Nannie Helen Burroughs

February is African American History Month. When I taught school, February was always one of my favorite months because I enjoyed teaching the kids about how African Americans have influenced America's musical landscape, and the kids enjoyed learning.

Now that I work for WMU, I decided to do some research about African American involvement with WMU. As has been the case so many times in the last five months, I've learned a lot in the process...and I wanted to share a bit of that learning with you.

I encourage you to visit http://www.womenonmission.com/index.php?q=content/sisters-who-care and use it as a springboard for your own research. There is information about WMU's Sisters Who Care groups--groups that are part of a national organization of Baptist women, age 18 and above, of all races, classes, and backgrounds--information about Nannie Helen Burroughs, and information about WMU's work with racial reconciliation and interractial ministry.

Using the site as a springboard myself, I did some more reading on Nannie Helen Burroughs, and I noticed some interesting parallels between her work and some of our WMU fore-mothers. Read this:

"[Nannie Helen Burroughs] worked to establish a Woman’s Convention in the [National Baptist Convention]. As in white Baptist life at the time, women were hindered from positions of leadership in the NBC–though, as with their white sisters, the Baptist churches would dry up and blow away without the women. Addressing the NBC in 1900, Burroughs expressed the “righteous discontent” of Black Baptist women at not being able to use all their talents for the Kingdom of God. Because of her speech, the NBC established a Woman’s Convention and Burroughs became its Corresponding Secretary from 1900-1947 and President from 1948 until her death in 1961. She was successful in keeping the Woman’s Convention from answering to the men...

In 1909, Burroughs [started] a National Training School for Women and Girls in D.C. Through this school and her work with the Women’s Convention, Burroughs worked for racial and gender equity in both church and society. She addressed the first meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in 1905 in London. She constantly pushed for change while working within the system...

She was part of a network of Black Church women who had a holistic approach to mission (educational and focused on social justice as well as evangelism), but which also worked for racial and gender equality in church and society." http://levellers.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/twentieth-century-shapers-of-baptist-social-ethics-nannie-helen-burroughs/

I don't know about you, but Nannie's story inspires me...just as Lottie's and Annie's and Fannie Heck's and Janie Chapman's and other WMU forerunners' do.

What WMU-er inspires you?

What's more, what work do you see WMU doing--if any--to continue the work of racial reconciliation and interracial ministry that was started so long ago by women such as Nannie Helen Burroughs?

Snooze

The snooze bar is worn out.
Hit every five minutes for three years,
It is beat up and tired,
Ready to be released and
Dismissed to rest.
Please, dear hand,
Let up on the hits.
Allow a new pattern to emerge.
Cease this endless game of false beginnings, and
Eliminate the stops and starts.
It’s time for life to wake up,
To get up, to roll out of pause and move.
It’s time for snooze to sleep.

dd, 2/23/10

I Need You by The Swift

Every once in awhile I find a song that I cannot hear enough. As I lay in bed on Friday morning, one such song floated into my ears.

I had no idea who sang it. I doubted that it was anything new. I wasn't sure how I was going to find it. But thanks to Google and You Tube, I did...and I've listened to it on my phone and my computer over and over again since.

This is a modern-day Psalm that resonates with me in a way that most Christian contemporary songs don't. I understand a bed soaked with sadness that has no end. I understand falling in a downward spiral of despair, crying out for help. I also understand being lifted by a strength that is not my own and held by a grace that is more than I can comprehend.

Yes, Lord...I DO love you.

