Lament and Hope: A Pan African Quad-Centennial Devotional Guide - Flipbook - Page 31
LAMENT AND HOPE
From Lamentation to Liberation!
Weekly Scripture Lessons:
First Sunday: “A Call for No More Distress in the Land” (Isaiah 9:1-4)
Second Sunday: “Dawning of Light in the Deep Darkness” (Isaiah 9:2)
Third Sunday: “The Resurrection of the Righteous is Assured!” (Luke 4: 14-21)
Fourth Sunday: “Good News for the Poor” (Luke 4: 18)
Fifth Sunday: “Be Strong in the Lord and His Mighty Power” (Ephesians 6: 10)
Biblical Reflection:
The dark shadow of slavery and oppression has haunted Africa and Africans in the diaspora for hundreds of years. White
supremacy laid the foundation and continues to perpetuate deep spiritual, political, and economic disparities in Africa and
among her descendants throughout the world.
As racial rhetoric and actions by government officials and everyday citizens alike make the headlines, hate crimes, motivated
primarily by race and ethnicity, rose 17 percent since 2016, marking a stark increase for the third consecutive year, according to
a recent F.B.I. report.
Our past and present circumstances beg the question: where do we go from here? Will poverty and hunger continue to
increase? Will global reactionary racism continue to attack and destabilize African nations and the descendants who live in
the diaspora? We must heed the words of the prophet Isaiah and flip this oppressive script. The people who have walked in
darkness, like our ancestors, will walk in the light of love, light, and liberation.
Prayer:
Almighty God, we thank you for this Advent Adventure that calls us to remember the past, struggle in the present and
overcome in the future. Break the yoke of hunger and poverty that haunts our continent and people. Let the light of Jesus
expose the policies and system that oppress African nations and her descendants. Show us the way to renew, restore, and
rebuild broken nations and people. God of grace and God of glory, we hear your Divine voice asking: Who shall we send? Who
will go for us? Set us free to declare and decree: “Here I am Lord, send me (Isaiah 6:8)!”
Reflection Questions:
Week 1: How can each one of us get actively involved in shining the light of liberation on the darkness of hunger and poverty?
Week 2: After his baptism, 40 days in the wilderness, and his three temptation battles with the devil, Jesus entered the
synagogue and made a life-changing commitment to set the captives free. Today, four hundred years after the first enslaved
Africans were mercilessly brought from Africa to America, are you ready to let the Holy Spirit lead you to a commitment to set
the captives free?
Week 3: Are you ready to make a commitment to the least, the lost, and the left-out peoples in Africa and the
African diaspora?
Week 4: Are you ready to make a commitment to the struggle for Christ-like love, light, life, and liberation?
Week 5: Are you ready to be a blessing to those wounded in the battlefield of racism, economic inequality, and injustice?
Bishop Franklin Madison Reid III is Bishop of the Third District and Ecumenical and Urban Affairs of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church (AME).
Bread for the World
DECEMBER
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