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.
Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.
Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
The cynic says, "One man can't do anything". I say, "Only one man can do anything."
As it turns out, we don't "all" have to pay our debts. Only some of us do.
I think it's important to remember that people don't set their lives on fire. They don't walk away from their extraordinarily, extraordinarily comfortable lives ... for no reason.
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