Sankofa Paper #2 "Singing Heaven's Music in God's World"
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SANKOFA PAPER #2 Singing Heaven’s Music in God’s World: Further Explorations in African-American Spirituality By Dr. James Earl Massey Second Annual Gatherng of the Afrcan-Amercan Sages Unversty of Indanapols March 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ......................................................................................1 “Sngng Heaven’s Musc n God’s World: Introducng James Earl Massey, An Afrcan-Amercan Sprtual Sage” by Mchael G. Cartwrght ..................3 1. “A Grand Word About a Great Savor” a sermon by James Earl Massey ...6 2. “Footprnts of an Afrcan-Amercan Bblcal Hermeneutc” by James Earl Massey.................................................................................11 3. “Chrstan Lfe n the Afrcan-Amercan Sprtuals” by James Earl Massey.................................................................................22 The Sankofa V son ...................................................................................33 v 1 A cknowledgments The Second Annual Gatherng of the Afrcan-Amercan Sages took place on March 10–11, 2006, n the metropoltan area of Indanapols, Indana. On Frday evenng, the congregaton of Barnes Unted Methodst Church hosted “The Great Banquet,” a fellowshp meal that brought together Euro-Amer- cans and Afrcan-Amercans from two Unted Methodst congregatons. Later that evenng, the congregaton of Barnes UMC also hosted the servce at whch the Unversty of Indanapols pad trbute to the Rev. Dr. James Earl Massey before he preached a remarkable sermon ttled “A Grand Word about a Great Savor.” We are grateful to the pastor of Barnes UMC, the Rev. Dr. Charles Harrson, for hs wllngness to host ths occason, and to Mrs. Audrey Kng and the women of the congregaton for preparng the meal. The followng day, Greenwood Unted Methodst Church n Greenwood, Indana, hosted the mornng and afternoon sessons as well as a luncheon for partcpants n the daylong gatherng where we had the prvlege of hearng Dr. Massey. We are also grateful to the pastors of Greenwood UMC, the Rev. Dr. Bll Hoopes, and the Rev. Mary Wlder Cartwrght for ther support of ths venture, and to Mrs. Jane Stlley and the women of the congregaton for provdng food for the luncheon. I also want to take ths opportunty to thank the other volunteers who gathered from around the Unted States and helped to consttute ths second annual gatherng of the Afrcan-Amercan Sages: Dr. Eugene A. Blar, Detroit Annual Conference Rev. Glandon Carney, Birmingham, Alabama Rev. James Ephram, Forestdale, Alabama Dr. Safiya Fosua, General Board of Discipleship Ms. Mary Hcks Good, Detroit Annual Conference, the United Methodist Church Rev. Jerry Haas, Director, Academy for Spiritual Formation, The Upper Room Mr. Tony Peterson, General Board of Discipleship Rev. Renta Thomas, North Georgia Conference, the United Methodist Church Ms. Cheryl F. Walker, General Board of Discipleship Fnally, I want to take ths opportunty to thank the Relgon Dvson of Llly Endowment, Inc., for fundng The Crossings Project, the name that we have gven to the seres of theologcal exploraton of vocaton ntatves at the Unversty of Indanapols. Wthout such generosty, ths opportunty would not have been possble. Mchael G. Cartwrght Dean of Ecumencal & Interfath Programs v 1 James Earl Massey Second Annual Gathering of the African-American Sages Guest Sage: The Rev. Dr. James Earl Massey Dean Emeritus & Distinguished Professor, Anderson University School of eology; Dean Emeritus of the Chapel, Tuskegee University; Pastor Emeritus, Metropolitan Church of God, Detroit, Michigan Sponsored by the University of Indianapolis in Saturday, March 11, 2006 collaboration with the congregations of Barnes United Hosted by Greenwood United Methodist Church Methodist Church & Greenwood United Methodist Church 525 North Madison Avenue, Greenwood, Ind. 46142 (317) 881-1653 Friday, March 10, 2006 2 9:30 a.m. 3 7:30 p.m. “Reading the Bible as African-Americans” “A Grand Word About A Great Savior” Followed by conversation; Rev. Dr. Glandion Carney, facilitator Scripture text: I Timothy 1:12–17 Noon: Luncheon * Hosted by Barnes United Methodist Church 900 West 30th Street, Indianapolis 46208 1 p.m. “Christian Life in the African-American Spirituals” (317) 923-9197 Followed by conversation; Rev. Dr. Eugene Blair, facilitator * ese events are free to the public. Persons who wish to participate in the luncheon on Saturday must reserve a space in advance. Persons planning to attend should contact Mrs. Jane Stilley at (317) 881-3514. “S inging H eaven ’ S M usic in G od ’ S W orld ” I ntroducing J ames E arl M asse Y, an A frican -A merican S piritual S age B Y M ichael G . C artwright In the sprng of 2004, when the Office of Ecumencal & Interfath Programs at the Unversty of Indanapols first proposed to host a seres of annual gatherngs of the Afrcan-Amercan Sages, we knew that we were takng a rsk