The Power of the Past

Joshua 4:20-24

Life can be explained in a variety of ways; it can be spoken of in terms of cycles, birth to death, the journey from being young to old, the spiritual journey from being born to being born again, or the economic journey from being poor to rich or from rich to poor. The list is inexhaustible, however, most of us can relate to the ideology of life being experienced as past, present, and the future. No matter how else we explain or articulate the events of time, all of life falls under three categories, the past, the present, and the future.

Each one of them is significant, each one important, and each one carries the potential to impact the next simply because the next will at some point become the present. At one point the past was the present and the present was the then future. As it was true then, it continues to be true now, and that our present will one day be the past, and what seems like a distant future will become the present experience, and a new future will await the passing of time as the cycles of life continue to evolve.

I’ve noticed that the human mind and heart is fascinated by the mystery of the future. People want to know what’s going to happen. There is and always has been a market for mediums and palm readers, astrologers and thought-gazers whose primary focus is on enlightening people about the future. Even in spiritual realms, there is a pre-occupation with the prophetic to the extreme that people exalt the prophetic over the unfailing Word of God. Now I know that the Bible is prophetic in nature, there is an entire section of the Old Testament that is call the book of the Prophets, both major and minor, and there is the book of Revelations, filled with prophecies concerning endtime events that are yet to unfold. I get why people can become fixated upon knowing the future.

And then there are those whose only focus is now. There is not concern or reverence for the past, and there is no real anticipation of a future. These folks are only concerned about the here and now. They have no desire to understand history, be it personal or general, cultural or societal, they are totally and completely divorced from any connections to the past. For them, the past has passed and there is not looking back, not even for educational purposes. Equally tragic is the lack of enthusiasm and optimism regarding the future. They have not future hope, goals, ambition. No Jeremiah 29:11 in their lives, which speaks of God giving us a hope, a future, and an expected end. No concept of building and leaving a legacy for the next generation. To them, life is so dismal and hopeless until all one can do is focus on today.

While I understand just how difficult the challenges of today can have on us, while I get it why some don’t want to revisit the past, I submit to you that it is far more beneficial for you and I to know our history than not to know it. It is so that we can maximize the moments in our present by building our hope on a firm foundation, and hopefully reshape and reestablish stronger principles and platforms that give birth to greater possibilities in the future.

This is Black History Month and for these next couple of weeks, we are going to reengage the narrative of the African American struggle in America by focusing on the past, the present, and the future, respectively. We are going use the Scriptures as the lenses through which we learn how to interpret and appreciate our past, how to engage our present, and how to prepare for embrace our future.

So today, we begin by talking about “The Power of the Past.” The question is asked, “Why is history so important?” One answer given says, “History give us the tools to analyze land explain problems in the past, it positions us to see patterns that might otherwise be invisible in the present, thus providing a crucial perspective for understanding (and solving) current and future problems.

Simply stated, history helps us understand how events in the past made things the way they are today. 7 things you should know about history, it helps us understand other our own identities, our own societies, other cultures, present day problems, builds interpretation and analysis skills, it allows us to learn from the past, and most importantly, it helps us understand change/or the resistance to it.

I want to suggest to you that the past is powerful. Your history gives birth to power. I found that people who are in touch with their history have a better handle on their present, they have a better chance of understanding the issues that plague them, the conditions that surround them and even the temptations that befall them. In fact, I believe I am on solid ground when I say, the ability to be healthy in your present life relies on knowing and understanding your past.

That’s why in order to diagnose or even treat a disease, doctors will ask you for your family’s health history. If you are dealing with emotional trauma, with relationship issues, or anything that lands you in a counseling setting, the counselor or therapist will want to know something about your family of origin. In other words, they are goin to ask about the household you grew up in because the psyche of human beings are shaped and molded at a very young age by the people who gave you your lenses through which you see and interpret life.

There is an instrument called an enneagram which determines the personality type of an individual. It helps people better understand themselves and what motivates them. It reveals their strengths and weakness. In fact, there are all kinds of tools to help people understand themselves, family dynamics, and cultural dynamics. But there is another instrument called the Genogram which charts the history of one’s family and is able to detect and reveal family traits, characteristics, their behaviour and beliefs.

Now I realize that the study of Black History for some is a non-issue. For some, it’s a non- issue because much of the history of African Americans is deem as dark, dismal, and depressing. Perhaps it perceived as such because our history has been communicated primarily only through the lenses of the oppressors. For years, black folk in America were depicted as lazy, shiftless, clueless, dumb, only able to do hold down menial jobs at best. That’s because that is how they seen us when they saw us!

However, black history does not start with America! It starts with the ancient kings and queens of African society, leaders of ancient civilizations that built the pyramids in Egypt, and invented sophisticated scientific discoveries that serve as the foundations of medical breakthroughs, irrigations and agricultural breakthroughs, and much more. More importantly, if value is going to be placed of a people, that people has got to learn how to tell their own story! You can’t allow other folk to tell your story, you’ve got to give voice to your own history.

There’s power in your past, power in your history, power in your yesterday, no matter what your yesterday entailed. When you give voice to it, when you shape it with your words, when you build your own monuments, when you tell your own story, you resurrect the power of resilience, the power of faith, and the power of God that is apart of the fiber of everyone who has survived and everyone who has come through some mighty hard trials.

Why should you remember your past? And why should we tell our stories? Because the success of future generations depends on it. Future generations must have a witness, must have a reminder, a memorial to signal to them just how they got where they are. And for us and our people, it is the unwavering testimony that God brought us, God delivered us, and God is still breaking down forces and strongholds that refuse to let go! We can never forget how our ancestors made it, and we can never let our children and grandchildren forget how we made it.

