Richard D. Meadows, Jr.

Election of new Bishop Central Florida

2011-11-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Our Life Together at St. John the Baptist

2011-09-05T12:38:00.003-04:00

As Episcopalians at St. John’s, we believe our life together must be shaped by and reflect the values revealed in our baptismal promises: to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ; to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself; and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. The Baptismal Covenant—Book of Common Prayer, p. 305
Norms

A pattern for living our baptismal values provide the foundation for norms that govern the ways we will strive to live and work together. Our goal is to live out these principles in our work together in the Parish and Diocese, making them a pattern of living in prayer, word, and action, with individuals being consistently invited and challenged to live into the larger vision of our congregation rooted in the Baptismal Covenant.

Common Life - What do we have in Common?

• Love for Christ and Community
• Desire to Grow
• The Breaking of the Bread
• Commitment to Serve (Minister)
• We are Family

Common Prayer - What do we Pray for?

• Relationship/Fellowship/Communion/Connection – Through fellowship, membership and stewardship. We will strive to foster new and enhance existing relationships in our parish. Through the membership and stewardship ministries we will organize activities to bring the parish together breaking down barriers of two services.
• Welcoming – Ways to welcome, identify and getting to know newcomers, seekers and returning members to our parish.
• Evangelism – Explore evangelism and implement strategies to welcome the Washington Shores community first, working our way outward to the Great Commission. Long range and short term plans.
• Growth – Parish, personal and community together. Young families and our families. Spiritual journeys of members to enable us to relate to one another.

Common Worship – How do we express ourselves?

• Worship/Culture – Shared and different. Anglican, Afro-American and Caribbean cultures.
• Music
• Fellowship and Family
• Sheepfold Ministry – Care of souls by congregation
• Small Groups
• Vitality
• Relevance

What YOU can do as one individual…

• Pray, we are asking for you to spend time in prayer concerning our common life, prayer and worship.
• You can contribute to responsible and assertive problem solving in your individual relationships by:
o Being open, honest and discussing what is bothering you only with those who can do something about it.
o Listening thoughtfully to other’ concerns and ideas and then asking “How might I/we help you think of ways to do something about your concern?” or asking/challenging others with “What do you propose to do about this matter?”
o Allowing someone to complain to you only when you can do something about the matter or redirecting complaints to appropriate decision-makers when you can do nothing to change the situation.

What WE can do together in Group Settings…

• Pray, lead each other in prayer at the beginning and ending of each gathering
• Vestry meetings, church committees/ministries and groups should work to encourage effective outcomes and the use of our time in determining appropriate courses of action are promoted when we:
o Develop and distribute an agenda/time table in advance.
o Volunteer responsibly
o Start and end on time and Come prepared
o Attend regularly Notify the chair when we are unable to attend
o Participate actively and are sensitive to others by not monopolizing time
o Work together to agree on actions
o Distribute minutes and to-do lists in a timely fashion, possibly in advance

Group Process

Listen attentively - Honor the ideas and concerns of others by listening with care.
Practice courtesy - Observe relaxed courtesy in every gathering.
Respect all opinions - Respectfully include all opinions, even when there is disagreement.
Speak for self only - Listen and speak from an “I” position (but do not speak for anyone else).
Model transparency - Act with honesty, openness, directness.
Honor confidentiality - Respect private or personal confidences when appropriate
Share decision-making - Share the power with all persons affected by the decision making.
Refrain from judging - Resist speculation about the motives or spiritual maturity of others.
Communicate consistently - Make careful, consistent communication a priority.
Challenge in love - Challenge when we are not living up to our norms, speaking the truth in love.
Forgive generously - Forbear and forgive each other’s failings, with God’s help.
Admit responsibility - Be publicly accountable for errors, seeking to learn from mistakes.
Be open to the new - Be receptive to exploring new ideas and possibilities.

Just Keeping It Real

2011-08-29T07:27:00.003-04:00

John Biggers Art

I am now a Floridian and I feel welcome. I have met so many new friends and they have a way of making you feel like you have always been here. The new friends want to meet me, talk to me and share their life stories. Whether it is in the grocery store, church, under the viaducts of Parramore, or a table at Nikki’s, I have met some interesting people. I strongly believe in Henri Nouwen’s making space for the stranger. Linda and I are sojourning and strangers in a new land, we are also looking for a feeling of being wanted. In our ministry we usually find a “need” in a community, we work unyieldingly to achieve the goals and outcomes of the organizations. And after serving people all day we are happy that we have done God’s work of ministry on earth. Yet, what is most important to us is, are we connecting and are we beginning genuine relationships with real people?

We are connecting because we have found a parish in the Orlando community that is welcoming. Our work together is just starting; our journey will be long and fruitful. They are used to giving back, they are used to sacrificing, and they are willing to share what little God has given them. The parish is filled with hard working, caring individuals who are now waiting for the clarion call of God. We are listening together, as Moses saw the burning bush; we are looking at the world and wondering what God is up to. We are amazed at the possibilities.

Now is the time to pray for each other, pray that we foster relationships among each other. Tearing down the barriers of two services, different yet common cultures, hindrances in worship and questions answered about how we are going to welcome wanderers and strangers. We will soon have answers and even more questions. The answers will come in our Young Adult conversations over Starbucks coffee, Parish Town Hall in September, our Leadership Circle in October and our celebration of the Tabernacles/All Saints in November. The parish, together will flesh out the hard stuff and not shy away from the work that needs to be done. We will assess many operations and hopefully come to solution based ministry that is flexible enough to accommodate the rapid day to day changes in the community we serve.

Pray that the eyes of hearts are opened and we see one another with the eyes of our Lord; that we see Christ in each other and our community. Pray that we learn to love one another as God loves us and finally pray that in our common lives, prayers and worship God will be pleased. Keep it real. Love, Pastor.

“I give myself away!”

2011-08-02T20:03:00.003-04:00

“I give myself away!” William McDowell, a young cat who writes from the heart, changing the heart and mind. I give myself away, says we belong to you O Lord. In Matthew 14, Peter makes a elucidatory statement of being sold out to the Way. Peter’s steps out of the boat, knowing that if he is to survive, the Lord must not only save him but claim Peter as his own. That is how I feel in those sinking moments, when life is overwhelming me, and things are not quite as comfortable as they could be. What I feel in those moments is that the Lord will come from out of no where, move into my dark moment and reach down and grab me. Our darkest moments are filled with gloom, they are filled with despair and there is no turning back once they come upon us. We must go through them and to go through them alone would only compound them. They leave us with this lonely, dark feeling like the storm is present and overwhelming us. No sense of staying in the boat and being tossed and driven, the solution seems to be to step out on faith and try something new like walking on the water.

Peter is out of the boat, he is moving into the realm of the impossible, walking on water. He is confident that it’s the Lords voice he hears. “If it is you Lord, tell me to come.” Jesus tells Peter simply, “come.” If I can’t walk on water why would he tell me come? Coming gives us a testimony; it gives us a fresh word because coming is not easy. One of the hardest things of living this life is coming when the Lord bids come. To step out of boat and on to water; certainly not sure footing, one the heels of the storm, a boat full of doubters and in the middle of darkness, we make the most important step of our lives to trust God. God I will step out of the boat. Lord I will trust you. Lord if I fall, sink or stumble, you will catch me. Lord you will stretch out your hand and save me. Lord I trust you. Yes Lord! It is new, it is strange and there is a possibility of me sinking but I am going to fully trust you. The worst thing that can happen is I have to get back in the boat to be tossed and driven again. I give myself away to you, to be assaulted by the waves and overwhelmed but I trust you to bring it all under control.

New Beginnings

2011-05-21T08:27:00.000-04:00

Forerunner June 2011

As the next Rector of The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, I have been told I have Big Shoes to fill. Well, don't we all. You have the shoes of your ancestors and I have those of Canon Nelson Pinder, et al. Let me tell you where the shoe filling begins, Jesus leaves us with the commands to love one another and that by our love, one toward another, others will know we have been called as disciples. So our first order of business is to love one another. That is where the Holy Spirit says I should begin.

Our lives consist wholly of new beginnings, and yes, they are endings also. Whether it is an ending or beginning is the same argument as the half-empty or a half-filled cup. Since I am an optimist, I will go with half-full and new beginnings until proven wrong. Optimism is a big word in a negative world, I can only relate my optimism to beginnings because there usually nothing I can do with the past. The future is full of my dreams yet to be fulfilled, full of my hopes unrealized and full of fears that have yet to arrive. We have an opportunity to march forward only looking back to know where we have come from, and reaching into our potential, creating a synergy that can only be hindered by our doubts and faithless-ness. Faith is the substance of our hopes and the evidence of our dreams.

We have nothing greater to prove the possibilities to others than our faith and it is our faith that allows them to see our dreams. Dream with me people of St. John's; our church becoming a community church. Our goals of feeding the hungry, clothing some, housing others and treating the prisoners at release with the human rights and dignity afforded them only by God become a reality. Dream about our church becoming a light on a hill and safety zone for the abused, a haven for those for whom their hearts have been battered and torn by life. We can make a difference and with God's help we will do so.

If this does not sound like a new beginning then tell me what you don't believe and not what God won't do. Don't get me wrong I am not saying you have not been doing these things, it's just that I am coming to join you. During our Moments of Faith in worship you will be able to share with me and others what is on your heart and the hope that lies so deeply within you.

Don't look back, don't give up, don't bend nor bow, just give our realities a moment to catch up with our dreams. Now does this look like a new beginning or what?

Peace and love,

Fa. Meadows

2011-03-30T09:26:00.004-04:00

Good-bye St. Martin's

How do you say good-bye to the most wonderful congregation serving God’s creation. I guess you don’t. I remember when we parted company in 2008, Shirley’s last words were “You never know?” Well, now we know, the Lord has begun a good work in all of us.

The Apostle Paul states it like this; For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since…you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s words are like a sweet melody and a sung benediction. I journey to my next place of calling better equipped, filled with inspiration and love as gifts from you. Imagine this that the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Orlando Florida will receive that which I received of you at your table, joined in the fellowship of the Spirit and love. That is exciting to me. My new table will have your hand prints all over it, I know this note is filled with allegory, but human words can not describe the feelings I have in my heart for how you have prepared me for service in the kingdom. So as I go to the white fields of Florida, I carry you in my heart, heavy at the thought of leaving but joyful concerning the people of St. John’s. With my hands lifted up and my mouth filled with praise to God for the Shepherd of this house Shirley, and the people of the Cloak thank you for sharing. We love you. Rickey and Linda.

Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow

2011-03-29T07:12:00.003-04:00

Richard D. Meadows, Jr. elected to be the next Rector of The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Baptist, Orlando Florida.

To be a Church that loves and cares for people and that has a passion to make Christ known by serving and glorifying Him in the community in which He has called us to service. ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN YEARS OF FAITHFULNESS …FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU, "DECLARES THE LORD,“ PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE...” Jeremiah 29:11

On April 18, 1896, three years and two months after the organizing of the newly formed Missionary Jurisdiction of Southern Florida, The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Baptist, Orlando, Florida was established. It was located in a four room frame house from which the partitions were removed, at the northeast corner of Terry and Pine Streets.

Soon after the establishment of the church, a school was built on the adjoining property. St. Augustine College, the Episcopal college located in Raleigh, North Carolina provided most of the teachers in this one room school. The school was discontinued around 1925.

Some time after the school was built a church building was moved to the site from Lake Mary, Florida. A few years later a rectory was built. A tennis court was included on its grounds. This was the first tennis court in Orlando for use by the Black population. A portion of the first floor of the rectory also housed the Booker T. Washington Branch (for persons of color) of the Public Library.

In 1955 The Reverend John Fred Dickman, Ed.D. became the first full time priest for St. John the Baptist. Father Nelson W. Pinder, D.D. was assigned to St. John’s by Bishop Louttit May 30, 1959. Father Pinder was St. John's second full time priest and the first full time priest of color. Father Pinder had just completed seminary and was ordained as priest at St. John the Baptist. During Father Pinder’s leadership between 1959 and 1962 the Atlanta Life Insurance Building near the church's property was purchased. In 1962 a church study indicated that the population was shifting to the Washington Shores area and that few persons walked pass the church on Sunday mornings. It was 1963 that the church relocated to its present site at 1000 Bethune Drive. In 1967 the parish hall and education building was added.

The third priest to serve the church on a full time basis was Father Rupert Taylor. Father Taylor came to St. John from New York, however he was originally from Trinidad and educated in London, England. His tenure lasted from 1969-1972.

In 1972 Bishop Folwell assigned Father Pinder to St. John and he served faithfully until his retirement December 31, 1995. During the year of 1978, the vestry under the leadership of Father Pinder set a goal to attain Parish status. From the church's inception until this time the church had mission status(was partly supported by the diocese). On June 23, 1985 a grand Parish Status Celebration was held.

Upon the retirement of Reverend Pinder, Father Richard Bowman served as the regular supply priest for our church. He served the church diligently, performing all of the sacraments that were needed. At the end of the year, the search committee chaired by Dr. Lorraine K. Harris reported its findings to the Vestry and Reverend Raulston B. Nembhard of Manderville, Jamaica was called as the fourth full time minister church and to the community. Since the departure of Raulston Nembhard, Father Nelson Pinder has served untill the search committee chaired by Dr. Lorraine K. Harris submitted to the Vestry the name of Richard D. Meadows, Jr. as next Rector.

The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Baptist, from a humble beginning, enjoys a rich and illustrious history. We are proud to be one of the oldest congregations in the Central Florida Diocese, established just three years after Bishop Gray began his fervent mission of proclaiming the word of God across the Missionary Jurisdiction of Southern Florida. We continue our journey keenly aware of God's promise through the Prophet Jeremiah:

"In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me, if you look for me in earnest." GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISE. We continue to strive to be faithful to our promise: "To follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of GOD.

I'm Moving...

2011-03-25T06:33:00.000-04:00

Mark 15:25It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.[a] 29Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30come down from the cross and save yourself!"

Soon it will be the third hour and today I grieve for my Friend Jesus. I did not know him before the crucifixion but he has grown to be my connector to his Father, Elohim God. Grieving is new for me because in past years I stoically celebrated “Good Friday.” I have gone to preaching services where there are seven full length sermons and listened to some dynamic preaching on the Seven Last Words Jesus spoke from the cross: Mark’s gospel only mentions one: And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"— which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This year I have made it a floating holiday.

I have grown up from my youth with Jesus as friend and each year we have come to this point the season of Easter. However, Easter isn't a Christian or directly biblical term, but comes from a form of the name Astarte, a Chaldean (Babylonian) goddess known as "the queen of heaven." She is mentioned by that title in the Bible by the Hebrew form of her name, Ashtoreth. So "Easter" is found in the Bible. http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn63/easter.htm
Last night I heard the most wonderful sermon on the Passover, and then it clicked the Old Testament version of the Passover is what I am really remembering. Tonight I will eat the unleavened bread and the roasted lamb in a more bite sized portion chop or shank. Come Sunday there will be no Easter but the great celebration of the Resurrection. But tonight I am going to remember the Passover and the Paschal Lamb they ate quickly because it was time to move from Egypt to safety.

I am moving from my old house of slavery and oppression to now at this stage of my life to the Promised Land. I am thinking forward movement away from my old ways of thinking and the slavery and bondage to my own poor thoughts and ideas. I’ve been enslaved by my own sins and (self) misinterpreted and misguided notions. I have to eat get up and prepare this year for my redeemer has gone to the room, eaten, declared his betrayer and come out to take an ass whipping for me. So how can I repay him, keep on celebrating Easter or move when God says move?

The old song says “I’m moving from my old house and my old ways to a brand new life.” This Passover I may not get far but I’m moving. No new clothes, no new shoes, but I am tying up my necessities, leaving some stuff for the new slaves that will occupy my old house and it may take forty years but I am bound for the Promise Land.

I owe that to my friend who each year has gotten up on the cross and died for me. Actually it was once but you know how we remember stuff and hash it over. No, this year I am remembering the Passover-Paschal Lamb and preparing my heart for the new territory and life ahead. The one not predicated on the crucifixion but on the promises of life without oppression. Away from self, degradation, self oppression, self pity, self annihilation and self deprivation. I am going to eat, live, walk, run, speak, think believe and exhibit a better life, one worthy of my Friend who gave so much. Peace and Love.

"Why Worry?"

2011-03-01T12:22:00.003-05:00

Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

You know around church we say some stuff, that just doesn't make sense out there in the world. We speak our own language called christian-ese. But there is a universal saying that many people relate to no matter what there beliefs are, and it is, if you pray, do not worry, and if worry ain't no need to pray.

We all smile when people repeat this common phrase. But is it not, human nature to worry? So the question today is why do we worry. You have to answer this question for yourself.

Why, do i worry. Why am i so anxious even when Jesus said, do not be anxious or worry about your life. Personally, I can answer for me. I worry because it feels good. Let me explain.

There is something my human psyche, now I'm only talking about me, and it is a deep seeded feeling that let's me know that if I worry about it then it is important to me. There is something about the issue or the problem that I carry as a price of luggage, it causes me anxiety, it even causes me to lay awake at night pondering what may happen, what the end result is going to be.

I allow my imagination to weigh the worst case scenario and the best possible outcome. It is just something I have to do. Sure the scripture says be anxious about your life, don't worry, but I just can't help myself. That is my own idiosyncrasy I even tell God, move over we can worry together. Just trying to keep it real.

The body and the mind go into protective mode when worries arise, it is called fight and flight. You either stand and fight or you flee, go into a state of denial or worse resignation.

Your blood pressure rises, your respiratory rate increases, your vascular system tightens and your heart rate jumps to about 100 or more beats per minute, but worry or anxiety eventually causes all of the body functions to come back to normal, but the mind has taken over and the issue or the problem is all you think about. We go t sleep with our worries, we awake in the morning with our worries, and Jesus let's us know it is possible during the current day to worry in advance about tomorrow.

In the text today Jesus is talking to his disciples, those who dared to listen to the words of a teacher to his students, in the midst of warning about serving two masters and judging others.

he reminds them that life is

like a mountain railway, with an engineer that is brave,

we must make the run successful from the cradle to the grave,

watch the curves the fills the tunnels, never vaulter,

never fail, keep your hand upon the throttle,

and your eye upon the rail.

Blessed savior thou will guide us till we reach that blissful shore,

where the angels wait to join us in thy praise forever more.

Sounds a little final, but its not. It's simply saying Jesus, got this. Bad grammar, but good gospel. My father in heaven, provides. There is not a human need I.e. Clothing that the father will not provide.

However this runs deeper the clothes on the back and clothes are just an example of the simplicity of our deepest woes, to one Elohim (creator).

Our greatest challenges, needs and desires, Jesus says, as a matter of fact look around at nature to realize that you have life through God as one of the God's creations and when it comes to your life, you do not need to worry.

Jehovah jirah, my provider. Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who care for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love, lord you are my provider.

Vs. 31 says ain't nothing you can do about it anyway. Do you see what I see in the text, you can not add an hour to your life, you can not control tomorrow, you have enough trouble for this day, that your materials needs are provided by the creator, you are valuable in god's eyes, so why are you worrying?

That is what I see. That in the midst of all my troubles and worries and anxieties, and issues and baggage, that god is in control. Sure I will do what I can to take care of what I can take care of, but the other stuff of life that weighs so heavy on my soul, I give it over to God.

God does this to free you to be a true disciple of christ. Here's one way. Grove coc is with us today. Rebecca knowls, the total cost of the new Center, including the purchase of the land is $1,053,000. To date we have raised over $613,000 towards our goal.

From its inception Grove Christian Outreach Center has existed on the generosity and passion of our donors and volunteers. We now focus our attention on building a neighborhood facility that will allow us to serve Grove families more effectively and efficiently.

But the bottom line is this. The Center is unique because they have chosen to focus on just one community where the need is great. This is where they have chosen to take their stand and They have been amazed at how many others have chosen to stand with them.

They are humbled and dont seem to be worried because the Williamsburg Churches, community groups, businesses and whole families rally around their cause and give so generously of their time, money, food, clothing etc. They just wouldn’t exist were it not for the giving community we are so blessed to live in.

It is their hope that you will join them in making a lasting positive difference in Grove and to further strengthen the families and households in this very special place at the heart of our community.

My final point and the one I love dearly is that to the disciple the words of jesus may take on another meaning. Here it is. If I do not have to worry about the basics or life and I do not have to worry about, the soul issues which I can not control anyway, that I am free to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto me. The things of life that I so easily worry about, if given over to God, I am free to serve God.

What things? I don't know you fill in the blank, lord if I give this ________ over to you, and seek you as you desire, what will be the outcome? Don't know, that is the challenge to us, can we stop worrying about what we will, eat, what we will drink, what we will wear?

Can we stop worrying about tomorrow? Can we as the old folks would say con-ver-sate with God about our worries. I know it is not easy, our human nature kicks in.

You will often find obstructions,

Look for storms and wind and rain;

On a fill, or curve, or trestle

They will almost ditch your train;

Put your trust alone in Jesus,

Never falter, never fail;

Keep your hands upon the throttle,

And your eyes upon the rail. Amen.

2011-01-02T19:56:00.002-05:00

Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
`And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Subject: Now Behold the Lamb

Let us pray - Splendor and honor and kingly power * are yours by right, O Lord our God, For you created everything that is, * and by your will they were created and have their being; And yours by right, O Lamb that was slain, * for with your blood you have redeemed for God, From every family, language, people, and nation, * a kingdom of priests to serve our God. And so, to him who sits upon the throne, * and to Christ the Lamb, Be worship and praise, dominion and splendor, * for ever and for ever more.

Micha 2”2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

We have many scenarios to compare and contrast. One the Prophecy of Micah and the other the birth of a child Jesus. The child in our text invokes fear in a ruler, one King Herod the Great who familiarizes himself with the words of the prophet Micah and try’s to collude with the wise magi travelers going east to find and kill the child of prophecy. A complicated plot of infan-cide to destroy a generation of babies, to destroy one who is the baby Jesus.

The parallel story is that a child is born and the magi have come to pay homage to the child. The child vulnerable, born in a dusty desolate place, born to poor parents, a virgin with a crazy story and a man who only has the words from a dream to console him. What a site to behold. The key to the story is that in the time appointed in a little town of Bethelehem. Phillip Brooks an Episcopal Priest in Philadelphia looking over the hill country 5 miles south and west of Jerusalem penned

O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie, Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth, The everlasting Light, The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

In Bethlehem there laid the hopes of the people of the Jewish Kingdom, and the fears of a king Herod. There laid the hopes of the disenfranchised, and the fears of the powerful. There laid in Bethlehem, the hopes of the lost and those who lived in darkness, and the fears of the oppressors. They would ease into state of stillness following the sounds of labor and finally a birth, the cries of a baby, the joy of a mother and the stare of a father who only has the word of the Angel of the Lord not to fear.