that we mght not succeed. The ntuton that nformed our ntentons to host such these gatherngs, however, was that f someone took the tme and trouble to lft up the contrbutons of Afrcan-Amercan sprtual sages, then clergy and laty from Chrstan congregatons would partcpate n such gath- erngs. In retrospect, our decson to nvte the Rev. Dr. James Earl Massey to be the “guest sage” for ths second annual event turns out to have been apt. Dr. Massey emboded our ntent for ths venture and he helped us enact a two-day event that could very well serve as a model for future gatherngs. For that we owe hm a great debt. James Earl Massey s Dean Emertus and Dstngushed Professor, An- derson Unversty School of Theology. He also holds the ttles of Emertus Dean of the Chapel, Tuskegee Unversty and Pastor Emertus, Metropoltan Church of God, Detrot, Mchgan. Throughout hs mnstry as a pastor, theologan, campus mnster, and professor and academc dean, Massey has dsplayed a remarkable ablty to proclam the gospel n varous settngs. As Barry Callen aptly states n hs ntroducton to Singing Heaven’s Music (1995), James Earl Massey “has crossed racal and denomnatonal lnes freely, trou- blng the securty of old and humanly prejudced paradgms wth the sharp edge of the bblcal word.” Even n retrement, Dr. Massey contnues to be a wnsome “ambassador for Jesus Chrst” (2 Cor. 5:19-20), and we were blessed to have had the opportunty to host hm for a vst to the Indanapols metro- poltan area n March 2006. The three texts by James Earl Massey that we have gathered n ths vol- ume are not ntended to provde a comprehensve assessment of hs lfe work. They are, however, representatve of three areas of hs lfework to whch read- ers should be ponted as they explore the sprtual wsdom of ths partcular Afrcan-Amercan Sage. 1. Preaching: James Earl Massey, s well-known for hs preachng. Although no text can do justce to the power of the spoken word, we are very pleased to be able to have a sermon to use as the first tem n ths second set of “Sanko- fa” reflectons. “A Grand Word about a Great Savor” dsplays Massey’s talent for choosng words wsely to convey the good news of the gospel wthout lettng the persona of the preacher get n the way of the message. As such, ths sermon s an apt example of one who has spent a lfetme practcng the craft of preachng. Shortly before he vsted Indanapols, Dr. Massey publshed a book enttled Stewards of the Story: The Task of Preaching (Lousvlle, Ken- tucky: Westmnster/John Knox Press, 2006). Readers nterested n explorng 2 3 more of Massey’s sagacous reflectons about proclamaton of the good news are encouraged to read the essays collected n that volume. 2. Interpreting the Bible: James Earl Massey also dsplays the ablty to dscuss dfficult matters of nterpretaton n ways that are accessble and con- cse. Hs second essay, “Readng the Bble as Afrcan Amercans,” provdes a lucd and careful dstllaton of contemporary scholarshp about the way the Bble has been nterpreted n the Afrcan-Amercan Chrstan tradton over the past four centures. Readers should be aware of the fact that ths essay s adapted from James Earl Massey’s two essays whch were publshed n The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. I. Those essays from “the General Artcles” secton of the first volume were: “Readng the Bble from Partcular Locatons: An Introducton,” pp. 150-153; and “Readng the Bble as Afrcan Amercans,” pp. 154-160. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. I. (Nashvlle: Abngdon Press, 1994), ed. by Leander Keck. We are grateful to Abngdon Press for grantng permsson to use ths materal. 3. The Music of the African-American Spirituals: Dr. Massey’s thrd pre- sentaton, “Fath and Chrstan Lfe n the Afrcan-Amercan Sprtuals,” was adapted from an essay to be publshed n God and the Trinity: Reflections on Christian Faith and Practice ed. by Tmothy George n Beeson Dvnty Stud- es (Grand Rapds, MI: Baker Books, 2006). We are also grateful to Baker Books for permsson to use materal taken from that essay. Dr. Massey’s reflectons about the sprtuals dsplay the sensbltes of a muscan, preacher, and theologan even as that essay reveals the ways n whch Afrcan-Amercan sprtual sages lke Howard Thurman have nfluenced hs understandng of the wellsprng of wsdom assocated wth the tradton of the Sprtuals. We chose the ttle “Sharng Heaven’s Musc n God’s World” as the overall ttle for James Earl Massey’s presentatons because t ncorporates the themes of the sermon and two essays. Arguably, that ttle s also an apt way to descrbe the totalty of what Dr. Massey has done throughout hs mns- try, and therefore offers a muscal mage for Massey’s vocaton as a servant of God throughout the world. Nor should we gnore the fact that ths partcular Afrcan-Amercan sage stands wthn the Church of God Anderson, and he has contrbuted n mportant ways to the development of that denomnaton as well as served as a mentor to thousands of clergy and laty assocated wth the Church of God Anderson “reformaton movement.” Dr.