Praying with African American Spirituals with Mark Bozzuti-Jones

What this episode covers

In this episode we talk about Praying with African American Spirituals. In the sacrament of Holy Eucharist as we share in the Body and Blood of Christ, we always say words akin to these: “do this in memory of me.” To sing Spirituals is to sing in memory of slaves and their faith, to recall these songs sung for centuries and handed down to us today as part of the legacy of the African American culture. That is from Mark Bozzuti-Jones book "From Face to the Rising Sun: Reflections on Spirituals and Justice." In the Christian tradition, prayer and remembering are always a call to action, always a call to repentance, and always a call to redemptive living. When we sing the Spirituals today, we commit to living a life of prayer that ensures justice for all, a life that calls us to make amends for the evil of slavery, and a life that calls us to work against the forces of racism and discrimination still present in our societies today. The words of these Spirituals offer a more revolutionary, prophetic, and radical view of slaves’ faith than is often acknowledged....At the same time, the Spirituals express a deep and abiding faith, an understanding by slaves that they were beloved children of God, made in God’s image. Unwilling to accept the limitations set by the slave masters, Slaves used song to express the love of God and God’s desire for their freedom. Spirituals became code for sharing hope and the promise of a better future.