Two songs, Two histories, Two perspectives: History matters!

Check out the following links for an example.

Lynching:

The non-judicial killing of a person by a mob for an alleged crime or to intimidate a group of people.

History follows us around.

The history of the Canaanite woman: Gentile, Jezebel, enemy of God’s people.

Clean vs. Unclean is a matter of the heart:

Matthew 15:17. Jesus places the problem of racism, straight where it belongs, it starts in our hearts.

Jesus is engaging in ‘prophetic theater’:

The prophet (by means of story, acting out, conversation, etc.) turns the commonly accepted norms of culture/society upside down and confronts the audience with an alternative view.

The great reversal:

The woman is not a ‘dog’, but a daughter made in the image of God. The promise to Abraham is the blessing of all nations, not just Israel. This kind of history cannot be redeemed, made whole, restored, and made right apart from Jesus and his cross.

-from the article: “The Ohio State University Libraries, 2013. Federal HOLC "Redlining" Maps for Ohio Cities:

For the HOLC maps of the 1930s, the color-coding was about neighborhood desirability as an indicator for not only whether one should invest there, but also for whether a bank should even give a loan to purchase homes there. Desirability was defined by the neighborhood’s household incomes, the percentage of homeowners, and by “homogeneity”—whether white people made up the majority of the neighborhood.

In the HOLC neighborhood profiles, the first metric identifies what percentage is “foreign families” and “negroes” and what level of “shifting or infiltration” of non-white populations is on the verge.

History follows us around.

Abraham Lincoln said as much in his 2nd inaugural address near the conclusion of the Civil War:

“…Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged…Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

Worship Through Music

Music:

- Hands to the Heavens - Kari Jobe
- The Same Love - Paul Baloche
- O Come to the Altar - Elevation Worship