[The inward battle...]

[This inward battle…]

This inward battle goes on and on

It’s like being on stand by for a flight

There’s no guarantee you’ll be on the next plane out

But the HOPE, the HOPE is always there

This inward battle serves a purpose

It’s out of love I try to stand

I don’t want to be easily blown like a grain of sand

If my heart ain’t searchin’ for something deeper what should it do?

This inward battle is faithful

Motivated by the unseen it hopes,

It pushes and fights for something new

Asking, “What more is there for me and you?”

I’ve concluded…

Its easier to hold on to the lil’ bit I’ve got

Than it is to let go and trust the unknown for something more

Even when all I’ve got is shit

I’m already poor

I ain’t got much to lose

But it’s all I got

So if it’s all I got then its everything

If everything and I lose I’ve got nothin’

So I ask the question…

Why does my everything seem like excrement?

I could have had something had you relinquished it.

Had you laid down just and ounce of your privilege,

I’d at least be at the starting line.

No, but instead you prefer I stay in wanting.

It’s easier for you if my people pine and parish for narcotics.

It’s easier if they seemingly die at the hands of their own.

And all so you can wash your hands of us.

But just like Pilot your guilty.

That water you just dipped into,

Well it’s tainted with disease,

So now like me your filthy.

There ain’t no freein’ yourself of sin,

The only freedom you’ll find from them chains is the same as me and them.

The only way we’ll see eye to eye

With the playin field level is on bended knee

Believin’ in the death and resurrection of Christ

Will set us free from our earthly frivolity,

And our reconciliation will come when we can say to each other,

“The Christ in you is greater than the Christ in me.”

I ain’t tryin’ to be harsh

Just straight with it.

The truth of the matter is we are separated, segregated, stratified

Hierarchically by gender, race and socio-economic status.

Categorized and stigmatized for the sake our own well-being,

But what about our personal responsibility to each other?

We were created to live in community.

It ain’t about holding hands and singing “cum by yah”.

Instead it’s about faith, hope, love, and livin’ it,

Together as one in unity.

You know “U.N.I.T.Y” (*sing it)

So, how are we supposed to do what we ain’t seen?

Especially when we are still claimin’ the wars of our fathers

And the bastard children of our mothers.

How are we supposed to move forward?

Why are we claimin’ post-racial America?

Cause we got a black president?

FYI, he’s mixed.

And brown kids still getting kicked out of swim clubs in Philly

You willing to accept the casualty and ignore a hot childs thirsty plea?

Well…

I suppose we can start by going down to the river to pray.

Teachin’ true history about our past days.

Bring to light what is hidden in darkness.

Cryin’, mornin’ and lamentin’ for justice.

Afterwards we can bathe in the healing waters of Christ

Recognizing our sin and brokenness

Confessin’ we’ve denied Him far more than thrice

Let us be honest and then acknowledge our humanity

Together remember our personal and communal responsibility

Laying down privilege and all superficiality

For the sake of a unifying vulnerability

But that is only the beginning cause Christ’ll take the rest

All we do is live in this inward outward battle

Giving each other our humble best

So we stay in this struggle as it goes on and on

Living purposefully and faithfully

By faith, with hope and in love

And when the time right our plane will come

Reconciled we’ll stand in the light of love

Reality can be so potent that it becomes misleading. Events in life are much like scenes in a story. Each and every one is important to the whole narrative. Isolated moments can throw the entire picture off if they aren't held in contrast with the rest of the dialogue or image.

It is so easy for us to isolate our own story from the the stories of those around us. We can negate the importance of context, plot and narrative. I would say that many of us have a hunger to know what is "really going on" and so we speculate. As a result, we are often unwilling to wait till the end of the story to form our conclusions. This is problematic because conclusions formed before the end may be premature and thus inaccurate.

I am guilty of this...frequently. I always want to know what is really happening beneath the surface of a particular moment. I often forget that hindsight is 20/20, and if I would just be patient and wait the picture would eventually be clear. Furthermore, I can't just sit on the sidelines listening and thinking until I can fully see. No, I must fully participate because I too am a part of the narrative in tandem with others.

Evenmore, I have a habit of choosing individual moments and/or statements as focal points. This can be both a positive or negative process. It can be positive when the focal point is one of hope, encouragement or perseverance that pushes me to live in the present with hope for the future. On the flip side, most moments are defined by those that come before and after them. If all of the moments leading up to a particular scene are positive, but all proceeding incidents are negative the focal point may become negative. Negative focal points can be disjointing, and can leave one in a funk. They an even blind a person from seeing when the negative has transitioned to a more positive state.