The passage selected for today’s sermon gives us the foundation for this message. Joshua is leading the people of Israel over the Jordan River to possess the promised land according to God’s instruction. And when they cross over, Joshua takes twelve stones which were taking over into Gilgal by a representative from each of the tribes, and builds a memorial there. He builds this memorial to serve as a talking point for future generation. He says, in the future, when the children ask “What do these stones mean? then we will testify that Israel crossed over the Jordon on dry ground when the Lord opened the waters just like God did when he brought us out from Egypt on dry ground.” The end result will be that they will know that the hand of the Lord in Mighty, and they may reverence the Lord their God FOREVER!

What do we learn from this short pericope? these few verses? How might we apply them to our current situations?

First thing we learn is it’s important to mark your history. Yes, it’s important, it’s imperative that as a people you record, write, journal, chronicle your history. Here in the text, the passage of scripture we’re examining, Joshua is leading his generation over to possess the land, and when they cross over, the first item on the agenda is to build a memorial. The first thing Joshua does is to build up a monument that will remind his people of their journey, no matter how long it took to get there. After all, they had been in bondage for 400 years, and then after the great exodus from Egypt, they spent another 40 years wandering in the wilderness because of the disobedience of the prior generation. This is now the Joshua generation, those who were 18 and under when they were brought out of Egypt. All that they have known is sorrow, delay, disruption, disillusionment, and the like.

But they also knew preservation, provision, protection, and the promises of God. Although it took them longer than expected to arrive, the memorial says, somehow we made it. And my brothers and sisters, we all need something in our lives to remind us that despite the circumstances, setbacks, despite White Supremacy and Self-hatred, despite folk denying us access and we ourselves thinking that we don’t belongs, somehow we made it.

Oh we remember the journey, we remember the past. Who could forget 14 year old Emmitt Till being brutally murdered over what has been proven to be an outright lie, or who can forget the lynching of untold black bodies in the bible belt where folk held lynching picnics and families came out to see colored folk get lynched, or who can forget that there were laws that supported segregation and the oppression of black people in America, or who can for get bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama when a peaceful demonstration of 600 protesters ended in violence when they were beaten and attacked by white state troopers and sheriff’s deputies, or who can forget that 4 little girls lost their live just by attending Sunday School at the 16th Street Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama. I could go on and on because there is just so much to remember. There’s been so many troubling moments in our history until the list is nearly inexhaustible.

However, I dare suggest that not only must we remember our tragedies we’ve endured, but we must also remember the triumphs we’ve had. It’s easy to focus on that which was bad, that which was traumatic, and that which was unjust, but we’ve got to remember our victories, our advances, our overcoming moments, our breakthroughs, and yes, our breaking down of strongholds that had us bound.

We should never forget that in the midst of the most oppressive moments in history, historical black colleges and universities were established prior to 1964 with the mission to education Black Americans because they were refused admission into the mainline institutions of that day.

We should never forget the as of 2021 there are 99 HBCS in 19 states across this nations, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Island, producing great leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Roberta Flack, Vice President Kamala Harris, and sports own Stephen A Smith.

We should never forget that black inventors gave us innovations that changed the world.

Garrett Morgan, with an elementary school education invented the three-light traffic light, and invented the yield portion of the traffic light in 1923.

Benjamin Banneker, invented the clock at age 22, 1753.

Lewis Latimer, invented the carbon light bulb filament that made light bulbs last longer. His success landed him a job at the Edison light company in 1884.

Alexander Miles, invented the automatic elevator doors after his daughter fell down an elevator shaft and almost died in 1887.

George T. Sampson, invented the clothes dryer in 1892 and a sled propeller in 1885.

Frederick McKinley Jones, invented the refrigerated truck receiving a patent for his invention in 1940. He later co-founded the US Thermo Control Company, later known as Thermo King, which was critical in preserving blood, food and supplies during WW II.

Marie Van Brittan Brown, invented the Home Security System, in 1966 as a result of working long hours and coming home late at night.

Charles Richard Drew, invented blood banks in 1941. And although he created the blood bank organizing the US first large scale blood bank and created bloodmobiles which were refrigerated blood donation trucks, through which thousands of lives were saved during WWII, despite a black man inventing this life saving mechanism, back then the Red Cross Society still would not allow blacks to donate blood, making Drew the inventor unable to participate as a blood donor.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, invented the fiber-optic cable in 1973 and is currently the 18th president of the Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

We can’t forget that there are over 50,000 patents that belong to people of color who continue to create inventions that change the lives of people worldwide.

When we remember our story, both the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, the advances and setbacks, the miracles and the messes, we then get to Learn from past, Lead others out of the past, and lift up others because of the past.

Why the past? why the memorial? Because one day somebody is going to start asking questions, they are going to want to know what happened, how did we get here, what are our traditions? How did we get our faith? And when that happens, we will have an answer because,

The past informs....notice in the text that Joshua’s explanation of the 12 stones did not start with the Egyptian bondage. He did not say, these stones means we were slaves…instead he began his narrative from a positive angle, these stone means when it was time to cross over Jordan, God parted the waters just like he did for us when we crossed the Red Sea. However, Joshua shapes his narrative by informing the future generation of power of God first. That’s the thing you need to know.

Secondly, the past inspires…here the “But God” aspect of your story....here is where you tell the testimony…because somebody is going to ask, “Why did God have to open the Red Sea? and this then is when tell how God brought you out, over, through…any have any but God moments.

Thirdly, the past instills…the past makes sets the foundation for faith…This is so that all the peoples of the earth may know....

That the Lord’s hand is might

That you should always fear the Lord your God.

This is where our faith tradition comes from....This is why we worship like we do, sing out like we do.

We all can conclude, somehow I made it...