THE UNLIKELY CORNERSTONE

THE UNLIKELY CORNERSTONE The stone that the builders rejected has become the head stone of the corner. It was marvelous in our sight. That stone is the American black man. He that was scattered from the shores of Africa, and peeled of his family, fortune, and cultural memory. He, then, became despite his cruel humiliation, suffering, scourging, slavery, and self-contempt, a "new creature" akin to, and through, the example and aegis of Christ Jesus. He was transformed by the fire of the Holy Ghost, and alloyed by his pain and agony in fellowship with those who flayed him and betrayed him, and themselves in reprobate ways. He worked the work that was sent to him while it was still day, knowing that the night would come, when no man could work. So he worked the fields and the forges and the forests in this, his new stolen land, as would befit a newly stolen man. He worked faithfully with fear and trembling, as and for his oppressive masters, as though before God, whose anointed son he was and is and shall ever be. He thereby lived, while others died. Most importantly, he multiplied, by reason of a new yoke and paradigm, that redeemed unrequited repression. Having lived and exemplified the Beatitudes, he put to shame those who merely preached, read, taught; yet, scornfully ignored their power! He loved his enemy. He blessed them that cursed him. He did good to them that despitefully used him. He prayed for them that persecuted him. Thus, he embodied the summation of the "Sermon on the Mount": "Be ye therefore perfect even as you Father in Heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48. All of these superhuman acts of charity prompted the question : "What manner of man is this?" What matter of man is this black man whom the work men rejected, and yet who has emerged globally as the very cornerstone of American civilization? This man is the least of these, who is really the first of these on earth, who was reborn and renewed in the wilds of North America and its environs to prove the power of God's love for those that love him; that are made by him; regardless of race, creed, color!