So, what do we do about this?

If I had an answer, I would not have asked. Ok, you are right. I might have, but this time the question is not rhetorical.

What do we do?

[I'm the Melody, You're the harmony]

I’m the melody, You’re the harmony.
Your percussion and I’m the bass line.
In the onset we don’t fit,
But in time we MAKE good music.

We can sit with silence and let the music bump,
Your head bobs, my foot taps,
Our hands move at once.

You bring the verse and I’ll bring the chorus,
Together we make the bridge when we drop that beat.

It’s easy to feel, yet hard to say,
So we musicians and vocalists take our turn at play.

This here communication is a cold collaboration,
Two souls, two hearts, many parts, one song,
Our genuine manifestation.

You move—I move—we move,
I move—You move—we move.
We move, together we look out,
And the world grooves with us.

So I’ll bring the melody if You bring the harmony,
You bring percussion and I’ll drop the bass line,
We’ll find a groove together,
And in time we’ll BE good music.

[one gray hair]

[One gray hair...]
You stand there in all your glory, the reality of age,
Time is moving, like a strong medicinal sage,
Never standing still, flavoring all with touch,
You show me where I’m waiting and show me where I rush.

How can you feel a hole for something you never had,
A simple hand to hold,
One moment, then you crash.

I’m looking in a mirror,
This face feels new to me,
And all because I see one hair,
It beckons me.

It beckons me to move,
Audacious I can be,
You cannot lose a hand that you let go,
That you set free.

This is only the beginning,
One day this head will be
Full of silver glory,
A life lived full indeed.

[Reality and Me]

Reality and me,
Idealistic enemies,
And yet in bed for eternity.

Where can I go that you won't be?
Reminding me of what I can't see.
I'd rather ignore this tragedy,
but instead you stand there poking and proding.

I'll accept you,
Bitter sweet reailty.
But I won't be content until you retreat,
and my ideals become sweet reality.

[The words escape me]

The words escape me,
I try to speak but your demeanor it leaves me weak,
And in your eyes I can see the place my heart longs to be.
It’s hard to say, yet easy to feel,
This love it grows expanding fields.
And when you look into my eyes,
My Isis soul it flies and flies,
Close to the sun of your appeal my heart if falls back to the field.
I find no rest, my heart it heals.
My mind is smart, it tries to yield.
But I forget, my wings return,
And for your love I yearn, I pine, I burn.

[There are days when all one has is hope to move...]

There are days when all one has is hope to move forward.
You see the eviction notice posted on the door;
Home has no life, just a house of boards.
You seek for more against the multitude shouting “what for?”;
Your heart cries out to be heard,
Your mind a caged bird.

There are days when all one has is faith to move forward.
Oil run dry and the gold is spent;
Landlord called, can’t pay the rent;
You write the check with faith and say,
Hope You got them bread and fishes today.

There are days when all one has is love to move along.
Friends and fam you’ll find it all,
What’s mine is yours my fictive blood,
It ain’t no problem to share just call,
My bed is yours, our warmth a throne.

So God just give us,
Faith, Hope and Love to move beyond,
The night to light, a brilliant home out of this fight.

Duke Reconciliation Conference 2009 (June 1st, 2009)

Duke Reconciliation Conference 2009

June 1^st, 2009

 

A mentor once told me that a smart person knows a lot, but a wise person is aware of what they do not know.

 

I have only been at Duke for one day, but it is already abundantly clear that there is so much that I do not know.  I am still an infant being tossed back and forth by the waves.  I have progressed to solid food, knowledge, but I am still shaken and jarred by the ideals of reconciliation and the realities of this world.

 

I encountered so many truths today.  Each deeply profound and many wounding; I am in pain spiritually, intellectually and even physically (although this one could be attributed to jogging outside and not on a treadmill).

 

It is challenging to hold the “Kingdom Now” and the “Kingdom to Come” concurrently.  They are a challenging paradox that is both hopeful and painful at once.  There is hope for the future, but the actualization or manifestation of that hope is not immediate.  People have, are and will suffer.

 

A thought that has stuck with has been:

 

“The word for ‘forgetting’ is MONEY”.—Stanley Hauerwas

 

I see so many young adults throwing away their passion for change, for service, for reconciliation to make a dollar.  We have allowed the stress of college loans and the cultural implications and definitions of status to define our path and directions.  Why?

 

It is because we have forgotten our first master to serve another.  We have forgotten the Lord that called us.

