you – you are not slaves. It is a call to Christians to stop placing their security and hope in a powerful person, but to look to the impoverished and disinherited Jesus for strength. She replied, “Nothing will happen to us, Howard; God will take care of us.” He reflects…Many things I have seen since that night. The result is that in the one place in which normal, free contacts might be most naturally established – in which the relations of the individual to his God should take priority over conditions of class, race, power, status, wealth, or the like – this place is one of the chief instruments for guaranteeing barriers. He shares the memory of his grandmother’s encouragements as she recounted the teachings of a certain slave minister who taught in secret religious meetings. Thurman is focused on Christians, and here he bears down on the church.
Christ at the Center of Your Life She quoted him, “You – you are not niggers. He asked his mother what would happen to them if the comet fell out of the sky. “As a Jew under the power of Rome, he is never far from the question of attitude toward Rome. There would be room for all, and no man would be a threat to his brother. He warmly understands the reactions of fear, hypocrisy, and hate – but shows how Jesus’ way of responding to those can bring about the highest good characterized by love. Rightly so.…American Christianity has betrayed the religion of Jesus almost beyond redemption. For the privileged and underprivileged alike, if the individual puts at the disposal of the Spirit the needful dedication and discipline, he can live effectively in the chaos of the present the high destiny of a son of God. But it is not simple nor easy. The implications of loving all people are evident to all.There is great intimacy between whites and Negroes, but it is usually between servant and served, between employer and employee. As a Christian, he seeks to find answers in Jesus and his teachings. ‘The kingdom of God is within.’ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.’I find this portrait of Jesus to be true to the Scriptures, and it reminds me to be true to Jesus in how I relate to my fellow human beings.
I dove in right away and have not come up since; I have been in a wonderful Howard Thurman rabbit hole for months.I recently led a retreat on integrating Christian and Vedantic philosophy and teachings in order to increase and enrich our faith life. I came to realize that when we push Jesus away with such rancor, we are in fact reifying the vision of a dominating and petty Jesus.