In the act of worship itself, the experience of liberation becomes a constituent of the community's being . . . It is the power of God's Spirit invading the lives of the people, "building them up where they are torn down and propping them up on every leaning side".
Interpretation
Worship fosters a communal experience of liberation through divine connection.
This quote by James H. Cone emphasizes the transformative power of worship in a community. It suggests that through collective acts of worship, individuals experience liberation and support from the divine spirit, which strengthens and uplifts their lives, especially in times of struggle or degradation.
In practice
During a church service, the pastor quoted this while discussing the importance of community support.
Indeed our survival and liberation depend upon our recognition of the truth when it is spoken and lived by the people. If we cannot recognize the truth, then it cannot liberate us from untruth. To know the truth is to appropriate it, for it is not mainly reflection and theory. Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating the human action of liberation.
The coming of Christ means a denial of what we thought we were. It means destroying the white devil in us. Reconciliation to God means that white people are prepared to deny themselves (whiteness), take up the cross (blackness) and follow Christ (black ghetto).
Black racism is a myth created by whites to ease their guilt feelings. As long as whites can be assured that blacks are racists, they can find reasons to justify their own oppression of’ black people.
To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!
If I thought that everything I did was determined by my circumstancse and my psychological condition, I woudl feel trapped.
Some journeys are direct, and some are circuitous; some are heroic, and some are fearful and muddled. But every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need
There sighs, lamentations and loud wailings resounded through the starless air, so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sound of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, and sand eddies in a whirlwind.
Human beings have neither kindness, nor faith, nor charity beyond what serves to increase the pleasure of the moment.
I'm really intrigued by those eternal questions of creation and belief and faith. I don't care who you are, it's what we all think about. It's in the back of all our minds.
A criminal remains a criminal whether he uses a convict's suit or a monarch's crown.
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