Wednesday, November 18, 2015
PurpleRev. Speaks (...on other people's blogs)
In addition to her personal blog The Purple Rev speaks for larger blogs and website including The Huffington Post Blog, For Harriet, Young Clergy Women's Project and the African American Lectionary. Samples can be found below.
PurpleRev Speaks on the Huffington Post (Click Here)
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Blest Assurance
"...Though trials should come, let this blest assurance control..."
I have begun a practice of asking my Facebook friends if they have prayer requests and being really intentional about praying for each person. While praying this second time, the above words came into my spirit. These words come from a well-known and often very comforting hymn called, "It is Well with My Soul."
This song begins with the words: "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll." These are two opposite concepts, "peace" and "sorrows". But they are both in the same space in the same song. But the conclusion is somehow still "it is well".
The words that got stuck in my head and spirit when praying were "blest assurance". And the notion of saying "it is well", feeling the same level of 'wellness', in the face of both overwhelming peace and overwhelming sorrow takes a high level of faith.
While I was praying God showed me that the people that were asking for prayer were also people who in positions of leadership in their churches, who had dedicated their lives to ministry, lay leaders and ordained clergy alike, mostly women. God show me that the people who have dedicated their lives to serving God's people and helping other people find peace, faith and wellness often find themselves having their "wellness" challenged on a regular basis. They often find that they are able to care for others much better than they know how to care for themselves. They are about to bring peace to the personal struggles of others. But it's harder to take care of their own. It's a hard thing to face taking care of others knowing that when you go home you are facing something about yourself that you have no clue how to care for. Yet somehow we keep doing what we do.
But somehow that's where the "blest assurance" comes in. It's where that "it is well" comes in. Being able to say "it is well" in peace and sorrow in one of the gifts we have as ordained and lay faith leaders. The struggle is bring that "wellness", that "blessed assurance" we've mastered in our vocational lives into our personal lives. The hope and prayer is that we can be intentional about bringing that "peace that passes all understanding" from our sermon or our Bible study lesson or counseling session or whatever we do into our own lives lives.
My prayer is that we as faith leaders (lay and ordained) can find ways to bring that blessed assurance and wellness we have when you come before God's people into the our own lives and proclaim that it "it is well".
Love,
PurpleRev.
I have begun a practice of asking my Facebook friends if they have prayer requests and being really intentional about praying for each person. While praying this second time, the above words came into my spirit. These words come from a well-known and often very comforting hymn called, "It is Well with My Soul."
This song begins with the words: "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll." These are two opposite concepts, "peace" and "sorrows". But they are both in the same space in the same song. But the conclusion is somehow still "it is well".
The words that got stuck in my head and spirit when praying were "blest assurance". And the notion of saying "it is well", feeling the same level of 'wellness', in the face of both overwhelming peace and overwhelming sorrow takes a high level of faith.
While I was praying God showed me that the people that were asking for prayer were also people who in positions of leadership in their churches, who had dedicated their lives to ministry, lay leaders and ordained clergy alike, mostly women. God show me that the people who have dedicated their lives to serving God's people and helping other people find peace, faith and wellness often find themselves having their "wellness" challenged on a regular basis. They often find that they are able to care for others much better than they know how to care for themselves. They are about to bring peace to the personal struggles of others. But it's harder to take care of their own. It's a hard thing to face taking care of others knowing that when you go home you are facing something about yourself that you have no clue how to care for. Yet somehow we keep doing what we do.
But somehow that's where the "blest assurance" comes in. It's where that "it is well" comes in. Being able to say "it is well" in peace and sorrow in one of the gifts we have as ordained and lay faith leaders. The struggle is bring that "wellness", that "blessed assurance" we've mastered in our vocational lives into our personal lives. The hope and prayer is that we can be intentional about bringing that "peace that passes all understanding" from our sermon or our Bible study lesson or counseling session or whatever we do into our own lives lives.
My prayer is that we as faith leaders (lay and ordained) can find ways to bring that blessed assurance and wellness we have when you come before God's people into the our own lives and proclaim that it "it is well".
Love,
PurpleRev.
In Search of Peace and Clarity
For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the
end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely
come, it will not delay.-Habukkuk 2:3
So on Sunday I woke up way too early for it to make sense. So I decided to pray about the things that worried me out of bed. Then I felt moved to shift gears and pray for you guys too. So I spent that day praying for some of you. And in the midst of praying I saw some things that I wanted to share.
There were some requests for friends and relatives who were sick. There were also many requests for those who were grieving. The were several funerals over the weekend.
But the words that seemed to be repeated over and over again in many requests were "peace" and "clarity".
Praying those words led me to this revelation from the Divine: We are all longing for peace and clarity in one way or another. As I prayed what I heard in the spirit is peace comes from clarity. But the key is knowing that clarity is not about knowing everything and foreseeing everything. Clarity comes from being able to sense God's presence and goodness and PURPOSE and knowing that God knows what God is doing regardless of what is happening around you.
Therefore my general prayer for you who are seeking peace and clarity (myself included), is for God to reveal God's self to you in the midst of whatever you are going through in a way that is unique and specific to YOU so that you will be able to hear, be clear and find peace.
Amen <3 PurpleRev
So on Sunday I woke up way too early for it to make sense. So I decided to pray about the things that worried me out of bed. Then I felt moved to shift gears and pray for you guys too. So I spent that day praying for some of you. And in the midst of praying I saw some things that I wanted to share.
There were some requests for friends and relatives who were sick. There were also many requests for those who were grieving. The were several funerals over the weekend.
But the words that seemed to be repeated over and over again in many requests were "peace" and "clarity".
Praying those words led me to this revelation from the Divine: We are all longing for peace and clarity in one way or another. As I prayed what I heard in the spirit is peace comes from clarity. But the key is knowing that clarity is not about knowing everything and foreseeing everything. Clarity comes from being able to sense God's presence and goodness and PURPOSE and knowing that God knows what God is doing regardless of what is happening around you.
Therefore my general prayer for you who are seeking peace and clarity (myself included), is for God to reveal God's self to you in the midst of whatever you are going through in a way that is unique and specific to YOU so that you will be able to hear, be clear and find peace.
Amen <3 PurpleRev
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