Preaching freedom from the pulpits
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23(NASB)
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
As we approach the celebration of one of the greatest “Drum Majors for Justice”, that has ever walked the face of this earth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I would like to offer as a platform for conversation that pulpits for preaching freedom are not necessarily restricted to the enter confines of the church.
Breezing through the pages of our (BLACK) History, I found it refreshing to be reminded that it was alright to be considered in the colloquial terms of today, “an angry Black man.” Simply because in that peculiar term of endearment in the circles of those of us, who at some point in our lives have been referred to as such – not behind our backs but actually in our faces – was reassuring that all has not been lost in passionately opposed to others defining who I was and how I was suppose to stand up for my liberation.
Even if that meant I had to use as my pulpit (a raised platform or stand in a Christian church that is used by the priest or minister for preaching or leading a service.**)Whatever place I found myself in need of being freed from and unshackling those that were trapped into an ideology of racism I as an angry Black man was willing to use..
Where there is injustice, bigotry and the lack of respect for the difference of others not solely based on the hue of skin, content of charter or sexual preference, we must speak free-dom from the pulpits.
Many Black men refused to give in to the wrongs of others and used where they were to preach freedom. Fredrick Douglas stated in his July 5, 1852 speech, What to the slave is the Fourth of July: “Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America! I will not equivocate; I will not excuse! I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.”
Brother Malcolm X refused to be less than a free man: “The day that the Black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes that he’s within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don’t think he’ll be by himself.”
No, we’re not all preaching from the pulpits of churches; however if we are advocating within the divine fruit of the spirit, as stated in Galatians 5:22-23, then we are doing what God has called us to do.
Freedom has a way of making us move when we don’t want to .On June 1, 1843, Isabella Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth and told her friends: “The Spirit calls me, and I must go.”
May God bless all those who have preached freedom from the pulpits and may He continue to bless us with others to follow.
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NASB)
**Encarta Dictionary: English North America
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