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My heart is restless in me
My wings are all worn out
I'm walking in the wilderness
And I cannot get out
I need You, Oh, I need You
Blessed Savior come
I need You, Oh, I need You
Fill the every longing in my sould

Oh, how I need You, Lord
I need Your perfect Word
With tearful eyes to see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today

My bed is soaked with sadness
My sadness has no end
A downward spiral of despair
That I keep falling in
I need You, Oh, I need You
To You my soul shall fly
I need You, Oh, I need You
Yaweh, how I love You more than life

Your silence is like death to me
So won't You hear my desperate plea

Today my soul is soaring
Way over mountains high
Though I can see the valleys
They're all just passing by
It's not that I am stronger
Look at my feeble wings
But I've been lifted higher
Yaweh's lifted me in His own strength

Oh, how I love You, Lord
I love Your perfect Word
With tearful eyes to see
The God who always will endure
Now I will celebrate
For all the thousand ways
That You have shown me grace
And made my heart in grace to stay
You've made my heart in grace to stay
Lord, make my heart in grace to stay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvZ4d5vqqo

In Christ Alone

The worship leader tonight said to trust your tear ducts when listening to a song...that if you cry when you hear the words or music, then God is most likely speaking to you. I agree. And tonight this song spoke to me...a well-known hymn, yes, but the message is so powerful.

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In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJe4A_GjHZc

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What about you? What song has spoken to you recently? What song has encouraged you or challenged you to share your faith?

Litany of Penitence

Yesterday during my lunch hour, I had the privilege of attending an Ash Wednesday service at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbia. This was only my fifth Ash Wednesday service out of the 32 Ash Wednesdays for which I've been alive. I attended the other four services while I was in college. Until that point, I didn't even know what Ash Wednesday was!

Over the years, as I've learned about the Christian church calendar, I've been fascinated by the fact that people all over the world, throughout all generations, are tied together by the same Christian story-- celebrating the same rituals, praying the same prayers, reading the same scriptures, connecting to our awesome, steady, faithful God--a unified voice of petition, confession, trust, adoration, and praise.

May this litany of penitence resonate with you as it did with me as I worshipped yesterday...and may you be reminded not only of your call to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world but also of your connection to believers of every tribe, tongue, denomination, and generation.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
HAVE MERCY ON US, LORD.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
HAVE MERCY ON US, LORD.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
WE CONFESS TO YOU, LORD.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
WE CONFESS TO YOU, LORD.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
WE CONFESS TO YOU, LORD.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
WE CONFESS TO YOU, LORD.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failture to commend the faith that is in us,
WE CONFESS TO YOU, LORD.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
ACCEPT OUR REPENTANCE, LORD.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
ACCEPT OUR REPENTANCE, LORD.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
ACCEPT OUR REPENTANCE, LORD.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
FAVORABLY HEAR US, FOR YOUR MERCY IS GREAT.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
THAT WE MAY SHOW FORTH YOUR GLORY IN THE WORLD.

By the cross and passion of your Son Our Lord,
BRING US WITH ALL YOUR SAINTS TO THE JOY OF HIS RESURRECTION.

Amen.

--taken from the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 267-269

Changed For The Better

Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing numerous musicals: Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Fiddler on the Roof, Cats, Annie, Ragtime, Honk, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Rent, Singing In The Rain, The Color Purple, Legally Blonde, Stomp, and more. Some of the musicals are light. Some of them hold deep meaning. Some of them I've really liked and seen more than once. Some of them didn't appeal to me, so I probably wouldn't see them again (unless someone gave me a free ticket :-)).

One musical that I would see over and over again, though, is the current Broadway sensation "Wicked." Billed as the "true story of the wicked witch of the west," Wicked is an amazing look at how appearance, stereotype, and close-mindedness can work together to create a culture of fear that leads its members to live with an "us against them" attitude that literally can destroy a group's presence and a person's reputation.

Before I went to see the show a few years ago, I had listened to the music and practically memorized every word. I wasn't 100% sure of what was going to happen in the storyline, but I was excited to watch it all play out and antsy to hear my favorite songs. What took me off guard was that my least favorite song going into the show actually became one of my favorite songs coming out of it.

I don't know how to explain what happened without giving away the storyline to those who haven't seen the show, but I'm going to try...and ask forgiveness if this creates a spoiler.

