Shall we dance (around the issue that is)

Last week we had a brown bag lunch with several of the National CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) staff at school. One of the persons there was part of CBF Administration. She was to lead a discussion with us about CBF and about the New Baptist Covenant. As you may remember, I attended the New Baptist Covenant Celebration meeting at the end of January. I have posted other blogs about this topic but it has been brought back into my attention since the meeting last week.

Periodically I receive emails from the New Baptist Covenant stating what the movement is doing. I received on on March 20. This was the handout that was given to us in the lunch meeting.

The woman leading the talks did nothing but dance around the issues. Several students posed questions and made statements about the meetings. The woman didn't answer them. She could hardly even talk about them. On the issue of homosexuality she looked at the student and said, "I've heard that before. I'll take that back with me." Clearly she either didn't want to answer our questions or she didn't know how to answer them.

After reading the email statement from March 20, I was quickly reminded again of the movements talk of diversity. While this meeting was historic because it was the first time that white and black Baptists had come together I felt that it was quite contrived. As I have stated in previous posts, I wonder what would have happened if the meeting had been held in a different place at a different time. The New Baptist Covenant was planned to take place at the end of the National Baptists meeting that was taking place in Atlanta. This would allow for many African American Baptists to attend. So my question is, would that many people have attended otherwise?

Speaking of diversity, remember the lunch meeting I mentioned? As I sat in that room with people who were supposed to be discussing the New Baptist Covenant, I looked around. Surprise, Surprise! There were no African American students present. Where was the diversity in that room? I'm not sure, but it certainly wasn't present.

The email from March 20 gave an overview of what the movement is focusing on now in the in between time. There were 11 points mentioned. These range from evangelism and poverty to global warming and separation of church and state. In the final point, the leaders made suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of the New Baptist Covenant movement.

There are talks that this movement is going to become a triennial movement which will meet every 3 years. That means that in 2011 there will be another. Will it be purposely planned around the National Baptist meeting so that the term diverse can be used? Or will it be planned around the National CBF meeting and it be a bunch of white folks? Whatever the case may be, I can only look forward to the future. I don't t know what will happen. I don't understand all that has been planned. I can only pray for the leaders and try and determine how I, as one person, can be involved.

Life is Precious

On Sunday morning, I went to celebrate Easter at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Beaverdam, Virginia. This is the church that I grew up in. We arrived at 10:40 as the service was scheduled to begin at 10:45. There was no where to sit downstairs so we made our way to the balcony. The choir led the church in a beautiful cantata which was followed by our pastor's Easter sermon. We found ourselves proclaiming "Christ the Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed!" This was a meaningful service and spoke to me more than I realized at the time I was sitting there.

As the service was beginning, our family friends arrived. Brandon insisted on sitting on the front row of the balcony. He really shouldn't sit there because of his epilepsy. However, since the service had already started his parents allowed him to sit there so that he wouldn't cause a scene. Brandon is not only epileptic, he is mentally handicapped and doesn't always know how to handle situations. Brandon and I have grown up together. He is 24 years old, yet he is on the level of a 5 to 7 year old. He is epileptic and has a seizure nearly every day. In January 2008 he had 29 seizures.

During the service I could tell that he wasn't himself. He was singing when he shouldn't be, he was speaking out and then he began hallucinating. It was very sad for me to watch as he thought that he had bugs coming out of his skin. After the service, he left and went out into the parking lot. As is the norm we were all standing in front of the church talking. After at 15 minutes we were being called over to across the parking lot. Brandon had followed a family to their car. In the meantime, he began to seize and fell out. He hit his head on the pavement and the family had no idea what to do. My father was the first to get over to Brandon. He held his head while I ran over with his mother and father. The pastor called for a nurse. We know that if we leave Brandon to sit he will pass out for 45 minutes to an hour. We had to get him in the van right away. It took 6 men to lift Brandon and get him in their vehicle. Brandon doesn't like to be moved and begins to scream out. Only this time, he was screaming, "Ouch". We weren't sure if he was hurt internally. By this point, many of us were crying because of the severity of the seizure.

