THE SLEEPING GIANT AMID A PEOPLE IN CRISIS
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involved participants in transforming society. We must wake up before immorality takes us over and we find ourselves again in exile in our own homeland. Not only will black Americans find themselves in exile, but, as James Cone stated, “If African-American churches do not wake up and seriously take note of the signs of the times in the world, they will find themselves oppressors of their brothers and sisters in the Third World.”30 Our position as blacks in America greatly affects the position of blacks abroad.
The Work of the Kingdom The work of God’s kingdom must move beyond the narrow confines of our stained-glass windows. We cannot accomplish anything for the kingdom of God by sleeping and retreating into our private devotions while our world spins out of control. Christianity was never meant to be a private affair; it is a public witness. William Barclay wrote, Christianity was never meant to withdraw a man from life; it was meant to equip him better for life. Christianity does not offer us release from problems; it offers us a way to solve our problems. Christianity does not offer us an easy peace; it offers us a triumphant warfare. Christianity does not offer us a life in which troubles are escaped and evaded; it offers us a life in which troubles are faced and conquered. . . . The Christian must never desire to abandon the world; he must always desire to win the world.31
Notes 1. Cited in Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1995) 365. 2. Ellis Cose, The Rage of a Privileged Class (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1993) 1. 3. Cain Hope Felder, Troubling Biblical Waters (New York: Orbis Books, 1989) 92–93. 4. In Philip S. Foner, ed., The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, vol. 2 (New York: International Publishers, 1950–1975) 180. 5. Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope, ed. James Melvin Washington (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1986) 143. 6. Amos N. Wilson, Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children (New York: Afrikan World InfoSystems, 1991) 7. 7. Malcolm X Speaks, ed. George Breitman (New York: Grove Press, 1965) 26. 8. James H. Cone, Speaking the Truth (New York: Orbis Books, 1999) v.