Basically, the two main characters, Galinda and Elphaba, have loathed each other until this point in the show. Just before going to a dance, Galinda gives Elphaba a hat that Elphaba then wears to the dance. When she walks in, everyone stops dancing and stares at her. Even after realizing that she has, once again, been made the brunt of a joke, Elphaba continues to walk into the dance, creating her own dance to her own music in her own world, no longer caring what anyone thinks. When Galinda sees this, something inside her begins to change and her heart begins to soften. Despite the stares of her popular, "in"-crowd friends, she moves to stand beside Elphaba and join in Elphaba's dance. Before long, everyone is doing Elphaba's dance as well...and Galinda and Elphaba are smiling together...having just become friends without ever saying a word.

Something about that whole scene makes me weep. In my mind, in that moment, Galinda realizes that she has done wrong--that her actions have been hurtful--that Elphaba has had to live a life of judgment, has never been accepted because of the color of her skin--that there is more to her than her appearance--and literally steps out to make things right and to show solidarity with Elphaba--despite the fact that she, in turn, could have ruined her reputation--and reputation is everything in "Wicked."

I cannot think of a more beautiful expression of repentence and humility...nor can I think of a more beautiful illustration of the power of standing in solidarity.

There are a lot of people in this world that we don't understand--who look and act differently than us. Yet God has called us to be a people of love and to celebrate the diversity of God's creation, even when it means humbling ourselves in repentence and taking a leap of faith.

Because Galinda stood beside Elphaba in that moment, they formed a friendship that positively and eternally changed both of their lives.

May I always have the humility,strength, and courage to look beyond myself and embrace the outcast...knowing that I could be embracing the very goodness of Christ...remembering the times that I have been embraced...celebrating the fact that with everyone person I meet, our lives could be changed for the better...

I Messed Up

The summer after I graduated from college, I messed up: I tried to make someone into my image instead of encouraging her to be the person that God created her to be. Don't get me wrong--I didn't do this with malice in mind; in fact, I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong! I thought that I was being a good friend: listening, providing a safe place for questions, offering advice, creating room for laughter and tears. But after the summer was over, the friendship suddenly ended and I was left to wonder what had happened.

The year that followed was a very difficult year. Not only was I adjusting to life after college--which, for me, was life as a first year teacher--but I was also trying to navigate a new situation in my life: a wrecked friendship over which I had little control. I wept and prayed and struggled and wrote and tried to make peace with something that I didn't fully understand. You need to understand that "feeling" is my dominant personality function--"feeling" meaning that harmony in relationships is of utmost importance to me--therefore, broken relationships of any type get to me on a level that is hard to describe. So when I say that I struggled, I mean that I struggled.

In time, though, God healed my heart and helped me truly understand the meaning of love--even when it means letting someone go and trusting God to take care of him/her. In time, I also began to understand that the friendship that I thought had been positive had actually been overbearing and created a place of intimidation rather than one of freedom. When I pushed my friend to speak or perform or pray aloud because I knew she could do it, or when we talked theology and I was so passionate about what I'd just learned that I forgot to let her speak, I wasn't allowing her to say no to something that God wasn't calling her to do and I wasn't giving her the chance to be heard. Because I believed in her and wanted the best for her, I subconsciously tried to force her to be who I thought she should be instead of letting her come into her own as the person that she truly was.

The next summer, I did things differently. In fact, my life has been a journey to do things differently ever since that year. Sometimes the journey is met with success. Sometimes it is met with failure. Sometimes I find myself singing "Compromised the Truth." Sometimes I find myself singing "Look At You." You see, I wrote "Compromised the Truth" shortly after that first summer out of college, and I wrote, "Look At You" one year later--after I had messed up pretty badly yet experienced God's unconditional love in return.

This faith journey is a crazy thing...mixed with freedom and choices and the capacity to do things amazingly well and the ability to do things profoundly dumb. It is filled with all different types of people, in size and shape and color and ability and personality and wisdom. It is met with endless gifts and talents and hopes and dreams. It is beautiful and chaotic and messy and amazing...that God chooses us, in our brokenness, to be the vessels of his love in this world...even after we mess up.

