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The Contours of Culture

Dr. I. David Byrd

 

After watching the Democratic and Republican convention’s over the last 2 weeks, it is clear that America is in a cold, political civil war. She has commodified hate for political gain, and now attack people, not problems. Some want to turn hate into an asset. Both sides are impermeable to each other and have their own set of facts and realities. This existential crisis across America is baked, and neither is listening to each other. Each paints the worse picture of the other side. We even witnessed them invoking God for the purpose of political agenda. This sin of self-interest has dominated humankind’s thinking and risk the world’s belief of our witness. Given this current state of America, I felt it best we have a single focus today.

 

As believer’s in a fallen world, we can’t be neutral or negative about our love of neighbor, or our dialogue and actions, or our choices that show the world who Jesus is. Problems and behaviors based on what we believe is needed to meet our own personal desires is not in line with God’s Word. Jesus came to serve and not be served. His love is kind, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own . . . but rejoices in truth, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

 

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Who Is Part of Your American Story?

Addressing the issues happening across the communities of America is a nuanced and complicated situation. The violence is no longer contained to those communities labeled “disadvantaged”, so the concern is now front and center with everyone. People who don’t live in certain communities bringing narratives to the community that doesn’t match reality.  Please take a moment a look at the picture below and tell me what you see.

 

 

Some see two older people looking at each other. Others see a man seranading a woman with a banjos. The same view can yield different perceptions and understandings. If you are willing to engage in critical and conscious conversation, the topic dares us to remember the history of struggle, understand how much distance has been covered, and how much more distance remains. To pretend you do not notice something, because you should do something about it, but you do not want to does not dismiss its reality. American heritage isn’t so much anti-Black, as it has passed over us without giving us due attention. Some are even skeptical about our contributions. I’m reminded of the implications of the story where Jesus fed the multitudes.  In John 6, He multiplied the food to feed about 20 thousand. Wait, wasn’t it 5,000? You didn’t count the women and the children. The Bible says, “besides,” which means not counting. In the same way, American history works through the people you don’t even count, the people you don’t notice, the people you don’t think are worthy of including in the story.
Schools don’t teach about the inventors, scientists, moral arbiters, the domain of towering thinkers, activists, and freedom fighters who are our foremothers and forefathers, our forebears in the historical Black struggle. Statues aren’t erected around the country to recognize Black people’s contributions to the American narrative. One example is Mary Pickersgill, credited with sewing the Star-Spangled Banner, which flew over Fort McHenry in Maryland and inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem. Less known is that Grace Wisher, an African American girl at just 13 years old, sewed a significant amount of the flag. It’s another testament to the deeply rooted, yet often unmentioned, African Americans’ contributions to the very core of this country.
The violence and criminal activity we are witnessing – those tearing down statues that don’t represent them and destroying businesses not available to them is analogous to a glass teapot on the stove with no one paying attention to it. It’s glass, and you can see what’s happening to the water inside if you care to pay attention. It’s just a teapot, and the teapot’s systemic structure is to contain the water and to boil the water within the pot. It’s the tea or coffee that defines the drink. Tea consist of many different leaves and coffee from different types of beans. There is little to no discussion of the contribution of the water. The unattended water will reach a specific temperature and begin to signal it has reached its boiling point. When ignored, the only option the water has is to interact with the pot to enable it to escape its situation. When the pot explodes, we reason that we don’t understand why the water had to do so much damage. Maybe the pot was defective. That brand of teapot doesn’t boil properly.  We neglect looking inward to acknowledge that we ignored the signs and signals the water and the teapot were sending us. The steam’s whistle sent up as proof that the water had experienced all it could take—the loud cry for relief. Theologian Howard Thurman says, “In this world, the socially disadvantaged is constantly given a negative answer to the most important personal questions upon which mental health depends: ‘Who am I? What am I?’” The answer provided by society is no longer acceptable. People are saying, “If the structures don’t care about them, then they don’t care about the structures.”
The teapot has exploded. The water has damaged the cabinets, the floor, and everything within its reach. We can now live with a damaged kitchen, or we can begin to repair the kitchen to its original intent. If we repair and continue to ignore the teapot, we will experience the same thing again. In the words of Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Thurman, “The fact of the matter is, if you’ve been fighting for your freedom for over 400 years, you’d be mad too. And you’d want someone to hear that your life matters, too. It’s definitely not an apologetic, but it is a story that has to be told in defense of our lives. We have to tell [our] story because our lives depend on it.”
Sustained unjust and inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities has led to terrible, unacceptable violence. In addressing the violence, residents are stating that “in order for us to deal with the disorder, we have to address all of the other inequities that face our community, it’s something that happens perpetually in our community. It is unacceptable that you close our schools. It is unacceptable that jobs are not available, and you say we don’t want to work. It is unacceptable that you displace our residents at [the Housing Authority] and not work with them to make sure they have sound housing.”
I am in no way condoning the lawlessness that is taking place, but no matter where you fall on the political or religious spectrum, we are called to respond first with love. We have to show grace, empathy, and patience. I’ll walk a mile in your shoes if I might see the world the way you do. It doesn’t mean I’ll agree with everything you think or do. But this enables us to communicate and understand each other’s worldview and situation honorably. We can then make informed decisions and take actions to cure the situation based on facts, not hyperbole or assumptions. Morality and love can only emanate, if we believe Revelations 9:7 and that the American dream is everyone’s dream.