We know that Brandon won't get better. He has had so many seizures that it has caused a lot of brain damage. When he begins to seize he just drops out. He has fallen through the oven door at his house, fallen through the bathroom wall, and fallen into a counter and knocked his teeth out. The doctors have told his parents that they there is nothing they can do. Brandon is not a candidate for surgery because the seizures are not coming from a part of the brain that can be operated on. The end result is a Grand Mal seizure that will kill him. Brandon is such an innocent soul and it is so hard to see him in this shape.

After spending the evening at home on Easter evening, I found out that one of my friend's had lost her husband on Saturday. He was rock climbing and fell 180 feet to his death. They had been married three years.


Life is precious. Christ died and arose for all of us. Let us not take anything for granted. We are blessed beyond measure and we often don't realize this until bad things happen. I am not sure why Brandon has these seizures or why my friend had to lose her husband. But I do know that Christ is here for all of us. As we celebrate the risen Christ let us remember that life is precious. It is a gift. Don't take it for granted.

That's not Welch's

On Thursday, at 10:40 a.m. the Campbell Divinity School family gathered together for a Maundy Thursday service. This is a time to celebrate the Last Supper which Christ served to his disciples on the night before he was crucified.

As I entered the gathering place I noticed that the pulpit and communion table were covered in purple, the liturgical color for Holy Week. The communion table was set with gold plates and centered at the front of the room.

We were led through a service of scripture reading, singing, and reflecting. We had a time of prayer and centering before communion was served.

The bread comes first, just as when Christ served the bread. We are to take, eat and always do it in remembrance of Him. When the bread came around I took my piece. It was a nice square of sandwich bread.

After the eating of the bread, we took of the cup. We were each served our little cup of juice. As my professor sat in front of me, I noticed I could basically see through his cup. When I looked around, I noticed on the back table a loaf of Food Lion sandwich bread and a bottle of juicy juice. And it hit me, someone took the cheap route for communion. While I know it should not matter what brand the communion elements are, I do think we shouldn't go cheap. Personally, I am embarrassed for the person who purchased those items.

After having this experience and reacting to the cheap bread and juice the way I did, I was told about the Jesus Movement in the late 60's and early 70's. On beaches in California persons were served communion, only the elements were potato chips and pepsi cola. Personally, I think that is a little far out, I believe that Christ set the example of this communion meal by serving bread as a symbol for his body and wine as a symbol for his blood.

Like I said, the brand of the elements should not matter, but this just hit me the wrong way. Here we are to worship and to remember the sacrifice that Christ made of his own body by dying on the cross for us. Since Christ made the sacrifice for us, why can't we spend a few extra dollars on the communion elements? When I take communion, I shouldn't find myself thinking about the cheapness of the elements. I should be remembering the significance of what Christ did on that cross 2000 years ago.

I've hit that point...

In case you haven't noticed my absence, I've been a little busy. Well, a lot busy. Things in life have been hectic to say the least. Between school, work, family, and trying to have a life, I don't have much time for anything at all really.

As the title hints, I've hit that point. You may ask, "what point?" Well, to be honest, I've hit the point where I just don't care anymore. I really am tired of school. I am tired of tests, papers, going to class...well really anything that has to do with it. While I enjoy most of the people there I find that school would be much better for me if I could just go and hang out. Instead it takes most of my time and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. I keep telling myself I have just two more semesters and I can do this, but some days I just don't want to. I'm dreaming of the day when I am finished with all of this and I can have a real job.

Other than that, I'm doing ok. Work is keeping me busy. The internationals are my passion. I've been excited to hang out with them lately and to plan events for them. It is what I was hired to do and what I enjoy doing.

I'm really ready for May to get here. I need a break and I need it fast.

