Who endured such contradictions of sinners

Errol Miller

Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, I bring you greetings from Rev Dr Oral Thomas President and Rev Dr Glenroy Lalor, former Baptist Warden, who both remember with admiration and fondness you and your time spent in 2016 as Distinguished Visitor at the United Theological College of the West Indies at Mona Jamaica. You are an ecumenical link between us. Dr Beverly Lindsey you have been a key facilitator in me being here this morning. Thank you. I bring you greetings from our mutual friend, Dr the Hon. Dorothy Pine-McLarty, Legal Luminary of Jamaica, outstanding Methodist, and former Chairman of the Electoral Commission. I only learned a few days ago that we share friendship with this great lady.

Thanks to Her Excellency Mrs. Patrice Laird-Grant, Acting Jamaican High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mrs. Vivienne Siva, Community Relations Officer, and the team of the Jamaica High Commission for being partners with Spectra First in this visit to England. The Resilient Spirit of the Windrush Generation and celebrating National Heroes of Jamaica are elements of the story of the Jamaican people.

Pardon me for extra making special reference to Mr. Matthew Gordon, who last week received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at Windsor Castle from Princess Anne, the Princess Royal. For close to twenty years Mr. Alan Evans of the University of Cardiff and I have shared theoretical and empirical insights with respect to race, class, gender, and education in our two different geographical locations the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Caribbean. On May 19, 2021, Alan wrote an email about a brilliant young man of Jamaican parents who had come to Wolverhampton in the early 1960s. Matthew, born in England, had blazed a trail of excellence in school, university, playing basketball, and now as Director of Spectra was a prime mover in several policy areas. Alan said that he had commended my work to him. His name was Matthew Gordon. Matthew would be in Jamaica in June. Would I spare some time to meet him. Summer 2021 was one of two times that I was in Jamaica during the Covid Pandemic. Matthew and I met virtually. No one has been more instrumental in bringing me to England. Last night I met Matthew in the flesh for the first time. The only explanation for the events from May 19, 2021, to October 1, 2023, is the Providence of God. Mr Evans thank you for coming from Cardiff to be here this morning. I look forward to catching up with you later.

Allow me to apologize that my wife, Dr Sharon Miller, and our daughter Catherine, are not here this morning. Catherine is the Chief Bridesmaid at the wedding of a college mate in Upstate New York later this week, and Sharon joins parents who have formed transatlantic connections because of the close friendships between our daughters. Sharon and Catherine will join me after this joyous event.

Scripture Passage: Hebrews 11: 32 to 12: 3. The New King James

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:  who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
 
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Chapter 12: 1-3: The King James

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Prayer

Creator of the universe, Sovereign Lord, Loving Heavenly Father, hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Through the enabling of the Holy Spirit let us consider our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ so that through the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts we are all drawn most closely to Thee in faith and the stewardship of our time, talent, and treasure, because all come from You and are to be employed for Your glory. Amen.

Message

On learning that I was to bring the message this morning, October 1, the beginning of Black History month in the United Kingdom in the year of the 75th Anniversary of the Windrush Generation and their descendants, the Black British, Hebrews Chapters 11 and 12 have stuck with me. Indeed, this passage has been part of my private devotions over the last three months. Looking elsewhere was futile. The arrival of Empire Windrush in June 1948 is a symbolic marker of a new emerging self-perpetuating endogenous segment of UK society namely the Black British which has a distinct identity, unique bonds of solidarity and strong sense of belonging.

Windrush, conceived as a generation with descendants, elevates June 22, 1948, from being an event to being a convenient marker of transformation of society in Britain and in the Commonwealth Caribbean at multiple levels with no predetermined end in sight. This demands that the celebration of 75th Anniversary of Windrush, and Black History Month within it, look backward to learn and forward in faith, that is, with confidence in God.

Without wandering too far outside of this general understanding let us explore a little within the context of human propensity for hierarchy. However, before doing so let us interject a bit of historical, demographic, and sociological context.

This is not the first time, that Caribbean people, mostly Jamaicans, have formed a distinct segment of British society. This happened before in the 18th century. Historians have called them absentee proprietors of plantations and merchant houses in that they had made fortunes in the Caribbean and returned to Britain to live on that wealth. They were mainly white and mixed race. It is estimated that they numbered about 20,000 when the British population was about 8,000,000. Over the course of the next hundred years this segment was almost totally absorbed in British society in England and Scotland.

Technically speaking the Windrush generation began with volunteers from Caribbean colonies, loyal to the British Empire, who came to Britain in the early 1940s and joined the military to fight in the second World War. The Windrush Generation focuses on peoples of Caribbean colonies who responded to the invitation of the British Government in 1948 to build back Britain after the end of the war. It is estimated that about 200,000 came between 1948 and 1963 when the invitation was withdrawn. They were mainly black, and mostly working class. Today Black British of Caribbean descent number close to 1,000,000 in a population of about 67,000,000. While statistically the current situation is not all that different, the present circumstances is that Black British from the Caribbean is not the only minority group in British society.