 

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Reflections On Being A White Male In A Time Of Racial Unrest 

Guest Writer:  Mark Matlock

 

White guys are under attack, or at least it feels that way. I’ve been reflecting on what this means and what I’ve learned and continue to learn about myself.

 

1. I can’t help that I am a white guy. It’s who I am, but I recognize that this does not excuse me from hurting other people knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, I may have added responsibility for undoing the wrong being done.

 

2. The “unknowingly hurting people” aspect is what I struggle with most. I don’t like to be considered ignorant and I don’t like being blamed for doing something I don’t think I did. Yet, I’m coming to realize more and more that I am part of a problem even though I’m not consciously participating. This is white privilege, I don’t like that word, because it sure doesn’t feel like privilege, but the world I live in was built by white men for the benefit of white men. Does a fish understand water? Only when they leave it.  I am the fish.

 

3. If I engage the conversation, I will eventually say the wrong thing. That’s okay. I need to learn from that. Better to engage and stumble than remain in my ignorance.

 

4. I unknowingly hurt people of color because of systemic racism. Systemic Racism really exists, my use of the dictionary definition of “racism”  to prove it doesn’t is, in fact, an example of systemic racism.

 

5. This thing called white fragility is real. I don’t like it because I’m not fragile, or maybe its because a woman wrote the book (“she has an agenda,” “she doesn’t know me,” “I’m not fragile you’re trying to make me that way”… wait is this my racism coming out?)

 

6. … but I read the book and wow… for the most part it captures my experience and what I observe in my other white guy friends. I’m tired of talking about race, being aware of myself as a white person all the time. It’s exhausting… oh wait everything I just wrote about being white is almost exactly what my friends of color have been saying for years. Hmmm.

 

7. What I consider to be healthy, vibrant conversations about race are often seen by people of color as a display of my white supremacy. Has my whiteness shaped the way I interact and discuss this topic?… it appears that might be the case.

 

8. I like to have an opinion about everything, I argue and move on, but these issues are deeply felt to affected people and they can’t move on. I need to treat this discussion with the  respect and weight it deserves.

 

9. I hide behind reason, logic and rational thought as superior tools,  forgetting this is a conversation about relationships, and that requires some other tools in the toolkit I don’t use as often like humility, submission, empathy, and love.

 

10. I like to be funny, my humor on this issue doesn’t reveal my cleverness, it often hurts people and gets me in trouble.

 

11. I’m not as curious about people as I give myself credit for. I need to ask more questions to learn why “I don’t get it.”

 

12. I want my friends of color to rescue me, to give me props, to validate me as one who gets it. They are true friends when they don’t but rather confront me.

 

13. White guys will most likely never be woke. There’s a moment you might think you are, then you realize you aren’t. It’s not about being “woke”, it’s about people experiencing equality, understanding is what is important.

 

14. Time… straight white cisgender men want to solve problems and move on (don’t believe me ask your spouse) … reconciliation is a relationship word. It’s not all in the head, this isn’t an easy fix.