Just another little piece of my mind

Tonight Joey sent me a link for a news story that I hadn't heard about. It seems that Harvard University has made the decision to close one of it's athletic facilities for several hours a week so that only females can work out during those times. As I read the short article I was intrigued and wanted to find more. After going to google, I simply searched for "Harvard women only gym hours." In all the articles I read, I couldn't find a listing for the actual hours.(I did finally find the hours listed in one of the blogs quoted below). What I did find was articles that had quotes from male students who were not happy. I found blogs written by people who had many negative things to say about Muslim women, and Islam in general. I immediately thought, if the men don't like it they should ask for male only hours.

I finally found the article that was in the Harvard Newspaper. The article shared about the implementation of the female only hours as well as some of the reasoning for it. While the article listed here is an opinion article, it did include many facts. However, the opinion writer did share many things that I feel were jaded. For instance, the writer feels that the new policy shows a readiness to put minority interests ahead of the entire community, even when it creates disparity in resources. The writer also shared the following closing paragraph: "That Harvard’s misguided accommodationist policy may inadvertently divide as opposed to unite the diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds present in Cambridge is regrettable. More dangerously, it bolsters support for the idea that religious fundamentalism (particularly Islam) is incompatible with Western society. Harvard would do well not to make itself a breeding ground for this sort of feeling."


I found other blogs while searching the topic. Some listed some of the most hurtful things I've read in a long time regarding Islam. Muslim's will always have a near and dear place in my heart and so to read this I was saddened. One of the blog's made light of Muslim tradition by mocking the use of insha allah's and salamu alaikums. This blogger said that the closing of the gym for six hours is a great inconvenience not only to men but to the 98% of women at the university who are not Muslim. I guess that the 98% just won't want to work out with the 2% Muslim women. This blog also included the supposed email that was sent out to Muslim students by one of the officers of their association. However, the blogger incorrectly referred to Ola as "he". Ola is in fact a she, and one of the supporters of the women's only hours. As I read the hours listed in the supposed email, they were not inappropriate. There were 6 hours listed spread out among 3 weekdays.


I'm saddened by this whole ordeal. I may be completely wrong and putting myself out on a line here but I think the big deal is not about the 6 hours but it's about the Muslim women. The Muslim women and the Islamic Student Association on campus were the ones asking for this policy change. They were not asking for it to be closed for 6 hours a week for just Muslim women. They were asking for a number of hours a week that would just be women present. Due to Sharia (Islamic) law, women should be covered in front of men unless they are family. While a Muslim women could work out in a gym with a man present, she would need to be fully covered. In the case where there are a number of covered women wanting to work out, I can see where it would make sense for them to ask for female only hours. I believe that these news articles and arguments among students would not have taken place if white women had asked for special hours for women only. America is scared of Muslims. Most Americans equate Muslims with terrorists. We have every right to be scared of terrorists and to hate them for what they have done...but we do not have every right to hate Muslims.

As a strong Christian, it make seem strange that I stand up for the rights of Muslims in America. As a person who has many Muslim friends, I have seen the way they are treated and I don't think it's fair. While life is not fair, I believe that we should treat each other with respect. I think it's important that we listen to each other and try to get along.

So really, if it's that big of a deal then have men only hours as well. But please, don't take away the women only hours just because the Muslims asked for it.

I don't need a map...

As you know, I went to the meeting of the New Baptist Covenant back at the end of January. Once we arrived in the city of Atlanta, we checked into our hotel, got ready and made our way to the CNN center. Of course when we got to the CNN Center there was no where to sit even remotely close to our group. So after finding a place to sit and eat we completed our meal and made our way over to the World Congress Center for the opening plenary session. After the session was over it was like a mad rush for the door. Our group was trying to successfully find our way back to the MARTA station.