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Compromised The Truth
by D. Deaton

I taught her how to hide, to turn from the ones she loves
I taught her to enjoy the night and I taught her to fear the light
Oh I taught her how to run and I taught her how to lie
And I taught her how to cry, oh I taught her how to hide

Oh I should have, cause I could have told her differently
Oh I should have, cause I could have shown her differently, yeh
Oh I should have, cause I could have, but I didn’t, no I didn’t
Instead I compromised the truth for me

Well there is no fear in love cause perfect love drives out fear
And perfect love comes from Christ and not the other guy who tries to satisfy
The demands of this world and the needs of the flesh
And the guilt of the soul that keeps us from praying but keeps us saying

Oh I should have, cause I could have told her differently
Oh I should have, cause I could have shown her differently, yeh
Oh I should have, cause I could have, but I didn’t, no I didn’t
Instead I compromised the truth for me

I taught her how to hide, to turn from the ones she loves
I taught her to enjoy the night and I taught her to fear the light
Oh I taught her how to run and I taught her how to lie
And I taught her how to cry, oh I taught her how to hide

And I compromised the truth
Yes I compromised the truth
I’m sorry that I compromised the truth
For me

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LOOK AT YOU
by D. Deaton

Sometimes I feel like I can do all things through Christ
Who gives me strength
But sometimes I feel like He can’t do a thing through me
Through me

Look at me, I am nothing
Just look at them, they are everything
Look at me, I am nothing
Look at me

Okay, child, I’m looking and I’ll tell you what I see
The beautiful you that I created you to be
I don’t care what they can say and I don’t care what they can do
It’s you I love, it’s you

Look at you, you are something
Don’t look at them, they aren’t everything
Just look at you, you are something
Look at you

*both of these songs can be heard by visiting http://www.reverbnation.com/deannadeaton*

God Didn't Pass Over You

**You can listen to this song by going to http://www.reverbnation.com/deannadeaton. I wrote "God Didn't Pass Over You" for a friend who truly thought that God HAD passed over her when handing out the gifts."**

God Didn’t Pass Over You

He plays piano
She sings like an angel
He writes as beautifully as Thoreau
She dances like an eagle
He speaks like a bird
She paints as lovely as Picasso

But they may not have eyes
That see things from His view
And they may not have a heart
As loving and gentle as yours

You may not play piano
Or sing like an angel
You may not write like Thoreau
You may not dance like an eagle
Or speak like a bird
You may not paint like Picasso

But oh you have eyes
That shine through the dark
And oh you have a heart
That gives in love gifts that will never depart

Your talent is intangible
A gift given only to few
It doesn’t win many awards, I know
But oh, my friend
You hold the key
To what makes the world turn

You are a vessel
Chosen by God

--Deanna Deaton

If you think that you cannot relate to or make a difference in the lives of those around you, then you are wrong!

God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called…and each believer has been called to share Christ's love in this world. Maybe you can’t sing or play a musical instrument. Maybe you aren’t a prolific speaker or writer. And maybe you have trouble simply walking, not to mention leading games and recreation that require high-level coordination skills! But that’s okay! The Bible never says anything about those “talents” being God’s “gifts.” Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, leading, showing mercy (Romans 12); being an apostle, a miracle worker, a healer, an interpreter, and an administrator (1 Corinthians 12)…those are the gifts that the Bible speaks of.

Whether you have talents that the world recognizes and rewards (like singing or speaking) or whether you have talents that the world often overlooks (like listening or serving or smiling or baking cookies or visiting the nursing home or managing money or praying for the lost or writing encouraging notes or treading water for thirty minutes), you have at least one gift of the Spirit that was specifically given to you to allow you to use your talent in the body of Christ. And you have a choice. You can either embrace that gift and allow God to use it for His glory or you can convince yourself that you don’t have anything to offer simply because you aren’t as talented as the next person over. Talent alone doesn’t change lives; expressing talent through the gifts of the Spirit does.

