Ain't You Got A Right To The Tree of Life?

Heirs' property land possession is as old as the Biblical tradition. However African Americans are losing heirs' property on Johns Island South Carolina at an alarming rate. This land loss has serious economical ethical and theological implications. Persistent exile of African Americans from the only homeland they have known has had devastating effects upon the history culture familial ties and legacies of Sea Islanders extending several generations. The plethora of legal constraints coastal development and negative influences of wealth and social power inundating the coastal region begs for a theological praxis that challenges the church and the affluent to face the crisis of the human spirit and make connections between the witness of the Bible on collective land ownership as a form of stewardship. Being faithful stewards of land testifies to the fact; uncurbed land management exploitation self-enhancement and self-aggrandizement cannot succeed. When land is treated not as a commodity but as an arena for human interaction that respects both neighbor and land the Messiah's kingdom can come.