God Made Us Black

A sermonic poem for Black History Month and such a time as this:

God made us black

And said "it was good"

The same way He said “Let there be light”

He made the night

And smiled

What they call dirt

God calls man

What you step on

He named humanity

named future

named family

Adam was black

Even if you don’t rock with black folks

Or the Bible

Your scientists agree

Mitochondrial Eve was black

Makes sense cuz black women are the powerhouse of this world

What a compliment

it is to be black

that God thought so highly of our souls

To trust us with black bodies

In this time

Gave us hearts, souls, and minds

To navigate these systems

and thrive

To be living testaments to the eternal steadiness of His hand

to be "more than conquerors"

to be "prophets n priests n royals"

to "glory in suffering" that mirrors His son

What a blessing

it is to be us

The people whose ancestors they tried destroy

And God said NO

The people who petitioned for His thoughts on liberation

And God said

YES,

GO!

The people who've been

lied on

starved

feared

shot

jailed

Just for existing

in our [black] image of God

But God weeps

And God redeems

And Got sets us free

Eternally

In a realm

where systemic sin can’t kill us

Walking this wicked world

God calls us

"to root out

to pull down

to destroy

to throw down"

"powers and principalities"

"to wrestle not against flesh and blood"

but to exemplify

what being human is really about

it’s not about acting like He didn’t make us black on purpose

my dark skin and poppin' locs

are evidence of His glory

I love myself

Because He did first

it’s not about wearing a mask

for the opinions of man

or pretending the last few centuries didn’t happen

or ignoring how oppression still "steals, kills, and destroys"

it's not about acting like God's only here to

keep us complacent

or make us rich

it's not about forgetting Jesus was

very brown

very poor

very dedicated

to "the least of these"

it’s not about pretending God doesn’t exist

if anything

our black existence

in the face of history

is further evidence

of His