The child Jesus would be the sight to behold, the star only symbolized where he lay. Not just a child, not just an infant escaping death, but the birth of Jesus would usher in the dispensation of grace. He would be known as Emmanuel, meaning God is with us. Jesus "Jesus" (pronounced as we do/ˈdʒiːzəs/) is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs-yeah-sous), itself a Hellenization of the Hebrew יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Ye-ho-shu-a; Yĕhōšuă‘, - Joshua) or Hebrew Aramaic יֵשׁוּעַ (Ye-shu-a Yēšûă‘), meaning "Yahweh delivers (or rescues)" he is the (Messiah). In the Greek Jesus is a proper masculine noun and in the Hebrew the name quickly becomes a verb; Jehovah is salvation. A king is born, the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world. Jesus is the promise of the prophet Micah, who said Micah 2”2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

In our text the wise men from the east would go to behold him, offer gifts and symbolize the kingship of the child Jesus. They went to Jerusalem and took with them the rarest of spices, gold and frankincense and myrrh. They were in a quest to find the new king of kings. Their journey would take them to Bethlehem of Judea and there they found the child of peace. King Herod (the current king in Jerusalem) heard of their plans, he was frightened. Walter Brueggermann, professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia said, “[He is] a new king, [and] is a threat to the old king and the old order.”

That’s the whole problem this morning, that there would be a threat to the old order. Isn’t that the signification of Christmas and Epiphany, that the old would be done away with and the new would come into being? Isn’t that what the collect was saying this morning, “O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored?” Or better yet what Paul was trying to say in the Epistle, “May [God] give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe. Yes, that’s it; God is trying to help you. God is trying to do away with your old stuff and bring some new stuff into being. The old way you used to talk, you don’t talk no more, the old way you used to walk, you don’t walk no more. They say in grandma’s church, I looked at my hands and my hands look new, looked at my feet and they do to.

The magi, laid at the feet of the baby, Gold, frankincense and myrrh. They pay homage to a king. They knew it was him because the star they followed settled over him and they were overjoyed. That is what this day is about, The Mueller’s banner, the words on the pulpit. That we would behold him, that we would see Jesus. It looked like a quiet and still night as Phillip Brooks saw it, but on the night Jesus was born, the heavens were exploding, The angels were preparing to speak, the shepherds were astonished, the wise were confounded, the powers of darkness and hell were frustrated and love came down at Christmas time. Amen.

Open Tent The Power of Clinical Pastoral Education to Heal

2010-08-02T17:27:00.005-04:00

To Read click on link > Book Cover and Book below

Open publication - Free publishing - More book

Open publication - Free publishing

VTS Commencement 2010

2010-05-27T08:05:00.004-04:00

What can we say? What can we say to all of this? Yes, we are more than conquers. The winter has passed and the rains are gone. But where does that leave me? I am in the state of faith, which means, I am waiting for the next move of the Holy Spirit. My past year, was filled with many joys and frustrations. I must confess it was a new experience for me to have to sit and quiet myself. Reading and writing were not the hardest tasks, but to quiet myself and watch was. I am so used to "doing" and my time in Alexandria was a time of "being."

My lover has spoken the words, softly and firmly in my ear. "Come with me," and I did follow. I observed the harshness of winter, I have watched the rains fall and the earth is in bloom. Why shouldn't I trust my love to lead me to green pastures, the fragrances of the hyacinths and the lilacs? The still waters await me and I shall drink.

^{Solomon 2:10} My lover spoke and said to me,

"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.

¹¹ See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

¹² Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

¹³ The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."

A statement from my soul's Lover.

Anti-Homosexuality Bill

2009-12-10T16:42:00.002-05:00

Ugandan legislators proposed the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for touching another individual with homosexual intent. Belonging to a gay organization, advocating gay rights and providing condoms or safe-sex advice to gays and lesbians could result in a seven-year prison sentence. Failing to report violations of the law within 24 hours would be punishable by a three-year prison term. In contravention of international law, the new legislation would also apply to Ugandans living in other countries. Article from Chicago Consultation

In the age of Obama and the Nobel Prize, Democrats controlling the House and the Senate, could you in your wildest dreams imagine such legislation being brought the the floor? Much less getting out of committee in 2009. As the US is changing so is the world. However some seem to believe that the influence is coming directly from, The Family or US Evangelicals. Where ever it is coming from, in every pulpit and street corner in NYC, there needs to be a voice crying for sanity. It was only 70 years ago Homosexuals were taken and experimented on and killed by the Nazis in Germany.

I will not stand idely by and remain silent. "First they came ..." is a popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) and now here lies an opportunity for US intellectuals, un-intellectuals and believers to say, "It ain't right!" It does not matter which side of the GLBT side the field you are on. Recognize now that taking a stand, before another bunch of mini Idi(ots) make another draconian law is right. This Sunday during the season of Advent and the day of Joy, speak up!

Peace and love.

Jamar Pinkney, Jr. - It is a Sad (Mad) World

2009-11-26T20:51:00.002-05:00

(AP Photo/The Detroit News , David Guralnick)
Click to read story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jdxbhDTU_u5HKUr9KtNSTBZR91tAD9C5I8OO0

It’s a sad, sad world. It is truly a (mad) sad world, when a father serves as judge and executioner of his own son. 15 year old Jamar Pinkney, Jr.’s father shot him once in the head because his mom, asked the father to come over and help-out after Jamar told his mom he sexually molested his 3 year-old sister. Jamar a stellar student and athlete, confesses to his mom because of his remorse. His father could have served a unique role; he could have loved and redeemed his son. Father’s can love their sons and can love them by virtue of their role as Father. A father is able to offer a son the ultimate act of love, by forgiving him of any transgression.

However it is somewhat easier in the eyes of some, that the world is better off without young men, (especially) young black men. It is assumed by many that young black men have no redeeming value. They are marked and eyed for death, by their brothers in crime, by their enemies, some vile police officers, judges and now a father.
Where do young black men go for love? Think about it, when was the last time you cared for a young black man. When were you his mentor, friend and redeeming judge? Love a young black man, even with his faults and you will cover a multitude of sins.

Peace and love.

Anglican Ecclesiology as a Reflection of New Testament Theology

2009-11-21T08:43:00.002-05:00

To defend the statement, this is why I believe the Anglican Ecclesiology and communion are expressions and reflections of New Testament Theology, I must be concerned with the vision of God, the nature and authority as derived from the Gospel of God, the Holy Trinity and the holy environment people live in. Mark Dyer, I quote, relies upon the definition of theology from St. Anselem, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Abbot Bec: “Fides quarens intellectum.” Faith seeking understanding.

The concern of the Body of Christ is seeking out, in faith, the vision of God and the vision of life. This is the concern of how the experiences of faith are brought to reasoned reflection. Theology is concerned with the character and mission of the faith community. It is concerned with faith’s reasoned reflection about prayer, liturgy, mission and worship.

What I experience in relation to my faith is a direct reflection of the theology and image of God from me to persons in my world. It is then my duty as a member of the New Testament church to live out that faith as a statement of my theology in conjunction with the reason and standards of faith, liturgy and mission. I must constantly seek to understand and to be understood.

This understanding and definition of faith that I mention is neither separate nor distinct from the Anglican Ecclesiology, Petrine Heritage, or the New Testament church. My statements are a direct reflection of my own myopic view of the church today . I must eliminate from this discussion my own biases and thoughts concerning the historical church. Also, I will try and limit them to the purest form of leadership and the efforts of this leadership to live out the true form and intention of the documents, The Church the Apostles Left Behind, “the Virginia Report,” Peter’s letter (I Peter 2) and The Book of Common Prayer.

I have included in this discussion the fifth chapter of Raymond E. Brown’s book The Churches The Apostles Left Behind. “The author made a bold ecclesial step when he enlarged the story of Jesus’ ministry and death that Mark 1:1 had called the ‘Gospel of Jesus Christ,’ not only by rewriting and developing the Jesus story, but also by adding a second book concerning early Christianity. He was putting together on the same level the proclamation of the kingdom of God by Jesus and the story of the proclamation of Jesus by Peter and Paul.#” This work includes the work Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of Peter.

From the “Virginia Report” on Lambeth 1988, The Eames Commission, as it came to be known, met five times and produced four reports which were published together in December 1994. Its last meeting was in December 1993 and its report was presented to the 1998 Lambeth Conference. During its lifetime the Commission engaged in theological reflection on the nature of koinonia. It offered guidelines on how Anglicans might live together in the highest degree of communion possible while different views and practices concerning the ordination of women continued to be held within the Communion. The Eames Commission between 1988 and 1993 provided a model of how Anglicans can remain together in the highest degree of communion possible while endeavoring to come to a common mind on a matter which touches the fundamental unity of the Communion.# Koinia is a Greek word that take on the distinct meaning of continuous fellowship regardless of controversies or disagreements of doctrine or ecclesiastical policies.

The New Testament is a collection of books whose authors bore witness in their lives (and some in their deaths) to the living Christ. “It is no longer I who live,” writes St. Paul in Galatians (Gal 2: 20), “but Christ who lives in me.” Before there was a book, there were persons who handed on Christ’s sayings and told of the marvelous things God had worked in him. First came Christ, then the witnesses, then the books. This ordering of things is at the heart of the early interpretation of the New Testament. The goal was to delve into the mystery of God revealed in Christ, to whom the writings bear witness.”#

Ecclesia is a word from the Greek and is translated “a calling out of a people.” The word means “to call out”. The word assumes a religious significance meaning the Church called together by Christ. The word εκκλεσια is first used in Christian literature in First Thessalonians to mean the gathered assembly of faithful Christians.

From the book Doing Theology in a Covenant Community: Faith Seeking Understanding, I equate the word Ecclesia and Covenant Community as synonymous. Below I have compared the verbiage of four supporting documents of this paper, the Old Testament, New Testament, the “Virginia Report” and The Book of Common Prayer.
Old Testament Moses

6For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:6-9 NIV

Petrine Epistle-Peter
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I Peter 2:9-10 NIV

Virginia Report

II. The Communion of the Trinity and the Life of the Church
2.13 By the power of the Holy Spirit the Church is born into history as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). The Church is called the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16), a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people God claims as his own (1 Pet. 2:9). These images of the Church speak of a communion with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Christians are participants in the divine nature. This communion also determines our relationship with one another. "We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3). Communion with God and one another is both gift and divine expectation for the Church (Eames I, Koinonia and the Mystery of God, 21-22).

The Book of Common Prayer

We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts that they may be the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and his Blood of the new Covenant. Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice, that we may be acceptable through him,
being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In the fullness of time, put all things in subjection under your Christ, and bring us to that heavenly country where, with [ and] all your saints, we may enter the everlasting heritage of your sons and daughters; through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the Church, and the author of our salvation. Eucharistic Prayer B, page 369

In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, it describes the remembrance ceremony, the night of the exit from Egypt by the people of God, led out by Moses. These words would now be a memoriam and an eternal warning to not only the people of God, but to their enemies around them. This relationship established by covenant with the patriarch Abraham is now shared by the people of God, who were not worthy or so chosen by position or power. They are chosen by God according to the writing of Deuteronomy, because of the love God had for Abram and his descendents.

It establishes the relationship with the Hebrew people who left Egypt with the Gentile believers of the New Testament. Their cry for deliverance from slavery is heard by God as they sat among the slavers and task masters of Egypt. God sent a human deliverer, Moses to lead them out. The act of deliverance and the day of deliverance establish when and to whom of this miracle of grace would be enacted upon. Anytime anyone is delivered from the hand of the oppressor, it is an act of grace. Brown expresses this thought as a major characteristic of Lucian ecclesiology, a sense of continuity wherein the church is closely related to what went before.#

Could the deliverance from Egypt, the memoriam of the night and choosing of the called out ones be an act of the Holy Spirit?
This grace is translated to the New Testament church and transcends time through the work of Jesus Christ and the promise of the Holy Spirit Peter preaches about. I like the quote of Mark Dyer that says “The frightful and graceful outpouring of the Spirit of God…”

Peter’s epistle expresses to the persecuted, upstart church their position in relation to the persecutors of their day. In the face of martyrdom, the church is faced with the dilemma of who they are and the question of what happens to New Testament believers. In the face of persecution Peter reminds them of the greater witness that will be understood through the ages. The witness of the unification and koinonia of the fellowship of believers will in the midst of trial “Show forth the praises of Him who brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” With Christ as rejected stone and cornerstone, he becomes the unifying foundation of the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The church is “called out” and becomes one under the headship of Christ. This Koinonia is never to be destroyed, even in the face of persecution.

The “Virginia Report” firmly expresses the images of the Father, Son, the Body of Christ, the temple, the church (spiritual), and Holy Spirit as the divine connectors to the divine nature of God. This document renforces the basis of fellowship, and unity of the called out Body of Christ. The divine fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the communion with one another are the gifts of God to the Body of Christ.

The mission of Christ, the initiation of sacraments, and the Holy Eucharist are made manifest by the unity and perfected by Christ’s mission on earth. Mission shapes and empowers, sacrament speaks of “life-long growth,“ and Eucharist is representative of the unselfish life-giving act through the grace of God the Father, and the sacrifice of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ. The report helps the church to overcome threats of disunity and separation. Disunity itself can be considered sin and schism.

The Book of Common Prayer makes reference in the Eucharistic Prayer B the unification of the Body throughout all ages, through the sacraments by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we present ourselves to be holy and acceptable, the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood sanctifies us and deems us acceptable by the participation of the believer. More-so, the sacraments are the unifying structure of Koinonia.
Paul in I Corinthians 11:23 states,
“For I received of the Lord what also I passed on to you…” (NET) “This is my body, which Is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The receiver by grace creates an exchange by way of sacrament (grace). The recipient gives an allegiance to the grace and a connection to the “Word by hearing” and not just the educational component of catechism. That which Paul mentions was instituted by Christ and is made perfect in us. Ex opere operato. The conditions of grace are fulfilled by the transformation of the mystical body and blood of Christ, and the mystery of the church.

The sacraments of the Eucharist are distributed to every member of the church and then are translated by the believer into instruments of grace. They are no longer mere ceremonies, but assurances of grace working in us. Through obedience and understanding we transform the meaning to gain the benefits of virtue and the value of sacramental living. The sacrament of Eucharist is a growing continuation of belief.. Therefore, we gain Christ by the power of the sacrament of he Eucharist. It is the sacrament which has its own distinct meaning of brining the participant into the New Testament Church, and more importantly, into the Body of Christ. This is the ultimate expression of “Koinonia.”

Finally it is by the sacraments we gain participation into the holy ceremonies of the heavenly and “oneness” as a body of believers. The graces of the gospel and salvation written in Romans 10, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Koinonia and sacramental understanding of Christian faith and identity, are the means whereby God separates his own from strangers because their identity is tied to the sacraments and not just to the mere fact of being human.

Grief Retreat

2009-10-15T22:17:00.001-04:00

VISION:

The vision of my project is to help families and individuals to begin the process of integrating their grief and loss, into their lives. Included in the vision is to provide them with catalyst for journeying on the road toward healing. Through grief education, help them to gain understanding about the mourning and grief process.

The grief process has many dimensions and symptoms. According to Eric Lindemann (1944), in a response to the Coconut Grove Night Club fire in Boston, on November 28, 1942, he reported that “People found a response after a trauma, as not only helpful but stress reducing.” In what was at that time the worst single-building fire in the country's history, 493 people perished when flames swept through the crowded nightclub. Lindemann wanted to maintain the good mental health of the community and prevent emotional disorganization. The two planned weekends will be an attempt, to help the bereaved families and individuals, cope with their tragedy.

The family members chosen for this project will not, have received intervention, by means of a grief counselor or community agency.

GIFTS/QUALIFICATIONS:

Gifts are vital, and I bring to this project, thirty years of working with grieving families, Pastoral Ministry, Pastoral Counseling and Clinical Pastoral Education training. My career began in 1977 as a NY State Licensed Funeral Director. I cared for thousands of grieving families from 1977-2000. My post graduate course work (2005-2009) focused on the care of individuals and families. As a Pastor on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I worked as a Resident Counselor for Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service in Norfolk VA. I spent 15 months as a Chaplain Resident in the Sentara School of Chaplaincy and two years as a Donor Family Advocate for an Organ Procurement (Donation) Organization. My care with the OPO, was directed toward families who had suffered a sudden loss.

RESULTS/BENEFITS:

Based upon my past experience with this project, the results have been to guide families through their journey toward healing. Through thought provoking discussions they peer into their personal lives, openly discussing, how they grieve and mourn. By doing so, they are able to develop the skills necessary to identify the pain in their lives. Not only identify but engage the pain in a normal and healthy way. Participants also view prior loses and deaths, gaining insight into those loses and how they impact their ability, or inability to function in life. Being aware of their personal grief processes will become a part of their journey toward healing. This hopefully will change their view of life and allow for a healthy mourning process. There is no denying that this process of healing is a lifelong one. This weekend of intervention will help families gain skills to “cope.” I use the term perturbation; to describe the progress that may be made will be a slow steady movement forward, toward healing.

SPECIFIC STEPS:

The vision of helping persons to integrate losses and understand the grief and mourning process will include, several factors.

The project is designed to help urban families by separating them from their everyday environment and providing an atmosphere of peace.

Two-two day sessions will be held. The weekend sessions will provide them a safe place to speak about their personal lives.

In a safe atmosphere of Christian fellowship, our conversations will allow them to share their stories. The sharing of stories may lead to healing and understanding of themselves and in the case of families, each other‘s grief.

Resources will include Alan Wolfelt’s Living in the Shadows of the Ghosts of Grief: Step into the Light. The discussion will be developed from an outline of this book.

Participants will be asked to commit to a second weekend, six months later for follow-up discussions and participation in a project, i.e. Memory Boxes.

The sessions will be held at a dramatic lakeside setting and the beauty of its National Historic Landmark architecture. The Chautauqua Institution is a thriving community where visitors come to find intellectual and spiritual growth and renewal.

ASSESSMENT:

Assessing whether or not we have met our goals will be achieved in several ways: through journaling and, oral and written evaluations, along with, one follow-up sessions six months later. This enables the participants to provide data on their personal progress. Oral evaluations, allow those who are may have trouble expressing strong emotional thoughts in writing to verbally express those thoughts. The second, six month follow-up weekend, allows for the group, which convened in May, to come back to the circle of trust that was created and, affirm each other’s thoughts, success and disappointments over the prior six months. The goals are more individually focused and therefore not evaluated as a group but as individuals, collectively.

ACCEPTANCE:

This will not be the first time for this project with this organization. In May of 2009 we convened at the Episcopal Cottage in Chautauqua, NY for our first session. I organized it through the Stop The Violence Coalition located of Buffalo, NY. Based upon the response from individuals from the organization, and families that participated last year, families were helped. There is acceptance by the organization and anticipation by new families to have sessions this year and be included. Last year’s sessions were funded by me and the coalition.

WITNESS:

Evangelical witness is provided based upon the outcomes promoted by the project. It provides families and individuals with education and understanding of the grief and mourning process. This understanding hopefully is translated in several ways.

Families are able to begin the healing process and love themselves and one another.

There is an impact on the community, through healing and peace during times of great personal tragedy and loss. Sometimes the loss brings frustration, loss of hope and more violence to the family and community. Hopefully this cycle will be broken.

COMMUNICATION:

One of the ways that I anticipate the results of this work to be communicated is through other relationships. This can happen on an academic, diocesan and collegial level. There will be opportunities to provide information and feedback through my Second Three Years program on the Virginia Theological Seminary campus. I will hopefully publish, with the help of the Diocese an online course for clergy, to study dimensions of grief and how it impacts the caregiver (clergy). This will include an online training program and manual for grief and loss for clergy.

SUMMARY

This project is provided to urban families (18 individuals) who have suffered some type of tragic death of a family member. The project will provide families with a safe and nurturing environment to talk about their personal stories of grief and loss. The stories will allow them, to give voice to their inner thoughts, and emotions through two, weekend sessions. Each morning and evening’s prayer will invoke the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to allow space for anyone, desiring healing. Hopefully the weekend will bring personal comfort and empower the participant to help themselves and their families through the integration of their loses.

Bringing together grieving families to integrate their losses and gain understanding into the grief and mourning process, through a weekend long session and discussion. The goal is to promote a healthy grief and mourning process.

TIMETABLE:

First Weekend Session: TBA

First request for a written evaluation:

Second Weekend Session (follow-up): 6 Months after first session

Families from the first session will gather and discuss findings from time interim period between sessions. This session will also be held at the Episcopal Cottage.

BUDGET:

Episcopal Cottage 1,000. (Usage of the Episcopal Cottage, Chautauqua Institute, Chautauqua, NY - two weekends)

Food 600. (The purchase of food and stipend for the cook)

Supplies 550. (Cost of Books, and supplies to create memory box)

_____

Total $2,150.

Freedom

2009-10-01T20:40:00.001-04:00

Love Never Fails

2009-09-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

Don't Talk Trash or What a Hout Byron

2009-09-06T19:57:00.004-04:00

OK you get suspended from the team for a year in college ball or NHL Hockey you get 5min in the penalty box or a few days or games suspension. What's wrong with these two scenarios.
? Lagarette Blount and Byron Hout involved in a one punch fiasco.

Scott Nichols Repeat Offender

Blounted-Momma Said Knock You OUT!!

Glen Winston Sentenced to Six Months in Prison

2009-09-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

Glen Winston of Michigan State University on the field minus his ice skates.

What's wrong with this picture. The maximum penalty for assault and battery on the ice during a hockey game is five minutes in the penalty box. An off ice can of Whoopie is six months. Motto: Before you fight get put on some ice skates. My prayers are for Glen Winston.

You Shall Live! Today

2009-09-03T07:05:00.002-04:00

You Shall Live…

This is a good morning to begin to live, like you have always wanted. That is what I have decreed in my heart. “That Today I Shall Live…” Living can be difficult especially if everything is not copasetic. You remember the word copasetic, the winos’ used to use it. “Brother every thing is copasetic” they would say. Well, Lord, everything is not so wonderful and it is difficult to live through the mess of life.

Mark 9:1 states clearly. "you shallnot taste death..." I love the words of Jesus after he moves so powerfully in the prior chapters of Mark; he now takes time to let the disciples know that there is relief from the horrors of this messy life. This life that causes us to beg the question; is this all really worth it? Well the Kingdom has come and we do have our hands to the plow and we will not look back. If you do look at the stuff, chances are you will die. Look forward toward life and the words Jesus said “you will not taste death.” Translate that into, Life is just not going to be that bad, that you have to die while trying to live. Live today my loves, if for no other reason than you will not taste death. You shall live and live in power you shall. Feel it? The power! O come on, you know you do.

Take Another Look

2009-07-19T08:08:00.004-04:00

C2 and me

Mark 8: ²²They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"

²⁴He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."

²⁵Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."

Take another look. I can not tell you in my lifetime how many times I have been told by unction to go back and take another look. That’s right I hear voice in my head that say, “Rickey, Go Back and take another look. If it had been God that told me by the Holy Spirit I would have done it the first time, right?

A couple of weeks before Courtney was killed we held the most wonderful phone conversation and in conclusion, I said to him, “You are going to be a wonderful man, just pack up and come back to Virginia.” He didn’t and needless to say things got ugly. For those of you, who know me; bring everyone else up to speed. As I take another look I would have said “Courtney, Hold it! I’m coming to get you.” I think they are called regrets but I call them lessons, lessons of getting it right the next time around.

The first time the blind man in Bethsaida saw walking trees and after a jolt of good old fashion spittle, he could see clearly. God operates in like manner. You’re asked “what do you see?” You don’t see it right and “BOOM.” I bet you see it now. Let me say that again; I like the way it looks, “BOOM!” God you dropped a bomb on me and now I see what you saying. (When God speaks, you do see)

It lands like that because I usually want to see it my way and I don’t know that there are other plans in the working. I don’t know that “it” is going to do a 360 Stephanie and Matt, I just believe that. That is sometimes how our unknown desires become evidentially apparent to everyone else including us and God has just done the work that we did not see the first time but this time around I see clearly enough to express it in words that I say something like this “God I am so grateful for your grace because it has liberated this not knowing not seeing and not understanding individual on this day.” Now breathe again.