 

15. Re-read your first point.

 

Mark Matlock has been working with the parents, ministers and non profits for nearly three decades and he’s spoken live to more than 1 million teenagers. He is the principal at WisdomWorks, a consulting firm that helps Christian leaders leverage the transforming power of wisdom to accomplish their mission. Mark is the former executive director of Youth Specialties and the creator of PlanetWisdom Student Conferences. In all his free time, he has written more than twenty books for teens and their parents including Faith For Exiles with David Kinnaman, President Barna Research.
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Let Go of Guilt

 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”                      Romans 8:1

 

Guilt is like a rock. It sits in the pit of our stomachs and can weigh down our every thought, behavior, and action. It can distract us all throughout the day and keep us awake at night. Our muscles work overtime just to carry it around, and yet we still hold onto it. It’s imperative that we stop feeling so guilty. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t feel guilt. True guilt is a loving instrument from Spiritual Guidance used to convict, correct, and conform your character when you go astray. True guilt is your friend, a Spiritual companion that whispers truth and motivates you to reconcile and seek forgiveness. Much of the time, however, the things we feel guilty about are not our issues. Another person behaves inappropriately or in some way violates our boundaries. We challenge the behavior, and the person gets angry and defensive. Then we feel guilty.

 

Guilt can prevent us from setting the boundaries that would be in our best interests—and in other people’s best interests. Feeling guilty can distract us and rob us of the precious resources we need to take care of ourselves. While there is friendly, helpful guilt that helps us stay true to our path and moral compass, the other, more common, lingering guilt is a secret conspirator that taunts and condemns, bringing dishonor and shame. This type of guilt arises when you blame yourself even though you’ve committed no wrong or when you continue to blame yourself after you have repented and righted your ship.Today is the day to let go of your guilty feelings—big and little. Just like feeling good about ourselves is a choice, so, too, is feeling guilty. When guilt is legitimate, it acts as a warning light, signaling that we’re off course. After we make amends or change a behavior, its purpose is finished, and it’s time to let the guilt go.

 

SOURCE: CHANGE IT UP

 

Dear God, to you I lift my soul. I trust in you. For the troubles of my way are many. Do not remember the sins of my youth. Bring me out of my destresses. Let integrity and uprightness redeem me. For I put my trust in you.
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Faithful To Me

Dr. I. David Byrd, January 15, 2020

We have become so conditioned to the influx of marketing around New Year’s resolutions, that the word “resolution” itself has virtually lost its meaning for most of society. Researchers say that 89% of resolutions are dropped by the end of February. This can be your year to shift from resolutions to lifestyle changes. One of my favorite parts of turning the calendar to January is seeing all the blank spaces to be filled.  An opportunity to restart, reset or readjust my life plan. I’ve heard it said that life is to be lived looking forward, but it is to be understood looking backwards. So, before we begin to fill in the spaces with our resolutions, goals and to dos, let’s pause to reflect and give God praise for 2019.

 

 I can confidently say, God has been faithful. In my life I find that through every pain and every tear there’s a God that’s been faithful to me. When friends turned their back and walked away, still He has been faithful to me. I admit that in my heart many times I questioned His will and I failed to believe, but He has been faithful to me. When my strength was all gone and when my heart had no song, still He was faithful to me. When my heart looked away from Him. The many times I could not pray, still in life He proved faithful to me. The days I spent so selfishly reaching out for what pleased me. Still He has proved faithful to me. The lyricist said, “morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand has provided. Great is they faithfulness Lord unto me.”

 

I hope you can start 2020 by recognizing He has and will be faithfulness to you in the midst of all you will face.

 

Dear God, You have done so many things for me, saved me from so many dangers, toils and snares. As I go through this year, may I be so filled with Your praises that I cannot help but tell others what You have done for me!

 

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

 

Thank you for allowing me to speak into your life. Hey, spend a few moments of quiet time discovering your personal application of what you just read by clicking this link  myTime with God

 

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The Journey 2020

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

 

 

Your  practical, inspirational resource for your spiritual walk

 

2020 is the year to ponder his faithfulness.  Through the puzzle of life, the Christian experience  is the greatest faith journey of all. It’s not always easy or fun, but as believers we know that God will help us through the detours and  potholes in the roadway. If you’re feeling weary in your journey, rest assured; nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God’s ordering and permission. There is no such thing as “chance,” “luck” or “accident” in the Christian’s journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are “working together” for the believer’s good. Christ-likeness is your eventual destination, but your journey is where your faith is perfected.

