No matter how hard it gets there’s always HOPE.

Bigger than religion..

9 Feb 2012 | No Comments | posted by NNW | in Natarsha N. Wright

Tonight’s World Religion class was insightful. As I gain a deeper understanding of life as it relates to spirituality, religion, culture and self two things I have known about myself that this class sealed for me is: 1 – I am not a religious person. 2 – I’m definitely not conservative.

If we only try to find God in religion we are missing out on so much. God transcends religion. As Professor Nuako would say, “Leave your Jesus at the door.” So needless to say four weeks ago I left Jesus at the door and he has been standing there ever since.

N.

Book Review…

8 Feb 2012 | No Comments | posted by NNW | in Natarsha N. Wright

I am one month into Divinity School and it has been interesting. We just finished up God’s Long Summer by Charles Marsh in my Christian Social Ethics class. This book explored the faith of five Christians during the Civil Rights era. This book is an examination of how different interpretations of the Bible led to different reactions to the civil rights movement and is an invaluable contribution to the study of religion and history. Here is a quick synopsis of the book I grabbed from google.com:

• Fannie Lou Hamer, sharecropper turned voting rights activist who loved Jesus. Fannie Lou Hammer had endured the burdens of white racism for forty-four years as a sharecropper living in the Delta of Mississippi. After listening to an inspirational speech on civil rights delivered by James Bevel, Hamer answered the “call of Jesus” which demanded sacrifice but promised freedom and empowerment. This spiritual awakening would ultimately thrust Hamer into the national spotlight at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.

• Sam Bowers, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, anti-civil rights. During the mid-1960’s, Bowers was suspected of engineering at least nine murders, seventy-five bombings of black churches, and over three hundred assaults. Yet, like with Hamer, faith in God played a major role in Bower’s life. Bower’s believed that he had been called by God to eliminate the “heretics” or civil rights activists. An educated Klansman, committed Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher and defender of racial orthodoxy, Bowers militant language was filled with religious images ranging from the resurrected Christ to the image of Elijah resisting the prophets of Baal.

Douglas Hudgins, Influential Southern Baptist Pastor who refused to take a stand against white terrorism. A prominent Southern Baptist and pastor of First Baptist Church of Jackson, Hudgins instead preached that the Gospel of Jesus Christ “has nothing to do with social movements or realities beyond the church; it’s a matter of individual salvation.

Ed King, white Methodist minister who campaigned to integrate local white congregations. The results of a devastating tornado in Ed King’s hometown during his senior year of high school opened his eyes to the racial injustice endured by blacks. King’s newly found social conscious had profound religious sources. While a theology student at Boston University, King discovered a wide range of organizations exploring the intersections between faith and social justice. Committed to civil rights, King returned to Mississippi in hope of reforming the church. King sought to translate the idea of a beloved community into social reality.

Cleveland Sellers, young black college student who transdormed into a militant black nationalist. Raised in a middle-class black family in South Carolina, Cleveland Sellers faith in Christ caused him to enter the fight for racial justice. Influenced by Stokley Carmichael, Sellers eventually gave up on his commitment to nonviolence and the beloved community and embraced a form of Black Power which purged the movement of white participation. After serving time in prison, Sellers returned to his childhood faith in the Episcopal Church and once again began to dream of the beloved community.

After reviewing this book and engaging in thought provoking conversations with my classmates I had to make this situation more current and think about how people in general in today’s society interpret the Bible…well, not just the Bible, but information in general. People process information at different levels. Two people can look at the same picture and see two different things…the same thing with a book of information, i.e. the Bible. Two people can read the same information and come up with two different views.

Change…

15 Dec 2011 | No Comments | posted by NNW | in Natarsha N. Wright

Today, I received a letter. It was unlike any other letter that I have received. This letter is my acceptance letter to Howard University Divinity School for Spring 2012. One year ago I had not set out for this path. In fact, it was not even an option for me, but when you avail yourself to God’s plan for your life things change. Everything I thought I knew about my life’s dreams, goals, direction have changed in the last few years. It’s no longer about what I desire, but my prayer language has changed from what I want for me, but it is now, “Lord let thy will be done” in my life. I now realize and know that His ways are better than my ways.