Finally when you see clearer don’t go back through because them folk won’t be impressed and certainly we ain’t trying to impress anyone, but go somewhere new and use the new vision to swath out a new road to a new height. Tell some new folks and even write a book. Don’t use this new glory/grace in old places; there is a big world out there and still a lot to see. Peace and love.

"My" Father's Day (I Miss U Both)

2009-06-20T07:56:00.005-04:00

A “fatherless son” and a son without a father, all in one lifetime. It is kind of strange that I have been without a father for so long and this year and I mean just this year he come back into my life. He has always stood in the shadows of my life. I have to admit he did come to some events: A little league football practice, eighth grade graduation, twelve grade graduation, embalming school graduation and that is about where it stopped until I was married in 1998. In ten years I have seen him for a total of 10 hours and no I am not blessed to at least have a father. I mean I am, but wow. Currently he is having a difficult time with his health and in rehab for it. So he is a fragile, older man. I don't think he has the energy to resist beign a father any longer.

He is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet, so I ask the question why wasn’t he nice to me?

I know a lot of people and they are very nice to me. I have men who have stepped in all my life and carried on the role of father the best they could. They have taken me to games and events and let me share with their families as if I was a son. The only thing wrong with this scenario is that you are not a son, and my own hang-ups kept me from feeling worthy. That is a good way to describe it, I have never felt worthy of having a father other than my own.

My father, he was nice to everyone; all my friends regard him as a cool dude. Cousin Chucky would always say “your dad is a cool dude.” Well, I did not want a cool dude I wanted and needed a dad.

This year I am letting him connect with me and next week I will spend time with him, maybe not a lot but it will be quality time. I have to remember he is my father and due respect. I won’t be disrespectful I believe I will be cautious. I am used to guarding my heart.

So on this Father’s Day I remember my son who I miss dearly. It is not that my other children are not vitally important. I have three daughters and two sons and my sons have dads. But the son who was killed was my first child and he made me a father. My son Torrie always had Elijah his grandfather who I know he feels like was his dad. He had Phil his biological father and as he grew into a man really began to connect with Phil and then Phil all of a sudden died. He died a young man. Mike has his dad Mike. I have many other little fellows I regard as sons.

My son Courtney allowed me to take long walks in a stroller, spend long hours at the park and be a father to him. I remember the day he was born, I spent hours looking at him and it was as if we were talking from day one. He was a talker and if he didn’t have something to talk about, he would make up something. He had a vivid imagination. He could entertain you with his questions and more so with his answers. We had dogs’ together, fish together and his favorite, ice cream together. He was always asking you did you “re-nemamba” something as if he was older. I remember Courtney with the greatest joy. Albert Raboteau expresses it as a Sorrowful Joy. I am so sorry he is gone but he brought such great joy to my life. I am going to conclude with this; my daughter and I are going to see India Arie this evening and one of my favorite songs she sings is Good Morning. “Listen” to the words or read them.

Good Morning - India.Arie

Good morning silence
Good morning to myself
Good morning to the pain in the center of my chest
It's crazy how much I miss a simple good morning kiss

Good morning independence or is it loneliness?
I know I said I wanted this but I have regrets
I pray for God's will to be done
The very next day you were gone

Good morning to the harsh realities of life
We made a promise to stay
But destiny got in the way

Good morning acceptance
Good morning inner strength
I'm loving every moment even the strain

It's crazy how much I miss
a simple good morning kiss
It's crazy how much I've missed
Now it's time for me to live

Good morning optimism
Good morning to my faith
Good morning to the beginning of a brand new day

I know that God's will be done
So I lay down my pain and
I'm moving on

I know that God's will be done.
So it's a good morning after all

I Miss U

2009-06-19T23:40:00.002-04:00

I awoke this morning trying to remember what it is that I miss most.

What I miss most is you.

The you that made me agree to live each day with fire and intensity.

The you that allowed me to feel the sun as it rose and set.

The that allowed me to see the brightest moon in the blackest night.

The you that made me understand that life goes on and the cycle continues.

The ever evolving cycles of life and living and loving and knowing and kissing and hugging and

feeling your tender hand embrace mine.

Fear dissipates, confidence grows, love is blossoming and courage roars like the lion who teaches

their cubs to use their voice to call to the sun and the moon and the stars and the rivers and

streams and babbling brooks.

Calling for them to keep shinning and keep running and feeding the cool green fields the

production of nectar which reminds me most of the you the sweetness that I miss.

So I wake up this morning and remember that you are my reason for being, brave and

courageous and confident and hugging

and feeling and knowing….

and….and…and living.

Who’s Going To Do The Dishes?

2009-06-16T08:03:00.003-04:00

Not only was it tradition to wash their hands but to do the dishes. Now for some of us cleanliness is next to Godliness. Nobody wants to eat on dirty dishes or see someone come to the table with dirty hands, so this text was not about dirty dishes or hands, eh. It is more about hearts and minds. The Pharisees wondered why these twelve or so marauders came to the table and began to eat with dirty hands. I imagine over by the wash basin there was a man standing with a towel to dry their hands after washing and along side him there was some sort of tray to collect money. You know what happens when you mess with people’s money. You have trouble.

Jesus flips the script; he attacks their hearts and minds. That is what you have to do sometimes instead of standing by idle. This means sometimes when folk criticize you for something like “dirty hands” they are really talking about something else. That is how I handle rough and unjust criticism. I say in my own mind, "now what is it this person is really saying?" Is it me they have a problem with or is it just a bad day for them. Don’t get me wrong I have learned to love criticism, it is like, art, literary, biblical and historical criticisms. I use them to improve myself and trim my growth edges.

In a nut shell there are some vain folk out here whose only station in life is to make others feel bad. Jesus defends his disciples by attacking their vanity and worship. They have traditions that they follow but their motive is not pure. They (Pharisees) were observing some real free spirits who were no doubt comfortable with Jesus and their new found freedoms. They (disciples) were learning that there was nothing better than dirty hands and a clean heart. A pure heart trumps traditions, dirty hands and dirty dishes every time. Now go wash your hands and your heart.

Ughh…Not Like That

2009-05-05T06:47:00.001-04:00

Mark 7...some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. 34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!" ). 35At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

“I called on the Lord and got an answer.” That’s what the ancestors would say. I ask the Lord to do something for me and it always includes some circuitous route. I refer to them as fiery hoops. It is not enough that I have to do something but it includes two or three extra degrees of difficulty. Or is it my imagination?

For someone to pull you to the side, put spit on your tongue and place their fingers in your ears, no, I’m sorry place their fingers in your ears and then spit on your tongue sounds, like ughh. This man’s grace comes in a disgusting package. Grace disguises itself and is presented in forms I find repulsive sometimes. (Watch out, I am about to twist this text.) When approached by others who give me an explanation they may say something like, “It is God’s will” or “this is the perfect will of God for your life.” Hungh? Is that right!? Excuse me. Does the “perfect will” have to be so disgusting or painful? God is this some kind of prefect will joke, because the pain is too much. It is so painful it makes me vomit. It can bring on visceral pain for me and cramps don’t come close to describing the discomfort. But still I am resigned that the events have something to do with grace.

The man hears, the child awakes, the daughter is delivered are all scenarios from Mark. Such happy endings, nobody died, nobody took Ritilin and no signers needed. Jesus is a miracle worker. I have a dead child and a father who is disintegrating before my eyes while trying to make amends for fifty years of neglect at the same time. I call my dilemma the man without a son and the son without a father syndrome. What disgusting medicine does God have for this? Grace. That is all I see.

When I think of the issues of my life it seems that no matter how angry of sad I am I look around and the world is an extension of God’s grace. There are some many remedies for what ails me out there and I have learned to look and listen for them. Sometimes I can’t hear them, I can only see them and at other times I can not see them I can only hear them. “It” may not look or taste good but when digested in the right portion it goes down bitter but proves to be sweet in the end. It has gone in and not defiled me and comes out in the form of living water.

I use the ugliness of my life to share Grace with others. I have learned that God’s goodness out performs the sometime ugly “will” people speak of. I allow time to impact my pain and with patience I experience what the deaf man experienced, grace.

The Crumbs of Humility

2009-05-04T06:09:00.003-04:00

Mark7: 27"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 28"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

"My old pastor used to say that she fell down before him and worshipped. Her words “Yes, Lord” opened the door for the deliverance of her daughter. He would say she was “smart too.”

In my daily observations I find everything is big. Crumbs are a thing of the past. What is rare in today’s culture is persons possessing the characteristic of humility and the ability to extend grace to others. For someone to admit they exist on meager fair and sustenance is almost unheard of. The times we live in are filled with prideful people who lack humility.

I have a minister friend whose husband died this past week. She is the type who falls down before the Lord, worship and declares she will eat whatever falls from the table so that others can live. She shares her heart with the world through her gift of prayer and always; and I mean is always willing to sacrifice for others. She stands tall among people through her job with the city and her ministry.

I for her know this week is one of those fall down and “worship” weeks.

When my son died four years ago yesterday I could only fall before the Lord and ask for crumbs. My soul was destitute and I could find no relief for it. The pain was unbearable and my missing him has not ceased the pain is only what I can describe as different. I thank God for the crumbs or the years he was here. I find his death disappointing because the world will not get a chance to see what a great guy he was. I am sad for all those who will never experience the joy he would instantly bring to the lives of others. He was a giver and his life reflected it.

My minister friend and her husband are the same types as my son and her husband’s life was filled with giving. Her experiences this week will only prove she is a worshipper who is willing to settle for the crumbs of mercy. I know her, her smiles and hugs toward others will bless all those who come before her sad about the death of her husband. Just before he died I prayed with her on the phone and after the brief moments we spoke I felt as though I was praying for myself more than her.

What is my point this day? It is that sometimes those who eat crumbs are able to in turn invite others to the table or the feast of grace. Be willing to share your life even when it seems you are depleted because there is a blessing that awaits you and others. The Lord sees your distress and for you undeniable grace will fall from the table of the master. You will gather the crumbs and turn them into a meal for others.

29Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

30She went home and found her child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

Rear Admiral Michele Howard

2009-04-28T22:44:00.003-04:00

Ship commanded by Black woman admiral rescued Maersk Alabama captain

April 26, 2009 · Print This Article

James Wright, AFRO

- While the facts surrounding the kidnapping and rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips have been widely reported, less well-known is that ship which saved him was commanded by a black woman, Rear Admiral Michelle Howard. Howard received the assignment of leading the U.S. Navy’s counter-piracy task force just three days before the Maersk Alabama was attacked by Somalia pirates. “It’s probably one of the most exciting missions the Navy has been on in for a long while,” Howard told the Navy Times.
Howard is the first of her 1982 U.S. Naval Academy class to reach the rank of admiral. In 1999, Howard became the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Rushmore.

See You Can Handle It

2009-04-22T23:23:00.002-04:00

Mark 6:41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Wouldn’t it be nice to send your friends on a cruise and you catch up to them later, the friends that sometimes disappoint you. They drop the ball when you were expecting them to come through with more than five loaves and two fish. You made the best of a bad situation. They come unprepared and ill-equipped for the mission. The MVOSI (mission, vision, objective, strategy and implementation) was set and it barely worked like it was supposed to. You don’t get mad you just put their butts in a boat and set it adrift on the sea. You don’t want them to drown you just want them to feel the discomfort you felt only hours before. I don’t think Jesus was thinking like I am but I can’t help it. They come to the party without music. They come to the game without food. They want to leave early. They are always arguing and fighting with the customers. They are never happy. They procrastinate. The come early when you don’t need them and stay later than you want them to. Remember before when I mentioned self-care? Good. Jesus demonstrates that it is important to separate and get away to think and pray. The view from the mountainside is stunning and breathtaking. You look down and the big old world that now seems small and insignificant. Your problems and issues begin to fade with the setting sun and now it is time to enjoy your own mind and prayers. Telling the Father all about what went wrong and then losing your self in intercessions, groaning and utterances. It is the “golden time of day.”

Don’t be afraid to take some me-time. Assign the time, plan the mini-retreat, take your chair, small cooler and book. Buy the ticket and enjoy the concert. Go to the preaching session or the cantata by yourself. Let the angels of the Lord encamp around you and minister to your tired body, mind and spirit. You will need this respite because the winds will be contrary and the nights long, lonely and dark. You may become fearful, doubtful and remorseful but look out into the sky and listen for your heartbeat that says “I’m here.” Your friends did not understand what was going on, it was not their fault, they just did not understand the whole bread and fish thing. Get your rest.

Can You Handle it?

2009-04-21T07:37:00.001-04:00

35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37But he answered, "You give them something to eat."

The crowd is swelling, you are tired, the one you trust to help you says, “You. Give them something to eat.” As the crowd says at the basketball game when the foul is committed, “You, You, You, You!!!” Go ahead say it! “It’s always me!” We could rant and rave, but you know what we do, we go and do it. But catch this, the disciples don’t bring back twelve baskets plus, they go find (as the other disciples tells the whole story) a boy with a small lunch. Were they kidding! It’s a big day in the ministry, they are asked to go get the food and come with a two piece and a biscuit. I have one word to say “Passive Aggressive.” I know it is two words but that is how I feel sometimes. I just don’t want to go and get another thing for another poor unable soul. I just want to lay my head down and rest. Agree?

The jobs are mundane, the hoops are fiery and many. Each day we are asked to die and give of ourselves. Jesus even said we must loose ourselves to gain. That is where I kick into another gear. I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he has done for me…Hallelujah. I must tell you there has to be a balance. During my time spent at Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education I was taught about self-care. You must have the balance between when to do and not do. Jesus was not mad at them for the small lunch, he just multiplied there misjudgment. He covered their mistake by breaking the bread and dividing the fish. He knew they were tired and did not have the resources to do the job. Yahweh knows you don’t have the tools and so you are given this wonderful gift of the undying Spirit to direct you and help you balance this daunting and sometimes impossible task called life.

Can I help you as I have helped myself? Go get the two fish and five loaves, bring them back offer them with a smile. Inside your head ask God to make up for the lack, short-fall, exhaustion, impossibilities, doubts, fears, illnesses and inability. When you have this feeling that the needs are greater than what you have to work with, trust God. Take time lie down until morning and wake up with a fresh anointing and new perspective to the problem. You may look lazy to others but you will feel invigorated and ready for the next impossibility. What are you having for lunch?

Your head on a Platter…

2009-04-17T05:53:00.001-04:00

Mark 6:25At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
26The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went; beheaded John in the prison, 28and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The one time I rented a car and went off on my own in Haiti was the one time I found myself in trouble. I had just finished a dirty, dusty day in the mountains at Desabbles about an hours drive out of Port-au-Prince and I usually got around by Tap-Tap. Tap-Tap is the public transportation system; usually you ride in the back of a small truck with twelve other people. I was approached by the military/police, the sun had just gone down and he was armed with a shotgun. For some reason a great calm had come over me and I answered his questions with a smile. He wanted the car, my license and any money. I did not speak Kreole (Haitian French) and his English was poor. My thoughts were “Lord you said there was a cost for serving you and I pray I don’t have to pay today.”

It costs something to serve God. It costs, money, time, talent, and sometimes your life. If not literally then figuratively. When we are ordained to the task of helping the least and the lost even those of us who have very little are asked for everything to serve. John’s work concluded with this head on a platter and you never know what it is going to cost you.

There will be times when you will be alone in an adversarial situation and the thought may come to you “God this is not worth it.” It will seem as though you are paying a heavy cost to do what you do. You may end up in prison or feel trapped. I want to encourage you to keep on contending for the faith that has been passed down through the generations. My ancestors were enslaved people but according to my family tree many of them had faith in God. It cost them for me to be who I am today. If you believe you are sacrificing all for your calling your probably are. Just know this it may cost you your life.

Go Lightly…

2009-04-16T06:05:00.001-04:00

I know for some of us go lightly has a different meaning. That is definitely an inside joke. I have no clue as why Jesus would send the Twelve to be so dependent upon others for their sustenance, except it means they were independent. If you or I left town like that is would be a challenge. But I understand the spiritual context, the old folks used to say “Honey wear this world like a loose garment.” So I will go with what I know.

In my work with others I have learned to clear my mind. I leave many of my assumptions at the door. Even as we talk and work together I have to keep my mind clear so that I can hear what it is that is being said to me. It is easy for me to hear one thing when the other person has said something entirely different. When I am not bogged down in my mind and carrying a lot of mental baggage I do my best work. When I am not concerned with what I am wearing, or what I am going to say I feel lighter. I have found to have power over a lot of stuff you can not be connected with it.

Example; if I don’t worry over the economy I can help others who are in economic distress. If I agree with them and commiserate then I lose my power to effectively minister to their need. I empathize which is a gift for me and I am able to help them to muddle /scrum through their issues. The great part is many times I help myself and I feel better.

Finally what do I do with the stuff I have left behind? I go back and get it, fold it up neatly and package it for incineration. I used to leave it there and on my way back through life I would trip over it or find myself rummaging through it. Start light and finish light. We accumulate too many thoughts and issues and carry them during our entire lives. They only make us irrelevant and ineffective. “This world is not my home I am travelin’ through.” Go Lightly.

A Tough Crowd

2009-04-16T06:03:00.001-04:00

Mark 6:2 "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles! 3Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Let me tell you what is amazing to me. It is the people I come into contact with on a daily basis that I do not know personally. I was in a crowd in Richmond (where I work) yesterday and knew no one. I live in Newport News and many times we go somewhere and I know any one, but when I go home, oh the joy. There I am Rickey, my friends love me, my enemies hate me and strangers ask for money. I hang out with the unelected mayor of the day at GiGi’s Restaurant listening to the latest debates. I take long walks and even sometimes catch the bus for the heck of it. I am honored at home and they love to see me coming. I call it “my comfort zone.”

So what do I interpret my life’s destiny as God has spoken to me? That’s right I moved to Virginia. It’s here that my wife and I have done our best work. Many times I challenge Linda and say “you wouldn’t have written your book back in Buffalo.” I remind her we are on a mission, one to please our God. We serve this God who does heal and provide miracles to many around us. It is amazing we are a part of this big move in this new millennium.

God ahead stretch out, reach forward, move ahead, forge a new path, and decide at the crossroads which new path you will chose. God wants to or is stretching you by moving you into new arenas and onto new territories so that your purpose becomes magnanimous instead of the inconsequential. Your home is not where others will benefit from your dreams and vision. Your home is your hangout and where you are now is your field,

My words to you this morning “don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid to explore this new field God has assigned to you. Go to every corner and see what awaits you. Go into the tough places and introduce your self to the hurting strangers all around you. Touch and feel the terrain, become familiar with the faces and mention how great a day this is. They need a miracle and your touch, your smile or your ways may be their miracle.

Who's Laughing Now?

2009-04-07T21:58:00.004-04:00

Mark 5:38When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." 40But they laughed at him.

Your Blues Ain’t Like My Blues is the title of Be Be Moore Campbell’s book. Her book title reminds me I am different, unique and complicated. I came into this world with identifying markers now proven by DNA to be 1 in a trillion. My different markers are my looks, speech, saliva, and my blood all different from other people.

I can relate to both Jesus who is laughed at and the Jairus who must look like a fool to some of the mourners; bringing in someone to raise his daughter who is now dead. Between the times it took for him to get to Jesus and return home his daughter sickness became fatal. I have children and I know what their illness can do to my psyche. Especially when they are ill and I nor the doctor knows what is wrong with them. I promise my self that I will do whatever is necessary to have my child healthy again. So, if necessary I would spend money seeing doctors and specialists trying to find answers and possibly a cure.

When afraid and unsure that is the time I can go to God as a child and be led by the hand back to the problem I must face. Life is difficult and I have been in situations where people have laughed at me but with God (me holding onto his unchanging hands) walking back to that place makes the journey more bearable. When I bring the Divine into an issue the chances of the problem being solved increase exponentially. When I sense that this moment in my life which is a problem now enters the realm of sacred I feel better. I try to remain confident that this issue, problem, illness all are being taken care of. Yes, I need my hand held and I don’t need to be alone, I would prefer someone to walk with me and hold my hand.

When my hand is held and I face the problem/issue head on and I am at my best. People and their critical eye and doubtful spirits can move away because I am cognizant of the holy flurry of activity that surrounds me. Intercession is being made on my behalf and God is moving for me. I will give you an example and then I am finished.

My mail man delivered my mail to the wrong house. He is experienced and so I expect most of the time he will place my mail in my box. However just as I get other neighbors mail sometimes they get mine. This time they got my mail, opened my mail and saw I had an overdue bill that was dated. It read “Pay immediately!” The neighbor placed it back in my mail box Friday. On Sunday the neighbor leaves a note in the mail box that reads in short, I have been led of the Holy Spirit to pay this bill for you. I thought well if that is not the nosiest neighbor I have ever had. J I know that is a small matter but it reminded me of something. It makes me confident that not only is my hand being held as I am walked to that place/issue but that, “No matter what may come my way, my life is in His hands.”

Freedom and Faith

2009-04-06T06:34:00.002-04:00

Mark 5:32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

"Liberation is hard to come by, think about it. We are burdened and “slaves” to our lives.

I thought about it yesterday. I drove to the store, purchased a lawn mower, came home and thank heaven I did not have to assemble it. Removed it from the box, cut the grass, planted more flowers, edged the lawn, and swept up the residue. I work forty hours per week, plus extra when needed, get paid and pay it out. This cycle is called living life and take it from me I am not complaining. I enjoy my lawn, flowers and home. If that was all I had to be concerned about it would be nice.

Part of life’s journey includes coming in contact with people just like the woman Jesus met. Women and men with stories filled with sadness and tragedies. They live in fear and some have issues in their lives that have gone on for decades, they have carried their burdens and they live in bondage.On my best day I am alert and notice them and if possible I speak the words “your faith will free you.” Faith is powerful, especially when I exercise it my self. I begin to believe that “things” will get better. I must tell myself the tragic stories in my life will not dominate my conscious and unconscious mind.

My faith keeps me from living in the type of fear that paralyses and debilitates me. There is Hebrews definition of faith and then there is mine which is Faith is the overpowering source beyond human understanding which can allow me to overcome any of life’s fears and failures. When I am afraid: faith. When I am alone: faith. When I feel discouraged: faith. Faith enable me to overpower and take authority of my issues. Sure they are still there the issues and the people but I am now being conditioned to work through them.

The woman who approached Jesus, remember she overpowered the crowd, even in her weakened state and touched Jesus. My point is let people approach you, allow your gifts and life giving power to flow from you so that others may be free. When you touch someone this day, it will be different.

2009-04-04T07:37:00.001-04:00

Mark 5:31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' " 32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.“

Just to be close to you, just to be close to you is my desire….” A few years ago Teddy Turpin, former Minister of Music at Calvary Baptist Church sang the song that spoke to my heart. He sang about being close with God and his creation. It was sung early in the morning and usually could be hummed all day. The thought of being close to the holy would be on my mind as it is now. That’s me being so close yet so far away from my creator. I have a busy day ahead and it includes going to a prayer breakfast and talking to church folks but at the same time trying to remain present with God. True the Scriptures are full of reminders of God being present with us, a Parakletos (Gr.) to help us along the journey. Just as the kids use cell phones and walk with each other and are not present with one another, I too can ignore my comforter.

