{"id":1215,"date":"2011-04-29T14:09:56","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T18:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2011-04-29T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T18:09:56","slug":"the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html","title":{"rendered":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“De-Egyptianization” is the term for what happened to Israel in the desert. \u00a0After four hundred years of slavery their culture and identity was virtually destroyed and in need of restoration. \u00a0They were in such bad shape that even though God brought them to the brink of the promised land within a year of their release from captivity, they failed to embrace their God ordained destiny. \u00a0Instead, they wanted to return to Egypt–back “to slavery and oppression!”<\/p>\n

Thus, God took them into the desert in order to pick up the pieces and reconstruct their culture. \u00a0God did so by teaching his people to trust him for their daily bread (manna) and giving them the law & covenant.<\/p>\n

Given the parallels, Ellis says that African-Americans can “learn something from what God taught the Israelites.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

History<\/strong>–We don’t know our history. \u00a0One time I was talking to an educated twenty-something and mention in passing how Martin Luther King Jr. chose non-violence as a tactic in the fight for civil rights. \u00a0This person stopped me and said, “Non-violence, what’s that?” \u00a0Ellis argues, not only do African-Americans need to get in touch with their history but we need to do so from a “God-centered view.” \u00a0That is, what is the meaning of African-American history from God’s perspective?<\/p>\n

Destiny<\/strong>–Destiny is the fulfillment of one’s history! \u00a0“God through Moses restored to Israel a correct view of destiny,” says Ellis. \u00a0He continues, “After four hundred years in slavery and a few months wandering in the wilderness, the people had forgotten where they were going. \u00a0God had to remind his people of his specially chosen direction for their lives.” \u00a0As African-Americans we need to be able to answer the question, “What is the destiny of our people?” \u00a0Not where do we want to go but rather, where is God taking us?<\/p>\n

Consciousness<\/strong>–African-Americans need a new sense of collective consciousness–seeing ourselves as God sees us. \u00a0Understanding our shared values and calling. \u00a0This won’t be easy given our Dis-integration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ellis concludes that “this must be the task of a new generation of leadership. \u00a0Such a noble task will require the wisdom and understanding available only from God.”<\/p>\n

Let us embrace the desert!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“De-Egyptianization” is the term for what happened to Israel in the desert. \u00a0After four hundred years of slavery their culture and identity was virtually destroyed and in need of restoration. \u00a0They were in such bad shape that even though God brought them to the brink of the promised land within a year of their release…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","category-sankofa-leadership-institute"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2) - The Jazz Theologian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2) - The Jazz Theologian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“De-Egyptianization” is the term for what happened to Israel in the desert. \u00a0After four hundred years of slavery their culture and identity was virtually destroyed and in need of restoration. \u00a0They were in such bad shape that even though God brought them to the brink of the promised land within a year of their release…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Jazz Theologian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-29T18:09:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/files\/2011\/04\/Freeatlast.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Gelinas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2) - The Jazz Theologian","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2) - The Jazz Theologian","og_description":"“De-Egyptianization” is the term for what happened to Israel in the desert. \u00a0After four hundred years of slavery their culture and identity was virtually destroyed and in need of restoration. \u00a0They were in such bad shape that even though God brought them to the brink of the promised land within a year of their release…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html","og_site_name":"The Jazz Theologian","article_published_time":"2011-04-29T18:09:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/files\/2011\/04\/Freeatlast.jpg"}],"author":"Robert Gelinas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html","name":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2) - The Jazz Theologian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/files\/2011\/04\/Freeatlast.jpg","datePublished":"2011-04-29T18:09:56+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-29T18:09:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/#\/schema\/person\/5e3ecb360405bd8603a61c7115194e01"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/files\/2011\/04\/Freeatlast.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/files\/2011\/04\/Freeatlast.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-2.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? By Carl Ellis (Chpt. 2)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/","name":"The Jazz Theologian","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Gelinas on Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/#\/schema\/person\/5e3ecb360405bd8603a61c7115194e01","name":"Robert Gelinas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/fbe\/fbe4a8ffc24002390e969652fba5c72bx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/fbe\/fbe4a8ffc24002390e969652fba5c72bx96.jpg","caption":"Robert Gelinas"},"description":"\"For more information visit: Jazztheologian.com Robert Gelinas is Lead-Pastor (and resident Jazz Theologian) of Colorado Community Church\u00e2\u20ac\u201da multi-cultural, interdenominational community of 3000+ followers of Christ in the Denver area. Author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and the upcoming, Strange Fruit: The Cross as a Way of Life (2011). Founder of Project 127, a ministry dedicated to seeing the day when there are no children waiting for homes in Colorado's foster care system. Robert deeply desires to see the body of Christ mobilized to serve the least of these. The poor, the down and out, the disenfranchised and disabled, those deemed unimportant and the unborn. He believes that God loves all people yet he has a special heart for the poor and the poor in spirit, the miserable and the marginalized. A Contributing Editor for Leadership Journal and Urbanfaith.com. He acquired a B.A. in Bibilcal Studies from Colorado Christian University and a Master of Arts in World Christianity (Missiology) from Denver Seminary. Robert is married to the love of his life, Barbara, and they have six energetic children (3 boys & 3 girls--one bio, five adopted--two from Ethiopia). Friend of God...Passionate about the Body of Christ...Lover of this thing called jazz! Please visit Jazztheologian.com for contact info., speaking schedule, videos, Facebook and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/author\/rgelinas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1235,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions\/1235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}