When I got married, I learned that my husband’s family has family historians that have kept excellent genealogy records. One side of his family can be traced back to the 1600s in Slovakia, and the other side to the 1500s in Italy. In fact, for many years the town in Ohio where my husband’s family lived had an annual celebration. All of the families that came over from Collelongo, the community in southern Italy where many of their relatives had come from in the early 1900s, gathered to celebrate community and to keep the connection to their roots.
Rooted. That is how I would describe my husband’s upbringing. His family was plugged into the town, and multiple generations lived there for years. I am awed by the connection to the past he has. To know where one comes from seems like it would offer a deep understanding of who you are and why you are. I felt jealous, even robbed, and a bit like an orphan in comparison. Until my mid-40s I barely knew who my grandparents were, let alone where an ancestral home might be. But, like many African Americans, I was not alone in my lack of knowledge about my ancestry. On both sides of my family, no one spoke about the past much. We were family, but how the pieces fit seemed unimportant. We all kind of went along calling certain ones Auntie, or Uncle, or Cousin. We were just kin.
However, in 2016, several people on my mother’s side got together and began research of our family history. They revealed their findings at a family reunion. It was your typical African American family reunion – a cookout held at a park, complete with matching T-shirts. It was here that I learned about my great-great-great-great grandmother, an enslaved woman on a Wake County, NC plantation. Her name was Feely. For some reason, finding her made me feel connected/complete/whole in some way.
Being able to trace my ancestry back to the early 1800s is an incredible gift. Although I know I am God’s child, it helps me to feel more rooted and less like an orphan in this world. I have a family. I have a story.
We could go a number of different directions in the analysis of the movie Soul. Concepts of Heaven and Hell, who God is, the dark places anxiety and obsession can lead us, reincarnation, astral projection, whether or not our pets go to heaven, etcetera. But I want to talk about the two things that kept me from being a raving fan of the movie.
First, let’s discuss the depiction of Black people in animated movies as nonhuman. In the only two Disney/Pixar movies with Black lead characters, The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Soul (2020), the main character transforms into something non-human for the majority of their character development. In Soul, Joe Gardener returning to life as an animal was a slap in the face. The animal, a cat, belonged to someone as property. This dehumanization cuts deep, and if you are a young child, the imprint messages such as these leave on your subconscious is harmful to your self concept. The message to young Black children is that their humanity is unrecognizable at best, and nonexistent at worst. Worst of all, the communication is that it’s funny that they are not human. If you need more back story to help you understand what I mean when I talk about the dehumanization of Black people, please take a look at Ibram Kendi’s incredible book on the topic, Stamped From the Beginning.
The second reason I could not give this movie the standing ovation I wanted to was Soul’s expectation that the audience would blindly accept Joe’s voicelessness and powerlessness, even see the humor in it. Consider this, Soul 22 got to use/inhabit his body to experience the world, while Joe was relegated to trying to right major issues of his existence while trapped in the body of a cat. A cat! Soul 22 used Joe’s body to experience pleasure and sensuality without concern for what those experiences might do to his body and without concern for the priorities Joe might have. She ate with abandon, and revelled in the senses of touch, sight, and sound. On one occasion, she even locked him (as the cat) in his own apartment so that she could pursue her own agenda. Reader, can you please sit with how this can be interpreted to any Black person watching the movie? It took me about 2 weeks to process the negative feelings I had after watching it. I couldn’t verbalize the sticky/tar-y unpleasant film that coated my thoughts about the movie. But it was this, Soul poked my subconscious wound/fear about the autonomy that is frequently taken away from Black people in the governing or use of our bodies and our voices. If after reading Stamped from the Begining you still wonder why this cuts so deep, have a look at Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washingtonand watch the Netflix documentary 13th.
To make matters worse, 22 got to speak for Joe because he was rendered voiceless by virtue of being locked inside the cat. No one except the accidental host of his body could hear him speak. For all intents and purposes, Joe was silenced. Whenever Joe expressed his feelings of outrage or fear as the cat he appeared ridiculous if not crazy, and dangerous. Sit with that for a minute. 22 had the power to speak her thoughts through his voice and there was nothing he could do about it except play the role of the docile, quiet cat.
Did the movie marvelously speak to the meaning of life and carpe diem? Yes. Did I cry several times moved by these themes? Yes. These important messages however do not overshadow a painful reality for Black people. The message could have been portrayed without taking the main character out of the driver’s seat to be the comic relief sidekick in his own story. If the goal is to be inclusive Disney, then do it more than on a superficial level. It takes more than jazz music and black skin to have an authentic Black lead character. Do better.
