Unity is assured, to those who see

By Arlen Williams

Whose race?

Whose supremacy?


I remember a frivolous little TV program, years ago. It brought viewers along with a dozen or so passengers touring on a banana boat from Wales to the Caribbean and back. On one of the islands, the host ventured into a small food store, one that had been there for quite awhile, and "Banana Boat" was totally video-bombed.

There in the harvest, one of the shoppers, a young Afro-Caribbean woman broke into song, sung from her heart. They re-aimed the camera and kept filming. It was one of the most wonderful things I've ever witnessed on television.

I wish I had that video, but if I recall correctly, this was this song.


It has been translated into countless languages and sung countless times around the world.

Never mind the one trying to divide and conquer us in so many strategic ways, subtle and brutal. The true brilliance of diversity is only fully appreciated in true-to-God unity. And to our relief there is just one way for that to occur, distinct and unconfused.

Lyrics:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Thank you, beautiful ones, clear-sighted American composer and your island singer; thank you, Bride of Christ. Thank you, Bridegroom.

There is no Jew or Gentile. There is no slave or free person. There is no male or female. That's because you are all one in Christ Jesus.

– Galatians 3:28, to His believers of the human race (New International Reader's Version)

PS: By Scripture, song, and in the many ways, I am so glad for exactly this kind of training that Americans have received, from childhood onward, from before our nation's beginnings. However wayward we have all been, that training, among other imporant results, became the light and preservative of our culture, and the rule always for our measuring up. Let us refuse every quarter that calls us to so insolently cast that birthright aside in the false name of "progress" from it. We are the ones who must pass it on to our progeny. Our birthright includes our very status as sovereign beings in this world, under only God Himself, government being literally and functionally our own hired steward among us to guard exactly this status and its freedom – not our master to take it away.

© Arlen Williams