Prayer & Fasting

 

Good Morning, faithful, praying servants! 

 

There are so many things happening in our community and the wider world that at times it takes one’s breath away. We jointly pray that your week is moving smoothly and all the rough edges smoothed. Thank God The Christ is constant, consistent, and in love with us. As we pray for our church and churches worldwide, let’s also pray for a refreshed attitude toward the One who is near but unknowable. This week the word is “natural” (I know, I know…and here we go). There are so many different meanings to this seven-letter word. What comes to mind when you say that word to yourself out loud? Does it make you relax or tense up? Isn’t it interesting that it might stir things that we don’t even know are there until we slow down and reflect on our responses?

 

Secularly, the word refers to “nature,” right; the physical promenade that God gave us to enjoy and protect? Does that include us? Are we part of the “natural world?”  And of course, you say, “Yes!” But do we accept that truly? Not long ago I had an older Black student in one of my classes who insisted that she was not an animal. I mentioned that we share 95% of our DNA with apes, and she was resolute that she was not an animal and that she was not related to monkeys. I completely understood and sympathized with her. Many of our experiences in this country derived from the European redefinition of Africans as subhuman in their colonization of the continent. Nonetheless, I persisted and offered it as a perspective, albeit scientific truth, for her to consider as a Christian. But the bottom line is that scientifically we are human animals. We have been gifted with the spark of divine consciousness that differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. How have we used that spark toward God’s real estate, each other, and in return, The Creator? 

 

In most cases, when we think of something being natural, it suggests a flow, a rhythm, an ease, as it were. For African-Americans we go to the physical pretty quickly, as in a hairstyle, the “Afro.” With the resurgence of the look of locks, dreads, and unprocessed hair, the ‘fro has a new stylish gleam and has gained wide popularity across all ages and demographics. Does it represent an ease within the skull of the adorned? Is it deeper than skin-deep? But for others at its heart, the word suggests a rhythm that is inherent in something or someone and sometimes it is juxtaposed with the metaphysical, the unseen. And there begins the split: Physicality versus the divine; uncontrolled versus disciplined; mysterious versus known; wild versus still; dark versus light that ultimately morphs into good versus evil. That’s quite a leap from rhythm-and-ease to good-and-evil, but humankind has done it and simplistically imbued everything in this final context. How has it served us, this leap from Godly unity to human split? We are not going to resolve it today, but maybe there’s something in it for us as we look beyond the fragile walls of every church.