stood up at the same time. We must make our history sacred.
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From Jesus Gets Us…
Do Not Judge or you too will be judged…
There’s this Scripture that kind of trips us up. Whether you’re a Bible reader or not, you’re probably familiar with it. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Matthew 7:1. Jesus says this toward the end of one of his most famous sermons. He was calling out the hypocrisy of pointing out the faults in others when we have our own faults we should be working on.
But Can and Should I Judge People in Daily Life?
Truthfully, we must make judgments about people almost every day. When applying for a job, do I want to work for this person? When meeting someone I’m attracted to, should I ask them out on a date? When I need to confide in someone, who do I trust as a friend? Just spend a couple of minutes online, and we realize our entire world is now based on reviews. From doctors to hotels, restaurants to dog walkers, many businesses live or die by the number of stars by their name.
The Judging Jesus is talking about comes from a different oplace, it come from our egos….
Honest evaluation, however, is different from the judgment Jesus was speaking of. Honest evaluation of others is necessary for a safe and functioning society. The judging Jesus refers to comes from a different place. It comes from our ego. We’re often seeking to elevate ourselves by belittling someone else. Or we try to justify our own bad behavior by labeling somebody else’s behavior as worse. Sometimes, biases and grudges affect how we view and treat others.
By recognizing our own flaws, we can become a little more merciful, understanding and accepting.
With that in mind, Jesus asked us to stop pinpointing the shortcomings of others and to look inwardly and deeply examine our own hearts and motives. It’s not comfortable. But here’s why it’s so important. Jesus knew that if we focused on our own faults and weaknesses, we could become more empathetic toward others. We’d recognize that, like us, every person has challenges and struggles that we can relate to. And that’s how Jesus’ radical love is demonstrated today. By recognizing our own flaws, we can all become a little more merciful, a little more patient, and a little more loving toward one another.
Scripture References:
Matthew 7:1; “Do not judge, or you too will be judged”.
Luke 6:37; Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be
John 7:24; but judge righteous judgment; give your sense and judgment of things, according to the truth and evidence of them;
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