Howard Thurman was the preeminent Black theologian of the mid-twentieth century, writing a book,”Jesus and the Disinherited,” that had a huge influence on the civil rights movement. We celebrated Thurman’s birthday (Nov. 18) this past Sunday at Trinity Cathedral.
Thurman was born in 1899 in the Deep South when slavery was a living memory, and he died in 1981 in San Francisco after building a racially integrated church.
I believe his words still speak to us.
Our Diocese of Northern California is leading an effort to have Thurman included on The Episcopal Church calendar of Holy people (commonly called “saints”). I preached about Thurman Sunday. I also gave a different take on “The Parable of the Talents.” https://www.lectionarypage.net/…/AProp28_RCL.html… What if the parable isn’t about “good stewardship,” as it is it typically interpreted, but really about the evil of slavery?
I don’t usually post sermons, and alas, the video had technical difficulties, but here is a link to the audio https://drive.google.com/…/1Ducm_8BH…/view… and the text is posted below:
