Relentless Faith

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).”

It's black history month and no greater time than the present to highlight the role of faith and the church in the life and lives of African Americans. Subjugated to the harshness of slavery, faith played a significant role in providing hope.

Violently extracted from their homeland to serve as forced labor, the church brought hope to hopelessness. The church provided some relief from the harshness and vile treatment they received and it wasn’t in a building per se but in the coming together with one another. They risked beatings, floggings, and even death to worship God. Although not given the opportunity for formal education, they still found ways to communicate the message of God’s word which was often through song (as we've come to know as spirituals) to express the oppression they felt and the freedom they sought. Somehow they knew that the message they were receiving from their masters wasn't slanted toward their wellbeing but they found a way to steal away to sing and pray to the God who they believed understood and knew their pain. Through song and prayer they came together as a collective group of people to worship God and to seek His deliverance.

It was faith, a relentless faith in God and hope for a better future they suffered and why many of us are here today. That time together, their fellowship, spending time with likeminded believers, and trust in an unseen God, it is what brought comfort to an unimaginable reality. It was and is a faith in the Almighty God that can change anything.