At times I am just that busy. I don’t notice my environment, nature, people, or the spiritual atmosphere when I am so busy. I am trying more often to turn inward to listen to my own heart beat and the sound of my own breath. These are sounds which in the past have aggravated me. They were annoying because I have no need to hear my own heart beat. I ask myself why the doctors listen to my breathing and my heart beat. Press on my abdomen and listen to my digestive system? My inward body tells the doctors more than my mouth. My three major systems; circulatory, pulmonary and digestive tell the doctors how healthy I am. I imagine that is why Jeremiah wrote “I the LORD search the heart, [I] try the reins.” With an inward movement maybe I can hear what God hears, or become increasingly aware of what is going on inside of me. Maybe Teddy’s words to his song should be “Just to be close to me.”

The woman in Mark 5 knew that is she got closer to Jesus she would be healed. I know that if I allow myself to get closer to God I will feel better. If I allow myself to get closer to me I will feel better. My inward journey will allow me to hear me and see me more clearly. I share this because clarity is good for the soul.

Hear me Oh God as I try to hear myself and what you are saying to me by your Spirit. Let your words saturate my being and bring me joy as only you can bring to me your wonderful child. Keep us in the peace that understands every heart and mind. Allow needs to be met and desires to be fulfilled on this day. Word.

God’s Got It

2009-04-03T07:21:00.003-04:00

This ruler finds Jesus because of his despair and helplessness. He can only watch his daughter and is now desperate for help. Jesus is led to the daughter; the man must now feel some sense of “This may work out,” while he and Jesus are on the way. As Ruler of the synagogue, it was his duty to select the readers or teachers in the synagogue, to examine the discourses of the public speakers, and to see that all things were done with decency and in accordance with ancestral usage.

In the “Church” he was a powerful man like many people of faith. I consider myself a powerful person. I do what I am empowered to do on most days. I have good success in my field of expertise and my gifts I use to help others. Yet, at times I can feel so helpless. My most helpless times are when someone I love is sick or so helpless they may die. My Uncle Grover who I quote to my wife was a loud, outgoing charismatic man. He would tell the most wonderful stories and sometimes lies. He was the griot of “foolishness.” He loved to have a good time. I went to his bed one day because he was too weak to move about. He had lost his strength but not his storytelling or ability to laugh. I was in my early twenties and that is one of the times I felt helpless. Something in your life (if you keep living) is going to make you helpless.

Whether it is sickness, sorrow, bad health, inability to control circumstances, other people or somethingit will all render you helpless.

Breathe again…slowly. Invoke God’s presence. “Incline you ear Lord and come closer to your helpless child.” Think of a time when you needed the help of God and it worked out fine for you or someone else. Can you feel your help coming (as the ancestors said) or present with you? I say feel, because help can bring on a visceral reaction. You may say "I am helpless but now I have confidence that God is beginning to take control." God is taking control of my heart and mind. I have a new peacefulness, a new and calm serenity, a quiet joy, uncertain, yet certain that you and I are in the hands of God. God’s got it.

Say Your Name!

2009-04-01T05:14:00.001-04:00

Mark 5:18As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis[c]how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

This section of Mark 5 is not about the town’s people getting mad and the evil spirits manipulating Jesus into sending them into pigs. I am connected to verse 9 when he asks the man “What is your name?” There is something touching in that moment where Jesus begins to establish the relationship in order to process change in this man’s life. The recorder did not mention the man’s name even after Jesus asks him. It is possible the man did not say. The man mentions the name he is more than likely known as in the community, Legion. The name Legion meaning many, a legion, a body of soldiers whose number differed at different times. In the time of Augustus seems to have consisted of 6826 men (i.e. 6100 foot soldiers, and 726 horsemen). Think, here he refers to himself as, what has happened to him and not the name he was given at birth. Matthew says the many demons that have entered him. Think about the names you have been called or things that have happened in your life, abused, beaten, criticized, raped, drugged, assaulted, dishonored, neglected, ignored, called names, labeled, hated, back-stabbed and cheated. Or what we have done to others, ditto.

Some of us even wish we could change our names. The history and the issues have run too deep and if we were a new person, moved to a new place and did a new thing would solve some of the problems. If someone asked you your name you would not say “cheated.” You would tell them your name, but may times when you say your name people can tell what has happened to you. Don’t mask it; I am only saying people with a discerning spirit can tell.

I remember Suzie Orman at one of her finacial specials on PBS asking a woman her name. After she said her name______, Suzie corrected her and said, “No your name is _____.” The difference was Suzie said her name with authority and meaning. The lady repeated “Yes, my name is____.” This time she said it with authority. The woman’s problem was a financial one. Suzie knew she had financial trouble by the way she said her name. If you asked her name she probably would have said”Broke.” Imagine with me, “Man you broke!” “No I am blessed!” “Not Yeah, Man I’m broke.”

The man wants to continue on with Jesus, he wants a change of place. Jesus says “No, go home to Decapolis and tell your family what the Lord has done for you.” Don’t run from your old names, just go back and tell them what the Lord has down for you. Celie in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, when Mr. called her black, skinny and ugly, turned and had a new attitude that showed him who she had become. That confidence soon turns to fury—over her rapes, her beatings, and the love and affection the men in her life have kept from her. She had become the royal color of purple. A passage near the end of the novel, in which Shug says that she believes that it “pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” Royal has now become our new name. I Peter 2:9, But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light…”

Jesus tells him (we shall call him, “Blessed”) go home; you are now this marvelous light that they will see. Today, wake up, assume and declare your new position in the world, Royalty. Say your name___. They will be Amazed.

It's the Economy, Stupid! Or is it?

2009-03-25T07:44:00.004-04:00

"Read the chart below and tell me what you see" the eye doctor would say. How many of you feel stupid when it comes to economic issues? I do and I am a pretty smart fellow. With bail-outs, derivatives, toxic assets, upside-down mortgages, mortgage crisis, The Dow (ooooo I'm scared), POTUS news conferences and poor folk everywhere you could go crazy.

I told Linda that the 10,000 Dow was coming; I just thought that it was adjusting itself back to pre-Bush years. The rich go richer and the poor, well, they remained poor. But, what is poor. Truly it must be a state of mind.My 401(b), they took more than they gave me and that has been happening all my life so I did not panic. I plan to retire to Haiti where my Social Security will go farther. It has some really nice landscape.

This economy is out of whack and folks are doing what is important to them. They are focusing on straitening it out. We are neglecting the real work we have been put here to do. Do something for someone else and I can guarantee you that you will feel better. Go to the bottom of the chart and look for someone you know and give them a smile, a hug or even a dollar. You will feel better.

DOW

NASDAQ

S&P 500

2009-03-25T06:59:00.002-04:00

1 Peter 3:4 But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

I would be mistaken if I knew everything Jesus, The Word, my mother and spiritual advisors were talking about. Many times words that are said to me have to be fleshed out. The old ancestors would say “just keep on living.” They have to run their course and then we begin to understand. I am quite sure the followers of Jesus would sometimes say, “huh?” and “Does anybody know what he just said?” Is it because we really don’t understand or is it, we having a hard time digesting their words? It could be either/or and both/and. I don’t know about you, but I am wired that way. Sometimes stuff and words lands on me contrary to what I want. That means at times I am conflicted and you may be too.

Today would be a good day to quiet myself and listen to the day. I am off from work and I will be visiting some folks who don’t get out much. That is going to be good for someone who is self described as “over-stimulated.” Our not being able to understand or Jesus saying to his followers, “I want you to understand what I am saying, so I am going to liken the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed.” It is small and it is to be planted and it will grow and will need nurturing to become what it can be, a place of refuge for the many that will come to it. The seed doesn’t proclaim how great it is, it just is.

For someone like myself who has been told to be quiet that may be difficult, but to be quiet, grow and just be, may be a new formula that will work. I am tired of trying to keep up, pull, convince, explain, make sure, misunderstanding, convincing, tracking, making, creating and proving myself.

Someone asked Mother Teresa what she was going to do when she was no longer Mother General any more. She answered in the book, The Joy of Loving A Guide to Daily Living with Mother Teresa, “I am first class at cleaning toilets and drains. It is not what we do, but how much love we put into the doing,” I translate what she says as it doesn’t take a lot of talking but doing with love.

When I am quiet some people have a problem, when I talk too much some people people have a problem so why don't I just be quiet and let God work it out. “I am going to preach the gospel and use words only when necessary,” St. Francis of Assisi.

Maya Angelou "I've Learned"

2009-03-23T08:19:00.004-04:00

Maya with Oscar on Sesame Street

One of my friends sent me this and I had to reprint it. Maya talks about what she has learned and in my life I have learned a lot of things from a lot of people. I honor them now.

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday.. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older. And, there on television, she said it was 'exciting.'

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day...like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist first. The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this:'I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.'

'I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.'

'I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.'

'I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'

'I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.'

'I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to

be able to throw some things back..'

'I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.'

'I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.'

'I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.'

'I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.'

'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

After all the things you’ve been through…

2009-03-18T08:28:00.001-04:00

Now is not the time to be silent. Into our lives the Word has brought us lessons of many genres; poetry, song, stories, answers to life’s questions and the life of Jesus to frame your life’s theology. Jesus reminds us of how important it is to love not only ourselves but to love those around us. Around us means not only your households but extend love to those who are lost to the streets and elsewhere. Love for you has been the driving force as to why you respond to life as you have. Every situation, trial and circumstance including happenstances has been framed through your lenses of love. Love was the gift that Paul speaks about as rather having than anything else in the world. Paul says that it is “greater than faith and hope.” Mark 4:24 let me rephrase, “Consider carefully what you hear (about love). However you use it (love) and how much you give to others (love) to the same degree you will receive it (love) and it will be multiplied. If you have it (love) you will be given more (love); whoever does not have it (love and gives it) what little you have, you will no longer (be able to feel love) because it (love) will be taken away from you.

Imagine you having no love in you life. If you are to be the living, loving, moving being that was created by God then you will have to begin to share more love. You say “I’m all tapped out.” “They can’t get another drop.” Maybe they aren’t the one, maybe you should cast our pearls before folk who will who as the old usher says “appreci-a-late” them. Love can be given immeasurably to those who receive it. Yes some will not appreciate nor receive your love but keep on loving anyhow. I think there is up close love and long distance love. Some folks I love at a distance because getting close to them means a beat down, mentally and spiritually. So I love and I love close and the closer I get to you…you know the words. Consider what god wants from us that we pull those who desire but don’t have love closer so that they may feel the breath of the Holy Spirit upon them. Today get close to someone, wrap your arms around them and tell them they are loved. After all you have been through, you really know how to love.

I was made for the entire world to see…

2009-03-16T03:59:00.002-04:00

You are created for true greatness. You have a destiny and it is not to be hidden. So why is it that we feel so “hidden by God?” Why do I feel they don’t see me? We ask many times of the Lord when is my breakout season? We watch others as they announce big plans and seemly without effort achieves them. We are scrutinized by others and sometimes God and told audibly by others and sometimes internally by our selves we are not ready. We are made to jump through hoops twice as high, three times more difficult and sometimes ringed with fire. If we write a book we sell less than them, if we want a car it’s smaller than theirs, if we want a spouse we have to wait, if we want money we have to find it our ministries creep along and all of our plans are seemingly on hold. Our dream quotients are full. It’s just down right exasperating sometimes and I blame God. Ah that felt good.

My point is for us not to be anxious for anything… anxiety produces frustration and frustration produces anger and yeah I said it you might be angry or despondent. As God hides and prepares you, you have certain qualities and spiritual gifts. Adorn them and refine them so that they will not be hidden. Even your trials and tribulations adorn them with dignity and grace so as you are seen they know they are looking at royalty. When they say no and when they say wait and when they say not now and when they say one more test and when they say one more degree, allow your grace to be adorned with wisdom and knowledge. Speak up and speak out don’t remain silent but do it so they know whose you are and who you are. So there will be no question in their mind of that. Don’t worry, it is your season and God is going to reveal you to the world. For what ever is hidden by the world is meant to be revealed by God. Think of it as divine revelation to be revealed in season. So take this time as being hidden as a sabbatical where you can recuperate from the wars you just finished and a time as Moses used in the backside of the desert for preparation to lead the great move of God on the earth. Very soon you will be in the midst of that which you dream and hope for. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart. Prepare now for the day of revelation. On this day love sweeter and kinder and deeper and you know what they can see you. Oh! They see you! Like the Morning Son. (Now whisper with your own lips, Yes they do).

What Sense Would It Make For Them To Stop…

2009-03-11T07:09:00.003-04:00

Mar 4:10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that, " they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'[a]"

Do you know why you are the way you are? I can not give you a simple answer but I can tell you this; God’s purpose for your life before since you were born and your anointing have something to do you being the way you are. For other people it may or may not be the same and why should they stop being who they are now. With purpose comes certain “things.” The secrets or revelations concerning God and how God operates has been given to you and as life unfolds before your eyes and as others are witnesses. Yes, to the unfolding and they just may not have the ability to perceive what is happening. They may even hear and still not comprehend the magnitude of what God is doing in your life.

If they don’t get it now why would they change, now, today? And here you are trying your level best to change them. You are trying to get them to understand and it ain’t happening. If they did their life would be different. They could love you more, help you often, kiss you dearly, tenderly call your name, hear God’s voice in their ear, and see your soul as it moves from your body to theirs. That’s just the way it is; they don’t hear what you hear and they don’t see what you see for if they did they would turn and be forgiven.

Has it occurred to you they either don’t know how to (I can work with that) or they don’t want to (I can’t work with that). What you need to work on is you and your anointing, don’t take their ____, but work on your gifts, your Word, your walk, your speech, your love, your smile…that’s it! Your smile, your eyes, your soul, your gaze, your love, your hands, your feet, your beautiful body that God has so fearfully and wonderfully made say it all. You are blessed. My brother and sister they ain’t gonna do it…

You Are So Easy To Love...

2009-03-05T05:00:00.003-05:00

Mark 3: 31Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

I am inspired by you my friends, not only on this venue but all around me. I have friends in walking distance, phone, email and wherever and your stories and writings keep me moving. It is your lives and those of others I minister to or work with that inspires me. There is something about Mark 3 and 20-35 that is weighing on my mind. So here goes.

I had a good time writing about Only If You Let Them and begin to think even more about what and why we do things to ourselves. We are truly creatures of our environment and we meld and assimilate into it. The reason so many of us do so well is that we can adapt to any situation and some because they don’t adapt to anything; their world evolves around them. It is the past however that trouble some of us most. Who are my brothers and sisters or even friends? I think they are truly the ones who do God’s will, what is God’s will toward me through you? His will is that I may be inspired by you. CJ, my bald head friend with the beautiful smile, Yelly, Antoinette, Thad, my wife Linda, Lisa and all the new poets and preachers I can’t even keep up with. That is online and offline I have even more.

What I am trying to “say” is keep on doing God’s will because you never know who you are inspiring or what impact you have on your lousy job, dead church, bad marriage, dirty hospital, boring club, raggedy car, thrift store you shop in, whomever and whenever. Keep smiling, keep praying, keep reading, keep prophesying, keep dropping Word (you know how we do and they don’t even know it),. These folks all around you they may not look like friends but if you keep being you they will be soon. Not fraternal but friendly enough that God can work with them. I didn’t get to my real point but I will do it another time. Thanks for being my brothers and sisters and God’s friends.

You Can't Unless You Let Them...

2009-03-04T10:50:00.002-05:00

You have heard if a house is divided against itself it can not stand. Our lives sometimes become bifurcated and we do and say things contrary to all that is within us. Our intent each and every day is to live out our destiny and calling but we seemed to get distracted by “things” we let distract us. I know the issues are sometimes overbearing and demand our attention and sometimes our affection. When they however divide us against not only our spiritual fortitude but better judgment we are divided not only against ourselves but God. These things often tie us up (our time, finances, emotional energy) and rob us of so that we begin to look and act as though we have no calling nor destiny.

You may even be accused of being evil, no less, than by evil folk. Strange? No, often we let all this happen.By guarding our houses, staying vigil, watching and praying we can stay the course and take charge of our minds to defeat the powers that so easily beset us. Look up right now, just your eyes not your head. Close your eyes slowly, breathe deep; listen for the quiet, forget about whatever is around you, watch in your mind the sunrise in the distance, until its glory fills your soul. Let God arise and your enemies be scattered. Now smile so folks think there is something wrong with you.

Offical White House Portrait of Michelle Obama

2009-03-03T23:13:00.003-05:00

Official White House Portrait of Mrs. Michelle Obama

November 2008 brought crazy change to America. Barak Obama was elected by the majority of the American voters to be the next inhabitants of the White House. Barak H. Obama the 44th President of the United States. Washington, Adams and Jefferson the names that represent the forefathers of the American dream. It was the American dream that said to the former Presidents that "all men were created equal." What did that mean to them? Did it mean that all men were equal but not if owned by others? Or did it mean if your skin was not European that you were not equally welcome to the dream of pursing happiness.

I know you did not notice in the background the portrait of Thomas Jefferson, but isn't that ironic that in 2009 a African American woman named Michelle Obama would grace the same room. It warms my heart that the contradiction of the dream now has begun to be deconstructed. Brick by brick the impenetrable walls of racism and hatred have at least this year taken a back seat to the achievements of the Obamas. I give honor to the First Lady who reminds us to pursue the words of those who did not have her in mind: being happy.

Malika Calhoun...for talking too much?

2009-03-02T22:16:00.003-05:00

CBS/AP Photo

Does anyone deserve to receive a beat down for talking too much. Black youth can not afford to even speak about treatment or talk back because the penalties are severe. Black youth in some areas are under assault and I fear for my own children for something as minor as a traffic infraction.

A Beat down for being lippy.

Watch the video

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/malika-calhoun-early-show_n_171055.html

(CBS/ AP) A teenage girl shown being kicked and punched by a sheriff's deputy on a jail surveillance video called the experience "horrible" and told CBS' The Early Show the officer accused her of assault before he tackled her. The footage shows the attack beginning after the girl enters the cell and kicks off one of her shoes toward the deputy. The video, released Friday, is part of an assault case in which Deputy Paul Schene, 31, is accused of using excessive force on the girl, who was being held in a cell at the suburban SeaTac City Hall. Schene, who is charged with fourth-degree assault, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Superior Court. Malika Calhoun, 15, said she kept telling the officer, "I'm not resisting," but that he went after her once she flung her shoe. Calhoun said she kicked off her shoe - which she said did not hit Schene - because she was upset at the way he was speaking to her.

America's First African President

2009-02-28T16:56:00.003-05:00

If we are to believe Cliff Kincaid, the editor of Accuracy in Media, who at the weeks CPAC event suggested that Obama is not an American citizen. Then America has not only its first African American President but its first African (Kenyan) President, or a president from the British Empire. Who knew!

NYS Regents Diploma: A Failure?

2009-02-12T20:25:00.002-05:00

Superintendent Williams encourages public to press for choice of local or Regents diploma
By Peter Simon
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
www.buffalonews.com/home/story/416027.html

Regents graduation requirements, a central element of state educational reform, are “killing inner- city children,” Buffalo Schools Superintendent James A. Williams said Wednesday evening. He urged the public to lobby for a return to a longtime system in which students could earn either a Regents diploma or a less-rigorous local diploma. Currently, they are required to pass Regents exams in the core academic subjects.

That requirement is partly responsible for Buffalo’s graduation rate of 46 percent in June 2007, the last year for which figures are available, Williams told the Board of Education.
“That [the Regents requirement] is killing inner-city children,” he said. “It’s killing them.”
Williams said lobbying efforts to restore a non-Regents diploma track have failed.
“They’re not listening to the superintendent,” Williams said. “They’re not listening to some of our board members. Parents, that’s where we need help. Change the system.”
Williams said that he supports academic rigor but that the current system shortchanges career and vocational education.

“We still need electricians, plumbers and drywallers,” he said.
Samuel Radford III, a community activist, praised several of Buffalo’s educational initiatives but said the graduation rate shows that massive improvement is needed.
The phase-in of the Regents requirements has been a cornerstone of State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills’ reform effort for about a decade, despite efforts by critics early in Mills’ tenure to maintain a non-Regents track.

Nationwide, just 50 percent of African-American males graduate and only 17 percent go on to college, according to Williams.
“That’s not acceptable,” he said. “It’s worse than the crisis on Wall Street.”
The average 2007 graduation rate for the state’s big cities — including Buffalo — was 47.3 percent. Statewide, it was 68.6 percent.
In Erie and Niagara counties, only Buffalo and Lackawanna, at 67 percent, fell below the state average.
psimon@buffnews.com

From: Richard Meadows [mailto:richard_meadows@lifenethealth.org] Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:27 AMTo: Simon, PeterSubject: Graduation Rates Story

From time to time an article catches my heart strings and the one concerning Regent Diplomas and local diplomas did. The Superintendent is sort of right. My son who was a student at Kensington HS was challenged to pass the Math A exam and did not. This was the first year it was required and he failed. I did not panic, and I did not make him enroll in summer school that year. Although he did not graduate nor did almost fifty percent of his class he was there to cheer on those that did graduate. I went with him to the graduation and I felt bad because he had worked hard during his four years but lacked some skills necessary especially math skills.

I knew in my heart that he was college material and that he could do it, but I was also convinced it would take him another whole year to pass this Math A exam. We opted for a GED and with the GED he earned that summer he went on to college in the following fall. He was discouraged but I had to work hard to not let him fail or fall through the cracks that failure of the exam and not graduating could have caused.

My son only lived a couple of more years, but I cherish his efforts to finish the GED and continue on to college. It was one of my crowning moments as a parent, to not let my son feel like a failure. He was murdered in the in the streets of Buffalo by; you guessed it a young African American male drop out. Diplomas whether local or Regent mean nothing when you start college. It is a time for our children to start over and continue on in life. Great story. Yours and my son's.

Peace to you.

From P. Simon Buffalo News

Richard -- Thank you for the very touching and thoughtful note. You obviously did a great and sensitive job as a father, and have a lot to be proud of despite the terrible tragedy. What a tough issue: the need for standards and rigor, and – at the same time – the necessity of keeping students upbeat, hopeful and in school. I’ve already received several other e-mails on the story, so it’s touching people in different ways. Regards, and peace to you as well, Pete Simon

THE POWER OF LOVE…

2009-02-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

Posted by Richard D. Meadows, Jr. on February 4, 2009 at 7:30am

I was deep in conversation with a brother yesterday and we were talking about reconciliation. One of the most profound events that arose from the slaying of my son was not only would I choose to forgive this “brother” but totally see him in a different light. I take a lesson from Ernest Gaines book A Lesson Before Dying where I would transform this brother in my mind. I see his humanity and that he was created by God.

Desomond Tutu speaks of Ubuntu whereby I am because you are. Even with all life’s disappointments and flaws you still are therefore I am. My son had no trouble understanding that in his role as peacemaker. My first thought was he died doing what he knew to do, “No greater love has a man than this, that he would give his life for a friend.” John 15:18

That was it, it clicked like the proverbial light bulb, Courtney was giving his life for a friend. His friend Nate, who I have not heard from nor seen since that day, was with him and Nate who Court has known from about the age of six was one of his friends. Courtney became friends with Nate after I had him clean Nate’s home after a egging. Thinking about this made me write a letter to Jamar.