My prayer for you, like Paul’s, is that you gain a spirit of wisdom and revelation:

I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I always remember you in my prayers, asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you will know him better. I pray also that you will have a greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people.

Ephesians 1:15-18

 

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Beware of Strangers

Dr. I. David Byrd, November 15, 2019

 

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers
for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:1

 

Reflect on the ways in which you demonstrate love for others, even those that are different than you. Scripture calls us to love strangers and to bring them into our family. To receive and embrace those who do not share our faith and our values. The greatest way to get to know someone and evidence the love of Christ is to demonstrate biblical hospitality. The Greek word for hospitality is philoxenia, which means “lover of strangers”.

 

A relationship with Jesus is the sole source of hope for the world and God longs to use us to love the strangers around us so that they might enter into relationship with Him. Apart from God, our natural propensity is to avoid interacting with anyone we don’t know. But that is not the life our heavenly Father calls us to live. We are not called to keep this free gift of salvation for ourselves, but to share it with those strangers God is beckoning to himself.

 

It’s been said that food can unite, strengthen community bonds and help maintain a common identity among a group of people. Food will be the center of attention at most upcoming holiday celebrations or parties. The dinner table is a time to pause and relish in the ritual of passing food and sharing stories. Demonstrate Biblical hospitality by inviting someone who does not look, think or act like you to your holiday dinner table. It’s not just about opening your home, it’s about opening your heart.

 

Father,
Thank you for loving and pursuing me. Place a name, or even a few names on my heart that I might invite to the dinner table in order to hear their story and tell them your story. 
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

 

Thank you for allowing me to speak into your life. Hey, spend a few moments of quiet time discovering your personal application of what you just read by clicking this link  myTime with God
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Being Public With Our Faith

Dr. I David Byrd, November 1, 2019

 

“For you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.”                                                                                                  Ephesians 5:8 NRSV

 

Jesus provides the church the behavior necessary for being public about our faith. It starts with simply valuing people. If I value you, I will take time to get to know you. I will be concerned with the things that concern you. When we demonstrate the attributes of love, it causes us to take time to get into the other persons story. John Lederach expressed, “Jesus’ ministry has roots in grace expressed primarily through the quality of presence: the way he chose to be present, in relationship and in the company of others.”

 

Throughout the Bible Jesus first built relationships by compassionately accompanying people, helping them clarify their faith or find faith through their circumstances. Secondly, Jesus viewed people in ways that valuedthemand could not see their situations without being moved, feeling compassion, and acting. Third, Jesus honored diverse culturesto ensure the gospel would reach everyone. Jesus understood that it is hard to be in relationship with people we may view as different when we don’t see, understand or acknowledge their value.

 

The Syrophoenician woman, in Mark 7:24 -31, came to make a request of Jesus. She was culturally a Gentile, geographically a Canaanite and was assumed to be at the margin of the Jewish faith community. She was someone with whom Jesus and the disciples would not normally associate. The disciples allowed their worldviews to cloud their perception and calling. They labeled her as unfit, a foreigner, and an alien with no right to speak to Jesus. In Matthew 15:23, “They requested Jesus send her away.”Jesus used the opportunity to teach the lesson to the disciples that everyone would be included in the plan of salvation. We can be guilty of sometimes initially missing or ignoring those outside our comfort zone who may need our support. As children of light, we are called to ask the clarifying questions that can help us better understand the challenges others face in their life for the sake of their faith.

 

Just as God’s incarnate presence in Jesus Christ is a model for us, we are called to exhibit a coherent Christian perspective and response that is relational in nature. Twentieth century Catholic theologian Karl Reiner believed “the neighbor is given us precisely as the principal way in which God intends us to find our greatest fulfillment … whereby we are led by the Spirit to encounter God most intimately in the communion with one another that the Spirit of Jesus’ presence in another has made possible.”

