James writes to the Jewish Christians who are scattered among the nations  "To the 12 tribes who are going through hardships..." These Christians are going through persecution; they are dealing with discrimination; they have trials and tribulations.  James addresses this situation spiritual kind of way that would offer them hope... They're ready to quit... they want to go back whence they came... They didn't leave home to be mistreated and discriminated against, but they came to be loving, they came to be kind; they came to share what God had given to them.

James encourages them to rethink their difficulties and consider it pure joy--he said--when you fact trials of many kinds... sickness, injustice, discrimination... whatever it is that you are going through, James says, it's pure joy.  Because you know that it's just a test, and the testing of your faith develops perseverance... and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, and not lacking in anything.Blessed--12th verse says--Blessed is the man or woman who perseveres under trial, because when he or she has stood the test, the crown of life that God has promised awaits them because of their love for God.

I can't speak for anyone else... but I count my trials and my troubles... as a nuisance!  My trials and my tribulations are an irritation!  My aches and pains are a frustration to me--they're not a joy!  Amen!  When trouble comes, I don't count it joy!  When troubles come it makes my success feel like a failure--that I'm getting nowhere!  Troubles make my blessings feel like a burden.  Troubles can change a joyful heart to a broken heart, to a lonely heart.  My mountains are too step and my vallies are too wide and  my paradise becomes a prison.  Troubles can make your hope seem hopeless...

Our brother James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, said "Consider it pure joy"  when God calls us to suffer.  You see, God is not calling away from joy but to joy.  Jesus said "I have come here for your maximum, everlasting joy.  Blessed are you when you are persecuted for My sake: Rejoice!  Remember the world cannot rejoice, because they don't know what we know.  They don't know this Jesus.  They don't know what brother James is trying to tell us.  As Pam was saying "It's done"  Rejoice!  Jesus has taken care of it.  Where do you get your joy from?  Does it come from your circumstances?  No, it doesn't--it comes from God!  Joy is not the absence of suffering, but it is the Presence of the Lord!  Wow, your suffering!

When I think about black people in this country, I think about the 12 million who endured the patched, leaking ships and those that were weak from starvation. Those that were chained and tied to others that were dead and smelly.  But did not give up.  I think of the families that were divided and sold on the blocks like cattle when they arrived on the American shores... but they didn't give up and die.  I think about the courage of those who endured Jim Crow's separation and the beatings and the hangings from the hooded riders that would come in the middle of the night and burn crosses on the lawns.

I think about those who were holding a book, trying to learn to read, but whose children did not perish with them as they were murdered, but became great inventions, writers, and doctors and scientists.  None of them gave up.  
And still I meet people who ask the question: Why do we keep celebrating Black History Month?  Why do we keep celebrating?  Because Black History Month is a very special time of year.  Oh granted for us we do not become less black on March 1st.  But by setting aside this month we set our heritage apart. We take it from the books and we bring it to life. We take the time to remember to reunite; to rededicate ourselves. 

Why February?  In the month of February it inspires us because so much of our history--so many of the people that influenced our history--have a lot to do with February.  On February 23, W.E. B. Dubois was born (1863).  On February the 3rd the 15th Amendment was passed, when we could vote (1870). On February 5th (1870) the first black senator elected--Hiram Revels. On February the 12th (1909) we have the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).  On February 1st (1960) the Civil Rights Movement was started.  It was in North Carolina at Woolworths when some kids sat at a lunch counter to eat.  And on February 1st--again--Malcom X was shot (1965). We feel that in celebrating our history is to claim our future and to restore what slavery took away. 

The African American people must remake their past.  It is the social damage of slavery that this present generation must repair and off set.  With each passing decade we have pushed the color line forward; we have widened the circle and moved closer to America's promise of equality.  I believe that if Dr. Martin Luther King were here today he would be proud to see a woman and a black man--two minorities--have a real chance to hold the presidential seat.  (audience claps) This election--this race--would breathe life into Dr. Kings "I have a dream" speech. Too many people have become complacent with his speech--just take it and throw it out there. 

On February the 5th, my sisters and brothers, 2008, I went to those polls to cast my vote, and it was joyful, unspeakable, inexpressible joy feeling that I had that I cannot put into words to you.  The day was one of the most triumphant times in my life.  I'm a mother of three children: it was even more than that! I am so happy that I lived to witness that history.  I think it is a challenge for America.  But it means our change has come! And we welcome the change, we welcome the challenge, for the African American woman--ha! it is a political power house!  Hallelujah, hallelujah, yes sir!  It means voting for race or gender.  You ask why we are celebrating African American History, it's been said that history tells a people where they have been and what they have been through, and where they are going to...

