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.
It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.
Time starts out as a notion. But after you turn fifty, time is not a notion anymore but a fact that you start feeling clearly, and in a way, it pushes you to become present in the present.
The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man - and the dogma is the drama.
Meditation, then, is not so much a part of this or that particular religion, but rather part of the universal spiritual culture of all humankind--an effort to bring awareness to bear on all aspects of life. It is, in other words, part of what has been called the perennial philosophy.
The foundation of worship in the heart is not emotional ("I feel full of worship" or "The atmosphere is so worshipful"). Actually, it is theological. Worship is not something we "work up," it is something that "comes down" to us, from the character of God.
Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
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