(Image: Oladimji Odunsi)
Last weekend, a friend and I visited the Museum of the Bible to take in an exhibit entitled “A Balm in Gilead”. Admittedly, I didn’t do my due diligence to research the event before purchasing my ticket. I simply thought it was a gospel concert given the affair largely boasted of performances by the Howard University Gospel Choir and Fisk University’s Jubilee Singers.
Now, speaking of the performances, the choirs were phenomenal! They had hymns, they had range, they had rhythm, and they had me clapping and singing along.
But as for the rest of the event? They simply had a lot of nerve!
Midway through the evening the audience was treated to a round table discussion, during which biblical scholars said much to question, invalidate and even deny the authority and infallibility of God’s Word. Their intent was to discuss the impact the Bible has had on the African American experience and to highlight how white missionaries manipulated the Scriptures (via “the Slave Bible”) to teach African slaves their condition and treatment were not only normal and deserved, but God-approved. Yet, rather than speak to that manipulation for what it was (sin), the panel facilitator and the panelists, which included a “womanist theologian”, would eventually put forth the argument that the Bible cannot be trusted.
At this point, I literally fell over in my seat, my friend groaned under her breath, and the woman sitting behind us began gathering her belongings. “You’re not alone,” the woman said, kindly tapping my side as I laid out, undone by the madness I was hearing. “We thought we were just coming to hear some good music,” she chuckled.
Eventually, she and others in the audience made their way out of the theater. My friend and I considered doing the same, but we decided to stay. We hated what they had to say. Yet I, personally, also found it all oddly entertaining, especially the part where the womanist theologian surmised that our hearts help us fill in the gaps of what’s “missing” in Scripture. “But the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it,” I shout-whispered. My friend and I would go on to shout-whisper a few other Scriptures and biblical truths to correct these “scholars” from our seats. We were finding it hard to sit there and just listen to their rhetoric without wanting to scream. Ugh! In retrospect, we probably should have just left with the others after all. That honestly would have been the wisest thing to do. But, admittedly, I was annoyed that was something we even had to consider, and I had to finally accept that woke theology had indeed gone mainstream.
Which brings me to the point of this series: I’m Black, and I’m tired!
To be clear, I’m not tired of being Black. Rather, I’m weary of being told that, as a Black person, I have to feel, think and believe all things through a “woke” lens. There’s a crabs in the barrel dynamic at work even when you’ve escaped the barrel, because even if you don’t share that mindset, that mindset has now become rather ubiquitous in mainstream society. Ugh! Why can’t I just go to an event and enjoy “some good music”? Why can’t I just go to the movies and enjoy a well-made film? Why can’t I go to a Christian conference and just fellowship with other Christians? And how can Black Christians do a better, god-glorifying, Gospel-edifying job at helping our skin-folk find rest for their weary souls? I’d imagine they’re tired, too! Some would say it’s from years of oppression and injustice. Yet, I’d imagine working overtime to “stay woke” all the time would cause one to grow delirious as well. After all, sleep deprivation causes moodiness, fatigue, irritability and depression. Ugh!
I’ve actually attempted to tackle this subject through this blog over the years. So in these final weeks of Black History Month, I’ve curated a few of my pieces on social justice, race relations, and Black Christian identity for this series. Mind you, I’m not claiming to have all of the answers. But my goal in each piece is to point all readers to God, who does. I’m praying for fruit.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