Our history tells us that after 200 years of oppression... where the color of our skin was the determining factor of our solitude and our social status; but there was still joy in knowing we could rise and produce a Frederick Douglas, a Booker T. Washington and a W. E. B. Dubois...Our history tells us that after losing millions of souls--crossing the Atlantic on Slave Ships, losing our name, our language, our cultural identity--we could still produce a Benjamin Banneker, a Louis Armstrong, a Duke Ellington, a Paul Robesoor, a Jackie Robinson.  Hallelujah! Our history tells us that after two centuries of being someone else's property, and another 100 years of Jim Crow Laws, lynchings and daily insults, we can still rise and produce a Dr. Martin Luther King, a Malcom X, a Howard Thurman, a labor leader like Philip Randolph.  Not only that, for years there was a law making it illegal to teach blacks how to read; and we can still rise up and produce a Longston Hughes, a Richard Wright, a Baynard Rustin, and a James Baldwin...

And what made us so strong, black women... how is it that after 300 years of being used as a toy--raped by the white slave master--that we could still rise up and we could produce a Harriet Tubman, we could have a Black Moses, we could have a Fanny Lou Hammen, we could have a Rosa Parks, we could have a Madam C.J. Walker, a Hathie McDaniel, we could have a Mahalia Jackson, and we can have Aretha Franklin, a Ma Rainey, we can have an Alice Walker...How is that after being inculcated with the texture of your hair and the lips too thick and the hips too wide, you still can find joy that you gave birth to a Josephine Baker, to an Angela Bassett, to a Jane Kennedy, to a Vanessa Williams, to a Holly Berry, to an Ophra Winfrey.How is it that after being cast as a lazy welfare queen you could still birth to Dr. Jane Cooke Wright, the first black woman to be named the associate dean of a medical school in America.  You could still birth a Mary Mcleod Bethune; you could still birth a Bessie Coleman, the first black licensed female pilot.  What is the source of this incredible human strength--the resilience that turns our hope and our discouragement to a living hope? What circumstances seem insurmountable when our history keeps us... I'll tell you all we have to do is just turn around and take a survey for the road that others have paved for you and for me. Let's look at the Harriet Tubmans!  Let's look at the Thurgood Marshalls, or the heroes and the trailblazers of our own families. 

Let the stories inspire you and give you joy and give you hope.  Let their resilience encourage you. They learned that when one is given a lemon of degradation,  a lemon of intellectual decadence, a lemon of injustice , a lemon of racism, a lemon of segregation, a lemon of Jim Crow... when the very reference to the negro was considered 1/5 human and 4/5 monkey, and born without a soul!  James 1:2 tells us Count it a Joy!   It is through the suffering that God empowers God's people. 

God will pour out God's spirit upon you and the Holy Spirit will work to transform you! The Spirit will give you the boldness that you need !  The Spirit gives you the freedom in life!  The gifts of the Spirit gives you LOVE--you cannot hate!  It gives you JOY they cannot take!  It gives you PEACE!  It gives you PATIENCE!  It gives you GENTLENESS!  It gives you GOODNESS!  It gives you FAITHFULNESS!  It gives you HUMILITY!  It gives you SELF CONTROL! Going through hard times don't have to give us a hard heart!  We must have faith and know that God will get us through our trials!   If we have faith in Christ--and remember that we don't even come close to the suffering that Jesus has endured for all of us:  Jesus bled on the cross for all of us!  An innocent man--done nothin' but love!--but He took care of it!  But when you think of His suffering, your suffering is like a drop in the bucket!

Throughout life, the men, the women, the boys and the girls, we will have many circumstances--we can't avoid them: they will come!  It may take the full measure of your faith to help you to overcome them.  Oh, yes! And the knowledge of your history to guide you through them.  Steven Green offers us these words: After all our hopes and dreams have come and they have gone and this younger generation has to sift through all that we left behind.  And may the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover become the light that leads them to the road that each must find--a road to Jesus Christ that leads to salvation, an eternal life. 

And so I encourage you to take strength from our history, our freedom and equality:  They are the producer of the strength, courage and faith of those who have gone before us.  Remember their stories, and live out new ones in your life which can be passed on to future generations.  Keeping crossing the color lines.  Keep crossing the anti-gay marriage lines.  Keep fulfilling your dreams. And let history of a great people empower you to be the great history-maker of tomorrow who remembers that our trials are not to steal our joy--our trials are to bring us joy.

Barbara sings:

I don't feel no way tired
I've come too far from where I started from
Nobody told me the road would be easy
I don't believe He brought me this far to leave me

One more time!  

I don't feel no way tired!
I've come too far from where I started from! 
Nobody, nobody told me, oh the road would be easy. 
I don't believe God brought me this far,
I don't believe He brought me this far,

I've been so sick, but God brought me,
I went to the restaurant because I was so hungry,
but they would not feed me,
I been to the movies and I had nothing but a wheel chair,
they said "Well I don't know how you're going to see it
because the blacks have to go to the balcony"
I don't believe God brought me this far,
I'll never believe it!

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