Dear Brother Jamar:

I have been thinking for a long time about you and how you are doing. I have prayed for you on many occasions. I have never met you or anyone from your family, and I know quite a few people in Buffalo, but I can’t say that I know you or your familiy. I don’t know if anyone took the time to tell you about my son Courtney, but I will give you a brief description. He loved people especially the underdog and was extremely loyal to his friends. He was very big but you may not have known he was harmless. I don’t know exactly what went down on that day, but I figured something made you nervous or scared that someone might harm you so you did what you knew to do. On that day I lost a son and your family lost you. I imagine you would do anything to have that moment back again. I want you to know that I forgive you; I have reconciled your actions and I don’t hold this against you. I have no malice or hatred toward you only forgiveness. You will learn that one of life’s most powerful weapons is the ability to forgive. I wonder who you are and what your hopes and dreams are, I wonder about your family and how your little girl is doing. I don’t believe life is over for you and pray that one day you will find peace to avoid the fear that keeps black men from living.

Be strong and may God be with you.
Richard D. Meadows, Jr.

This letter now become an open letter, which I did not mail, but my hope is that someone will truly understand that I have reconcilled our brother Jamar, who may be free someday to live again, for his daughter’s sake.

Resolution A127

2009-02-11T18:27:00.009-05:00

Resolution A127 (read it in its entirety)

*Resolved, That the Church hold before itself the vision of a Church without racism; a Church for all races.

Let us move into this new millennium resolved, That the Church hold before itself the vision of a Church without racism; a Church for all races, without the old curse of racism, leaving behind its evil and its goal to destroy the human spirit.

Let us strive with vigor to live up to a resolution that this would be a church of all races. Reconcilling the reflections of the past moving into the future without the curse of racism. I applaud the work of Satoshi Ito and the Anti Racism Commission of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. They meet on a regular basis with the goal of bringing an awareness to the curse of racism as practiced by some.

Who would admit that they are a racist? Rarey any especially persons in the Body of Christ, the Church of God; it would take courage to admit that a member would be guilty of the sin of racism. If no one fits the descriptive of out-right racist but has behaviors and acts that can be mistaken as racist then awareness is in order.

It is up to you and I to deconsrtuct the systems that seperate us and begin the age of reconcilliation.

I leave with you this gift of part one of a wonderful series by the BBC Four

http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/video_philosophy.htm

Racism A History

Part I

Part II

Part III
Watch all 7 click on Link above

How Can I Help You

2008-12-11T19:46:00.001-05:00

When we ask the question “How Can I Help You?” we open ourselves to feelings and questions which can only be answered in the encounter that lies ahead. With each patient we see and help we are enabling ourselves to identify with them, learn through their illness and suffering what it means to be a helper. Helpers must find ways to help themselves to overcome the exhaustion and despair that may arise from helping. One way is to realize that as we are sent to help we must identify ways to overcome the burden of being a helper.

Key Words: Caregiver, Chaplaincy, Helper, Ministry, Suffering, Spiritual Care,

The most important lessons identified with the question “How Can I Help You?” are also major themes that are present in my pastoral care ministry. My current context of ministry allows me the privilege to ask the question “How Can I Help You” and feel equally honored and humbled to help patients and families with complex physiological, psychological and spiritual issues.

My dilemma however has always been to balance helping others and the impact that helping has on me. The theologically logical aspect would be the confidence of Paul’s words in II Corinthians 1:4 (NIV) “…by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God who comforts us in all our tribulations, we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.” My inner thoughts always revert to “who can help me as my hair turns gray and my skin is bronzed and wearied by the sun?” I trust that when I arrive in my stations in life that my helper and comforter has been waiting for some time for my arrival to help me.

I trust also that I will reap the harvest of “help” and kindness that I have shown toward others. Complexities constantly remind us and warn us that there is a danger in giving too much of ourselves as helpers. Time and not enough are factors yet I proudly make reference that it is my nature to help. At times I don’t have the resources or the time, but to help others is irresistible to me.

Many times I have been in situations and the question in my mind at the end of the visit is who has helped who. The patient offers a sincere “thank you” and I in turn speak back to them, “no, thank you.” In the moment I am trying to convey that the time I spent with them has helped me. As I have sat and looked into their eyes I am reminded of the decisions that I will make or am making concerning my own life.

Being in the presence of the helped allows me to think ahead of my own impending needs and need to be helped. The time I observed the interaction of a terminally ill father and his caring son reminds me of the richness of care that I yearn for. It reminds me as I leave their room to stop long enough to examine my surroundings and where my help comes from. When helping, I observe the condition of the person I am attempting to help and I find the richness of the encounter with them. As the son sits with his terminally ill father, I have to adapt to the needs of the person I am helping. Their needs become prevalent and the atmosphere will be charged with what they do or do not desire from me in the moment. If observe and listen to their needs I will adjust quickly as one adjusts to the brilliance of the sun and find the reward for helping. I forget about myself and my needs momentarily, which later may be a source of physical and mental exhaustion. At this point I am reminded that I should stop and lift my heart, mind and soul toward God. It is at these moments that I learn God is helping them and God helps me.

Since helping has a distinct place in my life, I have learned that the goal is not to rid myself of the discomfort and suffering of others but to find ways for joy and suffering to juxtapose. Joy and suffering seem as though they alternate moments in the life of the patient. At times their suffering and pain are present and I have to resist trying to ignore their suffering and try to make them feel better. In times of suffering I have found that they will take a moment and interject a thought, verbal word or talk of a time in their life when they have found times of joy. When present with the patient an author reminds me (Dass and Gorman 1985) that we are to witness to/and find tranquility in observance of the lessons for our ministry while helping.

At the baptism of an infant or the quiet cessation of their beating heart I have found power to endure the suffering that the parents are going through. It is more therapeutic for me to not have words or actions when the suffering meets the sacredness of the dying room. Suffering does not complete its work until it is ready and I nor the patient or staff present can do anything to stop it. This allows me to bring back to the forefront of my mind the power of observation in walks through the neonatal area where there are nurses and doctors’ attending babies yet no one is in control of final outcomes. I have observed the small figure laying in the incubator struggling to live. So it is with adults who struggle in their illness to remain present and give me in a short period of time a definitive glimpse of their life and character.

The power of helping reminds me to move further and further away from result(s) driven therapy and care. I am not to be so driven as to find solutions that enable me to add to my list of successes patients who have recovered from their illnesses. I focus on allowing the type of help that takes both the patient and me on a journey. I begin to walk with individual patients on a journey that may or may not have a nice ending. I am trying very hard to journey in such a way that the issues of others and (silently thinking) my own become waves that sometimes overtake us and at other times they break at us. I believe the suffering I have encountered through them; which I have been unable to prevent has come in waves. With each wave I have learned remain present and to journey through with them to the other side of the wave and realize it was not high enough to overtake me. God has promised Jeremiah 23:11 (NIV)”…thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”. Whether I see the end of the suffering, illness, pain or not it is the invisible or unconceivable ending that I know not of. The end can only come with time.

Finally, I spent time with a patient, a thirty year-old female who in spite of deep conversation and listening to her life’s story was determined to save herself through death. The mental pain and anguish that she was feeling I could not describe. She mentioned how sunshine (unbelievable as it was to me) “compounded her pain.” I was helpless and I believed somehow the conversation we held would make a difference. I knew there was a possibility she would try to take her life again but she was being released from the unit based upon her own words that during her stay she was helped. The young woman who according to friends and family, had such promise for success in the educational track she was in; could only see the pain in her life. One week later she took her own life which was a source of great pain for me. She forced me through our visit and her actions to walk with her “a piece of the way home.”

After examining what went on with my helping her and replaying our conversation over again with my mentor, I realized she helped me to come to grips with important points for my helping ministry. I have this great desire to help, helping is irresistible and I am only human. Lessons such as these will come as long as I am in the helping arena. I have found joy and pain, gratitude, reward, disappointment, illusions, hope, fear and resolve that I am doing what I have bee, called to do, help.

SOMETIMES WE MUST ENCOURAGE OURSELVES

2008-10-10T08:50:00.002-04:00

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
www.forabetterlife.org
—Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th U.S. President

Thanks to the quote of the day from Foundations For A Better Life. This inspirational quote also encouraged my heart Admittedly, I am upset, yes really angry, but understand that I can’t let these frustrations hinder my goals ( as I prepared for work this morning that thought laid heavy on my mind)-yes we’ve got to speak life into our situations and encourage ourselves during those instances. I truly am internalizing that now!

I was blown away when I discovered I couldn’t enter my personal email, only to discover that hackers, thieves, and bandits whatever you wish to call these folks. My husband informed me that a relative phoned him and wondered if I were ok? I was puzzled by the inquiry and continued on with work. I then received an email which made it very clear. Apparently the hackers sent all my e-contacts a letter indicating that I was stranded in England (a place I’ve yet to visit), lost my wallet (heaven forbid) and needed a great sum of money to return to the US. The suggested way I was allegedly going to return home was by my contacts going to Western Union wiring money.

Lord knows my heart hurts just to share this nonsense! It’s a SCAM!! A LIE, FRAUD! This fabulous and elaborate tale was shared with all my family, friends, new contacts, colleagues and whoever received this contrived mess! They must still be scratching their heads! I’ve requested from HOT MAIL that this account be disabaled-certaintly I can’t use it, but I want the crooks stopped because they are sending messages with my name attached. Oh I pray that others can see through this lie!

Friends I want vindication, I want an immediate resolution, certainly I don’t want my character maligned or integrity questioned. I’ve contacted the proper authorities and taken measures to contacted law enforcement, Western Union, Hot Mail, etc., etc! But the truth is: just maybe I will miss seeing the crooks apprehended, just possibly this matter of closing out my hotmail account will take longer than I had hoped for- (automated messages seem to be protocol-I’ve been unable to speak with a human being) and just possibly some unsuspecting soul is being set up now and they too will suffered through the uncertainty of having their email compromised and identity stolen!

Friends, safeguard your identity as best you can. Google sites that educate you about combating identity fraud But more importantly know that God still sits on the throne and cares about what concerns us! Take heart, share your frustrations with Him, don’t abandon your dreams and visions. Don’t be consumed by the evil, breathe! And take comfort- trust that what the enemy meant for our demise, well God meant it for your good! Tuck this scripture in your heart and move on! We will be all right!!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
New International Version (NIV)

Joyfully Submitted by:Linda Mose Meadows,author :
The Blessedness of Believing
A Devotional Journey of Life’s Lesson’s and God’s Promises
Enjoy other writings:
Click on Blessed Chronicles
http://blessednessofbelieving.blogspot.com/

Seasoned With Grace…Colossians 4:2,5,6

2008-09-17T09:00:00.004-04:00

2008

Mother Viola Hill, Constance and Arthur O. Eve Sr.

Mother Viola Hill's Birthday

Her and the Children

2(A)Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

5(H)Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward (I)outsiders,

(J)making the most of the opportunity.

6(K)Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with (L)salt, so that you will know how you should (M)respond to each person.

Ephesians 4:29Let no (A)unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for (B)edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. (New American Standard Bible)

Every once in a while or in some cases a lifetime we meet individuals like Viola Hill who is the epitome of Grace. Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, undeniable gift of God. Viola Hill is a gift of Grace, from God. For the years I have observed Mother Viola Hill she has been the kindest and most affirming women I have met. She has been a stalwart of the Buffalo, NY community; spreading her love and joy of life to all her come before her.

As a queen before her subjects, her presence and gifts of grace have cheered many a despondent soul. For decades she worked for and with the Deputy Speaker of the House, NY State Legislature Arthur O. Eve. The office and the atmosphere of grace was there for those in need. She was the in the office helping to meet the needs of a community ravaged by violence and poverty. In the midst of the violence, poverty and despair, Viola Hill served untiringly and with inexhaustible grace. She was Art Eve’s right arm among others but if there was one whose lips dripped with love, it was Viola Hill’s.

She would tell me the stories of how she babysat my mother Mary Louise Byrd-Meadows and the stories of old Howard Street and Lincoln Memorial. On her birthday we wish her love, extracting from her grace and allowing ourselves to experience the undeniable, unmerited, undeserved gift of Mother Viola Hill.

For Those With Ears: Listen

2008-07-16T14:55:00.001-04:00

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
13:2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.
13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
13:5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
13:6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
13:7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
13:8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!"

In the Baptist church one speaks and the other listens, not only with their ears but with their mouth. I say something and you say amen;, I say something else and you say that’s right…I say something else and you say preach preacher. Many times in our vernacular it is not hard for one to do all of that and still not be listening or understanding the word that is being preached. We as preachers take for granted that you are listening and do indeed understand what we are talking about.
Two terms I want to introduce into this dialogue and it is a dialogue, are Congruence and Empathy. Empathy is the listener’s desire and effort to understand the preacher from you the recipient's internal frame of reference rather than from some external point of view, such as a theory; a set of standards, or the your preferences. The empathic listener tries to get inside the preacher’s thoughts and feelings.

Congruence refers to openness, frankness, and genuineness on the part of the listener. The congruent listener is in touch with themselves. If angry or irritated, for example, the congruent person admits to having this feeling rather than pretending not to have it. They communicate what they feel and know, rather than hiding behind a mask. Candor or truthfulness on the part of the listener tends to evoke candor in the speaker. When one person comes out from behind a facade, the other is more likely to as well.

The relationship between the preacher and congregation develops. The elements of the listening orientation –empathy and congruence are likely to increase as the reflective listening processes continue. These are the ingredients for an open, trusting relationship between Union Baptist Church congregant and Union Baptist Church preacher.

The activity of listening arouses and channels of motivational energy. Because the listener is an accepting and encouraging partner but leaves the initiative for exploring and diagnosing the problem mainly up to the preacher. A normal outcome of the process is that the speaker will recognize new avenues for action and will begin making plans to pursue them through the word.

The truth of the matter is that in the Baptist church the preached word is focus or the main thing. The preacher who takes a higher or more elevated position by the level of the pulpit and puts on garments, that purvey holiness, it makes him or her speaker of the hour. The build up of the particulars or the order of service move the 2 hour session through emotion and feeling propelling it toward the word. We believe that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God, and that the word was made flesh in Jesus and dwelt among us, by the Spirit. Therefore the Word is the main thing. If there is no preaching then this is not church. Paul says Romans 10: 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report F39? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Hearing is vital.

Everyone take your hands and place them on both sides of your face, feel and if you have ears say amen. That means that this is the part of the service where everyone can play a part, not the offering but the sermon. Powerful statement: 13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!"

Let anyone with ears listen. My momma was famous for saying “boy, are you listening to me?!” Or she would say “I know that went in one ear…” “or what do you have between your ears?!” Listening is the hardest job for many of us. If you are anything like me the art of listening is truly an art form that I have not mastered. I can sit like you all are right now and my brain will be somewhere else entirely. Take a sermon you don’t like or one that is not speaking to you or me. I start thinking as someone might be doing right now about my turkey that is in the oven or what I am going to eat for dinner or wear to the second service. When the scripture says don’t worry for anything, the birds and the flowers don’t worry about what to eat, put on or sleep. But if you give me a bad sermon, I’m checking out until the Whoop. I am talking to you? Jesus in his statement wants to make sure he has the proverbial room covered and if you have two ears this sermon is for you, as a matter of fact if you have two ears and can hear me for just about another thirty minutes, this sermon is for you and if you have ears and need a better understanding of how this thing called church works, this sermon is for you.

My challenge this morning is that many times when we preach the word and when you promulgate the gospel through your testimony, it just may fall on deaf ears. The worst thing in life which I emphasized in my mother’s analogy is that a person is not listening to what you are saying. As a man I am an expert at listening to what it is that I want to hear. Men say amen, we can turn off our wives; which is not a good thing but we do it. The key to marriage is that one is talking and the other is listening and the one that is listening says I heard what you said. Not only do they hear but they do what you ask them to do. Listening takes work. Reflective listening is even harder, but one has to acknowledge that they heard you and make changes in their life to accommodate the words that you have spoken.

That brings me to the preacher of the hour. The angel of this church who preaches to you each and every Sunday, by my calculation it has been for two hundred Sundays not including weddings, revivals, funerals and afternoon programs. He has each and every week, sat down with pen and paper, listening to God’s voice by the unction of the Holy Spirit to ask specifically what it is that God want you all to know on any given Sunday. The key is he has listened to what the spirit says to the church. That is what Jesus says again in Revelation, Them that have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the church. James says that we should not only be hearers but doers of the word. But in order to do, and do it right one has to hear.

Jesus parable is that the word fell on ground, but each ground was distinctive to the individual parcel. On the Eastern Shore you know about ground and good ground. You ain’t seen noybody trying to grow tomatoes among thorns, on concrete, without water or without burying them. That is contrary to the art of farming. In order for stuff to grow it has to be planted right and in order for the plant to take root it has to be planted right. That is how the word is; it has to be planted in the heart for it to grow. That is the whole challenge today to see number one if your listening. We don’t say it as preachers but we go for the heart, we go for the jugular. We come to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. If I ain’t preaching and you ain’t listening then we both are wasting our time. If on a Sunday morning…

I learned that in order to produce a good sermon the preacher must put in eight hours of work. Between, getting the facts right and pulling out maps, concordances, dictionaries, commentaries and the Bible you will put in eight hours or more. To take eight hours and push it into thirty minutes takes some doing. Sometimes we preach all we know and in one sermon know all we preach. You’ll get that on the way home, but we only have a few minutes to convey the words of Jesus so that you do more than just listen. The worst thing, the most disheartening thing for the preacher, is to preach, ie. On love one another and after the sermon folk still talking about each other…the worst thing for a preacher is to peach on giving and the offering for that Sunday is the lowest its been in months…the worst thing for a preacher is to preach on atte3ndance and the next Sunday its seems everybody stayed home…The worst thing for a preacher is to preach and folk ain’t listening. That’s why in the text Jesus says, in13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!"

I am not going to ask a dialectical question this morning but instead I am going to talk about two types of church folk and call it a day. Simplification of today’s text would be that the preacher went out to preach and the word fell among two types of Christians. Folk who do something and folk who ain’t gonna do nothing. Hears and doers and hearers only. Folk who hear the word, acknowledge they heard it by saying amen and then go to work on what they heard and not only what they heard but what the Holy spirit is saying to them. Other folk, listening and making up in their mind right then and there what they ain’t gonna do. Christians in deed, we talking about folk right here in the chuch.

In the second half of the text Jesus brings to two worlds together. Here is the most important question in the text Go with me to verse 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. Or hear the case of the preacher. Unfortunately sometimes it is hard to distinguish if we translate this text into modernity to tell if those folk were any different from the folk in the New Testament church of today.

Now let’s bring home the difference between hearers around church who only hear and don’t do nothing and hearers that hear and do something with this word. Lets talk about the don’t do nothing folk. If you’re here say amen…Jesus breaks down the parable like this he says,, there are folk who hear, but do not understand and when the word is sown into the heart, the enemy removes the word. You know folk who sit right beside you who, hear the word, it goes in, but they don’t quite understand and some excuse my language knucklehead tries to explain it or says some ungodly thing like…and the preacher might as well cast the word to the wayside. The enemy is like a bird who swoops in and steals the word form you. Bad news after a sermon, losing your job on Monday morning, your wife leaves you on Tuesday…You know folk who sit right beside you…Get happy, shout, but the problem is that they endure for a little while… they stay for a little while… they work for a little while… they sing for a little while… they pray for a little while… they preach for a little while…they on the deacon board for a little while…they pay tithes…but when trials and tribulations come they get offended. Jesus said they are like stony ground. Jeremiah 4 says… The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and (you shall bless yourself in Him.) the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall (you) they glory. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Hosea 10 says it like this…Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed (sown) wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.

Finally there is the hearing of the word, void of understanding… where the cares of this life and the striving to gain riches outside of the word, make you unfruitful. The song writer Charles A. Tindley a poor janitor and then the pastor of one of the biggest churches in Philadelphia in the last century… had it right when the world from you withholds all its silver and its gold,, And you have to get along with meager fare, Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird; Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Leave it there, leave it there, Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Aftercare

2008-03-11T19:17:00.004-04:00

For Those That Are Grieving: Our Purpose

My Counseling consists of helping you grow in your most significant relationships and in your own personal life. I acknowledge the Multi-cultural and Multi-faith communities and I am dedicated to providing pastoral counseling to anyone regardless of age, race, faith perspective or socio-economic background.

I am an ordained clergy person who has specialized training in counseling. I possess a working knowledge of personality development, psychopathology, theories of counseling, the psychology of religious experience and marriage and family dynamics. I have a graduate degree in theology and I center care around your personality type to allow you to first know yourself and then tackle the isues and problems you face. My Mission is to know you in the fellowship of suffering to help you obtain comfort in your most difficult times of life.

Individual Counseling
Marriage Counseling
Family Counseling
Group Counseling
Specialized Care for Children and Teens
Pre-Marital Counseling
Spiritual Direction
Divorce
Recovery
Anger and Anxiety
Depression
Critical Incident Stress Management
Ethics Consultations
Family Life Education
Pastors' Seminars
Pastors' Support

I use the disciplines of faith and theology with the knowledge and skills of the behavioral sciences. With each encounter we begin to see more and more the effect that mind and spirit has upon us all. You begin to share your sacred story and it is your own stories that bring healing and covenant with self. It is in the process that we will be conduits of good or righteousness. I am hoping for at the least a good “pastoral visit.” It is in the visit that we find power not only for you but for us together reclaiming and systematically through the counseling process finding the power to connect to our own internalized thoughts and self held conversations to find wholeness.

Seminar Topics
This support group meeting is held weekly in the Southern Virginia Area. Grief groups are designed so that you can begin attending on any week. There are no fees for group sessions but donations are accepted.

Living With Grief – Session 1 This session introduces participants to Grief. It also explains what living with grief is like, why participants shouldn’t be ashamed of their grief and why they shouldn’t rush their healing.

The Journey of Grief – Session 2 This session prepares your group for what to expect along the journey of grief. At the same time, it emphasizes that everyone’s journey will be unique and warns against comparing grief experiences.

The Effects of Grief – Session 3 Your group members are probably surprised at how debilitating grief is. This session explains that this is normal and suggests practical ways to find comfort.

When Someone You Love Dies – Session 4 This session helps grievers think through the critical issues involved in their healing. It also begins preparing your entire group to face the realities of life without their loved ones.

Your Family and Grief – Session 5 This session shares how to keep a family afloat when its members are drowning in grief. It also presents some of the unique issues involved in grieving the death of a child.

The Question Why? –Session 6 Just because God doesn’t answer all of our questions doesn’t mean God won’t answer any of them. This session answers “Why” questions and encourages group members to begin asking other questions as well.

The Uniqueness of Grief – Session 7 This session explores how the causes of, and personal responses to, a loved one’s death affect one’s grief. Topics addressed include suicide, long-term illness, murder and false guilt.

The Uniqueness of Grief – Session 8 Relationships, past and present, affect one’s grief. This session helps participants address insensitive comforters and unresolved conflict with a deceased loved one.

The Word on Grief – Session 9 The bereaved are often overwhelmed by the advice they receive from others. And often, what goes unnoticed is what God says about healing. This session tells participants how to position themselves to experience God’s healing.

