Oh, FreedomEgzanp

Many listeners imagine heaven when they hear the old gospel song, “Come and Go to That Land.” This song also recalls the journey Black Americans took out of bondage: “the Great Migration.” Black individuals’ journeys North were faith excursions, too, where stops for gas and accommodations were planned with care. Imagine a young man or woman bound for Chicago, New York, Detroit, or even Canada, with little tangible support. They might have been the first in the family to make the life-changing decision to search for freedom. “Come and go to that land where I’m bound” was a tonic for their faith.

Faith defined by Hebrews 11:1 gives us God’s perspective. We see what’s in front of us; faith requires looking past human limitations to support and guidance through relationship with limitless God. He sees past, present, and future simultaneously, leading us through and around what we can’t see. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, and many more had that faith. So did many other ancestors.

Freedom achieved by acts of faith moved those in the Great Migration to move, create new churches, institutions, and neighborhoods, all by trusting God’s presence in the unknown. God shapes the details of what we can’t see, walking with us when we trust. -Noel Hutchinson