“…God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” John 3:16-17 (NIV)

In light of the horrendous shooting of Shawn Bell at the dawn of this season, and the sacred memories of Eleanor Bumpers, Patrick Dorismond and countless other victims of police brutality in the cities and towns of New York and New Jersey, we have every right to be angry and dissatisfied with our condition, as were the people that Jesus would be born to. We yet have a right to celebrate this season, for in this season our ultimate victory over these oppressive forces is confirmed. The real reason for the season is that patient and faithful struggle, and moral indignation will give way to victory in this world and for eternity, through the Advent of our Savior, Jesus, Christ!

Thus, the real reason for the season, the real reason that we feel good at this time of the year, the reason we hope, the reason we so look forward to this season, is that the God that we serve loved us so much that he made an investment in the world and into all the people of this world, fully including Black people, that we could know deep within our hearts that we are not forgotten or forsaken by our God, the God of justice, the God of the oppressed, the God that looked beyond our faults and saw our needs.

Theologians have contended that the African American Church has appropriated the stories of deliverance in the Bible - the Exodus, the Advent story, etc. It is as if to say that the text is really about another people at another time in history, and that it is okay if blacks find inspiration in it. Or, if blacks find something powerful and instructive in the gospel, they are certainly free to use it. This pre-supposes that the Gospel message of salvation, freedom, liberation, eternal salvation and cosmic celebration was originally intended for others and is only available to others ontologically. To this I strongly disagree.

I think I know why my maternal Grandmother sister Mary Emma Johnson and so many of our people get excited during the Christmas season: because the universality of our mighty God is such that they know that the Gospel is as much mine and ours as any one else’s.

You see, we were in the Garden of Eden, and we are Joseph, having a special coat of many colors, yet sold into slavery, and ultimately, because of a merciful God, delivered from bondage and blessed to have dominion and authority in a land in which we had previously been slaves. We are the same as the Israelites. We have endured our tormentors and cried aloud to our God and God has looked down from his throne, saw our suffering and declared that this people, too, shall be freed, delivered!

We have known Pharaoh and Pontius Pilate. We have had our own Herods and are under a modern Caesar. But in the midst of our longing for justice, for full and true equality and genuine reconciliation and fraternity with all God’s people, we can truly shout and celebrate because we’ve known rivers, and though we have had to defer some of our dreams we know that our God is real! The Ohio river was not like the River Jordan, it was indeed our River Jordan; Jim Crow was not similar to Pharaoh’s army it was really Pharaoh’s army and through its attempt to keep us in slavery and bondage it drowned in the Red Sea. So we are justified in celebrating this Christmas season, for our God is an awesome God!

Oh we’ve got some difficult days ahead, we have broken free from bondage but we still attempt to get to the Promised Land, we’ve “Been in the storm so long.” There are some giants in the land. We’ve got to deal with AIDS, the breakup of our families, the suffering of our children, the incarceration of our men, the frustration and despair of our women and the fight for justice -- giants that must be slain. As we await the second coming of our Lord, and as we commemorate his first coming, we have a deep and abiding faith and in God we trust, for a Savior was born in Bethlehem and He has power over all things! This was the faith of our ancestors and it will be our bridge over troubled waters. James Weldon Johnson told us yesterday and it stands true today, to “Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring …”

Finally, We the Nazarene Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Bedford Stuyvesant located at 506 McDonough Street (at Patchen Avenue). Our Men’s’ Association, Deacon Anthony Hooks, Chairman, extend to you a very special invitation to attend our Men’s Day this year, as we welcome cultural icon, the incomparable Mr. Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director, at Jazz at Lincoln Center as this years keynote speaker. In inviting Mr. Marsalis to address the subject A Love: Supreme: Our Sacred Music and How we have Transformed the World, we seek to remember some of our great past through our music, as we have attempted to spread The Good News throughout the world through the ministry of the best of our culture and sacred music, all of it! Won’t you come and worship with us on December 10,2006 at our 11:00 AM worship service.

Halleluiah, Amen!