Roots

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There was a famine in David’s time. It went on year after year after year— three years. David went to God seeking the reason. 2 Samuel 21:1 (The Message)

In his book, Roots, Alex Haley revealed his own African-American family history and genealogy. In our Scripture focus today, King David also discovered the power of roots. Long ago, the Gibeonites tricked Joshua and the Israelites into making a peace treaty with their nation, after they had miraculously conquered the impenetrable walls of Jericho. Although they were deceived, God expected his people to keep their promise of peace. But centuries later, King Saul massacred the Gibeonites, causing his successor, King David, and the entire Israelite nation to deal with the consequences of a three-year famine.

At one level, the famine was the consequence of drought. However, David’s prayer revealed that the root problem was the sin of a broken covenant. The power of the promise made by Joshua may have been buried in memories of the past, but it had an effect in King David’s day. We reap what we sow, and sometimes we reap what others sow.

Ignorance of past actions can cost us our future. Many of today’s social and racial problems have people divided and in need of reconciliation. But the solution is not to begin with the present. We must deal with the roots.

The U.S. and other nations are marked by historical inequalities and longstanding cultural stereotypes. For example, there were more than 370 treaties made with Native American nations that helped the U.S. expand its territory. Most of these treaties were broken.

History shapes our current circumstances. We are what we are today because of what happened yesterday. The bitter fruit of strained relationships that we taste today, once hung upon branches that came from the roots and seeds buried deep within the ground. It takes real courage to unearth buried sins and broken covenants.

If you dare, grab a shovel and join with King David in breaking up the fallow ground of past broken treaties. Let’s pray that God will reveal to us the root causes of division and disparities, and the divine strategies needed to make atonement in our respective nations and communities.

Walter Harvey

PONDER: What historic actions or attitudes contribute to current racial or relational tensions in your family, community, or nation?

 

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I Was There to Do My Part

Screen Shot 2015-10-08 at 5.50.24 AMVelvalea Rogers Phillips was born in 1924. Her ancestors included a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and missionaries to Africa. Every night at dinner, her mother required that she and her sister share one good thing they had done that day. She remembers her mother constantly telling her to “dream big dreams.” As a student at North Division High School, her speech entitled “The Negro and the Constitution” won her a scholarship to Howard University in Washington D.C. One Sunday morning Vel and a friend entered a church, and they were stunned when the pastor stopped speaking and asked the ushers to escort them out of the church. A fire was lit in Vel, a fire to fight for equality.

Vel went to college and then on to law school. In 1956, she became the first female alderman in Milwaukee and the first African American to be elected to the Common Council. She introduced a fair housing ordinance in 1962 to give equal opportunity to all persons to live in decent housing facilities regardless of race, color, or national origin. Hers was the only vote in favor of the ordinance, which was defeated every time she introduced it over the next five years. She experienced prejudice against her both because of her race and her gender. Vel later said that the other Common Council members sometimes forgot she was black, but they never forgot she was a woman.

In the summer of 1967, racial tensions were escalating and Milwaukee became known as “the Selma of the north.” One day protest marchers were met on the 16th Street viaduct by angry white protesters who shouted insults and hurled stones. Vel joined the marchers the second night of the protest and for the following 200 nights. During this time a shot was fired into the Phillips’ home, and Vel and her husband made the difficult decision to send their children to live with her mother on the West Coast until tensions in the city died down. The fight against housing segregation was eventually won at the local and national level.

Vel went on to become the first black judge in Milwaukee and, in 1978, the first African American and the first female to be elected to a statewide office in the U.S. In her words: “God saw to it that I was there to do my part.”

[VIDEO: Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams]

Jan Keddie

Comments welcome below.

Past days’ readings HERE.

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13 thoughts on “Roots”

  1. Yes root causes and broken treaties that “was” the story of my life. I continually broke my relationship w/ God by walking away and in my selfishness walked away from my family too! Today a lot has changed including sharing my testimony with others in the hope that God is using me to lead others to Him. I also get to spend time w/ Mrs. Vel Phillips mostly by phone today and have been invited to her condo.The first time we met she was a speaker for one of my classes, she paved the way for me and many others! I hope to do more of my part!

  2. Walter/ The “roots” perspective is deep in more than one way. Eye opening! Keep painting pictures of truth with your creative words. I can see it. We have a lot of work to do. Amen.
    Jan/ Awesome work. You and Walter make a great team.
    Father we so need Your help. Our arms are not big enough to reach around this. Together we can. Bring us together in Jesus name and for Your glory.
    RcW

  3. I am so appreciative for these writings, it’s history and bible studies wrapped up in one. Thanks to Elmbrook Church and to Pastor, Minister Mel Lawrenz and to all who have given off their time and knowledge to give so much informative writings and information. May God bless you and your ministry as you continue your great work. I am blessed to have, and have had parents who brought us up to appreciate people of all races , colour and creed. I grew up with a sense of showing respect to all people.

    1. You were truly blessed to grow up with a sense of showing respect for all people, Ann. May that be the case in this generation.

  4. In the final analysis, EVERYTHING will be traced back to the fall of Satan and subsequently to the fall of Woman and Adam.

  5. People can have the exact same experience but be shaped by it differently due to external input from outside. No matter what ethnicity, race, culture a newborn comes into, it is shaped by its external environment. However, because of that external environment, it is critical that we as Christian’s don’t speak to our little one’s as the authority but teach them and respond to them from The Authority! If we all truly knew and understood and read the entire Bible over and over (the enlightened Word of God) so that it was accurately engrained in us, our responses would be what they should be and we would be teaching our children and others God’s Will and not our worldy interpretation. For God is our Root!

  6. Continued inequality and white privilege contributes much to tensions in the Wisconsin workforce. A lot of brown professionals are still experiencing the same challenges faced by Vel Philips over 50 years ago. The hatred in Wisconsin, America even, runs deep.

  7. A very interesting piece, thanks. I didn’t know about Vel Phillips : a truly inspirational person !
    “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true”

    In many ways, your country has come a long way. In the 60s, who would have imagined your having a black president ? However, there is clearly still a long way to go with true, unconditional integration, so let’s pray for progress on that.

    I read of the atrocities that the Native Americans suffered from the settlers: a truly evil betrayal on a biblical scale ! The settlers came from my country, England, so we share the responsibility to prevent such things happening again. Sadly, we have seen more “regime changes” in recent years which have upset the balance within many nations, failing to understand the culture of the people and doing more damage than good.

    As Percy Bysshe Shelley said 200 years ago :
    – “Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.”

  8. Lord God, don’t let my heart be conflicted by conflict, help me take the hard step of reconciliation and breathe the rare air of unity…
    Father, reveal to me any causes of division in my life, and show me what you what me to do to make it right…
    Lord Jesus, like you I must freely forgive or I run the risk of developing a vengeful heart which escalates the pain of division…
    Holy Spirit, I don’t want to keep old wounds from healing and allow pain from the past to shape and damage my life. Spirit of God, I can not change what’s in my heart without yielding to your guidance…
    Lord God, the season of obedience is here…

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