Black History month is a blessing to this Preacher on so many levels. We know that it is informative. We are made aware of the many contributions made by people of color that have significantly advanced our society. During Black History month we consciously or unconsciously identify with the struggle of our people. Through it all there has been the underlying awareness of the faithfulness of God. The scripture tells us: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). That verse says blessed is the “ethnos”, the group of people whose God is the Lord. For people of color, the Living God has always been the stabilizer in our lives. Just recently, Continental Airlines honored the late Captain Marlon Green by naming a Boeing 737 after him. Captain Green was the nation’s first African-American commercial pilot. Captain Green was a highly qualified, former Air Force pilot who was denied employment by all the airlines because of the color of his skin. It took a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision to force airlines to hire African-Americans as pilots. Marlon Green persevered because blessed is the “ethnos” whose God is the Lord.
When this preacher reflects on the struggle, I don’t see the “sanitized struggle” that is evidenced by simply wearing “African garb”. Our God has brought us from the most de-humanizing, ungodly, condition that any person could experience and here we are: Blessed and highly favored!
Pastor J. Amos Jones