 

Ephesians 4 starts, “I urge to live a life worthy of the calling you have received to be completely humble and gentle to be patient bearing with one another in love…”

 

As followers of Christ we cannot allow our paths to be defined by the ways of the world.  We are to be salt and light.  I understand the need and even want for dollars and comfort, but we are aliens in this world.  This is not our home.  We have an eternal destination, and we want to take as many people with us to that place as possible.

 

So, why do we believe we should/can act in the ways of the world?  There is something wrong with allowing our decisions and future to be driven by the wants and desires for cash and/or status.  As Followers of Christ that is not what we have been called to, we have a higher calling.  This does not mean that those wants and desires will dissipate.  On the contrary living for Christ is a journey, a process of change.  What can change however is the fruit of those truths in our lives?

 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

“Go into all the world making disciples of every nation baptizing them…”

 

“Faith, hope and love.  The greatest of these is love.”

 

The saying goes, “Money makes the world go round.”

 

That may be true now, but money will not save the World.  We are the embodiment, the physical manifestation of Christ, in and to the world.  When will we start acting like it.  Yes, it means sacrifice.  If you know the truth you are obligated to follow it.  Otherwise, it would have been better for you to remain ignorant.

 

Friends, we must change our thinking.  This does not mean that life cannot be fun and joyous.  However, how can revel in my cash and/comfort when half of the world is dieing of overeating and the other half of starvation?

 

“Reconciling All Things: God’s Vision of Beloved Community”

 

1. Relationships alone do not change the social realities.
2. There is not peace without suffering.  This is what we have seen in and through the life of Christ.
3. Jesus and Justice must go hand-in-hand.  One without the other allows us to go to extremes.
4. Peace takes time.
5. Reconciliation is no bigger than the one beside you who is hardest to love.
6. You love Jesus no more than the person you love the least.
7. “Those who come to serve the poor stay because they realize that they too are poor.” –Founder of the L’arche Community
8. What is more important…loving God or loving your neighbor?  NEITHER.  There are far more versus in the Bible about God love us.
9. We as Followers of Christ are to hold in tension the “Kingdom Now” and the “Kingdom to Come”.  (Malcolm, you’ve been saying this all along.)
10. Reconciliation is dangerous because it demands a new reality.  The new reality is dangerous because it calls for us to become new people.
11. What it takes…(Dr. John M. Perkins)
1. You need to sense that you are loved by God.  (This will be your greatest drive/passion to serve.)  (The greatest human need is to be loved.)
2. You need to know God.  (Become a disciple.)
3. You must experience the “calling” that you are to “do this”.  (This sets you up for the journey.)
12. What it takes…(Dr. Stanley Hauerwas)
1. Learn both to be forgiven and to forgive because of there are power conditions and dynamics that this sets right.
2. Recognize we can only do it because of Jesus
3. Reconciliation is difficult because it competes with our revenge and our cultural memory of what we have seen.
4. Acknowledge and address memories and language because they are power.  They impact our actions.  We must seek healing before they can be changed.
13. “The people who are unequal cannot be reconciled.”  Dr. JP
14. “The word for ‘forgetting’ is ‘money.”—Stanley Hauerwas
15. “Why is part of the world dieing of overeating while the other half is dieing of starvation?”

 

“Transformative Leadership through National Organizations”

 

1. Sometimes we become so preoccupied with the external that we forget about the internal.  This is what happens when the urgent and/or immediate are directing the organization.
2. Tradition is that which carries us forward not where we stop.  Taking what has been life giving and adapting it to a new context is how we should use tradition.  We should be allowing people in our organizations to be “traditioned innovators”.
3. The most transformative leaders are people of character who can tell good stories (even if they are not charismatic).
4. The most transformative leaders are those who can hold paradoxes together.  For example, social justice and evangelism.
5. Transformative leaders can think oppostionally without becoming polarized.
6. Transformative leaders can have “meaningful disagreements”.
7. Strong leaders are always dealing with their own in competencies.
8. We are to be “institutional thinkers” not “institutional critics”.
9. Transformative leadership:
1. Initiate people into traditions in such a way as to create “traditioned innovators”.  They do not lock people into a tradition, but instead educate people so that they can build upon them in the future.  (“Staying focused on the mission while enabling creativity/innovation.”)
2. Engage in ministry indirectly while recognizing the direct implications.
3. Think of the organization as overlapping circles not silos or charts.
10. You need to have “thick skin”.  You need to be ready to accept the potential pain of leadership, but don’t be a self-appointed martyr.  You must be able to distinguish between the “suicidal leader” and the leader who is willing to take risks.