Quiet Time: Clobbering the Clobber Texts

Dear God of Love and Justice,

Paul writes to the Colossians, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" — and that word "rule" is the Greek brabeuō, the same word used for an umpire settling a dispute on the field. When voices clash and interpretations collide, Your peace is the final referee.

The Black Church knows something about having scripture weaponized against us. Slaveholders once stood in pulpits and read Ephesians 6:5 — "Slaves, obey your masters" — as though the God who parted the Red Sea for the enslaved had suddenly switched sides. But our grandmothers read deeper. They found the God of Exodus underneath the God of empire, and they sang their way to freedom with those same scriptures in hand.

So when we encounter texts that have been used to clobber rather than comfort, teach us to read the way our ancestors read — on our knees, with the whole testimony of Your love spread open before us. Give us the holy discernment to distinguish between a verse torn from its vine and the living Word still bearing fruit.