Sounder is a novel written by William H. Armstrong. It tells the story about how a poor black sharecropping family overcomes hardships through love, strength and unity. The story was set in the Deep South, probably in the 1930s or 1940s. Sounder was made into a film in 1972.
In one scene, the family was walking home from a baseball game with some friends. A black man in the group told a joke that went something like this:
One time I accidentally walked into a white church. Y'all know, I barely got outta there alive. When I got home I prayed hard to the Lord, thanking Him for delivering me outta there safely. I must have been doing some powerful praying because it made the Lord talk to me. He said, "You've actually done better than me. I've been trying to get in there for 200 years and ain't made it yet.That joke struck me like a runaway freight train. It immediately made me think of today's evangelical Christians, many of whom are Christians in name only because they drive the GOP that chastises the poor, ignores the hungry and wants to revoke a law that will help heal the sick.
I guess the Lord still ain't made it in.