 

Father in Heaven,

Help us to see people as you see them. To love them as you love them. Forgive us for sometimes thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. Change our hearts so that we have the love that will fuel our bold yet humble witness to your grace found in Jesus.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

 

Thank you for allowing me to speak into your life. Hey, spend a few moments of quiet time discovering your personal application of what you just read by clicking this link  myTime with God

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Stay In Peace, Not In Pieces

Dr. I. David Byrd October 15, 2019

 

Because of Peter’s decision to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, all of humankind has the opportunity to live in relationship with our Lord and Savior. Our common identity in Christ can lead to the healing of our divided and sinful nation. “He made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).

 

In The Book of Acts, F. Bruce provides a poignant summary for believer to contemplate:
“Like the early church, If believers today do their part to reach out to all who are lost, church congregations will eventually be compromised of people from different racial and cultural backgrounds. When this happens, we most often see our propensity to label and categorize. We are most comfortable with those who are just like us. Clearly, at the root of these tendencies is the ugly sin of prejudice. The more we understand the gospel and embrace God’s version of the body of Christ, the more we begin to transcend these differences. More than merely getting along, we will be able to honestly and authentically say from our hearts that we love each other.”

 

Are you in a mindset to be used to accomplish God’s purpose in someone whose experiences differ from your own?

 

Father God,

 

Throughout your Word you declare, define and demonstrate love. I admit it’s hard to sometimes love people I feel are different or don’t deserve my love. However, I can’t truly love you if I can’t love those you love. So today, I repent and ask you to renew my heart and mind so I may witness to the world through my actions as well as my words.

 

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

 

Thank you for allowing me to speak into your life. Hey, spend a few moments of quiet time discovering your personal application of what you just read by clicking this link  myTime with God

 

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Faith On Trial

 

Dr. I. David Byrd October 1, 2019

 

Our study picks us with Peter having seen the possibility of the presence of God in a culture not his own. He was willing to set aside his communities presuppositions, prejudices and pride to live out his calling. The Jews wanted the Gentiles to acculturate into their way of life before they would accept them and they believed this was necessary before they could be saved (Acts 11:2). The Jews prioritized certain beliefs in the Law of Moses and felt they could judge and legislate who was saved by application of those selected laws. Peter must give an account for his actions!

 

In Acts 15, the Jews met at the Council of Jerusalem to discuss this question of those they considered different, the “other”. The Jews were determined to show Peter the law was on their side and he was wrong for focusing on “those other” people, especially Gentiles. Scripture says they “argued forcefully”. My study revealed this meant they had serious theological differences, debate, discord and disunion. Sounds similar to the infighting of the Church today?

 

Nevertheless, Peter put the law in its proper perspective. The law identifies all our sins and points us to Christ (Gal 3:19 – 29). Peter knew we are saved only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not forceful application of laws upon individuals. Peter also knew that Jesus had given two commandments to clarify the Law of Moses and guide the interpretation of it in our actions. In Matthew 22: 37 – 39 Jesus commanded us,

 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

If you love everyone as you love yourself; your beliefs about them, how you label them and how you treat them will always be guided by Godly intentions.

 

Today we continue to question who is “us” and who is “them”. Like the Jews in Acts, we still use the Word of God to divide and define people by lifting up certain commandments to support theology based on secular criteria. Remember, Peter faced men who believed in the Resurrection of Jesus (i.e. they were saved) but felt the commandments they determined to be most relevant were the ones that mattered most. But Peter depended on scripture to settle the controversy not what would benefit him most. Avoid unfruitful arguments; focus on loving people. Remember, we can’t save anyone. Salvation is only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

In our next session I will bring home the message of our series, Walking the Talk. We will look at the impact of our witness when people are watching our actions more than they are listening to our words.

 

Father God,

 

We are surrounded by a fragmented culture, focused more on separation than salvation, we need you. Help create in us a clean heart and don’t allow us to focus on the “Great Commission” at the expense of your “Great Commandments”. We desire to live on the right side of your Word so that our lives more than our words will be the witness to those that need to know You.

 

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 

 

 

Thank you for allowing me to speak into your life. Hey, spend a few moments of quiet time discovering your personal application of what you just read by clicking this link  myTime with God