Beyond the Suffering

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Beyond the Suffering Embracing the Legacy of
African American Soul Care and Spiritual
Direction
Hebrews 121-3 So Great a Cloud of Witnesses
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Session Two
Watered with Our Tears Communal Comfort and
Family Faithfulness
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Sign Posts from the Past
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Some Signs Are More Helpful Than Others
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Some Signs Are More Helpful Than Others
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Some Signs Are More Helpful Than Others
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Some Sign Are More Helpful Than Others
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Born Free
We say that the slavers went to Africa to get
the slaves, which is far from true. The slavers
went to Africa to get Africans to make them
slaves (Nikki Giovanni).
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Out of Africa
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Kings, Queens, Merchants, Soldiers, Mothers,
Fathers, Sons, Daughters
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Kings, Queens, Merchants, Soldiers, Mothers,
Fathers, Sons, Daughters
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West African Home
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James Bradley Soul-Destroyers
I think I was between two and three years old
when the soul-destroyers tore me from my
mothers arms, somewhere in Africa, far back
from the sea. They carried me a long distance to
a ship all the way I looked back and cried.
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Communal Comfort
Human Sustaining/Comfort Divine
Healing/Consolation
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Olaudah EquianoFrom Victim to Victor
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Equiano Bathed in Tears
The only comfort we had was in being in one
anothers arms all that night, and bathing each
other with our tears.
Our hurting friends need our silence, not our
speeches.
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Encountering Every Misery For You
Happy should I have ever esteemed myself to
encounter every misery for you, and to procure
your freedom by the sacrifice of my own!
Romans 92-3Incarnational Suffering
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Mingling Suffering and Sorrows
Must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed
to your avarice? Are the dearest friends and
relations still to be parted from each other, and
thus prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery
with the small comfort of being together, and
mingling their sufferings and sorrows?
The Power of Presence
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Solomon Northrup
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Kidnapping Free Blacks
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Solomon Northrup and Eliza
The hope of years was blasted in a moment. From
the height of most exulting happiness to the
utmost depths of wretchedness, she had that day
descended. No wonder that she wept, and filled
the pen with wailings and expressions of
heart-rending woe.
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Solomon Northrup and Eliza
We were thus learning the history of
each others wretchedness.
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Communal Comfort
Human Sustaining/Comfort Divine
Healing/Consolation
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Quobna Ottobah Cugoano
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The Ear of Jehovah
The deep sounding groans of 1000s, and the great
sadness of their misery and woe, are such as can
only be distinctly known to the ear of Jehovah
Sabaoth.
God Hears Our Cries
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The Intention of Jehovah
I may say with Joseph that whatever evil
intentions and bad motives those insidious
robbers had in carrying me away from my native
country and friends, I trust, was what the Lord
intended for my good.
God Is God Even When Life Is Bad
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The Merciful Providence of God
I acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every
occurrence of my life (Equiano).
Trusting Gods Affectionate Sovereignty
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Looking for the Hand of God
I early accustomed myself to look at the hand
of God in the minutest occurrence, and to learn
from it a lesson of morality and religion. After
all, what makes any event important, unless by
observation we become better and wiser, and learn
to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
before God!
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Family Life Five Generations, Beaufort, SC
Family Faithfulness Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Family Worship Enslaved Christian Preaching
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Honoring the African American Family
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Harriet Jacobs It Takes a FamilyMother
They all spoke kindly of my dead mother, who
had been a slave merely in name, but in nature
was noble and womanly.
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Harriet Jacobs It Takes a FamilyBrother
When he put his arms round my neck, and looked
into my eyes, as if to read there the troubles I
dared not tell, I felt that I still had
something to love.
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Jacobs It Takes a FamilyGrandmother
I tell you what, Dr. Flint, you aint got many
years to live, and youd better be saying your
prayers. It will take em all, and more too, to
wash the dirt off your soul.
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Jacobs It Takes a FamilyGrandmother
Yes, I know very well who I am talking to!
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Pulling the Rope in UnisonVenture Smith
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Pulling the Rope in Unison
He then explained the object lesson to his young
bride. If we pull in life against each other
we shall fail, but if we pull together we shall
succeed.
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Tug-of-War or Pulling the Rope in Unison
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Pulling the Rope in Unison
If we pull in life against each other we shall
fail, but if we pull together we shall succeed.
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Honoring the African American FatherA Fathers
Model
I loved my father. He was such a good man. He
was a good carpenter and could do anything. My
mother just rejoiced in him. . . . I sometimes
think I learned more in my early childhood about
how to live than I have learned since.
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Honoring the African American FatherA Fathers
Model
All he ever needed to learn, he learned in his
enslaved home from a father whose spirit was
never enslaved.
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Honoring the African American FatherA Fathers
Affection
I can testify, from my own painful experience,
to the deep and fond affection which the slave
cherishes in his heart for his home and its dear
ones. . . . (Rev. Thomas Jones)
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Honoring the African American FatherA Fathers
Affection
. . . We have no other tie to link us to the
human family, but our fervent love for those who
are with us and of us in relations of sympathy
and devotedness, in wrongs and wretchedness
(Reverend Thomas Jones of NC).
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Honoring the African American FatherA Fathers
Affection
Hardships do not make it too hard to love!
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Honoring the African American Mother
Josiah Henson writes of his mother from whom he
was separated by slave sale only to be reunited
by repurchase after he had fallen ill.
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Speaking the Truth in Love
She was a good mother to us, a woman of deep
piety, anxious above all things to touch our
hearts with a sense of religion. Back with her,
I was once more with my best friend on earth,
and under her care.
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A Mothers Wisdom about the Father of the
Fatherless
When I was a child, my mother used to tell me
to look to Jesus, and that He who protected the
widow and the fatherless would take care of me
also (Peter Randolph).
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Painting Pictures of God
Enslaved African Americans survived by painting
pictures of God onto the palettes of their life
portraits. They viewed God as the Father of the
Fatherless, the God who collects their tears in
His bottle, and as God the Just Judge.
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Painting Pictures of God onto the Palettes of
Their Life Portraits
Then I lifted my hands to God. To the Almighty
Father of us all. I poured forth the
supplications of a broken spirit, imploring
strength from on high to bear up against the
burden of my troubles. (Solomon Northrup)
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Mother Wit
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Mother Wit
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Mother Wit
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Mother Wit