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The Diversity Council at my university liked my previous devotion so much that they asked me to write another for the Advent week of Peace.
The Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary Southeast Diversity Council seeks to cultivate an atmosphere that invites, welcomes, and supports underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. “
John 16:33
As soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning…Who am I kidding? As soon as consciousness returns and I open my eyes,itbegins. I grab my phone to see what has happened in the few hours while I slept. My email and social media don’t disappoint. They supply oceans of news and updates. Each update crashes over me like a powerful wave. Riots in Portland, White Supremacists marching in DC, the climbing global number of COVID-19 deaths. A little closer to home I learn that a member of my church has in fact passed away due to COVID-19, and a friend announces that she will be divorcingher husband. What a way to being a morning. So much heaviness and pain around the world and at home.
This year,thetribulationshavebeenepic. Itishard not to beovercomebyanxious thoughts.In this season, many of us are just trying to hold on, with sick hearts caused by deferred hopes of catching a break to just...breathe.
So,for a moment, I’m giving us allpermission…
To juststop.
To justtake a deep breath.
Tojustconsider the passage above.
Inthe 33rdverseof John 16,Jesus makes three assurances. The first is that“in this world[we]will have tribulation.”Here, the wordfortribulationis also used inJobwhen he described the partsof his life where everything seemed to be falling apart. 2020 has sure seemed to be one tribulation after the other. But before we fall into the depths of despair, we should look to Jesus’ second assurance from the passage. In Him we may have peace. Our omniscient God knows the end from the beginning!Weeping may indeed endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. It isjoywe shall experience when the third assurance is realized. He has overcome the world.
Whatever 2020 has thrown at us, whatever may be on the horizon for 2021, Jesus has promised usHispeace. How can we lean into Him who has overcome the world, trusting that He will not leave us nor forsake us? This work is intentional. For me, giving God the first few moments of my day rather thandiving intothe oceans of traumatic newsallows the peace of Christ to have first place. What practice can you put in place in your own life that will allow you to experience the peace of Christ that passes all understanding?
I was invited to write an Advent devotional for my school’s diversity council.
The Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary Southeast Diversity Council seeks to cultivate an atmosphere that invites, welcomes, and supports underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
If you are following the Advent Calendar, we are tracking along in Love week.
“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. “
Luke 2:15-20
“Mary had a baby
Yes Lord
Mary had a baby
Yes my Lord
Mary had a baby
Yes Lord, thepeople keep a comin’ and the train done gone.”
-Negro Spiritual
I am always so encouraged when I take the time to consider how God makes Himself known to us. For me, songs like the one above, with the comforting rhythm of call and response, is a way of making God’s story known to me. The rhythmic telling of the Nativity story, set to music, is not only a reminder of God’s loving act inthe Incarnation, but also how I, like the shepherds in the passage, tell others of His wondrous love.
When I think about the shepherds in this passage, I am also encouraged. Human categories of wealth and status don’t matter to God. The announcement of Love coming down was first shared with simple working people. In response, like in the song, thepeople kept a comin’. Also, wise men—learnedindividuals led by the science of astronomy, who had access to power and wealth —traveled a great distance to find the King of the Jews and worship Him. Again, thepeople kept a comin’. You and I, just like the shepherds and the wise men, we come as well. Why? Because He first loved us and demonstrated His love by dwelling among us, bearing our burdens, and making the ultimate sacrifice of love for our salvation. It’s no wonder that through thecenturies, as the story of Love continues to be told, thepeoplekeep a comin’.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been:- predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
What happens when outside influences make you and I believe that it is all riding on us? What happens when we believe that our health, peace of mind, and our futures all depend on what we can accomplish, perform, or purchase? My stomach is in knots just thinking about carrying such a burden. In Ephesus during the time the letter to the Ephesians was written, the influence of Greek thought and culture colored every aspect of life. Nowhere was that influence more apparent than in the worship of their pagan gods. Artemis, the Greek goddess of fertility and the most worshipped deity in the region, had an enormously spectacular temple dedicated to her in Ephesus. Followers of Artemis sincerely believed that avoiding illness, ensuring a bountiful harvest, completing a voyage safely, getting rich, or attracting a desirable lover depended on what they could do for her. The person needing the goddess to make a move on their behalf would make a vow to pay the goddess back when she gave them favor. I can’t begin to imagine the stress of what it must have felt like when prayers were unanswered. A person might go into debt, endure strange rituals, or work themselves to the bone in order to curry favor with an idol made of silver. People desperate for answers not only looked to Artemis for their daily deliverances, they were also big believers in magic and the occult. Again, we see the people’s attempts to DO something to move the supernatural to work on their behalf.
