Go And Tell!

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

(Portions of this message were inspired by an excellent sermon contributed by Richard

Burdette to Sermon Central)

GO & TELL!

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20’ John 14:1-7; Psalm 74:20; Mark 8:38; Acts 4:19-20

WE WILL TELL YOUR GOD ON YOU

Poem by Amy Carson Phillips

(Adapted by Melvin Newland)

“Night is falling on the Congo,

O’er the jungles far & near.

Soon the blackness will be brooding-

He who walks will walk in fear.

Yet no black man seeks his hut,

All are waiting on the shore,

Gazing, peering through the twilight,

Gazing, peering – something more!

Longing, ah, with what wild longing,

Longing never known before!

For the drums have beat the message,

“Comes again the river spirit,

A great ship – white man aboard!”

And the black men do not fear it,

For the word has passed along;

“White man’s message, hear it, hear it!”

List, there’s the sound of its horn!

Slowly the great ship draws near,

Heeds the signal from the land

Then a voice from white to black man,

“What is it, my brother, my friend?”

And the aged chieftain answers,

Mighty chieftain of the band.

“Come & tell the story, white man.

Tell the story that you know,

That you’ve told the other black men

In the villages below.

Of a Christ who came to save us,

Of a Christ who’ll ease our woe!”

Troubled then the tired white man

Who is going home to rest,

To America, his homeland,

To America, the blest.

As he speaks his heart is breaking,

Faint is he & sore distressed.

“Black chief, giant of the village,

I am coming back again.

But now I hasten to my homeland

Time permits me not, my friend.

But a year from now you’ll see me.

I will tell the story then!”

The black chief slowly turned away –

Bent his head & sunk’ his chest,

Limp & swaying all his frame –

Then resolve did fill his breast!

“I will tell your God on you,

White man, who so loveth rest!

I will tell your God on you!

White man, tell me! Let me learn!

See, my race is almost done.

I will die with set of sun!”

But the white man dropped his head,

Slowly, sadly, turned & fled.

Down the river his great ship sped.

In the heathen village there,

Darkness deepened to despair.

Fallen stark & dead the chief.

Stricken every soul with grief.

And the horrors of the night

Stalked & brooded till the light.

But the black men took a vow.

Will you hear it, white men, now?

“We will tell your God on you!

Tell him on your brothers, too!

Surely as your God is true,

We will tell your God on you!”

White men, do your hear that cry?

May it prod you till you die.

May it, oh, become the cry

That will quicken every breast

That hath known our God on high!

May it never be suppressed!

May it prod & prick you through

Till you rise & duty do!

“We will tell your God on you.

We will tell your God on you!”

Several times during the past year you may have heard Elmer Rader or someone else say something like, “That led me down a rabbit trail.” Do you know what the words “rabbit trail” mean when used that way? It means to start out with one thought which leads you to another thought which leads you to another thought, which leads you to another thought, & so on. And that is exactly what I did during the past two weeks in preparing this sermon.

As most of you now know, last Sunday was my wife Ethel’s birthday. But being the kind of person she is, she made me promise that I wouldn’t say anything about it during last Sunday’s services. She just didn’t want me to say or do anything that would call attention to her.

Now, Ethel, that was last Sunday, & I kept my promise. But today I’m mentioning it because it is part of the rabbit trail my mind was going through.

My rabbit trail started out with the poem you just heard: “We will tell your God on you!” From that I thought about my promise to Ethel that I would not mention her birthday at church last Sunday. So I didn’t. But I did spend time last week thinking about our life together these many years. They have been good years, sometimes difficult, but good years together overall.

I also thought about the 3 times I feared that our life together might be ending. And 2 of those times involved Air Evac helicopters & their personnel.

Continuing on with my rabbit trail caused me to think of the old TV program MASH which portrayed a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital staffed with doctors & nurses almost on the front lines. And sometimes the enemy was so close that doctors & nurses risked their lives to continue caring for their patients while shells were exploding around them.