• Proverbial Wisdom
• Found in the Scriptures
• Cultivated in Community
• Applied to Daily Life

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Wisdom for Life
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Mother Wit
I got Mother Wit instead of an education. Lots
of Colored people in offices and school dont
seem to know what Mother Wit is. Well, its like
this I got a wit to teach me whats wrong. I got
a wit to not make me a mischief-maker. I got a
wit to keep peoples trusts. No one has to tell
me not to tell what they say to me in confidence,
for I respect what they say, and I never tell,
Im glad I had good raisin.
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Charlotte Brooks Mother Wit
I tell you, child, religion is good anywhereat
the plow-handle, at the hoe-handle, anywhere. If
you are filled with the love of my Jesus you are
happy.
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Mother Wit Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks
Brooks taught that trials make us God-dependent.
You see, my child, God will take care of his
people. He will hear us when we cry. True, we
cant get any thing to eat sometimes, but trials
make us pray more.
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Mother Wit Octavia Albert and Charlotte Brooks
Brooks also taught that the lack of trials can
lead to a slackening of faith. I sometimes
think my people dont pray like they used to in
slavery. You know when any child of God gets
trouble thats the time to try their faith. Since
freedom it seems my people dont trust the Lord
as they used to. Sin is growing bold, and
religion is growing cold.
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Following the North Star
We Are Never Alone!
Portal of God Portal of Gods People Portal of
Self
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Our Great a Cloud of Witnesses
1. Embracing African American Communal Comfort 2.
Embracing African American Divine Consolation 3.
Embracing African American Family Empowering 4.
Embracing African American Male Mentoring 5.
Embracing African American Mother Wit
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Beyond the Suffering Embracing the Legacy of
African American Soul Care and Spiritual
Direction
Hebrews 121-3 So Great a Cloud of Witnesses