Allow God to help you discern your gifts and place in the body of Christ. And don’t worry. God didn’t pass over you. You have been called; therefore, you are equipped. And it’s that “equipment” that is your true witness for Christ.

Happiness Isn't Always What It Seems

That's why I couldn't be happier
No, I couldn't be happier
Though it is, I admit
The tiniest bit
Unlike I anticipated
But I couldn't be happier
Simply couldn't be happier
(spoken) Well - not "simply":
(sung) 'Cause getting your dreams
It's strange, but it seems
A little - well - complicated
There's a kind of a sort of : cost
There's a couple of things get: lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed
And if that joy, that thrill
Doesn't thrill you like you think it will
Still -
With this perfect finale
The cheers and ballyhoo
Who
Wouldn't be happier?
So I couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true
Well, isn't it?
Happy is what happens
When your dreams come true!

--from Wicked

Mary's Wisdom

Since moving to Columbia, I've been living with an 80-year-old widow named Mary; I'm moving into my own apartment at the end of the month. My brother predicted that Mary and I would become good friends and that I'd have a terrible time leaving her. He was right. I have come to love her very much, and I WILL have a hard time leaving in a few weeks.

I've learned a lot from Mary--about cooking and cleaning and taking care of plants. She feeds some of her plants banana peels and some of them egg shells. Evidently, the nutrients from the peels and shells get into the soil and help the plants grow. I've listened to a lot of wonderful stories, learned a lot of history, and been challenged to expand my limited view of life in many ways. But I think the thing that'll stick with me the most is a comment that she made this morning.

As usual, if she's up and moving when I leave for work, I told her to have a good day. Not as usual, though, was her response. Instead of saying, "I'll try," or "You too." She said:

"Every day is a good day. It's just that some are better than others."

Mary has been in the hospital three times in the last three months. She's seen her life savings disappear with the downturned economy. She was the primary care-taker of both her husband and her brother before they each died slow, painful deaths. There are days when she barely has the energy to get out bed, when her old body rebels in pain and weariness. Yet. To her, every day is a good day. It's just that some are better than others.

What a beautiful outlook on life.
What a humbling way to celebrate the life that God has created.
What a beautiful message to proclaim to the masses...

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Has anyone shared a bit of wisdom with you lately?

If so, what was it? And how has it affected your life?

God and Understanding

I went to Barnes and Noble last week to get some coffee and peruse the sale books. As I looked through the $2 bin, I was drawn to the artwork and title on the cover of "A Priest's Journal of Hope." After realizing that the writer, Philip C. Linder, was from South Carolina, I decided to buy the book...and I've been reading it at night before bed.

Regardless of what else I've read, I've come back to one particular entry each night. I find it especially appropriate in light of my last two posts...and I wish I would have written it myself. This is what it says:

"This life that we live has the potential to impose real difficulties and hardships upon us. Theologically, I know this is because we have our being in a fallen and imperfect world--we do not live in the Garden of Eden. I also believe with every once of my being that God sent His son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem us from this sin and imperfection--that when bad things happen, we have access to God through the forgiveness and eternal life that Christ died for on the cross. I know all these things, yet I do not understand God.

...Webster's dictionary defines understanding as: 'a mental grasp or comprehension'...How could I ever claim to have a mental grasp of God? What I do have is faith in God, and faith in God is very different than understanding God and all of God's ways. You see, understanding through faith takes on a whole new dimension and meaning.

Jesus said, 'Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid." (John 14:27). And it is St. Paul who ties this peace to understand with his words: "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

These words tell you God's peace is greater than any of our attempts at understanding in the midst of life's difficult situations and conditions. And it is your faith and hope in that peace of God that makes it okay not to understand as the world so often requires." (pg. 11)

May we each live in such a way that the peace which surpasses all understanding radiates into a world that so desperately needs it...