Hierarchy of people of faith in Jehovah in the Old Testament

Looked at closely Hebrews Chapter 11, the great Faith Chapter of the Bible, is a hierarchy, ranking generations of people who believed in Jehovah, the only self-existing, ever living, covenant keeping, invisible creator, God of all people, places, and things. They held firmly to the promise that the immortal I Am that I Am blessed and rewarded all who chose to trust, obey, and live by faith in Him.

This hier e only female named. Also, it is selective in those named as champions of faith. For example, that great crusader against idolatry, Eliajah and his successor Elisha, and several others are not mentioned by name.

• This hierarchy of faith has four tiers:
  First, named original exemplars of faith, from Abel in Verse 4 to Rahab in Verse 31.
• 
  Second, named heroes and champions who led great exploits in the name of Jehovah, described in Verses 32 to 35a.
• Third, unnamed others mentioned in Verse 35b who were tortured and brutalized for their faith. They are recognized but unnamed martyrs of the faith. Fourth, unnamed still others, the majority, described in verses 36 to 37. They are defined as being mocked, scourged, imprisoned, killed, scattered, driven to destitution, afflicted, and tormented for their faith. Verse 38 makes a quiet but highly judgmental comment about this group: ‘of whom the world was not worthy”. Their faith defied circumstances, hence, their spirits were never broken, and their impact on society was almost unseen only noted by God. This fourth tier is the yeast spread throughout the dough and had decisive positive redemptive impact.

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Hierarchy of faith in God

Comparison of this hierarchy of faith in God with a few popular man-made hierarchies is instructive.

Look at the hierarchy that combines heritage, upbringing, and achievement:

• Upper Class
• Middle Class
• Lower Class
• Under Class, at other times called Scum, the Great Unwashed, deplorables, and other such choice derogatory terms.

Look also at the hierarchy in relation to the means of production:

Bourgeoisie: owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labour, capitalists Proletariat, wage earners who must sell their labour to live. Lumpenproletariat, the unskilled unemployable who lack consciousness and makes no contribution to the economy.

Look also at the hierarchy of Slave Societies

Ruling elite whether by warriors, royals, priests, or philosopher kings

Free people with rights defined by law but consigned to be commoners.

Enslaved, without rights, defined as property, owned and sold as things.

The hierarchy of people who lived by faith and confidence God in Hebrews 11 is uniquely different from made-made hierarchies whether defined and stratified by conquest, caste, status, power, age, ethnicity, race, or income. The lowest tier in man-made hierarchies is regarded as a liability to society. Decisive outcome is attributed to the centralized who occupy the pinnacle of the pyramid of might whether by virtue of wealth, prestige weaponry, or lineage. In man-made hierarchy the lowest tier of fellow humans, made in the image of God, are regarded as nonentities, liabilities, or even disposable.

Ecclesiasticus is a book included in the 80-book Bible used by Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Eastern, and Anabaptist Christians. Chapter 44 verse 9 puts it bluntly. While others have left no memorial, and disappeared as though they never existed. They are now as if they had never been born.

In the hierarchy of faith described in Hebrews Chapter 11 the fourth and lowest tier is ignored by man but noted and explicitly commended by God. They are an integral and critically important part in the ranking of believers in the Invisible, Eternal, I Am That I Am. This tier adds their own legitimacy, credibility, and integrity to hierarchy. Despite having virtually nothing materially, being ridiculed socially, discriminated against institutionally, rejected personally, disregarded economically, and distressed mentally they lived with faith in God until death.

Let me try to break it down and apply ii to the Windrush Generation and to their descendants, the Black British, that has emerged as a distinct segment British Society in the aftermath of World War II.

Yes, there is first tier exemplars of the Windrush Generation and the Black British who have become revered icons, some of whom are still alive. Yes, there is second named heroes and champions who contended in different fields of endeavour and their victories are documented milestones that are celebrated and are sources on inspiration in further and future struggle. Yes, there is the third tier of unnamed others who were tortured, brutalised, and even killed and that their sacrifice is unsung. As consequential as these three tiers are, they are insufficient without the fourth tier, the still others, the unnamed overlooked most numerous tier.

This fourth tier was among those who bored the brunt of invitation and rejection, of expectation assaulted by ridicule, of justice denied by indifference, and of government policy out of sync with the British people, still in recovery from the machinations of war.