Stuck in Grief – Session 10 It’s easy to get stuck along the journey of grief, This session explains how to keep moving on the path to healing.

The Journey to Overcome – Session 11 In this session, those who’ve walked the journey of grief will share what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown from their grief experience.

The Journey to Overcome – Session 12 In this session we unveil the most significant lessons that can be learned during grief.

Hope -- Session 13 This session gives practical advice on how to tap into, and hold onto, the source of hope in this disappointing world.

"Come Correct"

2008-03-01T20:12:00.004-05:00

“Come Correct” John 9:1-7
9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.
9:2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.
9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
9:6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes,
9:7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

For the past two weeks ago, the rave across the country by Senator Hillary Clinton and others has accused Illinois Senator Barak Obama of speaking flowing and flowery words without substance. They were glad to announce that he had lifted words from another man’s speech. He was basically accused of plagiarism, for using words and not giving credit to the original speaker. This original text of the speech was by Devall Patrick Governor of Massachusetts in 2006 and the same words were spoken by Brother Barak in 2008 seemed to me to be the highest form of flattery. The statement went like this, “Just words, Just words; we hold these truths to be self evident…that all men are created equal…just words, just words; We have nothing to fear but fear itself…just words, just words; ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…” The accusation by his pundits is that words don’t matter. It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other And though it seems heaven-sent We ain't ready, to have a black President, huh…Tupac, Just words? How many shots does it take, to make my heart stop and my body start to shake, if I should die before I wake…Notorious BIG, Just words…Seem like everybody got something to say. That’s the beauty of Hip-Hop anybody that can speak can have some words.
In the hip hop world, repetition of another artist’s words is called getting jacked. I don’t know what you call it when someone lets you borrow your stuff. Preacher’s do the same thing from time to time. We lift words from wherever we can to make a point. Word’s do matter. Word’s spoken in the right time and season have impact. We grew up with the rhyme, “Sticks and stones make break your bones but names will never hurt me.” The words your momma would use to repair your hurt feelings when others would hurt you with words. Words mean so much at the right moment. Timing is everything, in comedy; hip-hop and preaching a word must be in season. We all look for words of encouragement and enlightenment to help us make it through the day. For some of us, to be encouraged and no one speaks a word we write our own. The words we write are words that give life, John puts it this way “believe on me as the scripture has said and out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.” In the first chapter of John its says that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us we beheld His Glory as only begotten of the Father.”

When we write from the soul we feel it, there must be a flow, a rhythm, which is derived from life. We preach and talk about what we feel. We live this thing called the word. In the hip-hop world your words must be authentic, keeping it real. In the hip-hop world we got a problem when your stuff ain’t original or it’s not based existentially. What is deepest in our soul God communicates it through us. Some of us are not the strongest, the smartest, the most educated, but we have a real, on-time, authentic, anointed word.

Michael Eric Dyson reports that Hip hop is the soul of a generation that is expressed in their outward expression of their hope, dreams, disappointments, telling the stories of despair yet in the frame work of overcoming the powers that be. Gangsta Rap has caused the world to forget the true roots of hip-hop. Darby & Shelby - Hip-Hop & Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason talks of The Fifth Element … Knowledge. The fifth element of hip-hop has always been knowledge. This element is a broad one, and can be seen to include everything from self-consciousness and cultural awareness to social and political philosophies and new patterns of thinking. Yet this fifth element is continuously, almost blatantly, ignored, so much that everyone nowadays appears to believe that hip-hop is, and always has been, composed of the more mundane aspects. Michael Eric Dyson Author of Know What I Mean? Says, “There are some, like jazz great Wynton Marsalis, who dismiss hip hop as adolescent “ghetto minstrel-(see)sy.” Critics like Marsalis see rap as little more than ancient stereotypes wrapped in contemporary rhymes.” Other prominent observers, such as social critic Stanley Crouch, Dyson says, claim that the deficits of hip hop blare beyond the borders of ugly art to inspire youth to even uglier behavior. Crouch contends in his column for the New York Daily News that hip hop’s “elevation of pimps and pimp attitudes creates a sadomasochistic relationship with female fans.” I believe just as there are critics of hip hop there are critics of the church and just as there were critics of the church there are critics of Jesus.

The problem is that the ‘good news,” the word that we preach, rap, talk about is sometimes not what folk expect. Sometimes in the church folk are looking for the normal three pointed sermons, filled with biblical nomenclature. But words, poetry, rap and even sermons that change the world don’t use the language and the words of the religious. They are different and bring about extraordinary results. I paraphrase Dyson’s words Hip hop is hyped in overstatement, misrepresentation, tastelessness, dramatic license, double entendres when ambiguous or other words are used to cover the risque’, implications, and other mythical and artistic standards to get its point across. Yet the true artist and hip hop lover finds a way to push past the hype and deliver the truth.

That is where we find our text today. Jesus, who was not normal religious figure of his time, sometimes distancing himself from Pharisees and Sadducees and he who was not typical did battle on this day with the religious folk, who did things in a normal religious way. He pushes past the hype and delivers. He is confronted by the Pharisees after his act of healing a blind man who was born blind. Being born blind had and has stigma. The disciples observe the man and get theologically deep asking “Rabbi who sinned?” It moves from a problem of physical proportion to the spiritual. In Jewish culture it was assumed that disorders or disease of the nation or individuals were attributed to sin. An age old discussion as summarized in the rabbinic saying from around A.D. 300 that "there is no death without sin and there is no suffering without iniquity" (b. shabbat 55a). The existence of suffering poses an obvious problem for the monotheistic religions. Why does an all-powerful, benevolent God allow humans to suffer? And given that God does, what is the appropriate human response? Responses to Suffering in Classical Rabbinic Literature By David Kraemer

But the case of a person born blind raises the question of whose sin caused this condition, that of his parents or of the person himself while in the womb. The idea that the parents' sins can affect their children finds support in the Old Testament itself (Ex 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,), as does its antithesis (Ezek 18:20 "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.). Likewise the rabbis debated whether fetuses could sin, some arguing they could and others that they could not. Similar to the debate whether a fetus is viable prior to the 22 week mark or gestation.

Where I would like to focus today is the 6th and 7th verses. The miracle of sight is spiritually is the crux of the text, but today as you celebrate the Hip-Hop Mass, the 9th chapter of John is perfect. The Revised Common Lectionary was designed for this day, because Jesus takes that which would be least expected, mud; or that people has not use for mud; he uses to heal a blind man.

Compare and contrast mud and hip-hop. Hip ho is viewed by many in the same vein as slave songs, negro spirituals, boogie-woogie, the blues, swing, rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues and funk. At one time they had no place in the church, however they have made there way in one form or another. They church uses the (Oreaumus) hymnal of 1982 (85), but the LEV, reaches back to the soul of our people and incorporates that which was once rejected. Soon and Very Soon, by Andre Crouch, at first rejected by the church. We’ll Understand It Better By and By; Charles Tindley, rejected. I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired by James Cleveland, rejected. Oh Freedom…before I’ll be a slave I’ll be buried in my grave a form of protest and rejection of oppression. The church has not always been receptive of the moves of songs and worship which were once referenced as cultish and for the ignorant who knew not God.

Those educated in land grant colleges, the black men and women, the hope of the slave, et.al. those rejected by the church, Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Martin King, Malcom X all rejected by the mainline majority church, yet their mere words and their mere songs of freedom all have some way somehow incorporated themselves into the church. The reason is that they touch the soul. That is the key to hip-hop does it touch the heart and soul. Jesus after hearing the question from his disciples “Who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus Answers in 9: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. He then spits on the ground. Makes a pack of mud and applies it to the blind man’s eyes. How radical is that? Today Hip-Hop becomes the radical mud pack applied to the eyes of the religious and the spiritually blind.

The critics, just as in the world today were here in the text. Vs. 6 represents the unorthodox way Jesus makes the pack, just like hip-hop and vs. 7 Just like those here today that are thinking how in the world could he see, without coming through the temple priesthood and can see, can hip-hop when you wash in the words of it make an impact? When they leave here today and someone comes to know the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. They too will see. That’s the point of Hip-Hop Mass, use hip-hop as the vehicle, to heal the broken hearts of your young friends, use hip-hop to go places old folk and religious folk, won’t go, use hip-hop to express your anger and use hip-hip to express your love. Hip-hop to the hibbie, ya don’t stop, no matter who don’t like it, and while your at it, look for blind folk, and lame folk, and hungry folk and folk in prisons, and folk naked and homeless, then we will see the true power of words.

The man testifies, 8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man." 10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded. 11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I was lost but now I’m found was blind but now I see.

Prayer Column

2008-02-09T19:13:00.000-05:00

Requests in the form of Prayer are the most powerful statements that human beings can make in the presence of God. God is able to hear your prayer and answer.

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much.

If you comment to this posting in the form of a prayer request, know that it is read and prayer is constantly going up before the presence of God on your behalf.

Pastor Meadows

Anglican Communion from 19th– 21st Century

2008-02-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

Richard D. Meadows, Jr.

Our readings in, Anglican Communion from the 19th-21st Centuries have been dominated by the modern networks and some historical approaches to Anglicanism. In spite of the historical difficulties and struggles, the continuous formulation and evolution, of the church has continued throughout the ages. The Lambeth Conference, the first meeting of the conference was held in 1867. It is a meeting of prelates, called by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has met continuously every ten years since the inception. There have been a total of thirteen conferences with the last being held in 2008.

Lambeth Conferences are known as one of the Instruments of Communion. The Windsor Report has listed these as follows: Primates' Meeting, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council as the Instruments of Communion.

Within the Anglican Communion there have been a series of issues which have been sources of differences and frustrations on many levels. The wonderment of communion has been addressed by bringing the voices of all sides to be heard and remain in communion in spite of the differences. This has been one of the main focuses of Lambeth.

The many voices of the whole communion are held together by “bonds of affection,” so valued for its ability to hold in check the voices that would separate or destroy the communion. It however is the differences of the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada in regards to sexuality and women clergy that have infuriated many others. Lambeth and the Windsor Report both address these differences by the “bonds of affection.”

The Anglican Communion has developed over the past one-hundred and forty two years. It reflects the times and images of a changing world. The Preamble states that the communion is drawn for the world and its people and they shall covenant together, unified in the name of the Lord Jesus. As simple as this may sound it has also been the challenge.

Because of Sacraments, Biblical understanding and continuous struggle, by persons of God inspired character, it has led the evolutionary changes that have occurred since the end of the post colonial era. The growth of the church globally, yet protected by the government of England can be said to have been the original intent, of the Church Fathers, a result of liturgical renewal or evolution of Liturgy and society. The unity and communion of Anglicans so far has held fast through each phase of history.

There has been in the midst of the evolution, of the church, men and women who have believed in a church, that is connected to the God who created the heavens and the earth. Glaring faults have arisen during the pre and post colonial age, and yet those of Anglican beliefs and traditions have held fast. They have held fast, to the belief that this is an inspired and consistently transforming catholic and apostolic Church of God. The Anglican Communion has become a force for good and can finally claim, it has in theory relinquished the fears of old, that would hinder provinces of other cultures and countries from gaining self governance, growth and self sustenance. A set of terms and goals older than the lambeth Conferences. Biblical history’s writings explain the original intent and expectations of the Mother Church. In conjunction with the government of England, the church was protected and supported to grow as large as the Kingdom. Everywhere there was the Kingdom, the church would be there with the understanding of religion and society would walk hand-in-hand.

The development of evangelism, education and creation of a civilized society in foreign lands could be socially and theologically distinctive and central to the Anglican identity of the Anglican church. Where else or in what other denomination did the church have the protection and support of the most powerful military in the world? Only Anglicans who proclaimed the “Sun never sets on the kingdom” had a church who could develop along side of the government. Central to the claim of Anglican identity is that the people would see God first, and then society and government. Also historically, the indigenous people as they came under the control of the kingdom would also see God, order and government. The financial cost of this endeavor can possibly never be calculated. This is the esoterically to what would have been Anglican identity at the time, that no matter what it cost in money or lives, the world wide kingdom would be established. This statement is more political than theological, but if there was no general distinction between political and religious as the kingdom was established, my statement is justified as is.

Development of clergy was central to process of establishing the church globally since the first Lambeth Conference. The goal of developing faithful men that would be dedicated to nurturing God’s people was one of the arguments throughout the resolutions of the covenant. I am however opinioned that, this was also dependant upon the origin and race of the clergy. Training of clergy, which could seem to be a non-issue becomes a hindrance to the creation of a truly indigenous church, which is now reflected in the covenant. Biblically from Paul’s teachings from the Epistles, it could be assumed, The original intent of the Apostles was to receive men who were called by God. This calling of these men was proven by their heart’s desire to serve God’s people, and more importantly answer God’s call.

Men were being afforded the opportunity strictly based upon their formal training and education. It can be implied that this would delay and stifle the mission and growth The distinctive here is that vision of the Anglican Church was more natural and worldy than the vision of the Apostle Paul. Theologically central to the idea of establishing the church was to have clergy to supply those churches. Deployment of clergy as a vocation could be interpreted from Lambeth as always having been the intent, a life shared. God’s people would be nourished and under the control of the Holy Spirit and not the government. This promulgates the idea that the establishment of the church of the people, should be indigenous and that would make it truly the church of the people. A church of the Spirit of communion would make reference to would be one where, the gospel is preached and shared among the faithful.

Lambeth Covenant speaks to autonomy of the indigenous people, along with supporting their infrastructure is vital to the success of the church being established in foreign lands. The support is both spiritual and financial. St. Paul’s words and the work of the Apostles, abiding in the Holy Spirit, could carry forth through the centuries to allow the indigenous to carry out the work of the Lord.

The condition of controlling the church and not allowing the indigenous church to become independent created a struggle that involved castigating the indigenous as “uncivilized and degraded.”

To continue in succession of the teachings of Jesus, and the establishment of a catholic church, there must be faithful men and women, who will continue to struggle in the midst of surmounting challenges of faith, and fundamental ecclesiastical life. Our readings reflect the struggle of early divisions, and civil strife, limited to the Church of England. They also reflect the struggle, to merge with an imperialistic government, become a state church, and the latter realization that the church, has become a victim of its own ambitious goals. However, the church evolves and can no longer join with the state and governmental ambitions but must stand as Jesus Christ implied to prevail against the gates of hell. Overcoming the evil of the world and joining with righteous people with righteous goals for mankind and the church.

The post-colonial example of the Church of South Africa is one of the greatest demonstrations of a modern approach to unification of the Communion. Black Anglicans through Desmond TuTu were tied to the freedom struggle. Tutu’s approach to the various problems of how the church of South Africa has been used to not only promote the health and welfare of the state and government, but the church had become a bystander in the polices which promoted the venomous hatred for the indigenous and people of color. The liberating call of Christ to set captives free, and deliver into their hands the kingdom of Christ comes through the radical power of liberating struggle of Desmond Tutu. Tutu who is English educated returns to South Africa bringing fulfilling the Anglican communion dream of establishing a church free from oppressive controls. Tutu identifies not only his own struggles within the church, and how the church is partner with the oppressive regime, but is strengthened by the struggles of political freedom for his people by his successes he experienced with the Anglican Church, I.e. the Office of Bishop of Lesotho.

The structure of the governmental oppression is destroyed, through the dismantling of the systems, which held Coloreds and Blacks from religious and political freedom. There were to be no reforms of the system of government but, the system had to be deconstructed, which is a major theme of Tutu’s theology. This however could not be accomplished with Black power alone. Tutu finds other ecumenical organizations, Coloreds, Blacks and sympathetic Whites who would join in the fight for Liberation. Tutu helps to set the agenda and goals.# This new coalition of the Rainbow People of God, along with Anglicans is created to increase the demands and the pressure for economic, social and political equality.

The struggle is now theological as it is political. His demands of change in the face of violence, strengthens his call for non-violent resistance by the people. His work is grounded spiritually in “God sending his Son to effect reconciliation to bring about the at-one-ment that would achieve the peace, justice, friendliness, compassion…God was reconciling the world to himself.”# For Tutu there was no separation of the church and the world. The priestly work of Christ has now become the priestly work of the church. Suffering, death on the cross and reconciliation were the seamless robe of Christ, that unites the church and the world, politics and religion, struggle and freedom.

What currently is a central challenge to Anglican Communion and Anglican Identity is Koinonia. It can be argued, that a church in fellowship honors what makes Anglicans unique or magnifies its distinctives. Within the fellowship Anglicans declare through creed, and being an apostolic and catholic holy church, the history and faith, that we are one. In the communion the desire to see a more provincial church with indigenous control has come to pass. The Anglican Communion is also today, very provincial. Diversity and culture have not always been appreciated to its fullest, but the connection between the church and historical context have added a richness to the evolution. The growth of the church has been statistically stagnant, or in decline in some provinces, and exponential growth has occurred in other areas of the world. To the revolutionary, it has not been enough and to the evolutionary it has become what God would have it to be, the Bride of Christ.

Where there has been resistance to change and unity, the universality of the church has moved to the forefront and the church has at times joined with the earthly struggle of freedom and justice. The church has been able to become a functional partner in the global and local development of the church and its primate leaders and priests. Many Provinces have grown and evolved from the strife ridden single island church of the 1500’s. The growth of Anglicanism globally has been astounding.

The church now becomes the church of the people, that will be indigenous, liberating, reconciling and allows for and Holy Spirit inspired. Once this freedom of the people occurs through the church’s unity and struggle, it illuminates Roland Allen’s work. The struggle has changed, vis-à-vis, oppression by a minority upon a majority with race/skin color as the only determinant. The Anglican Church led by Tutu has stood in the face of many differences, its people have suffered the persecution and oppression of apartheid and realized their hope for a future of equality and peace.

Based upon the efforts, advancements and developments of the global Anglican Communion, is no longer the equivalent of the Ecclesiastical Expansion of England. Growth of the churches, self-sustenance , and self governance will not be supported at the financial levels of the past, but finally become the church the Anglican divine Roland Taylor dreamed of; Growth through the preached word, whereby men would receive the word, receive Christ, and His Spirit. In doing so the church in foreign lands would sustain itself and grow as the churches of Asia Minor during the lifetime of the Apostle Paul.

Final Thoughts for Anglican Thoughts

2008-02-04T09:49:00.000-05:00

By Richard D. Meadows, Jr.

Although our writings in Introduction to Anglican Thought have been dominated by the historical approaches to Anglicanism, there is one strand that runs through each of the writers work. That is, in spite of the difficulties and struggles, the continuous formulation and evolution, of the church has continued throughout the ages. Because of Sacraments, Biblical understanding and continuous struggle, by persons of God inspired character, it has led the evolutionary changes that have occurred since the end of the post colonial era. The growth of the church globally, yet protected by the government of England can be said to have been the original intent, of the Church Fathers, a result of liturgical renewal or evolution of Liturgy and society. The unity and communion of Anglicans has held fast through each phase of history.

There has been in the midst of the evolution, of the church, men and women who have believed in a church, that is connected to the God who created the heavens and the earth. Glaring faults have arisen during the pre and post colonial age, and yet those of Anglican beliefs and traditions have held fast. They have held fast, to the belief that this is an inspired and consistently transforming catholic and apostolic Church of God. The Anglican Communion has become a force for good and can finally claim, it has in theory relinquished the fears of old, that would hinder provinces of other cultures and countries from gaining self governance, growth and self sustenance. A set of terms and goals older than the writing of Roland Allen. Roland Allen’s writings explain the original intent and expectations of the Mother Church. In conjunction with the government of England, the church was protected and supported to grow as large as the Kingdom. Everywhere there was the Kingdom, the church would be there with the understanding of religion and society would walk hand-in-hand.

Evangelism, education and creation of a civilized society in foreign lands could be socially and theologically distinctive and central to the Anglican identity of the Anglican church. Where else did the church have the protection and support of the most powerful military in the world? Only Anglicans who proclaimed the “Sun never sets on the kingdom” had a church who could develop along side of the government. Central to the claim of Anglican identity is that the people would see God first, and then society and government. Also historically, the indigenous people as they came under the control of the kingdom would also see God, order and government. The financial cost of this endeavor can possibly never be calculated. This is the esoterically to what would have been Anglican identity at the time, that no matter what it cost in money or lives, the world wide kingdom would be established. This statement is more political than theological, but if there was no general distinction between political and religious as the kingdom was established, my statement is justified as is.

Development of clergy is central to process of establishing the church globally. The goal of developing faithful men that would be dedicated to nurturing God’s people was one of the arguments Roland Allen makes. Training of clergy, which could seem to be a non-issue becomes a hindrance to the creation of a truly indigenous church. Allen, states the original intent of the Apostles was to receive men who were called by God. This calling of these men was proven by their heart’s desire to serve God’s people, and more importantly answer God’s call. Roland Allen believed the calling of the priest, to serve was not to be precluded by formal education and training but by the Holy Spirit. The opposite was occurring during Allen’s time. Men were being afforded the opportunity based upon their formal training and education. It can be implied that this would delay and stifle the growth of the church by the missionary minded Allen. The distinctive here is that vision by Allen was spiritual and the vision of the Anglican Church was more natural. Theologically central to the idea of establishing the church was to have clergy to supply those churches. Deployment of clergy as a vocation could be interpreted by Allen as, God’s people will be nourished and under the control of the Holy Spirit and not the government.

Allen was not anti-establishment, only pro-Apostolic. He promulgates the idea that the establishment of the church of the people, should be indigenous and that would make it truly the church of the people. A church of the Spirit as Allen would make reference to would be one where, the gospel is preached. Allen believes, through the preaching of the gospel, which is necessary and vital, and with the consciousness of power, the indigenous attain the consciousness of the soul. It is preaching that moves men’s souls and is the powerful medium upon which the church is established. When this is not the way of the church Roland Allen seemed to be a victim of his own righteous indignation, he attributed to the martyrdom of Stephen in the writings of St. Luke.

Roland believes autonomy of the indigenous people, along with supporting their infrastructure is vital to the success of the church being established in foreign lands. The support is both spiritual and financial. In the statement I have drawn from, it simply states that, the church if established, will do so, by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Christ sufficed to all conditions.” St. Paul’s words and the work of the Apostles, abiding in the Holy Spirit, could carry forth through the centuries to allow the indigenous to carry out the work of the Lord. The condition of controlling the church and not allowing the indigenous church to become independent created a struggle that involved castigating Indians and Africans as “uncivilized and degraded.”

The Holy Spirit is manifested to express success of the evangelistic work of the church, growth of the indigenous church and the spread of the gospel.# By embracing the work of the Holy Spirit the church globally awakens to the work of the Spirit of the Acts of the apostles. Allen exhorts the church to go ahead and err on the side of caution, to proceed with missionary zeal and open to world the benefits and actions of the Holy Spirit. To continue in succession of the teachings of Jesus, and the establishment of a catholic church, there must be faithful men and women, who will continue to struggle in the midst of surmounting challenges of faith, and fundamental ecclesiastical life.

Our readings reflect the struggle of early divisions, and civil strife, limited to the Church of England. They also reflect the struggle, to merge with an imperialistic government, become a state church, and the latter realization that the church, has become a victim of its own ambitious goals. However, the church evolves and can no longer join with the state and governmental ambitions but must stand as Jesus Christ implied to prevail against the gates of hell. Overcoming the evil of the world and joining with righteous people with righteous goals for mankind and the church.