I desire to learn more broadly about religion and spirituality. I’m not a religious person, but am interested in learning about culture, religion, and society. As I get older I’m more liberal in my views and not so closed minded about life. What changed? I started to get to know God for myself and traveling around the world has allowed me to take the limits off in my thinking. After being exposed to various cultures I’m learning that we limit ourselves when we contain our thinking and have become one sided on our views about life, religion, and spirituality.

I’m excited about this journey and can’t wait to see what I’ll discover.

Paradigm Shift…

3 Dec 2011 | No Comments | posted by NNW | in Natarsha N. Wright

Over the next couple of months you’ll start to see a transition in this blog. I’m in a paradigm shift and by the end of the month I may or may not have some major news which will determine how this blog will be formatted moving forward.

After meeting with my spiritual father yesterday he helped me to put some things into perspective. I had been disobedient in some areas of my life, but with guidance and direction from my spiritual father I now have the Godly counsel and support to move forward. When God gives you a dream, vision, and an assignment there are several things that I knew to do, but I was distracted by other things going on in my life that I overlooked these simple yet important details.

Obedience ::I learned that Obedience really is better than sacrifice. Enough said. I was led to read the story of Jonah. Jonah ran when he received his assignment because he felt that surely this was not the assignment that He was given. He was comfortable doing what he was currently doing, so why would he be given a more difficult assignment to do. When he ran it affected the lives of those around him. When he finally submitted to his assignment he was able to fulfill his God given purpose. We can’t worry about the outcome of what we are told to do as long as we do what he said because he will take care of the rest {Jonah 1-4}. I realized that at the end of the day I no longer need to seek approval from man..I don’t care what others think about something God told me to do. If He already said yes why am I listening to someone telling me what I shouldn’t do it? If He wanted that person to do it He would have given the dream, vision, and assignment to them, but He didn’t, He gave it to {me} you. So in the words of the infamous Nike commercial, JUST DO IT! For He knows the plans He has for your life {Jeremiah 29:11}.

Humility::I learned that I had to humble myself before the Lord, Officials, and Leaders of the Church because I did not do what I was told to do. I had to sit face to face with my pride and admit that I was disobedient. Hey, we all make mistakes, but we learn and grow from them. This is an important character to have in our journey. Let’s face it we will stumble in our walk, but we must pick ourselves up, shake it off and keep it moving. I learned that it is ok to be vulnerable, being being prideful is another story. We all need help at some point in our walk, but if let pride get the best of you…you’ll never receive that cup of water, cheers along the way, or reach the finish line.

Seek wise and Godly counsel::I learned that no matter how exciting the current or next season of your life is you can’t tell everybody what God is doing because they can delay the process by giving you advice that is not in line with what God has already confirmed in your spirit. However, what God has for you is for you and there is nothing no one can do to stop you from moving forward in the promise. It may be delayed, but it’s not denied. I was led to read about Elijah who was running for nothing. Elijah was a person who made mistakes, was afraid, but yet he trusted God. With God’s help Elijah did great things and God did great things for him. After all that God brought him through Elijah ran when God did not tell him to run because he heard that Jezebel was threatened by him {1 Kings 16-18}.

Structure and Order:: Another thing I learned is there is structure and order in everything we do. I’m re-committed to align myself to the structure and order and seek wise and Godly counsel. I have to go through the process and be obedient to God’s voice. Not listening to and moving swiftly to God’s voice will cost you. So be sure to count the cost when listening to others and not the spirit of God. I was led to read the Story of Joseph and the consequence of him sharing his dream too soon to people who couldn’t envision the dream. They thought they were stopping the dream from manifesting, but what they did was prepare him for manifestation of the dream {Genesis 39}. Que the theme music to Nas’ “You can hate me now.” The scripture says he will use your enemy as your footstool {Acts 2:34-35} so all those people who were trying to discourage you only positioned you to receive the manifestation of the dream. Sit back and watch Him work.

Submission::Lastly, I learned that at the end of the day I really need to work on submitting myself to the process.
-Obedience
-Humility
-Seek wise counsel
-Structure and Order
-Submission
I was so busy running that I became disobedient and I ended up being the one blocking my own blessing(s). In my own words, God don’t need my help. So I simply say to those of you reading this, Get out of your own way you’d be surprised at what God can do if you just submit to the process.

Caution a work in progress…Shift when necessary

N.