{"id":2119,"date":"2012-11-20T09:15:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T15:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/?p=2119"},"modified":"2012-11-20T10:05:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T16:05:10","slug":"a-church-of-new-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/20\/a-church-of-new-light\/","title":{"rendered":"A Church of New Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was one of the many speakers at the 123rd anniversary celebration of New Light Missionary Baptist Church. My 10-minute reflection was a small part of the two and a half hour service filled with wisdom, exhortation, prayers, worship, history, dance, and music. I prepared these thoughts after prayer and reflecting upon my family\u2019s experience here in Deer Park, Alabama. My words below are taken from a hard-to-hear audio recording. My reflection followed Deacon A. C. Bivens\u2019 reflection, \u201cMy Attitude,\u201d a remarkable talk explaining his positive attitude toward life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m too good with the microphone.\u201d Everyone laughs encouragingly. \u201cI\u2019ll just, I\u2019ll try here\u201d (try speaking by the front pews without a microphone). \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know how to honor everyone here,\u201d and Pastor Taylor and others assure me that that\u2019s alright, \u201cbut I want to honor some other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we\u2019re celebrating 123 years. In doing so, we honor all the people who have been part of this church: people who farmed, people who washed clothes, people who fought fires, people who endured storms. We honor all the parents, grandparents, children, aunts, and uncles, who sacrificed a lot and suffered, but who lived well by faith, who hoped in a wondrous future, and who built this caring, welcoming community.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The promise of the mountaintop is shining for us! We’ve never been closer! – Photograph by Nancy Heise of Raspberry Island, Alaska in July 2009.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPastor Taylor talks about difficult times. We live in difficult times. He calls difficult times \u2018these last and – \u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Taylor and many others join in saying: \u201c\u2019evil days!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these struggling times, my family needed to move, and about a year ago I remember coming up here and stopping at this church and I stopped a few doors down and a kind man directed me to Earl Wood Road. Soon my family met friends there: Douglas Woods and Edward Jackson. Deer Park is a wondrous place. We were really surprised to come here at the all-around tremendous welcome, even the animals welcomed us: the birds, frogs, deer, even a coyote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we found this church, New Light, a church rich in compassionate love \u2013 reaching out to all! A church that\u2019s very like a Scripture that\u2019s dear to me, Luke chapter 1, verse 78, \u2018In the compassionate love of God, the new light,\u2019 just like the church\u2019s name, \u2018the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on us who dwell in darkness and who live in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As I\u2019m continuing to say all this, there\u2019s plenty else being proclaimed by everybody too: \u201cAmen!\u201d \u201cYes!\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s right!\u201d \u201cAlright!\u201d \u201cYes, Lord!\u201d \u2026 sighs of agreement and laughter too.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach Sunday the deacons come out and pray a lot of prayers that have touched my family: \u2018Thank you, Father, for getting me up this morning!\u2019 \u2018Thank you, Father, for getting us ready for this day!\u2019 \u2018Thank you, Father, for the plan that you have for us this day!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cGod answers these prayers with love all through our services. We hear the answer to these prayers in our pastor\u2019s words and in his laughter, in caring smiles all around, and we enjoy God\u2019s answers in the spirit-filled music, the singing, the drums, the dancing! What is God saying in all this, over and over, Sunday after Sunday? \u2018I love you, I love you, I love you, even if no one else loves you, I love you!\u2019<\/p>\n

At this point, Chastity, our organist, starts playing the organ. She\u2019s amazing in every service with the organ and her voice. There\u2019s clapping too. Most people are probably thinking I\u2019m done, but I keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 123 years, this church has been on a journey to God\u2019s mountaintop. We\u2019ve never been closer to that top. There\u2019s still sacrifices to be made, suffering ahead, much to overcome, but who is with us on this journey? Who? Who strengthens us? Who – ?\u201d (I was going to continue, \u201cWho is always with us?\u201d)<\/p>\n

Everyone answers: \u201c\u2026 God \u2026 Jesus \u2026!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus who comes down from Heaven to us, Jesus who is in each of us, each sister and brother! When my family, when all of us are in this church, we feel God\u2019s loving presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s Chariot, God\u2019s Sweet Chariot is swinging low for us, forgiving us \u2013 no matter what we\u2019ve done, healing us \u2013 no matter what we\u2019ve been through, and joining us together to find our way to God\u2019s mountaintop! This mountaintop is a dream to be followed and it\u2019s also a blessed assurance, something we can count on! It\u2019s also an invitation! We\u2019re all good people! We\u2019ve all been invited! This, like any other day, is our day, and we can do it! Together, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we can plant seeds, together we can share meals, together we can take care of the sick, together we can conceive new ideas, together we can work in the community, fix roofs, together can see that no one is cold during the winter! We won\u2019t do it in a day, but we can do it!<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Holy Spirit and Jesus, they\u2019re helping us to bear one another\u2019s burdens, to forgive seventy times seventy, to comfort the sorrowful, to spread kindness wherever we go, to heal the old wounds, the old divisions, and to create a new world, a wondrous world of light, based on justice, generosity, and love! And this church, this church of New Light is being given all the grace it needs to shine its light so that people [and each of us], no matter what they\u2019ve done, no matter what they\u2019ve been through, can find their way to peace, and also that we can all hear deeply the healing words of God, \u2018I love you, I love you, I love you, even if no one else loves you, I love you!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we say it together?\u201d Everyone proclaims in unison, \u201c\u2018I love you, I love you, I love you, even if no one else loves you, I love you!\u2019\u201d and concludes with simultaneous and spontaneous praise and clapping, \u201c\u2026Thank you, God!…Amen!…Alright!…\u201d<\/p>\n

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Here are some\u00a0beautiful songs\u00a0reflective of the love and singing at New Light Missionary Baptist Church:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I need you to Survive – Hezekiah Walker