To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the notion of divine selection and inclusivity within Christianity, specifically highlighting the inclusion of black people.
In this quote, James H. Cone expresses the belief that being a Christian inherently involves recognizing and affirming the chosen status of marginalized groups, particularly black individuals, in the eyes of God. It challenges traditional narratives of religious belief and suggests that faith is interconnected with social justice and identity.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of inclusion in faith communities.
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.
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".
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 ofβ black people.
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
We are all ruled in what we do by impulses; and these impulses are so organized that our actions in general serve for our self preservation and that of the race.
Many could forgo heavy meals, a full wardrobe, a fine house, etcetera. It is the ego they cannot forgo.
In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society.
Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will. But I love it just the same.
The Truth is far more all-encompassing than the mind could ever comprehend. No thought can encapsulate the Truth. At best, it can point to it. For example, it can say: "All things are intrinsically one (The Pearl of Great Price)." That is a pointer, not an explanation. Understanding these words means feeling deep within you the truth to which they point.
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