Sermon Tone Analysis

Gods plan

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

”History is the study of the human past.

The past has left many traditions, folk tales, and works of art, archaeological objects, and books and written records of our accomplishments.

We have a rich history that encompasses many challenges, many victories, many accomplishments.

Historians have been recording the events of history since the Phoenicians in Africa invented the first alphabet.

Sometimes we study the past to gain a better understanding of other people and places.

But the purpose of most recorded history is to draw valuable lessons from which we can improve our own lifestyles.

What we learn is largely determined by the accuracy and the availability of the raw data to which we are exposed.

For instance, until the advent of Black History Month, our school children learned all of their black history when they studied the plight of slavery in the south prior to the Civil War.

Very little truth was, and still is contained in our children’s textbooks about the depth of slavery’s pain in America.

I have heard more than once if America is the land of promise its does a poor job keeping its promises.

The preamble to the Constitution says: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We as a people found it difficult to embrace this opening statement when we have been denied Justice, Very seldom experience domestic Tranquility(Peace).

We never received our 40 acres and mule nor have we really dealt with the affects of slavery.

We were promised non segregated school but if the truth is told our schools are more segregated today than they were in 1955.

Our history is seldom shared .

So it was not a bad idea to set aside one month out of the year to concentrate on setting the record straight.

Until the advent of Black History Month, the only information received about men and women of color by most white children living in the sheltered communities of the Midwest, were the snippets of truth about slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.

Now, no matter where you live in America, in the month of February, the airwaves and satellite dishes are flooded with commercials about Black History that goes far beyond slavery and Civil Rights.It is about time we taught our own Black children that there is more to our history than our ancestral enslavement.

1 Black children today are shocked to hear that Henry Ford bought the concept plans for the first automobile from a Black man.

2 They’re just as shocked to hear that Blacks are credited with inventing the mousetrap, the umbrella, and the ironing board.

3 They swell with pride when they hear that a Black man performed the first open heart surgery.

Oscar Winner: In 1940, Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American performer to win an Academy Award—the film industry’s highest honor—for her portrayal of a loyal slave governess in Gone With the Wind.Into

Space: In 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.

During her eight-day mission, she worked with U.S. and Japanese researchers, and was a co-investigator on a bone cell experiment.

White House: In 2009, Barack Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. history.

He occupied the White House for two consecutive terms, serving from 2009 to 2017.

Heavyweight Champ: Jack Johnson became the first African-American man to hold the World Heavyweight Champion boxing title in 1908.

He held onto the belt until 1915.

First Lawyer: John Mercer Langston was the first black man to become a lawyer when he passed the bar in Ohio in 1854.

When he was elected to the post of Town Clerk for Brownhelm, Ohio, in 1855 Langston became one of the first African Americans ever elected to public office in America.

John Mercer Langston was also the great-uncle of Langston Hughes, famed poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Supreme Court Justice: Thurgood Marshall was the first African American ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and served on the court from 1967 to 1991.

4 And, I love the amazement of the young black faces when they see a movie like Black Panther and think its possible that highly developed Black empires existed in many parts of Africa.

Tho this movie is fiction its is African Empires that existed hundreds and even thousands of years ago, way before the onslaught of slavery exploitation in the late 1500’s.

True, it’s important to know something about our history.

Your history helps to define who you are as a people.

Did you know that our black ancestor, Imhotep, was the first physician in recorded history?

He opened the first hospital in 2700 B.C. and carved the familiar caduceus that is still recognized as the symbol of medicine.

The Greeks even referred to Imhotep as their god of healing.

And this same physician was also a great architect and engineer!

History has its purpose, but it also has its place.

Our forward momentum as a people can become slowed and even stagnant if we dwell too much on past accomplishments.

It’s good to reflect on the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, but only if they motivate and inspire us to press on.

Dwelling too much in the past can create deference to the present.

In our 100th year it seems today that we are so busy rejoicing over our past gains that we have forgotten how far we still have to go.

We are very much like society.

We relish over Civil Rights and Voters Rights and sat and watch them be slowly taken away!

Something needs to stir the waters of complacency that overshadow our obviously still existing inequality.

I believe we bought in to the words of Donald Trump when he said what to do you have to loose.

Well I have some news for you we have a lot to lose and we are still losing.

1 Our average income is still significantly lower than our white counterpart.

2 We are still the last to be hired and the first to be fired in most cases.

3 Our communities are still the major target of illegal drug distribution.

4 We are still rejected for bank loans at an alarmingly high rate.

5 Our children still make up the largest percentage of the incarcerated.

6 We still register too small a number in the upwardly mobile community.

7 Too many of us still live, week to week.

History has it’s place, but rest too long “on your laurels”, as the saying goes, and you may end up with nothing but your laurels to rest on!

In our scripture today, Isaiah warned the children of Israel about dwelling too much in the past.

It’s true that God had brought them through the great Exodus…He had released them from the bonds of slavery and set them on a new path.

Indeed, He had called them out as His Chosen People.

All of this was part of the Israelites cherished history.

But you can’t live in the past.

History has its place, but it must be kept in its place.

The Israelites were challenged not to think that their greatest victories with the Lord were behind them.

Isaiah’s prophecy charged them to forget the past…its comfortable familiarity, and even its shortcomings and disappointments.

It was true that the Lord had brought them through the Red Sea, but He was also prepared to take them through the wilderness.

Isaiah commanded the Israelites to look ahead, and he prophesied that God was going to do a new thing!

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for God to do a new thing in the Black community.

My Black History becomes less and less satisfying as I watch the value of the dollar decrease in our neighborhoods, the number of unwed mothers and babies without fathers increase, and the inner-city housing that holds too many of us crumbles around our feet.

It’s time to act as though we expect and desire God to once again do a new thing.

1 It’s great to have a Black man in the Supreme Court; but justice is still unjust when the prisons are filled with “just us”.

2 It’s great that the Constitution gives us the right to vote, but the amendment is worthless if we continue to let voter laws, propaganda and devious tricks keep us from voting!

I have a question for you?

How many of our childern are really prepared for college?

Are we sending our children off to college just to return broken hearted because of inadequate and inferior elementary education.

4 It’s wonderful to teach racial tolerance as part of our elementary school curriculum, but we need to teach it to the White House, The Congress, Senate, Governors Mansion, City Hall , Real Estate Broker, the Bank Loan Officer, the Human Resources Departments of major corporations.

This past Friday I attend a Realtor Seminar.

I was shocked to hear the startling statistic of us compare to whites when it comes to home ownership.

Loans approved by banks.

History’s reflection can be wonderfully satisfying, but beware of letting it ruin your appetite for progress.

There is still so much work to be done to obtain our fair distribution of the American pie.

St Luke we will celebrate 100 but we have to look past that celebration to see what the Lord has planned for the next Generation.

And what role do we, as Christians, play in this quest for equality?

Black tradition shows that the hope for change always began in the Black church.

Black Christians have been the catalyst for revolutionizing and transforming our circumstances.

We must not stop now.

All Christians must hold out the hope of Christ as our banner for justice.

We must greet every day expecting God to bless us.

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.”

We must expect that God IS going to do a NEW THING.God is not through with us yet.

If He can make “a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”, we know that He is able to move our present mountains out of our way.God is able to do a new thing.

He is able to do abundantly above all we ask and even think!If the Lord can cause a virgin to conceive a child, He can restore our families.If the Lord can open the Red Sea, He can open doors of opportunity.If the Lord can resurrect Lazarus, He can resurrect our ailing churches.Forget the past, and press into the future with the hope that the Lord is able!

We must have faith that God is going to do a new thing!

I will make a way in the wilderness