This fourth tier was among those who bored the brunt of invitation and rejection, of expectation assaulted by ridicule, of justice denied by indifference, and of government policy out of sync with the British people, still in recovery from the machinations of war of unprecedented and un-imagined dimensions. These Caribbean immigrants exercised faith in God, hence were not disconnected from their purpose, not overcome by hostile circumstances, not broken in spirit, and continued to execute their duties competently and diligently. Daily, despite unaccustomed cold and miserable rain, they performed their jobs whether on buses, trains, construction sites, and in offices. They turned up and performed their jobs without excuse, raised their families on meagre incomes, and at great personal sacrifice engendered hope, in their families and communities, especially in the value system they had brought with them of which church, school, and college were vital components.

The Windrush Generation did not develop its resilient spirit in Britain. They brought it with them from the Caribbean. It was the same resilient spirit that brought their forbears through the cruel and inhumane Middle Passage.

The Windrush Generation from the Caribbean were loyal British subjects united by agency and energy in pursuit of better livelihoods but were not monolithic. Not all were practicing Christians. Those who were Christians spread across a wide spectrum of denominational confessions. They joined churches of comparable confessions where the latter welcomed them or where they were not in sufficient number. Where there was no such welcome and numbers were sufficient, they formed their own churches, starting in homes. More than individual private devotions were absolutely necessary. They held fast to the New Testament injunction to remember to gather together because where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus, He will be in their midst.

Antiguans, Barbadians, Guyanese, Jamaicans, Grenadians, Kittians, St Lucians, Trinidadians, and others whether their ancestors had come from Africa, China, Europe, India or the Middle East, or any mixtures of these, found that they shared enough in common culture to allow their faith in God to work out their salvation individually and collectively in creative and practical ways in Britain.

Consider Jesus and the contradictions he endured.

The way in which Hebrews 12 treats Hebrews 11 is instructive. It regards all four tiers of the hierarchy of faith as a cloud of witnesses whose common testimony is that trust and confidence in God is the way to live. The Greek word translated Cloud here means a huge densely packed crowd. I leave it to Bishop Douglas, Bishop Aldred, and other theologians here to settle whether the dead in Christ is at rest waiting for the resurrection or they are spectators, who having completed their race, now watch us run our race in our time. What is certain that the dead in Christ of the Windrush generation has joined the Cloud of Witnesses, who lived with first-hand experience that faith in God took them through life. Their testimony is that Jesus is alive and was with them through all of situations of life.

What is also certain is that times have changed. Their race is not our race. Faith in God is not past down from one generation to the next. God has no grandchildren, only children in each generation. Faith is God is personal and individual.

The Windrush Generation answered the call of the British Empire. The British Empire has been succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations. Most descendants of the Windrush Generation have chosen to be British, part of the Mother Country. A minority have chosen to return to the Caribbean. That is, they have chosen to be Jamaicans, Barbadians, etc. Still others are in -between in their choices. Contradictions abound not only at the macro level of nationality but at the micro levels of families, friendships, and fraternal relations.

Before going any further down this road let us identify the kernel of these contractions: social constructs. The great American sociologist George Herbert Mead in the 1930s defined social constructs as things people agree on in a society at some time and in some places. Social constructs have existed throughout the history of civilization. They include race, ethnicity, class, colour, gender, money, nationality, political party, religion, denomination, age, beauty, generation, trade union, corporation, company, royalty, commoner, etc.

There are at least three common features of social constructs:

• Inclusion and Exclusion
• Powerful and Powerless
• Challenge leading to Change.

The teaching of the New Testament is that social constructs have no eternal or spiritual meaning. They are irrelevant in the Kingdom of God. They are confined to temporary, material, and man-made concepts on earth. But human society requires structure if chaos is to be avoided which is harmful to all. The greatest pitfall to be avoid in the community of faith is to bring man-made social constructs to divide the community by rank.

The exhortation of Hebrews Chapter 12 verse 1 is to discard every hindrance, especially the particular sin that keeps on clinging to us, in running our race of faith in God.

Verse 2 exhorts us to fix our focus on Jesus who is the beginning and end of our faith. Jesus is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, Savior, Advocate and Judge, the slain Lamb who now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. Give Him praise and glory.

The exhortation of verse 3 is to Consider the Contradictions endured by Jesus in his mission to reconcile sinners to God. Jesus only did good but suffered the wrath of the leaders of self- righteous religious leaders in collusion with Imperial power preoccupied with social order. Mindful that I am a Jamaican visiting the United Kingdom for a few weeks, let me avoid rampant contradictions.

Not so easily dismissed are contradictions inherent in the social constructs being contested at the present time all over the world. They affect us materially and practically. However, the gravity of the exhortation to Consider Jesus hits home hardest when the courage and the costs of maintaining wholeness in oneself in contending with contradictions when looking at the man in the mirror. Errol as a believer in Jesus how could you have said that? How could you have done that? Then and only then there is realization that our faith in God pales in comparison to His faithfulness to us despite our faults, flaws, and failures.

Great is thy faithfulness oh God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee, all I have needed Thy Hand has provided, Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me. Hallelujah!!
Amen