The post-colonial example of Desmond TuTu’s approach to the various problems of how the church of South Africa has been used to not only promote the health and welfare of the state and government, but the church has become a bystander in the polices which promoted the venomous hatred for the indigenous and people of color. The liberating call of Christ to set captives free, and deliver into their hands the kingdom of Christ comes through the radical power of liberating struggle of Desmond Tutu. Tutu who is English educated returns to South Africa bringing fulfilling Roland Allen’s dream, to establish a church free from oppressive controls. Tutu identifies not only his own struggles within the church, and how the church is partner with the oppressive regime, but is strengthened by the struggles of political freedom for his people by his successes he experienced with the Anglican Church, I.e. the Office of Bishop of Lesotho.

The structure of the governmental oppression is destroyed, through the dismantling of the systems, which held Coloreds and Blacks from religious and political freedom. There were to be no reforms of the system of government but, the system had to be deconstructed, which is a major theme of Tutu’s theology. This however could not be accomplished with Black power alone. Tutu finds other ecumenical organizations, Coloreds, Blacks and sympathetic Whites who would join in the fight for Liberation. This new coalition of the Rainbow People of God, is created to increase the demands and the pressure for economic, social and political equality.

He is able to complete the mission by linking the potential freedom fighters, who were willing to die for the cause with the mission of Jesus (Luke 4). Jesus came to preach liberation to the captives and the global community along with global religion brought the final blow through economic sanctions and the threat of violence that would destroy the systems of Apartheid and destroy a nation.

Theologically Tutu makes the leap to bring the struggle to all churches through the South African Council of Churches. The struggle is now theological as it is political. His demands of change in the face of violence, strengthens his call for non-violent resistance by the people. His work is grounded spiritually in “God sending his Son to effect reconciliation to bring about the at-one-ment that would achieve the peace, justice, friendliness, compassion…God was reconciling the world to himself.”# For Tutu there was no separation of the church and the world. The priestly work of Christ has now become the priestly work of the church. Suffering, death on the cross and reconciliation were the seamless robe of Christ, that unites the church and the world, politics and religion, struggle and freedom.

Tutu accepts the call of the Apostle Paul, “As he has enlisted us in this service of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) he references the power and actions demanded by Koinonia. If the church is to remain in fellowship and unity it must take up the struggle. I take Roland Allen and Tutu, merge their theology and struggle with Allen’s statement, “He (Holy Spirit) led them to reach out further and further into the Gentile world, breaking down every barrier which would hinder its witness of prevent them from receiving into communion men the most remote from them in habits of thought and life.”

Tutu said, Apartheid was evil, because all human beings were created in God’s image, Jesus work of reconciliation was primordial and it prevented Koinonia. Apartheid would hinder the wok of the church and prevents the total Sovereignty of God. History, Jesus and the country of South Africa now according to Tutu have something in common, the mission of Christ on earth and reconciliation of the people of South Africa. This confirms Tutu’s connection with the Holy Spirit that the freedom derived from the struggle was Holy Spirit inspired but very Christic in its goals of freedom and unity of the people.

What currently is central to Anglican Identity is Koinonia of the Anglican Communion. It can be implied Allen and Tutu argue, that a church in fellowship honors what makes Anglicans unique or magnifies its distinctive. Within the fellowship Anglicans declare through creed, and being an apostolic and catholic holy church, the history and faith, that we are one. In South Africa Roland Allen’s desire to see a more provincial church with indigenous control has come to pass. The Anglican Communion is also today, very provincial. Diversity and culture have not always been appreciated to its fullest, but the connection between the church and historical context have added a richness to the evolution. The growth of the church has been statistically stagnant, or in decline in some provinces, and exponential growth has occurred in other areas of the world. There could be an assumption and resistance to the fact, that men and women have relinquished the church to its indigenous and faithful members. This can only mean Roland Allen and Desmond Tutu’s work have not been in vain. To the revolutionary, it has not been enough and to the evolutionary it has become what God would have it to be, the Bride of Christ.

In conclusion, where there has been resistance to change, the universality of the church has moved to the forefront and the church has at times joined with the earthly struggle of freedom and justice. The church has been able to become a functional partner in the global and local development of the church and its leaders. Many Provinces have grown from the strife ridden single island church of the 1500’s. The growth of Anglicanism globally has been astounding. What has remained constant has been, the lineage of the priesthood by the laying on of hands, Baptism and Eucharist, the primordial belief in the incarnate Christ as exemplar and the primacy of scripture. This is anchored by tradition and the words of the inspired through the Book of Common Prayer.

The church now becomes the church of the people, that will be indigenous, liberating, reconciling and allows for and Holy Spirit inspired. Once this freedom of the South African people occurred, through the church’s unity and struggle, it illuminates Roland Allen’s work. The struggle has changed, vis-à-vis, oppression by a minority upon a majority with race/skin color as the only determinant. The Anglican Church has stood in the face of apartheid, its people have suffered the persecution (as Jesus did), and hoped for a future of equality and peace.

Resume

2008-02-04T09:39:00.002-05:00

RICHARD D. MEADOWS, JR.

Rdmeadowsjr@hotmail.com

Education:

Virginia Theological Seminary, Anglican Studies, Alexandria VA 2010

The Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education, ACPE May 2006-September 2007

Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service, Resident Year, AAPC February 2005- September 2006

Virginia Union University, Master of Divinity Richmond VA 2002-2005

Hampton University, Hampton VA 1976-76 & 1978-79

Simmons School of Mortuary Science, Syracuse NY 1977

Employment/Pastoral Experience:

St. Martin's Episcopal Church

Interim Assistant Rector

September 2010-May 2011

1333 Jamestown Rd., Williamsburg VA 23185

The Episcopal Church of the Atonement, VTS Field Education Site, Sept. 2009-May 2010

5073 East Capital Street, Washington DC 20019, 202-582-4200

Supervisor The Rev. H. Jocelyn Irving

Assisted Rector in all phases of church operations and liturgy. Major project was the design and implement of the new Healing Ministry. Facilitating classes with the help of new Healing Ministry Team, led discussions related to text book chosen. This led up to the first Healing Service of the church.

St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Ordination Exploration Process Site, Sept. 2008-Dec. 2008

13333 Jamestown Rd., Williamsburg, VA 23185, 757-229-1111

Supervisor The Rev. Shirley Smith-Graham

During Diocesan Exploration Ordination Process, assigned to St. Martin’s, working with Rector, Order of St. Luke and Pastoral Care Committee. Designed worship service in genre of Jazz Vespers working with church musician and choir. Participated in worship and Pastoral Care of Congregation under Rector.

LifeNet Health, Donor Family Advocate, September 2007-September 2009

3609 Saunders Avenue, Richmond VA 23227, 800-847-7831

Supervisor Robin Cowherd

Primary Commitment to Donor Families at Consent and Beyond, Communication to Donor Families two months post-donation: telephone follow-up Donor Family/Transplant Recipient Communication, Facilitating letters, cards, telephone conversations and e-mails concluding with meetings of donor/recipient families, if desired. Planned and facilitated Central Virginia’s Annual "In Celebration and Remembrance" donor remembrance tribute. Periodic grief support groups, Donor family peer care giving (Grief Companions) and Workshops on loss and grieving to Hospital critical care employees and ICU staffs.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, CPE Resident, May 2006-September 2007

600 Gresham Ave., Norfolk VA 23504, 757-831-3181

Supervisor Russell H. Davis, PhD

Served as resident , coverage in all units including ED and ICU’s. Currently serves on Professional Advisory Group (PAG). In addition to providing overall guidance to the operation and development of the CPE program, interact with CPE students in a number of ways including as adjunct faculty, and on admission and exit interview committees. Earned CPE five units.

Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service, Resident February 2005-September 2006

7305 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23505-2908, (757) 623-2700

Supervisor William Hedrick, D. MIn

Served as counseling resident to patients, specializing in adjustment disorders. Under Supervision including 30 hours of post graduate pastoral counseling education.

Herbert Baptist Church, Pastor, April 2003-June 2007

PO Box 6, Wachapreague VA 23480, 757-878-4661

Supervisor James Nedab, Jr.

Served as pastor to a rural congregation, after a 40 year pastorate. Redesigned ministry and enabled membership to envision a new direction of leadership through training and conflict resolution.

Queen Street Baptist Church 2001-2003 Associate Minister

New Mt. Ararat Temple of Prayer 1997-2001 Associate Minister

New Hope Church of God in Christ 1987-2000 Associate Minister

Facilitator/Teaching Experience:

Support Group: Good Grief Workshop Southwest Church of Christ, Richmond VA 2008

Medical Instructor, Virginia School of Practical Nursing, 2004-2005

Facilitator 4th Annual Palliative Care Conference: Developing Excellence in Palliative Care, The Thomas Johns Cancer Center Annual Palliative Care Conference, CJW Johnston Willis Medical Center Facilitator 2008

Organ Donation: Is it an Option? Richmond VA 2008

University of Virginia Pediatric Core Curriculum Grief and Loss Facilitator Pediatric Death Charlottesville VA 2008

Ministry to Angry Families, Facilitator 2009 & Grief and Loss for Hospital Caregivers 2009

August Wilson's Fences and African American Culture SNGH Didactic 2011

Awards and Additional Experience:

2010 New Clergy Fellow Chautauqua Institute

Critical Incident Stress Management

SNGH Clinical Ethics Committee

Medical Instructor-Virginia School of Practical Nursing

NY State Funeral Director

Out Patient Hematology and Pathology Assistant Roswell Park Memorial Institute

References:

The Rev. H. Jocelyn Irving

The Episcopal Church of the Atonement

5073 East Capital Street, Washington DC 20019

202-582-4200

The Rev. Shirley Smith-Graham

St. Martin’s Episcopal Church

1333 Jamestown Road

Williamsburg, VA 23185

757-229-1111

Mr. Robin Cowherd

LifeNet Health

3609 Saunders Ave.

Richmond VA 23227

757-609-4482

2008-02-01T00:52:00.009-05:00

Richard D. Meadows, Jr.

Has a tremendous passion for God's Word coupled with a love for God's people. He has a contagious spirit of generosity that overflows throughout every facet of his ministry. Richard was born in Buffalo, NY and educated in Buffalo public schools. Graduating with honors from Riverside High School, he continued his education in Business attending Hampton (Institute) University and majoring in Mortuary Science at Simmons School in Syracuse NY.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." has been the theme for his ministry. His experiences and calling began in the 21 years he spent in St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church learning the art of loving people from Father Kenneth F. Curry.

He began his career in funeral service working in a family business Meadows Bros. Funeral Home started by his grandfather in 1936. He eventually began and operated his own funeral hone in 1988.

Called to ministry in 1983, under the pastorate of Elder Ureese Chillis, at New Hope Church of God in Christ, in Buffalo and trained in church administration working for the Second Jurisdiction WNY. He served the COGIC Diocesan Bishop as Provisional Secretary. He was ordained in the Church of God in Christ in 1987, as an Associate Minister he was a Missionary to Haiti. Working in missions in Port-Au-Prince, Desabbles, Carfu and St. Michel. Helping in Medical, Educational and preaching projects with Mother Irene Oakly of Philadelphia.

In 2000 he closed his business and moved to Virginia to begin a full time career in ministry. Serving as Associate Minister of Missions and Ministry Development at the Historic Queen Street Baptist Church in Norfolk VA. He led teams back to Haiti, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, before taking the position of Pastor of Herbert Baptist Church for four years on Virginia's Eastern Shore. He currently serves as Interim Assistant Rector of St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Williamsburg, VA.

He studied completing his Master of Divinity, Virginia Union University, and completed post-graduate, five units of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) at Sentara Norfolk General and and serves on the prestigious Professional Advisory Committee with Dr. Russell H. Davis. He completed two years post grad of counseling education at Tidewater Pastoral Counseling.

In 2007, his desire, being led of the Spirit was to return to the Episcopal Church. In May 2010 he completed the graduate certificate in Anglican Studies at Virginia Theological Seminary.

Richard works as a Pastoral Counselor (AAPC) specializing in Grief Therapy working with victims of homicide and adjustment disorders. He is the husband of Linda Mose Meadows Author of the Blessedness of Believing: A devotional jouney of life's lessons and God's promises. who is the Parish Administrator of St. Martin's.

He has six children, Torrie, Courtney (1981-2005+), Michael (Morgan State), Mary (NC A&T), Taylor (Denmark Tech) and Jaycina (Virginia State) and three grandchildren. He loves kite flying, the beach, theatre and the arts. He sang with the Hampton Institute Concert Choir, the Grammy nominated Var-Son Community Choir (GMWA), and performed with the King's Troupe Theater Company. InFebruary he produced the theatrical production of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters First One Hundred Years, at the Attucks Theatre and Cultural Center in Norfolk VA, directed by Artisia Green-Dallas of William and Mary College.

Curriculum Vitae

2007-06-29T16:49:00.007-04:00

Curriculum Vitae
Richard D. Meadows, Jr., M.Div.

Education:
Virginia Union University, Master of Divinity
The Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education ACPE
Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service AAPC
Hampton University, Hampton VA
Simmons School of Mortuary Science, Syracuse NY

Ecclesiastical Status:
Episcopal Church USA
Ordained Queen Street Baptist Church American Baptist Church 2003
Ordained Minister Church of God in Christ 1987

Facilitator/Teaching Experience:

August Wilson and African American Culture, Chaplaincy Didactic, Norfolk, VA 2011

Good Grief Workshop Retreat for victims of homicide at Chautauqua Institution, & Richmond VA 2009
Medical Instructor, Virginia School of Practical Nursing, 2004-2005
Facilitator 4th Annual Palliative Care Conference: Developing Excellence in Palliative Care, The Thomas Johns Cancer Center Annual Palliative Care Conference CJW Johnston Willis Medical Center Facilitator
Organ Donation: Is it an Option? Richmond VA 2008
University of Virginia Pediatric Core Curriculum Grief

and Loss Facilitator Pediatric Death Charlottesville VA 2008
Sentrara Norfolk General Hospital, The Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education

Ministry to Angry Families, Facilitator

Clinical Experience and Training:
LifeNet Health Donor Family Advocate
Critical Incident Stress Management Facilitator
Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service/Resident and Counselor
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital The Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education

Clinical Pastoral Education Intern Five Units /Chaplain
NY State Funeral Director
Pathology Assistant Roswell Park Memorial Institute
Enneagram Training
SNGH Clinical Ethics Committee

Pastoral Experience:

St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Williamsburg, VA Assistant Rector
The Episcopal Church of the Atonement, Washington DC Field Education Site

Pastor Herbert Baptist Church, Wachapreague, VA

Queen Street Baptist Church, Norfolk VA Associate Minister of Missions

and Community Development
New Horizon Community Development Corporation
Mt. Ararat Baptist Church Buffalo, NY Associate Minister for Missions
New Hope Church of God in Christ, Buffalo NY Associate Minister for Missions

Professional Memberships/Affiliations:
The Sentara School of Clinical Pastoral Education

Professional Advisory Group Norfolk General Hospital
Committee on Multiculturalism and Diversity LifeNet Health
UNOS Donate Life Partnership Richmond VA
Virginia Chaplains
Bereavement Coalition of Central Virginia
Episcopal Diocese of Southern VA
American Baptist Churches of the South
Eastern Shore Maryland Virginia Baptist Association
NYS Licensed Funeral Director

Continuing Education:
Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Living in the Shadow of the Ghosts of Grief, workshop by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D., Hampton, VA
Anti-Racism and Sexual Harassment Training, Episcopal Diocese of Southern VA, Surry VA
The Prest Lecture, Culture and Faith: Embracing Diversity,
Edwin Nichols, Ph.D., VCU School of Nursing, Richmond VA,
Annual Good Grief Conference Healing Faith: The Dying Process and Beyond,

VCU Department of Education and Professional Development, Richmond VA 2007 & 2008
Annual Conference American Association of Pastoral Counselors, Norfolk VA

What Is It?

2007-06-29T16:34:00.000-04:00

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”26Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.27Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”28Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”30So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”32Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”42They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”43Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.45It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.48I am the bread of life.49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

There is a difference between life and death. Life means that there is the circulation of blood. Health in the marrow, production of cells made mostly of Iron and Oxygen. Red corpuscles moving throughout the body delivering to the tissue the health and life that it needs. The universal sign that there is life is the cry of the baby. The stronger the baby’s cry the more confident those responsible for the birth are that there is life. Crying symbolizes that there is life and that the life is responding to its environment. Living and breathing is what defines human life. That which was defined as zygote (egg) is fertilized and at conception life begins. One stem cell moves and takes form and this movement determines that all of the parts necessary will be present at birth. The baby or the fetus because of its human imperfection allows some to disregard its value, it is the slow start and the static nine months of growth that frightens some and never the less the sound determined by the opening and closing of the valves, the heart beat that allows one to dream of the child that is to follow.

Life has its limitations; there is a beginning and an end. There is a place to start and a place to end.

The writer of Ecclesiastes describes it as For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

We speak of time and eternity but what is this we speak of at this particular juncture of life, let me answer this rhetorical question myself. It is the time to live. The church is looking for meaning and in every circumstance, every hurt soul, every tear that is shed, every dime that is lost, every life that is murdered, every beginning and every ending, we look for an answer and in the answer our prayer is Lord, give us life. We have to ask at times “What is This?” what is it Lord that is happening now in this space and time of life?

As we look around we become sometimes disillusioned, disenchanted, disheartened, cynical, disappointed, dissatisfied, thwarted and frustrated. Life becomes hard and that which we put our trust in the church becomes harder. Jesus simplifies the whole 6th chapter of John by using the term non-belief. Verse 63 and 64 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.64But there are some of you who do not believe.”
The discussion was about that which would symbolize the oneness and unity of the body of Christ until his coming. Institution of the Lord's Supper14And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.15And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.16For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” This is vital to understanding the work of the divine one. Jesus is the anointed Christ, Emmanuel; God with us, his position as servant and king. They would drink from the cup and eat bread with the king and sacrificial lamb.

They did not recognize the kingdom was now come to earth and the symbolic becomes the definitive, the demonstrative becomes the actual and that the body and blood and the sharing in this moment would speed the process of the kingdom coming on earth. This was necessary; the Passover and then the crucifixion because God had decided that without the shedding of blood there would be no remission or forgiveness of sins. It is the spirit that gives life. We move into the spiritual realm of sharing in the body and blood to receive the life giving power of the actual body and blood.

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Romans 10:13For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God.
This gives us the first answer to the question What is this? In order to recognize;

1. Hear The Word!

Hearing and believing now become one in the same. Hearing allows us to begin the process of developing faith. The disciples who left Jesus in the 6th chapter heard what they wanted to hear. What they heard was a terrible thing, they heard the practice of cannibalism whereby human eat and digest other human beings. When things began to become uncomfortable and Jesus had already exposed some folk who had come for the feedings and not the miracles, he now challenges the faith of the disciples and says that your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread coming down from heaven, eat it and live. The road was getting tougher and the hills were becoming harder to climb. People were beginning to express their hatred and disdain for the Christ, they knew Mary and Joseph’s boy, but they did not know the anointed one. When children of God are required to come out of their comfort zone, we begin to hear things differently. To hear the Word as the Word, it requires something. A new level of commitment is required, perhaps I can put it this way a new walk...a new talk...new hands and new feet, new places to go and things to do, but certainly you won’t be the same. I believe they call it walking in the newness of life. It was no longer about social constructs and safety nets for the people, but it was about who was going to be there when the stuff hit the fan. Who would be there when the hosanna’s changed to hatred? Who’s there when the praise turned to purification? Who’d be there when the laughter stops, cause the parties over now and you feel like you’re under the curse? It’s getting a little tougher now QSBC and its time to hear the word. In Luke's account, Luke writes in the same context: "Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him." (Luke 8:18 NIV) Folk will fall and loose their position, loose their mental toughness, tenacity, resolve, drive and determination to hear what God is saying.

2. Call on Him, when was the last time you called on the Lord.

Matthew 9:27-30 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. (NIV) For them it was not enough just to hear but in calling their hearing now matches their faith and God hears the cry of those who call upon Him. We must see how it is to work through the life of Christ. Romans 10:8-11 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (NIV) The disciples were close but just could not hang in there. Somebody today is ready to run, but the word is nigh you. Somebody wants to give up, but the word is nigh you. Somebody wants to quit, throw in the towel, but the word in nigh you. Do like Peter and the boy, stick around to see what the end is going to be.

3. Check people’s feet see which direction their pointed in.

In football you’re trained to watch the waist and not the head. Folks, say anything, feigning like their going to stay for the long haul, but don’t be fooled hang in there. These one hundred and some-odd disciples walked away that day. Jesus looks at Peter and say’s will you also go? Peter says no, you have the words of eternal life. We know who you are. What is it?

Jesus is the bread of heaven, he is the kinsman redeemer, he is the Alpha and Omega, Author and Perfecter of our Faith, Bread of Life, Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4), Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11), Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14), King of kings (1 Tim 6:15; Rev. 19:16), Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16), Lamb of God (John 1:29), Morning Star (Rev. 22:16), Mary’s baby (Matthew 1:21). He is water in a dry land. But today he is the bread of life, which has come down from heaven. What is it? He’s whatever and whenever...The bread was bread that came from heaven in a time when there was no provision.

However the people of Israel forgot that it was God that spoke to Moses, And Moses said unto God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. The people and Pharaoh might have had a problem but it still was God.

JEHOVAH-JIREH: "The Lord will provide." Gen. 22:14. From "jireh" ("to see" or "to provide," God always provides, adequate when the times come.
JEHOVAH-ROPHE: "The Lord Who Heals" Ex. 15:22-26. From "rophe" ("to heal"); implies spiritual, emotional as well as physical healing.
JEHOVAH-NISSI: "The Lord Our Banner." Ex. 17:15. God on the battlefield, from word which means "to glisten," "to lift up,"
JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH: "The Lord Who Sanctifies" Lev. 20:8. "To make whole, set apart for holiness."
JEHOVAH-SHALOM: "The Lord Our Peace" Judges 6:24. "Shalom" translated "peace" means "whole," "finished," "fulfilled," "perfected." Related to "well," welfare." Shalom means that kind of peace that results from being a whole person in right relationship to God and to one's fellow man.

But beyond that the old song writers from under the brush harbor would say he is bread when I’m hungry. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Today, Jesus invites those who had turned away from God to accept God’s invitation to his glorious salvation. We live in the age of spiritual hunger. Spiritual hunger makes people to become tired and burdened and restless. Today’s passage consists of God’s invitation, God’s command, and God’s promise. I pray that we may accept God’s invitation to the hungry, obey his command, seek the Lord while he may be found, and claim his promise of fruitfulness, joy and peace. This time God invites all of us to the heavenly banquet filled with delicious spiritual food prepared by Jesus. May God bless you to eat the bread of our good shepherd Jesus provides and to eat the bread of life of his life-giving word.

Group and Individual Counseling Sessions

2007-06-28T09:50:00.001-04:00

Our Purpose

My Counseling Service consists of a dedicated individual trained to help you grow in your most significant relationships and in your own personal life. I acknowledge the Multi-cultural and Multi-faith communities and I am dedicated to providing pastoral counseling to anyone regardless of age, race, faith perspective or socio-economic background.Ordained clergy representing a wide variety of walks of life, who have specialized training in counseling.

