Last week, I attended the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference, and I must say that it was a life-changing experience. Between the sermons, the lectures, the fellowship, and time with my sister friends, I have gained MUCH in the way of wisdom and inspiration. As Maya Angelou once said, “at our best, we are all teachers,” and I desire to share what I have gained in hopes that it will help someone else.
· Emancipation/freedom can create problems that weren’t anticipated but it looks good while you’re in bondage – freedom doesn’t mean smooth sailing, and even though being free is the ideal, it comes with its own challenges and responsibilities… but it’s still well worth it and much better than being enslaved.
· Present anxiety distorts the memory of the past – though we typically call them the “good old days,” I challenge you to think about just how good they really were. While things at this present moment may not be fantastic, you most likely have it better now (especially if you have grown and changed) than you ever had it in the past. It’s all about perspective.
· Growth often comes disguised as hardship – most of the things in life that cause the greatest amount and depth of growth in our lives come from the challenges we’ve had to face and not the moments of smooth sailing.
· The presence of trouble doesn’t reverse divine intention – just because trouble is there doesn’t mean that God is not, nor does it mean that the plans and purposes of your life are any less valid.
· Great things happen when God comes to church – though we refer to the church as the House of God, it’s amazing how God is often ushered out or left off of the program in God’s own house, because we desire to do things our way. But what if we let God really take the reins and move in God’s house (instead of limiting the healing to everyday but the Sabbath because it breaks “God’s commandment”)?
· How you gonna tell God ‘not now’? How often do we limit the power and move of God (and of ourselves) because we want things to be done in our time and at our comfort level?
· The indignation to the liberation came from interpretation – how many people does the church keep bound and oppressed because of their chosen interpretation of the “Word of God”? Who is God trying to set free that the church keeps holding hostage with doctrine and dogma?
· Every shift in your circumstance shouldn’t cause a shift in your spirit – there’s a song that the choir would sing in the church I grew up in and it went “my soul has been anchored in the Lord.” Life can change in a split-second, but we have to have an anchor of some sort that keeps us at least a little bit balanced, because if we don’t we can find ourselves so tossed about that we will lose our minds in the midst of the mess and madness.
· A life without inspiration ain’t nothing but the blues – inspiration (also known as the breath breathed in to us) is necessary to give us some strength and drive to make our lives more than mere existence. Find something that moves you and go after it with your whole being.
· Balance is crucial – whether it’s the balance between intellect and emotion (I know that I tend to think too much and suppress my emotions), introvert and extrovert (because I live in my head, it’s often hard for people to see the real me), spirit and scholarship (you can exegete a text but you can’t feel the heart of the person sitting next to you), supernatural prophetic and social justice prophetic (it’s hard to mobilize people to serve others when they are bound themselves), or “sacred” and “secular” (I use quotation marks because I don’t believe there’s a divide, but I refer to going to church and going to fellowship), it’s critical to not live in the extremes, because there will always be a lack. And like a tricycle that is missing one of the balancing wheels, it’s bound to fall.
· Deep, authentic relationships are hard work – while safe space is one of the most amazing things I could ever experience in my life, maintaining that sometimes takes tough conversations and pushing past insecurities to make things work. I had at least 3 conversations this week that touched on the core of who I am, and while my “natural” reaction would have been to push back, I realize that in the space where the conversations happened, I don’t have to be afraid or hurt by what is said, because it comes out of love. It takes love to speak and love to hear especially in sensitive situations.
· Being your authentic self is a constant process and work of art – similar to being authentic relationships, it takes work to get to a place of recognizing who you really are, and it takes that much more work to maintain (and constantly evolve) that sense of identity, especially when the world, the church, society, haters, “friends,” etc happily tell you that there is something wrong with it or that it doesn’t fit the norms. It is a balancing act between being true to who you are and not offending the entire world (esp. as a person who has to minister to the world).
· People are “just” people – I don’t care who you are, who you think you are, the size of your church, the size of your wallet, the titles before or the letters after your name, your affiliations, or the level of your “piety” and “sanctification.” At the end of the day, we are all “just” people. I use “just” in the sense of the word that no one is better than anyone else. I had the privilege of fellowshipping with some rather prestigious people, but the beauty of these people is that they didn’t act like celebrities or “holier than thou” individuals. They were just regular people. And for me and my theology, there is a beauty in just being created as a human being – I am fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. What else do you know need? I have the breath and heartbeat of the Divine, just like every other person alive. Embrace your humanity, and embrace it in others around you. You don’t have to be better than anyone. Just be you and enjoy that. Trust me, life will be much simpler and more fulfilling when you do.
· Identity is formed in community – as much as I live in my head and try to process/figure things out, I’ve realized (because I was told) that my identity is nothing something I shape in my head and then present to the world. It is something that, while it has its roots at the core of my being, is shaped and shown in my relationships with others. I have to live out my identity, not think it out. One of the many things that the Afrocentric mindset got right that the Eurocentric mindset has yet to get – “I am because we are, and because we are, I am.”
· It is okay to be me just as I am – this is a lesson that I will probably be working at for the rest of my life, but it’s still a beautiful one nonetheless to be reminded of. Since I first decided to major in religious studies, I struggled with the notion that I might end up preaching. Even though I had a moment as a child when I thought “I’m gonna be a preacher when I grow up,” I tried my very best to deny such a thing. Even when I went to seminary, took preaching classes, and stood in pulpits to proclaim the word of God, I was denying it, saying it was something I could do but it wasn’t necessarily my “call” per se. Part of that had to do with a lack of “preacher voice,” but when I heard Dr James Perkins speak, my life changed. He was initially so soft-spoken in his presentation that I had to strain to hear him, but in being his authentic self, he delivered a beautiful word that blessed me. Not only did his voice speak to the preacher in me, but his handling of language in the craft of his sermon made the writer in me squeal with excitement. Then and there, I knew that, not only was I a preacher but that I could do it my way, just as God had shaped me.
I could probably say more, but I think this suffices. While it was a challenging week that had me using more tissues than I have since the week I did my initial sermon, it was well worth the time, money, energy, and faith that it took to go down there. I just may have to visit Hampton next year in June…
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