I keep recognizing how much other cultures have to teach me. A recent confirmation of that happened when I
listened to an interview by Krista Tippet with Ruby Sales, civil rights
veteran and public theologian. [“on Being”, August 17, 2017]. It helped me again acknowledge how many
persons of color continually put their lives on the line to move social justice
into the foreground of our awareness.
Ruby, who grew up on black folk religion, described her concept of black
folk religion this way.
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| (Photo submitted by Martha Maloney) |
“When I
talk about Black Folk Religion I’m talking about a religion that came out of
ordinary people during enslavement in the fields of America. We saw ourselves
as a Beloved Community. It meant that we wanted to have justice because we
loved everybody in our hearts. Our songs
were about God as a liberating God.” Ruby came to recognize and embody what God-justice,
God-talk, God-love, and God-right-relations looked and felt like as the words rang
in her ears.
Is it possible that the lyrics of these traditional black folk
songs might help save America from itself by giving us a Beloved-Community-vocabulary
in our time?
Mary Rachel Kuebelbeck, OSB
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