Black History Moment

HarryBelafonte,born inHarlemtoWest Indianimmigrants, captivatedaudiences withhissingingand almostsingle-handedly ignitedacrazefor Caribbeanmusic.He achievedmovie stardomwithhis strikinggoodlooksand wonaTonyAwardfor bestfeaturedactorina musical.Foratimehe wasthemosthighly paidBlackperformerin history.

But Mr. Belafonte, who died this week, was more than an entertainer; his primary focus from the late 1950s until the end of his life was civil rights. He became a confidant of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and took part in the March on Washington in 1963. In the 1980s, he helped organize a cultural boycott of South Africa under apartheid to raise money to fight famine in Africa.

In all his endeavors he broke racial barriers but ultimately never saw the progress he had hoped for, writing in his autobiography that “the problems faced by most Americans of color seem as dire and entrenched as they were half a century ago.”

What happens when people live with their backs against the wall? That is, when society is structured in a manner that affords them few viable options to earn a living wage to care for themselves and their families. How do we judge such people considering their real lived experiences?

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For many Rahab depicted in Joshua 2:1-12 is simply a prostitute. In this week’s Bible Study from Joshua 2:1-21 we will explore:

1)ThepragmaticforcesthatplacedRahabinapositionwherebeingprostitutedbecame asurvivalstrategyforsheandherfamily.

2)ThebehavioroftheJoshua’sspies’mensentonaGodlymissiontoviewthepromiseland.

3)ThesavvinessofRahabasshepartneredwithGodtoobtainliberationforherselfand family.

4)Thecommonalitiesoftoday’ssextraffickingtothesituationfacedbyRahab.