Somehow I ended up leading the way (probably because I said I knew where I was going.) I thought I had seen a sign for MARTA so I led the group down a winding set of stairs. We kept going and going only to discover that we were in a parking deck not the Marta Station. I hadn't bothered to look at a map to see where the station was, I thought I could find it on my own. Finally we made our way back up out of the underground garage and over one block to the station. In the end we made it back to our final destination.

As I have had time to reflect on the New Baptist Covenant meeting I wonder if they approached this meeting with no map. Now obviously they had plan and lay out for the three days of meetings that occurred in January. So I wonder, do they have a map for the "what next" question? Do they know what will come of this gathering?

The meeting was great. I participated in wonderful worship and listened to great speakers. I attended two special interest sessions and was inspired by some of the things I heard. I went with a sense of excitement and encouragement. I left with more questions than answers.

Did the leaders and planners of the New Baptist Covenant go into this blindly hoping that the people would show them what was next? Or did they have a map for the future that just hasn't been revealed to us. For now, I don't know. What I hope to find out is how the people that participated can work together as Baptists to carry out the kinds of work that we discussed.


But really... I think we need a map.

Ordination

Yesterday afternoon, I was ordained. It was a brisk winter afternoon. The winds were high and there were wildfires across the state of North Carolina. There was one fire close to Neill's Creek Church and for parts of the day the roads around the church were closed. Some people had a hard time getting to the church.
The service began at 5p.m. on the dot. I didn't want the service to begin until all of my family and friends were present. Some of them were late due to the fires. My mother counted that at least 25 people traveled from Virginia to be at the service in support of me. I was surprised by the children's choir being present to sing two selections for me. They prepared this as a surprise and a gift. It touched my heart. The service continued on with prayer and singing. Two of my friends read scripture and one friend sang and played the piano. Dr. Brock delivered the charge to me. He used Romans 12 as his text. I felt as if he were speaking directly to me when he spoke. It touched my heart.
Dr. De Brand followed with the charge to the church. He said he wasn't sure what to charge them so he would start out with $99.95. There was a congregation full of laughter.
One of the most touching parts of the service for me was the laying of the hands. This is what Joey ( as well as others) refers to as empty hands on empty heads. As I have thought about this statement and talked with him about it it has made me think about what I am. Without God, I am nothing. With God, I can be everything he has called me and wants me to be. During the laying of the hands, I kept my head bowed and my eyes closed. I listened as folks came by and offered words of prayer and blessing. My dad went first; he cried and I cried. Following him was the rest of my family, then all ordained ministers and deacons, and then anyone in the church that wanted to come forward.
My friend Brandon was present for the service. He is 23 years old and is mentally handicapped. He is autistic, mentally retarded, and epileptic. I was unsure if he would even be able to make it because of his seizures. When his aunt and her husband came forward as ordained ministers, he ran down the aisle. They asked Brandon if he had anything to say to me. He started off with, "I hope you get better." I had a tear in my eye and looked up at him. He continued, "because you have a new bed." While that moment probably didn't make any sense to anyone else in the room, it touched my heart. Not so much the words that he spoke but his presence there and his will to try to say something to me.
After the service I was presented with my certificate of ordination and the Bible that everyone who laid hands signed. The chairman of the deacons presented these to me and said that they were honored to ordain me when I asked them to. I kind of cringed at that statement. The truth is that I did not ask. There were people in the church who affirmed my call and saw it in me. They approached the pastor at the time and he talked with me. After discussion with him, I went through the processes that the church had in place to be ordained. It was a big deal because I was the first female minister for them to ordain.

Ordination in fact was a big deal for me. I attended the ordination service of my former youth minister when I was 16 years old. When I participated in that service I knew that one day, I would be ordained. It was not something that I decided on my own, it was a sense that the Holy Spirit laid upon my heart. This was not a service in which I was made to be anything more than just me, the person God has called me to be. It was not a coronation or an inauguration. However, it was a service that recognized my calling and my abilities to serve. I have agreed to serve alongside fellow believers and be committed to all that God has called me to do, where ever God calls me to go.