I possess a working knowledge of personality development, psychopathology, theories of counseling, the psychology of religious experience and marriage and family dynamics. I have a graduate degree in theology, am ordained and working in a clinical and parrish setting.I center care around your personality and type to allow you to first know yourself and then tackle the isues and problems you face. My Mission is to know you in the fellowship of suffering to help you obtain comfort in your most difficult times of life.

Individual Counseling
Marriage Counseling
Family Counseling
Group Counseling
Specialized Care for Children and Teens
Pre-Marital Counseling
Spiritual Direction
Divorce
Recovery
Anger and Anxiety
Depression
Critical Incident Stress Management
Ethics Consultations
Family Life Education
Pastors' Seminars
Pastors' Support

We use the disciplines of faith and theology with the knowledge and skills of the behavioral sciences. With each encounter we begin to see more and more the effect that mind and spirit has upon us all. You begin to share your sacred story and it is your own stories that bring healing and covenant with self. It is in the process that we will be conduits of good or righteousness. We are hoping for at the least a good “pastoral visit.”It is in the visit that we find power not only for the you but for us to reclaim and systematically through the counseling process the power to connect to our own internalized thoughts and self held conversations to find wholeness.

Seminar Topics

This support group meeting is held weekly in the Southern Virginia Area. Grief groups are designed so that you can begin attending on any week. There are no fees for group sessions but donations are accepted.

Living With Grief – Session 1

This session introduces participants to Grief. It also explains what living with grief is like, why participants shouldn’t be ashamed of their grief and why they shouldn’t rush their healing.

The Journey of Grief – Session 2

This session prepares your group for what to expect along the journey of grief. At the same time, it emphasizes that everyone’s journey will be unique and warns against comparing grief experiences.

The Effects of Grief – Session 3

Your group members are probably surprised at how debilitating grief is. This session explains that this is normal and suggests practical ways to find comfort.

When Someone You Love Dies – Session 4

This session helps grievers think through the critical issues involved in their healing. It also begins preparing your entire group to face the realities of life without their loved ones.Your

Family and Grief – Session 5

This session shares how to keep a family afloat when its members are drowning in grief. It also presents some of the unique issues involved in grieving the death of a child.

The Question Why? –Session 6

Just because God doesn’t answer all of our questions doesn’t mean God won’t answer any of them. This session answers “Why” questions and encourages group members to begin asking other questions as well.

The Uniqueness of Grief – Session 7

This session explores how the causes of, and personal responses to, a loved one’s death affect one’s grief. Topics addressed include suicide, long-term illness, murder and false guilt.

The Uniqueness of Grief – Session 8

Relationships, past and present, affect one’s grief. This session helps participants address insensitive comforters and unresolved conflict with a deceased loved one.

The Word on Grief – Session 9

The bereaved are often overwhelmed by the advice they receive from others. And often, what goes unnoticed is what God says about healing. This session tells participants how to position themselves to experience God’s healing.

Stuck in Grief – Session 10

It’s easy to get stuck along the journey of grief, This session explains how to keep moving on the path to healing.

The Journey to Overcome – Session 11

In this session, those who’ve walked the journey of grief will share what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown from their grief experience.

The Journey to Overcome – Session 12

In this session we unveil the most significant lessons that can be learned during grief.Hope -- Session 13This session gives practical advice on how to tap into, and hold onto, the source of hope in this disappointing world.

Fees For Individual Sessions

Group Fees $80. for complete series of sessions, groups limited to ten persons.Services & Fees For Individual Sessions

Sliding Scale $30. - $100. per 1 hour sessionProfessional Counseling and Therapy Services are available!We are committed to providing affordable professional services in a secure environment that is convenient, easy to use and confidential. And, our payment system is discreet and the word “counseling” does not appear on your credit card statement. If you’d like to use an alternative payment method please contact us for more information. And, ask about our Military Discount if applicable!In addition, we adhere to the latest ethical practice guidelines suggested for online counseling services. Your personal information is strictly confidential and is not shared with any third party providers or companies. Your private communications and all credit card information is safe and secure with us. All data is stored completely secure state-of-the-art data management safeguards. Rest assured that relevant information will not be disclosed. If you have any confidentiality or security questions and concerns feel free to e-mail me for more information.

Telephone Counseling ServicesTelephone counseling services are available 7 days a week, throughout the calendar year by appointment. Each telephone session is 60 minutes long, arrangements can be made to talk over a state of the art encrypted phone line, unless other arrangements are made. Your request will promptly be processed and you will be contacted within 24-48 hours upon payment. The e-mail address and telephone number you provide upon payment will be used to respond to your request unless otherwise directed.$50.00 per session (max charge limit)$145.00 per 3-session package ($5.00 savings!)$225.00 per 5-session package ($25.00 savingsE-mail Counseling Services)

Resume

2007-01-08T16:56:00.000-05:00

RICHARD D. MEADOWS, JR.
e-mail: rdmeadowsjr@hotmail.com

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Clinical Pastoral Education Resident 2006 – September 2007
Norfolk General Hospital (CPE Resident), Norfolk, VA
 Experience providing pastoral care to patients, families and hospital staff. For a Level One Trauma Center providing Tertiary Care.
 Primary care for Heart Hospital Critical Care Unit, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and Cardiac Care, Medicine Intensive Care Unit, Vascular Intensive Care Unit, Burn Trauma Unit, Neurological ICU, Emergency Department, Women’s Health (Labor and Delivery and Nurseries). Providing shift coverage for Traumas, Codes and Medical Emergency Department.
 Patient and family conference planning hospice care and end of life issues. Grief and bereavement care to families. Planning officiating and delivery of homily at memorial services for grieving parents.

Pastoral Counselor 2005 - Present
Tidewater Pastoral Counseling Service, Norfolk VA
 Providing person-centered therapy focusing on the growth of individuals. Counseling clients with adjustment disorders, anger management and grief. In the process of completing a clinical training program and possess a working knowledge of personality development, psychopathology, theories of counseling, the psychology of religious experience and marriage and family dynamics.

Area Coordinator 2004-2005
Baptist General Convention of VA, Richmond, VA
 SPICES for Life Campaign in Virginia Coordinator for the development and implementation of Commonwealth of Virginia’s initiative addressing health concerns of the residents of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Northampton and Accomac Counties.

Medical Instructor 2003-2004
Virginia School of Technology School of Practical Nursing, Virginia Beach Virginia
 Medical instructor for Level one and two of biology courses, Pathology for Therapists and Medical Terminology course for Court Stenographers. American Red Cross ALS Instructor to student nurses for BLS certification

MINISTERIAL PROFILE
Pastor 2003 – June 2007
Herbert Baptist Church, Eastern Shore Virginia
 Currently serves as Pastor since June 2003 have a proven and successful track record
in conflict resolution and development of individual abilities and gifts, identifying and training persons for particular works in ministry. Responsible for the development of peaceful atmosphere so that the true work of ministry can begin. Perform weddings, memorials and funeral services.

Associate Minister of Missions and Ministry Development
Queen Street Baptist Church, Norfolk, VA 2000-2003
 I served as Associate Minister of Development and Minister of International Missions. My duties included development of mission ministry and ministry development of social ministries to the homeless and non-working population of Norfolk, VA. Training and leading teams of missionaries to Haiti and Africa

Associate Minister
Mt. Ararat Baptist Church/New Mt. Ararat Temple of Prayer, Buffalo, NY 1997-2000
 Duties included the areas of member care, preaching and teaching ministry. Director of Missions and development of Mission ministry and church building in Dessabbles and Port-Au-Prince,Haiti

EDUCATIONAL PROFILE

 Norfolk General Hospital Association of Clinical Pastoral Education Four Units 2006
 Tidewater Pastoral Counseling -American Association of Pastoral Counseling 2005
 Virginia Union University Masters of Divinity 2005
 Hampton University 1979
 Simmons School of Mortuary Science 1977

CERTIFICATIONS

 Licensed Funeral Director – New York State (currently not active)
 Ordination in Baptist Church
 Ordination in The Church of God in Christ

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

 Maryland-Virginia Eastern Shore Baptist Association
 American Baptist Churches of the South
 Baptist General Convention of Virginia
 American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC)
 Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE)

PRIOR WORK HISTORY

 Meadows Funeral Home Owner/Manager Buffalo, NY 1988-2000
 Metropolitan Funeral Chapel Rochester, NY 1986-1988
 Roswell Memorial Park Cancer Inst. Buffalo, NY 1983-1986
 Meadows Bros. Funeral Home, Buffalo, NY 1978-1983

Black Religion and New Black Radicalism

2006-10-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

Retexturization of a Tradition by Alison P. Gise Johnson and Wilmore’s Black Religion and Black Radicalism: an Examination of the Black Experience in Religion the chapter on The Deradicalization of the Black Church. This is a very tough chapter to understand at first as far as the total deradicalization of the church, but I would say that there are some other forces at work that must be looked at to understand and determine how the deradicalization has occurred. The forces have more to do with the way African Americans in particular view their progress and ask the question is there a need for a radical struggle? Our views in this class and the contrasts are not far from the discussions, comparisons and contrasts of W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington; Martin L. King, Jr., and Stokley Carmichael talked about the differences of their philosophies of freedom and struggles, philosophies agriculturists and urban blacks and the philosophies violence and non-violent disobedience.

Many of the concerns have always and may continue to be about social status and economics. The argument has been steered toward and has never seemed to leave the subjects emphasized by the media and current mainline churches of prosperity and racial equality. An issue such as teaching African Americans to read is never the struggle, yet is was against the law for many Blacks to read, vote, and share public accommodations with Whites. The feeling that “they have arrived” based upon public accommodations is far from the dreams of the radicals of earlier centuries of a people prospering. After Nat Turner’s rebellion in Southampton Virginia, the restrictions in Virginia were made law and through the lack of education and social structures still in some ways restrict certain meetings, gatherings and travel of Blacks.

There is an effort by this nation’s mainstream press and politics to vilify many of those who today decide they may become social activists. From accusations such as tax investigations and sexual misconduct to mail-wire fraud those who decide to struggle, that are not a part of the majority white population will be weakened by the courts of public opinion and debate within their own community.

My belief is that until the masses are moved by the fervor of radicalism, change is only a dream of some prophetic person who may or may not have a following of persons who share in the struggle with the same passion. The persons who are most in need of change and help are historically the most reluctant to accept the words and actions of the radical on a consistent basis.

Radicalism has also been equated with violence and the overthrow of the current governmental system, linked with communism and/or socialism which are misunderstood and seldom ever spoken of as means of change. The thoughts or threats of any minority gaining power by violent means has most times met with violent means and have been conformed into a part of the system, receiving funding to support their goals of lifting people socially and economically.

When persons receive the lift economically or socially, and no matter how small the lift persons feel as though they have somehow arrived yet many strategies and layers of discrimination have yet to be uncovered. One of the oldest strategies is to implant into the people a consciousness of personal inferiority. They had “to know and keep their places,” to “feel the difference between master and slave,” to understand that bondage was their natural status. They had to feel that African ancestry tainted them… Wilmore states in the chapter that literature, politics and science work hand in hand to make sure Blacks were on unequal footing then and the result would be they would always be on off balance as far as radicalism goes.

Writings by Darwin, Count de Gobineau and Houston Chamberlain presented theories of racial inequality and others who wrote in support of degradation of blacks. Black resistance waned and the church was used to pacify many who would become radical. A weak church and a system of perpetuation of ignorance is enough to deradicalize and neuter the radical church from the 1800’s. In a speech on abolition of slavery, given January 16, 1832 by Henry Berry, House of Delegates of Virginia. “…We have as far as possible, closed every avenue by which light might enter their minds…to extinguish the capacity to see the light and our work will have been completed; they will have been reduced to the level of beasts in the field.”

Civil rights organizations and denominations seemed to be created to moderate social strategies and not fight for concerns of social or judicial nature. Wilmore says the church rejected the radicalism of Henry Turner and this alone states the thesis after examination. The fact that the church is used to deradicalize the Black Race is not a new argument, but one with each passing year gains more and more strength and the church grows weaker and weaker.

New knowledge gained by this course is that we must be conscious of the struggle, develop strategies to continue the fight and never forgetting that there is a concerted effort by others to continue to assimilate blacks into a place of inferiority and powerlessness. The church and the Black preacher must either struggle or stand by silently watching the further extinguishment of the flames of Black radicalism in the church and America. Black radicalism has to be redefined to fit the current condition of America and its people. There may never again be a radicalism that portrays violence, but one where political and social struggle continues exposing the inequities and violence perpetuated against a race and other races of people who join in the struggle.

The struggle to continue the traditions of establishing and supporting institutions of higher education, social agencies that provide benefit and training youth to provide necessary services in the fields of health. The church must take the lead in providing these solutions through the meeting of the minds who still surrender to the church and the leadership of the Black preacher. The Black preacher must be held accountable and feel as though they have a vested interest in the community by which they find economic stability.

The argument in the chapter that states that Pastors drive nice cars and also wear nice clothes has to be discussed in the terms of when will the leaders of churches be willing to take the side of sacrifice, socially and economically to stand for a radical gospel, one not afraid of change for the benefit of the people.

“The apex of white racial ideology was reached when it was assumed that white domination was a God given right.” There is unmistakably a connection between white religion and the Dechristianization of Black Radicalism. In the chapter on dereadicalization it speaks of the weakness of the church and its refusal to continue the fight. The next chapter speaks to the social structures of the Black community used as the gatekeepers of the fight. Wilmore calls the church the “invisible institution” which stands in contrast to the conservative white church and that there may be a conspiracy to continue the status quo, if parties of the first part, and parties of the second part are satisfied with the conditions of Black people. Henry Turner is again used as the voice of those who would be free and his stature represents the juxtaposition of freedom and Black worship. The preacher who once was responsible for the violence toward the oppressor now leaves the banner to others with other agendas that impact the community but never gain the support of the church, but are viewed by the impoverished and the disenfranchised as an option to weak leadership.

History in hindsight provides us with the weaknesses and those movements which also were vilified by the same press and political system. The discrepancies came as more decades of trial and error led to leave the people with more of the “same shattered realities and hypocrisies.”

We must understand that Black slave religion consists of a people who were forced from their homeland; given a religion which falsely gives them hope and detains them at the same time is an oxymoron.

Retexturization of a Tradition
"If I could do it, I'd do no writing at all here. It would be photographs; the rest would be fragments of cloth, bits of cotton, lumps of earth, records of speech, pieces of wood and iron, phials or odors, plates of food."
“You won't hear it nicely. If it hurts you, be glad of it. As near as you will ever get, you are inside the music; not only inside it, you are it; your body is no longer your shape and substance, it is the shape and substance of the music.”
—James Agee, Author of "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men"

We must begin to understand the importance of the whole of the history and fabric of the Black Family and the community in which it lives since the coming of the slave to the shores of America. A Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of Africans for food in 1619. The Africans became indentured servants, similar in legal position to many poor Englishmen who traded several years’ labor in exchange for passage to America.

This gives us the historical background for the start of the Black race in America according to U.S. Historical accounts but I will use for the basis of this argument in her book Katie’s Canon. Dr. Canon talks of the relationship of the unraveling of the family in relation to the plight of the Black woman. Alice Walker first coined the term "womanist" from "womanish," the opposite of "girlish." A "womanist" is one who values this soul and the well-being of the black community. “It is this Womanish, “Womanist,” who was the courageous, responsible, audacious, courageous, serious and traditionally capable, woman committed to the survival and wholeness of her entire people.” It is this Black woman who over time is bombarded with the most heinous, disreputable images ever conjured by mankind, so that her children would no longer be respected and disappear from the accounts in the annals of others history. This I believe leads to the attempts of unraveling her family and the moral and ethical dislodging of a several generations of Black culture and humanity.

Their stories demythologize and reconceptualize in their own terms the history of Blacks in America and the institution of American slavery. This is a history formerly told predominantly from slave-owners' perspectives but now must no longer be told over and over from the eyes of others until residents of the Black community ignore the gains and prgress of a race and see only the unraveling of it.

It is true that the community is not the same, but in ways this unraveling is also necessary for the pathcwork of building a quilt, a strengthening which actually holds together the advances and progress made not to become like the others but to instill in its people, maintain the heritage and develop the culture that helps with the existence of a race known as Black Folk.

Thus The History of Ancient Israel and Judah is an example that gives us an account of the struggles of a Yahwehistic people and their struggle to survive and perpetuate their identity. In order for them to survive Dr. Jerome Ross mentions the seven requirements for survival – administrative structure, economic independence, ideological standardization, common language, selective appropriation, population growth, and land acquisition, all of which are reflected in their theology. Dr. Jerome C. Ross Assistant Professor of the Old Testament, Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University carefully gives us a look into the inner workings of a people and community. It is the partly collective failure of a people to achieve this standard expounded by Ross that leads to the outside influences that enable the seeding of myths, stereotypes and bafoons to represent the life of a culture of people. Who cares that the Black American is gone from the face of the earth? Certainly our stories written and rewritten of the people related will answer this question.

It is the brutality we read about in Hudson, Wilmore and Hurston that one is able to read between the lines and view that which goes ignored and unreported. Only woman with stories of struggle and who were not silent; such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Zora Neale Hurston. Men such as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright that can show the pain and courage mingled into the heart of survival. Richard Wright who lived during this period (1908-1960) "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" some consideration of how Wright revised his work to make it less and less "realistic," and, more and more symbolic. This approach allows for treatment of the issue of universality.

Discussion often centers around guilt and freedom. The most commonly asked questions have to do with a tendency to allegorize the underground journey toward freedom. While exploring what Wright might intend by some of his choices of settings, it is possible to suggest that they are categorical and take him into dominant institutions while exposing the workings of the social values. It is in his work we see the struggle between the making of self, personal aversion and the struggle between, class and race. The audience in the 1940s and 1950s may have been less receptive to the symbolic element, less attuned to the existentialist outlook of a black writer.

He like Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston and Katie Canon gives this perspective of races, class and feelings of not belonging to a greater society, yet is a great society in itself. It is Ralph Ellison that first describes what he means by invisible. He is not a ghost or a man with transparent skin. He is invisible by virtue of how others react to him. They do not accept his reality and thus live as though they do not see him. He gives a more direct example by explaining how he almost killed a white man whom he bumped into on the street. He continued to attack the white man as long as the man refused to apologize and kept insulting him. The narrator then realized that the man does not see him as an individual and the narrator walked away laughing at the thought that the man was almost killed by a "figment of his imagination".

Yet in this past century Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) says "The Negro American experience...is indispensable to any profoundly American depiction of reality…” Ellison also makes this personal note as to the invisibility and visibility of the black man in America. “With things going so well I distributed my letters in the mornings, and saw the city during the afternoons. Walking about the streets, sitting on subways beside whites, eating with them in the same cafeterias (although I avoided their tables) gave me the eerie, out-of-focus sensation of a dream. My clothes felt ill fitting; and for all my letters to men of power, I was unsure of how I should act.

In our brazen attempts to show the unraveling we must also not show hypo-tonicity in explaining the brutality, criminal behaviors, lynching, cross-burning and violent society of law makers which left the Black Folk on the outside, even in the expression of the constitution which said, “All men were created equal…” There was a brutal racist societal system in place, which masked itself (The Switching of Hoods and Robes) and has yet to take responsibility for its actions or the actions of a government that through laws supported it. There were judges, law enforcement officials and legislators who also served the desires of the KKK and other supremacy groups. For example, in analyzing the history of the African-American community, Cannon unmasks a structure in which white-supremacist racism functions as the indispensable ingredient for the development of a capitalist political economy, and maintains with Oliver C. Cox that the elimination of a capitalist mode of production is essential to make racism dysfunctional.

The following is a good descriptive of what Canon tries to accomplish. As part of womanism, Cannon describes her heuristic pedagogy of liberation ethics. Its purpose is "debunking, unmasking, and disentangling the ideologies, theologies, and systems of value operative in a particular society." It is performed "by analyzing the established power relationships that determine cultural, political, and economic presuppositions and by evaluating the legitimating myths that sanction the enforcement of such values." It is necessary "in order that we [the black community] may become responsible decision-makers who envision structural and systemic alternatives that embrace the well-being of us all.” It is important, however, to observe that Cannon's womanism does not idealize African-American community. Rather, she critically examines two of its major problems: sexism in the black church, and the failure of their community to recognize different virtues in the context of survival. While the African-American church has been "the citadel of hope" for their community and African-American women have made significant contributions to its "up-lift," Cannon observes that not only dominant Western value systems but also the African-American.

Finally, just as you state that African American religious history has been stripped of the complexities, I also say that is too complex to strip bare. That means to me that as complex as it is, it is also too embedded in our culture, because of the women who refused to stop living in-spite of adversity. Their reward in life has not come in the form of recognition by a greater society but if we view it from the aspect of consequences and place conviction upon the majority or greater society in the framework that has robbed itself of one of the greatest pearls of history and that is the Religio-Historical value of womanist hermeneutical complexities.

The deconstruction of the image-makers may never be realized to the satisfaction of the minority but the painstakingly slow process of deconstruction must begin somewhere and somehow. Anglo-American perspectives are defined as documents created by white women and men, which contain textual references to African-Americans and shed light on the lives and experiences of African-American women. Most of the sources pertain to slavery times from whence very few African-American voices exist. As for today readers and publishers never hear many writers for the lack of literary recognition.

Maybe the question should be who has heard them and what impact have they had? The works of African Americans and leisurely literary works gives notoriety to the genre of African American folk life but the real view point of the African American Woman and her struggle goes almost unnoticed through history. The collection of and compiling of works by African American Women is a tough chore, given the varied circumstances under which these sources were recorded, it is impossible to suggest a uniform approach to the collections. However, it is important that a researcher relying on this information be aware of the multi-layered assumptions from which that information comes. The Bondwoman writings by Henry Louis Gates show how tough it is to authenticate and create a reliable source element among whites for African American issues.

Duke University conference of writers which gives reason beyond comprehension as to why women don’t stand out more says this “Anglo-American perspectives on African-American women generally consist of observations made from considerable distance or their lives with Black women. However, when using documents involving a shared experience between blacks and whites, it is imperative to recognize the existence of separate realities resulting from a complex system of social constructs and power relations which differ greatly between the two blacks and whites.”

In conclusion my appetite and inquiries into how important the Black woman is to understanding the true identity of American life and the unraveling of the complexities of the Black man and why he continues to lag behind in the social order of White folk I believe will be found in the examination of Womanist Hermeneutical Complex. This course I learned that we must take the bitter with the sweet, but the more we examine the bitter sweetness rises to the surface, it is through this exposure that we find out who we really are.

Footnotes:

Stampp, Kenneth M, The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South, New York, Knopf,1956.
Price, Fredrick, Race, Religion and Race, Faith One, Los Angeles, 1999.
Wilmore
James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston, Houghton Mifflin/Mariner, 1939.
http://www.innercity.org/holt/slavechron.html
Alice Walker, In Search of my Mother’s Garden: Womanist Prose, New York, Harcourt Bruce Jovanovich, 1983.
Katie Canon, Katie’s Canon, New York, Continuum, 1995.
Jerome C. Ross, The History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2003.
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/wrightr.html
Katie Canon, Inaugural Lecture,The Switching of Robes and Hoods: The Ethical Praxis of Zora Neale Hurston, Union-PCE January 28, 2004
Katie Canon, Katie’s Canon, New York, Continuum, 1995.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/afroangl.html
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/afroangl.html