WHEN YOU HAVE DONE ALL YOU CAN DO
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (July 11, 2016)
“And he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followed not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us” (St. Luke 9:48-50, King James Version [Christ commendeth humility]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, when you have done all that you can do, pray. In 1971, integration upon us since 8th grade in Miami, Florida brought about days of attendance at what was once an all white school that amazingly was located right up the avenue 60 blocks from my home. On a bad day, the end of the year, notoriously known as the payback time when fights broke out, I was in my 9th grade Biology class. I sort of remember the buses arrived to take us the 60 blocks where we lived on the same avenue, I found myself split between two groups, the white students who were in class with me for I was the only black student in biology class and the black students who were quickly exiting their class to get to the buses in the hallways. The white students did not want me to go with the black students but I was a black student so I thought, “Are they crazy---Let me go?” I pulled away, looked at my teacher and I quickly made it through the hallways outside to the bus.
As I boarded the bus the neighbors came---those folks who were the supporters of the white students who matriculated at the white school with us---their big brothers and their big sisters, their cousins, neighborhood friends and just possibly some of their parents who decidedly wanted to teach us a lesson not the lessons of learning in class that we studied all year long but the street lessons so they came with sledge hammers and chains but we were not afraid. I do not know why we were not afraid. Somehow the unfriendly neighborhood folks where the school was located were backed off of the school grounds and the buses passed them by. We made it home safe. However, some students walked or caught a ride on the way back down the avenue stayed behind to face the crowd who came with the sledge hammers and chains not afraid to engage in a beat down. They, too, made it home for once our neighborhood found out the neighbors up there came out to the school after us---our neighbors' cars came and gave rides to those who stayed behind.
Nowadays, I watch the news and I reflect on the lessons of the past---when we fought the integration war. Now, we fight the entitlement war. Jesus said, “There will be wars and rumors of wars...” In my reflection I fast forwarded to my undergraduate years at the University of Miami, sitting in Philosophy class called Contemporary Moral Issue---talking about the issue of the struggle---the war of integration in Miami, Florida for seemingly I was the only student in my class that was African-American and from the local school system in Miami, Florida---the others were out-of-state students. I started my education fast track for the medical field because I took Biology in 9th grade, Chemistry in the 10th grade, Physics in the 11th grade and General Biology at our local community college in 12th grade but quickly that changed after I failed my Chemistry test and I did not fight or even speak to my lecture hall professor for the writing was on the wall that he gave us not a text book test but a test to weed out the influx of medical students all aspiring to become doctors---I was tired of fighting the systems in America---the integration system that others found difficult but not me so what was wrong with me, now and why did I not fight the good faith fight. Somehow I took my courage back---no longer afraid of the enormous halls of the university I continued on but not in the medical track.
I found myself in classes like American Black-White Relations, of which I received an A for that class, Social Contenance & Deviance of which I received a B for that class---still in the struggle over
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grades now as a Sophmore. I completed Black Literature in America an incomplete course from my second semester with average. How was that possible when I was a Black-America---one of the makers of Black Literature? If that was not enough of my mirror-image of getting to know the blackness of others---getting to identify myself, then I took Blacks in American Politics with a Black-American professor who barely let me pass the class possibly not his reflection for he did not like “truth” of issues [Lord I thank you for overcoming my temporary state of condition: heart and mind---for I thank you for my daily bread] for I grew up in a progressive city where the students were encouraged to speak out for their rights; maybe we had too many Jewish teachers and white teachers who were the flower children who rebelled against the ways of their parents who helped African-Americans now Black-Americans fight for their rights.
Most importantly, of recent I figured out the University of Miami educated and trained me to be an activist in the field of Sociology, so my junior year I took Social Physiology: Social Perspective---another class that explored social theories and the personalities that developed them but how could I put those people in perspective without knowing of my own mirror-image. Interestingly, I took Minority Groups received an A---felt strongly connected---bridging the gap only to go back down to average when I took Social Stratification, Methods Sociological Research, Development of Social Theory, Alcohol Abuse, Contenance Prevention Crime Deviance, VIP Field Experience I of which I worked at the Juvenile Justice Center with the youth of America mostly Black Americans---some prison bound and the elderly in Congressman Claude Pepper's local congressional office during my Senior year thinking I finally had a firm grasp on my own reality in mainstream America so, I took Social Readings of which I received an A leaving electives for last so I could increase my grade point average but the near fatal car accident for me and fatal car accident for another did not let me get all As in the electives so once again the lessons of life threw a monkey wrench in my expectations but I did not take time out to heal and attended class with back braces and medical prescriptions accepting the average grade point average---just happy to finish undergraduate school but was I an activist. I hardly paid attention but then I did pay attention when my professor brought in the street walker---a woman who made her living on the streets of Miami, Florida, who sat and told us her story---my professor did not stop with one street walker, he brought in several street walkers to sit with us in class---to tell us their stories of struggle and survival, of their criminal escapades, in Miami, Florida, in America. He challenged my reality by making me face the realities of other women. My professor never said, “I want to talk to you. I want to tell you something.” he let the stories of real people in the land where I was raised speak volumes through the streets of Miami-Dade County, Florida---he did grab my attention no matter how I tried not to listen, I heard their cries and I felt compelled to take the course, Outstanding Personalities in Religion---another average score that did not see the passion that burned deep inside of me---planted since birth, that I identified with how the public ministry of Jesus addressed the down-trodden and his rich friends that kept his ministry going.
Moreover, I did not live a prosperity awakening telling myself I was something that I was not because my coursework kept me grounded---you see I could not say I was strong when I was weak and I could not say I was rich when I was poor, I could not say I found the way of salvation when I was lost, I could not say I could see when I was blind. So, beyond the theories I drew on my spiritual teachings of Christ Jesus, to see me through from least to great for Jesus said, “.. the meek would inherit the earth” when he preached the Sermon on the Mount. He did not say the strong or the rich but the meek. Also in reflection he told them whoever was the least would be great as Moses was cast down after sin for he committed murder defending his own family during slavery in Egypt---the dregs of society, the minorities, the drug dealers, the street walkers, those who needed medication to suppress their truth each day on drugs, medicines, alcohol, tobacco, sex, lies, theft, gluttony---just sin---dark thoughts---no redeeming virtues. My studies placed me in social deviance---sins, the rooted issues.
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Henceforth, little wonder was there to ponder why my first professional job in management was with Federated as an Assistant Buyer in Cosmetics where the Chairman was an activist, who called African-Americans to leadership in a Minority Task Force to deal with the issue of the May 1980 riots of Miami, Florida after a police officer---a peace officer killed a local African-American, a black man. You must know I feel you---I hear your cries---deja vu---just as I heard the cries of the past and just as I hear the constant cries of issues---even the cries of the babies, as they lay in their beds, in their cribs, helpless---not able to fight for themselves, I reflect on “out of the mouths of babes”. I know there is a
God for I believe in Christ Jesus---the door to salvation, the truth and the light”. Do not let those who
seek to betray Jesus as Judas Iscariot did for 30 pieces of silver sway you to do the unthinkable for the God that sits up high and looks down low---the God we serve is a mighty God, able to change the hearts of the heartless---heal the broken-hearted and raise up the sinful to a life anew, for He is worthy of your love and draws us to him without fail to live the abundant life we seek, in grace, in Christ Jesus. To God be the glory.
In closing let the love of God rule your faith. Let the hope of the faith of Christ Jesus rule your hearts. Let the salvation in grace---the gift of promise of God, in Christ Jesus, save you. Walk with us Lord. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord be with you.
Amen.
