To Stand on the Rock

Spiritual Life, Spring 2000 by LaRochester, Barbara J

To Stand on the Rock. By Joseph A. Brown, SJ. Orbis Books: P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll, N.Y. 1045-0308, 1998. Pp. 216. Paper. $15.

Few things are more urgently or universally needed today than the cultivation of a sense of the sacred and the realization that all people share in a common destiny. Through a series of meditative reflections, Brown sets the foundation for understanding in a practical way what it means to be Black and Catholic in a world that still suffers the estrangement of racism. Just what does it mean to be "authentically black and truly Catholic"? Brown invites the readers to look and listen with new eyes and ears to such familiar words as symbol, ritual, liturgical dance, (divine power), and covenant, thus journeying the ancestral grounds and allowing the gift of each generation to become a part of them.

Part One reads like a history book that focuses on the cultures and civilizations of western and central Africa. This focus is important if one is to honor the past and appropriate the gift for future generations. Beginning with the "middle passage," Brown examines with clarity and documentation the slave trade, slave songs, prayer ritual, and sacred songs; the meaning and significance of the drum, the dance, the rhythm, the sighs, the moans, and the stuttering. All "remain texts and messages to be studied" (p. 12). As we reflect on the different cultures, what becomes apparent to the reader is the fact that African culture and history, so rich and filled with an abundance of wisdom, is still highly misunderstood by Eurooean cultures today.

Brown examines "Negro Spirituals" in the writings of Howard Odum, Guy Johnson, Vincent Harding, James Cone, and W.E.B. DuBois. Each in its own way reflects the heart and soul of the slaves, with their connectedness to culture and rootedness in the land: The deep mystery hidden in the words, the rhythm, the repetition, the incantations, were much more than musical patterns.... These songs handed down in time, are the repositories ofstrategies of survival and encoded documents ofhistory, theology and sociology. (p. 54)

Brown examines ritual in Thomas Wentworth Higginson's bookArmy Life in a Black Regiment and Dudley Taylor Cornish's book The Sable Arm. Both authors give similar accounts of ritual regarding the African soldier in the Civil War. Colonel Thomas reports, The soldiers took seriously their preparation for war, they were on a mission, and prepared themselves through a ritual detailed in: call and response, repetition, identification with great heroes, use ofthe dance circle, building a trance state for support, exhortation and the ritual of spirit-possession. (p. 63)

The second half of the book looks at .sankofa," an African word meaning to recapture, to reclaim what was lost or discarded. Brown applauds the pioneers of African-American contemporary literature-Zora Neale Houston, Arthur Schomburg, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, and Jean Toomerwho seek to capture a legacy that would otherwise be lost: Each new generation, each new cultural variation, is obligated to make a straight path into the future, bringing with it only the distilled essence of the past. (p. 94) For the African-American, this will mean remembering not only the past but dealing with the false premises that have become ingrained in our present thinking. We owe this to future generations.

Brown points to inconsistencies that were/are part of our western culture. On the one hand, we see the fluid openness for opportunities that are given to some while others must experience the subtle, almost total revisioning of their own history: The old gospel song says, "God leads us along, in the night season and all the day long", and in another gospel song, "rve been in the storm so long / Oh, give me a little time to pray." Neither song says to God, take away the storm, the calamities. Each song and the spirituality that informs it, asks for strength to go through the experience without losing the connection to God. Black Spirituality, old and new, concerns itself with transcending difficulties not avoiding them. (p. 106) This is shown in the writings ofW.E.B. DuBois and Gwendolyn Brooks whose central focus highlights the wisdom, genius, and strength of black folks.

Brown reminds us that the building of a strong Black Church will require the support of a strong leadership that begins with conversion. It will include the charism to heal and discern spirits, a sound black theology that incorporates the heritage texts of black sacred song, and the ever expanding welcome table and dance circle to which all are invited.

To Stand on the Rock is both informative and educative. The significance of the book lies in the freedom with which Brown has articulated his message. The pithy reflections offered, together with suggestions for the building of a strong black theology, call each of us to move forward with the gifts we have received, knowing we have a responsibility to hand on the lessons of liberation, inclusion, and spiritual confirmation: For each child that is born a morning star rises and sings to the universe who we are; we are ourgrandmothers' prayers; we are our grandfathers' dreamings; we are the breath of our ancestors; we are the Spirit of God. (p. 192)