As I write these words I find myself relating to the Ephesians in that I catch myself from time to time trying to manipulate God and orchestrate life to my liking. I am embarrassed to admit how many times I have wanted God to move in a particular way and was “extra spiritual”, going out of my way to do good works for the Lord. Then later, send up self serving prayers with the hope that my good works would somehow convince God to “hook a sister up.”
It is such an encouragement to my soul that the thing that grants me the immense privilege of a guaranteed heavenly inheritance is as simple as a heartfelt, “yes” to God. Paul writes that when you and I hear the word of truth and believe, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The word sealed, or sphragizō in Greek means to be made immediately authentic. This powerful truth of being sealed unto God by a simple act of faith was compelling to the Ephesians who worshipped silver figurines that could neither hear their prayers, nor show compassion. I imagine the guarantee that Christ offers was welcome to those souls burdened with trying to manipulate and maneuver in order to find favor with their gods. No wonder why new converts in Ephesus who once owned books of magic spells burned them publicly as a demonstration of the depth of their new faith (Acts 19). When we believe, and are sealed with the Holy Spirit, it guarantees us an inheritance we did not deserve and could never earn through our own efforts. No magic, no incantations, nor spells are needed. Instantly we belong to the family of faith.
My question for you: How have you experienced relief by knowing you have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit?
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. – 2 Cor 10:3-5
One morning as I was getting ready for work, I got a text message notification from my husband. ba-ding! I looked down fully expecting it to be a note telling me to make sure the coffee maker is unplugged. He sends the same text every day.
But that morning, his message made my stomach do flips – “The gift looks good on you.”
I was confused at first. Gift? He didn’t give me any gift. What was he talking about??? Then I stopped and stared at my horrified reflection in the mirror.
In my family multiple divorces and extended singlehood among the women were common. I myself struggled with unwanted singlehood until my late 30’s. I thought a generational curse of marital dysfunction and infidelity had followed me into my marriage. I wondered if I had heard God wrong about marrying this man (we were only two years into our marriage at that point). I wondered if my lack of experience and family history had caused me to fail as a wife. Mocking voices began telling me that there are no good men out there, and that my marriage was at risk. So in the stillness of the morning as I stared horrified in the mirror, anger, hurt rage, and betrayal began to bubble up into a hot knot in my throat.
But praise God for the gift of the Holy Spirit who reminds us of scripture. “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end” – Proverbs 29:11
God reminded me of that 2nd Corinthians passage above to take every thought captive. Every thought. Thoughts of inadequacy. Thoughts of hurt. Thoughts of anger. Everything. Then, we are to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Knowledge that He is good, and that He has a hope and a future for us.
In the passage, Paul was talking about people that were stirring up dissension in the church. In my bathroom that morning, the enemy was trying to stir up dissension in my mind, making me want to doubt God’s blessing on my marriage and in my life. I had to remind myself that I have chosen to break generational curses, and any power they might have over me. I have chosen to join myself to this man. And, most importantly, I have chosen to trust God with my marriage.
So, trusting the Holy Spirit to soothe my soul and keep me sane no matter the outcome. I picked up my phone and texted him back – “Huh?” It was all I could muster.
The minute and a half I waited for his response seemed like an eternity.
His response: “It’s a song, never mind.”
I nearly shouted LIAR!!!!!!!! There is no song like that. I immediately Googled “the gift looks good on you song lyrics.”
You know what I found? A YouTube clip of a cute, upbeat song…
Hallelujah!!!!!!!! My husband wasn’t a philandering, no good piece of dirt. He was a wonderful godly man choosing to edify his wife! Relief poured out of my eyes in big fat tears and I praised God. I praised Him for the Holy Spirit that reminded me to put a check on my feelings and on my tongue.
What if I had flown into a rage and said all kinds of accusatory and hurtful things to him. What if by doing that I actually planted seeds of infidelity in his mind? By taking my thoughts captive, it didn’t mean I ignored my hurt and confusion. I submitted those thoughts to Christ so I could function. Letting Him bear that burden so I could hear Him in the midst of my emotions.
