A Possible Future…Believing in the Unseen | July 26, 2026 | Rev. Dr. Kathryn Benton
- The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Lord, I will lift
Mine eyes to the hills
Knowing my help
Is coming from You
Your peace you give me
In time of the storm
You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You
Amen
The opening recording from Trinity United Church of Christ was Dr. Dorsey Blake’s favorite song. We played this song at his memorial service last year. I chose to share this recording because it is so inspiring. It seems to inspire us to come together…it reminds us that we are children of our creator…all of us. Thanks to Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and his congregation for this beautiful experience.
It is no accident that I chose the recording from Jeremiah Wright on this 26th day of July…the birthday of our beloved Dr. Dorsey Blake. In his honor today I would like to share some of his words that may help us in these raw, confusing and debilitating times. May we come back to the spirit of this music in times of desperation.
I am guided today in my consideration of our current situation first of all by words from Dorsey Blake and also from another teacher of mine, Bayo Akolomafe. I revisited a sermon by Dr. Blake entitled, Who is the Greatest in the Realm of Heaven, delivered via zoom in 2021 for the Metropolitan AME Church. In this sermon Dr. Blake emphasizes the purpose of Jesus’ message as…a radical indictment of what existed in the structures, the institutions and the traditions of his time. Dr. Blake refers to Jesus’ message to the disciples (students) as radical. Could that be what we need today? Let us be guided by this question as we continue to consider Dr. Blake’s (and Jesus’) words. Speaking of the realm of heaven to his disciples, Jesus was saying, Dr. Blake explains:
Jesus needs them to think out of the box for that is the only way the realm will be understood and come alive…Jesus proclaims that unless you disciples turn and become like children, unless you move in another direction, rotate in an eschatological reality you will never get into the realm of heaven. You can never be part of the future which the realm of heaven symbolizes. You will be entombed in the deadening past and present.
Entombed in the deadening past and present…These are indeed times when we may feel entombed. Jesus said that we had to become like children…Dr. Blake explains that this includes thinking out of the box. Do children think out of the box? I’m here to tell you that yes, they do! They are alive and they are constantly trying something new. This is what Jesus (and Dr. Blake) meant. We are meant to move in another direction. Dr. Blake continues:
The realm of heaven cannot be contained in our present structures. Dr. King stated that the beloved community cannot be achieved through our present system of capitalism. Jesus spoke of a new world, a new realm, a kingdom that could not thrive in the old structures and systems.
Indeed, Jesus’ message was radical…meaning it addressed itself to the root of life…the foundation…the source. And King knew this, as did the entire civil rights movement and so many other movements throughout history.
Now I want to highlight that Dr. Blake says that the new realm that Jesus spoke of will not be achieved within the current system. This was articulated by Audre Lorde in Sister Outsider as, the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. This brings to mind the teachings of another teacher. Bayo Akolomafe, in describing what he calls Therapolis, says essentially the same thing. Regarding a way to address the crisis in the wellness industry, he writes, the way out of an institution is not to follow the exit signs. Instead, he brings our attention to the cracks in the institutions…the things that the institution cannot anticipate. He says that this is where our attention belongs…no we cannot use the master’s tools or the patriarchal or ‘white’ paradigm to change our institutions. We indeed need to get at the roots.
Dr. Blake continues his consideration of the realm of heaven by describing it like this:
The realm of heaven is a revolutionary community. The hounds of hell, as Thurman describes them, fear, deception, hatred must be overthrown. New loyalty has to claim our allegiance. Jesus was not talking about progress within the debilitating current structures, laws, mores, politics, economics, religion or culture. His focus was on opening his disciples and others to a possible future…of creativity and therefore freedom.
This is an important part of Jesus’, Thurman’s and Blake’s message…that this realm that we are seeking is revolutionary. It runs counter to the hounds of hell which we are experiencing now and have been experienced throughout history. Dr. Blake says that the hounds of hell must be overthrown. Now that is not a gentle word. It brings to mind previous revolutions to be sure, yet it continues to be something that is fitted to our present moment. It is new and is not contained in the present structure either. Instead, Dr. Blake points out that this possible future will need a deep sense of creativity…the birthright of creation…the next step of which is unknown. This is found in the words of Akalomafe in the cracks, not through the doors. What are the cracks in our current world? I think we all know that they are myriad…they are all around us in the debilitating current structures, laws, mores, politics, economics, religion or culture.
This brings me to another piece of Dr. Blake’s sermon, in which he used Jesus’ words of becoming like a child to enter the realm of heaven. Dr. Blake speaks of the meaning of humility like this:
Humility is not being arrogant, not trying to control it and the world. It’s about leaning into life, exploring life, not manipulating it and bottling it up…
it means accepting and readily engaging in a larger context of living in which you, we are both actor and subject…with an understanding of being an explorer,
a seeker of life.
This is what we considered last week when we focused on the life of Sojourner Truth. She was a seeker…a sojourner in the world and always had in view the larger context in which she was enveloped and help secure. This was also what Thurman spoke of when he described the tree and the ocean and his connection to those realities…when he looked up at the stars with his mother. Thurman tells the story of seeing Hailey’s Comet like this:
One night I was awakened by my mother, who asked if I would like to see the comet. I got up, dressed quickly, and went out with her into the back yard. There I saw in the heavens the awesome tail of the comet and stood transfixed. With deep anxiety I asked, without taking my eyes off it, “What will happen to us when that thing falls out of the sky?” There was a long silence during which I felt the gentle pressure of her fingers on my shoulders; then I looked into her face and saw what I had seen on another occasion, when without knocking I had rushed into her room and found her in prayer. At last she said, “Nothing will happen to us, Howard. God will take care of us.”
This was the certainty that was revealed to Thurman’s mother on that night, and I’m guessing on many occasions. Much like Sojourner Truth, she had a lasting relationship with God…with the all-pervading presence that was both in nature and in each of her creatures and also beyond. This is the resonance I assume Dr. Dorsey Blake felt with the song, Total Praise with which we started. Not only does it tether us to the spirit of life, but it highlights our responsibility to life…the ability to keep fresh before us what is important to the larger context of life. And why is it important? This question has been answered by so many mystics in our time and throughout history, but I will share the answer given by our beloved Dr. Blake. He said:
We are each a fresh expression of God. A unique expression of God unleashed in the world to say something new and fresh about God’s presence in the world today…in the now…
May we take this to heart…to our moments of prayer and meditation on this day and in the days ahead. Thank you, Dorsey! Your spirit is still with us and we treasure you. Happy Birthday to one who was indeed a unique and fresh expression of God…one who knew something of the realm of heaven and may still be present in the Beams of Heaven that illumine our paths.
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