From Pulpit To Public Square

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from the sermon delivered by Dr. McMickle on July 23, 2023 at South Euclid United Church of Christ.

Think about the words of a 19^th century song employed by our enslaved ancestors as a way of coping with the hardships and miseries they experienced every day, of every week, of every month, of every year from 1619 when twenty indentured Africans arrived in Jamestown, VA until the end of the Civil War in 1865 when over four million African Americans were legally set free from their lifelong enslavement. Imagine the number I just stated; from twenty people in 1619 to over four million with a span of 246 years. Some of that number involved human beings who were stolen from various African countries, packed into ships, and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in what came to be known as the Middle Passage. Then they were   sold to the highest bidder in Brazil, in Barbados, in Jamaica, in Cuba, in Mexico, in Charleston, in Savannah, and in Baltimore.

What kind of song do you sing when you are being led to the auction block? What kind of song do you sing when you are tied to a whipping post? What kind of song do you sing when your mother, or your daughter, or the woman you wish could be your lawful wife is raped at will by white men who value black women at night for their wombs and value black women by day for their work? Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Education think those persons might be singing songs about how glad they are they have learned valuable skills that could serve them after their bondage ended. I do not think they ever sang such a song, because I do not think they ever saw slavery as an apprentice program for skills development.

Hear the words of this song for yourself. Hear each of these three verses, and then apply them to your own life as you continue to imagine ways to cope with the suffering and hardship you may have to encounter from time to time.

The first verse says:

   I’m so glad trouble don’t last always.

The second verse says:

   I’m so glad I got my ‘ligion in time.

The third verse says:

   Soon, one morning death comes creeping in my room.

The chorus between each verse says:

   O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do?

The first lesson of this song and of this sermon is that “trouble don’t last always.” Trouble may come our way. Suffering may occur along the way. But everyday is not as bad or as harsh, or as pain-filled as some days. There may be some nights when we cry all night long, but not every night. There may be some days when the burdens of life seem heavier than we can bear, but not every day. The bad news is that trouble will come our way. The good news is that trouble don’t last always. The bad news is captured in Psalm 30:5 that says, “Weeping may endure for a night.” But the good news is in the same verse, “but joy comes in the morning.” The bad news is in John 16:33 where it says, “In this world you will have trouble.” However, the good news is in the same verse where it says, “But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar understood this when he wrote his poem called Life that says:

   A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,

  A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,

  And never a laugh but the moans come double,

  And that is life.

  A crust and a corner that love makes precious,

  With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us,

  And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,

  And a moan is the finest of foils to laughter;

  And that is life.

There may be some people who think religion is an insurance policy that safeguards them from suffering. They think that if they pray enough, attend church enough, read the Bible enough, contribute enough money to the church through tithes and offerings, that God will exempt them from pain, and suffering, and sickness. They think that doing all these religious rituals and practices can serve as a vaccine that can inoculate them against suffering. It is like the COVID-19 vaccine. If you get your shots, and maybe even get the booster shots you can decrease your chances of getting COVID.

Here is the Truth About Tribulation. It cannot be prevented from coming your way, but you can remind yourself that “it does not last always.”

When that suffering comes our way, how are we going to handle it? Are we going to sink into self-pity? Are we going to give up and drown our sorrows in drugs and alcohol? Are we going to commit suicide? Or are you going to lean into your faith and sing, “I’m so glad trouble don’t last always?”

None of us knows how long we will live or when our earthly journey will be completed. That being the case, we ought to strive to live by the words of John Wesley, who was one of the founders of the Methodist Church in England and in the United States. He said:

Do all the good you can,

by all the means you can, 

in all the places you can,

at all the times you can,

to all the people you can,

as long as ever you can.

Keep on living, friends, and keep on singing:

   “I’m so glad trouble don’t last always!”