The Seed of the Church

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Mt 5:11–12).

Radical Islamic Terrorists have been growing in power and influence in recent years.  And the world is beginning to see the fruit of its labor in a growing number of attacks and deaths all around the globe.  However, as they gain more power and influence they are aiding Christianity in the only effective church growth model prescribed by Christ himself, persecution.  In the words of Christ, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”  Let’s be clear, I consciously understand that I am a American citizen and with this birthright I am endowed with inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  And so, I have allowed my American citizenship to lead me in a misunderstanding  of my heavenly citizenship.  Jesus has never modeled for those that would follow after him a life of ease, comfort and peace.  But instead, the spread of the gospel of Christ may very well cost us our lives, and liberty.  The American side of me relates well to the outcry of my fellow Americans in that these renegade scoundrels must be brought to justice for their crimes against humanity.  In fact, there is a part of me that would like our government to retaliate in kind to this injustice.  But this morning I awoke with the words of Tertullian a second century theologian, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’  The church from its earliest inception required a blood sacrifice by its founder Jesus Christ.  This same church continued century after century to grow through persecution and trial.

I became apart of the family of Christ as a teenager.  But as a teenager, I never imagined what the gift of Christ in me had done to my being, and my livelihood.  In college, I was introduced to a discipline of studying God’s word and the Christian world opened up in a whole new way.  My mentor in college encouraged me to read, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and remember the sacrifice made by other believers so that God’s gospel would spread.  This recent beheading of Coptic Christians in Egypt is a wake up call of sorts.  My life verse is Philippians 1:6 which states, being confident in this very thing that he who begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.  This work is not just about us individually, God saves that we might spread his salvation.  My friend posted on Facebook about how when a dandelion’s head is cut off that sends a thousand more into the world.  I prayed that the seed of death from my brothers in Egypt would erupt in a harvest for Christ unlike never before.  Let’s be frank, persecution of the church has never ended.  And I thank God for the freedoms that I have in America.  I don’t think that we will ever get to a place where we don’t mourn for those that have lost their lives, but we must also rejoice that the church is continuing to spread because Christ is still actively working in the lives of Christians.

JTeverything

Meaningless Dialogue

Have you ever had a conversation that seemed so important, and you think about it later and it made absolutely no sense?  In fact, the whole of the dialogue was a waste of useful time that could have been spent doing something meaningful rather than pontificating on nonsense.  Just me….okay.  I’m a work in progress, and I understand that about myself.   But it’s equally disheartening when I see another adult spend a lifetime on propagating meaningless ideals with the intent to distribute.  It makes me sick.  What you ask? The intent to convince people that without our invaluable knowledge on things the show won’t go on.    We all have value and different skills that can enhance one another.  That’s the beauty of humanity.  However, pride has always been the overarching poison that hinders our progress.  Our hunger for domination and power is like cancer that abnormally divides one another into factions that fight for positions rather than against our opposition.

I’m still becoming the person that God has fashioned.  But I don’t want to spend my life, being my own cheerleader.  Meaning is in the eye of the beholder, I get that.  But there is action that must take place beyond our love of our own sound.   Bob Goff wrote a book that is entitled, Love Does and he was right.  When other people are important to us a wonderful thing takes place, service.  And this is a gift that we can all give one another.   I know I’ll have many more sessions of meaningless dialogue.  But my hope is that it would never define me.  My service to others will.

JTeverything

Lost and Found

I’ve had the privilege of growing up in the 80’s and 90’s in rural Louisiana.  If you knew me personally, you would know that this is a huge statement coming from a person like myself.  But I would admit that growing up in a small town where everyone knew one another had its blessings and its curses.  One blessing that was apparent in my observation was that I never had to assume what was and wasn’t important about  my blackness.  And as a black person, Black History Month was extremely important.  My school, my church, my community celebrated the history of Blacks in America so well that I thought that this was normative behavior.  As a young student during this month,  I felt included in this land of the free and home of the brave.   We participated in educational programs at schools and similar programs of inspiration and enlightenment at church and we were so proud of our heritage in this one single month.

This same thread continued into college.  I was black, and proud.  However, there was one slight difference.  This wasn’t normative behavior, in fact there where individuals that felt this month was useless.   This is when I began to question my loyalty to the ideals of Black History.  Did I feel marginalized?  Did I really need a month to instill pride in my identity?   College was a place that I began to explore more deeply the black American experience, except now I was in a predominantly white environment.  Being a part of organizations like NAACP Collegiate Chapter, and Black Student Union, I somehow thought I needed to apologize or dumb down the knowledge that actually got me to college in the first place in the presence of my white friends and classmates.   The closer to graduation I came the more lost I became.  (In my heritage, I must interject. )

Today, I must admit that I most humbly live the life of a urban dweller.  I am constantly weaving in and out of different cultures that I don’t often reflect how I have somehow morphed into a different mindset.  I have a renewed passion for Black History Month, even though I work in places that don’t necessarily throw open the door to discussions on the matter.  But how I make it important to my life and ministry matters.  Funny thing I’ve learned along the way, this post is mostly about my feelings and learning.  It’s not really that important as it pertains to the history.  Many people that came before us had more than themselves to think about.  The founder Dr. Carter G. Woodson was concerned that many blacks would never know the heritage that linked them together.  He was determined to educate, liberate, and encourage another generation.  Also, this month doesn’t belong to black people.  It belongs to America.  We all need to become apart of this time to remember the achievements of a few that benefited the many.  Am I black and proud, sometimes.  My lostness wasn’t in and through my blackness per se, however I have been found in Christ to be a reporter that proclaims the whole truth about humanity, about God.  And often, it’s wise to proclaim a full story so that its author can get the glory.