Saturday, July 20, 2013

Trayvon Martin and The Dark Past Revisited

We are one week into the verdict of not guilty and our feelings are so remorseful. I am praying that our country will become a better place to live. We have been here too often and with the same results. Till. Dred Scott. Evers. King. (Malcolm and Rodney)  We come to this crucial point in our history or to make history or to make a difference: We misstep. The same fight. Different players. Same pain. Different pressure point. Have we really matured?

It is our dark past. We carry it as a security blanket when we want the outcome in our favor and as a battering ram when we are trying to get our way. We watched Lemrick Nelson have one state trial and two federal. Two lives ruined. Two families destroyed. We did not learn. The politicians remembered Mayor Dinkins' support of the verdict and it cost him the elections. Trayvon is not a political statement, a social movement, or a quest for a voice from the myriad of social activists and race organization. He is a reminder of our dark past. 

The pundits have sat back to re-ignite the hatred shared between our races. The use of the government to promote harmony and peace cannot be achieved.

We are a great nation that has been given the responsibility of expressing love and forgiveness to everyone.

What do we sing in the backdrop of Trayvon's death and America's tragedy?

Lift Every Voice and Sing" was publicly performed first as a poem as part of a celebration of Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900, by 500 school children at the segregated Stanton School. Its principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words to introduce its honored guest Booker T. Washington. The poem was later set to music by Johnson's brother John in 1905


Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land


I am not pleased with the songs that I hear about Trayvon's death because we are so blinded for our need for immediate gratification or the fuel of race by the race pundits. We are better than this America.

The example that is shown through this dark place (we are revisiting) is enhanced by the race baiters. I am a healer. I will not participate.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

After Sandy

 I saw  so many on today that were soul-searching for a kairos moment, i.e. a God moment.

I saw the work of God. Today, He who answers before, during, and after the storm. He draws closer to us when we think He is farther away.

Please help me with all the questions about this day because there is an answer.

I do understand that suffering on any level is not good or is it? Is fair or not fair?

I saw God at work on today. The promise in pain. The joy in sorrow. The dry land beneath the water. I saw God today. I call it Hope.

After Sandy./?  He responds with hope.

Monday, December 19, 2011

THE REV. S. WAYNE STOKELING

THE REV. S. WAYNE STOKELING

Born in Perry, GA, The Rev. S. Wayne Stokeling was called to preach at the age of seven.  He served the Lord at Greater Union Baptist Church, where he was youth minister and soon became a guiding force at area revivals for youth and adults alike.

Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, since 1986, He lead the transition of this ministry to organize as the New Journey Church of Brooklyn in 2010.

Rev. Stokeling is an outstanding community activist.  He led his congregation in the development of Project Return, a narcotics and alcohol abuse program; a Men’s Fellowship, which seeks to address the needs of the family; New York’s first Universal Sisters, a national women’s health conference; and programs for AIDS counseling, after-school and SAT tutoring, GED classes and a variety of other self-help and educational projects.  A long-term children’s advocate, Pastor Stokeling organized a mentoring program, Mind Your Mentoring, which has taken young, Black urban professionals into New York public schools since 1993.  In addition, he and his Neighborhood Prayer Watch spearhead Someone Is Praying for Me at St. John Baptist Church, monthly services to strengthen youth through prayer. He also sponsored the construction of a 178-unit apartment complex next to his church.

Prior to being called to St. John, Rev. Stokeling served as pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Bowling Green, KY, and Friendship Baptist Church in Henderson, GA. A member of the Progressive Baptist State Convention, he serves as a lecturer on church history for this group as well as for the Empire State Baptist Convention and serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Baptist Convention.  Dr. Stokeling has preached and lectured around the world, including France, England, Trinidad and parts of Africa.  He frequently returns to Georgia where he serves as lecturer to the ministers of the Georgia State Baptist Convention and preaches across the state.

An academician as well as a theologian, Rev. Stokeling received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Mercer University in Macon, GA; a Master’s Degree in Management and Finance from Georgia State; and an MBA from New York University.  Currently, Rev. Stokeling is pursuing post-graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School.  He also attended the Chandler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, the London School of Economics ,the Theological Seminary at Vanderbilt University and Princeton Theological Seminary .  Rev. Stokeling has received numerous awards and honors including honorary doctorate degrees from Luther Rice Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia

Monday, January 3, 2011

Kwanzaa and Christ

Let's celebrate

First Fruits

The concept of presenting the first of your labors in the new year is as old as man. What will I give in 2011 to show my gratitude for the increase of 2010?
  1.  Family- me
  2.  Business-delegation
  3. relationships-transparency
  4. self-belief
I can go on and on. My top priority is in my relationship to God. More Praise.