Disciples General Assembly

I'm just returning from our church General Assembly - Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I truly appreciated my local congregation sending us this year. I came home with a little more hope and a little more energy. I wrote about this last week in my congregational newsletter and someone suggested I share it on Facebook. I decided to write it here and link to it on Facebook. The events of this assembly restored hope to my soul. Something has troubled me for some time now. I came of age in the early 1970’s during the time of “school desegregation.” I wish I could say it was like the movie, “Remember the Titans” but that was not our experience on Oklahoma City’s near Southside. My high school experience was full of fighting and even rioting. By the time I was a senior we had Pinkerton Security personnel dressed in full riot gear patrolling our hallways. Fortunately, Coach Speegle took a liking to me and kept me on the golf team, even though I had absolutely no skills. It meant that every day I was able to leave the campus early before the troubles broke out in the afternoon. I held hopes and ideals that we would figure out this race problem in my lifetime. Well, over the past decade it has become evident that there is still much racial tension and inequality in our land. The language of hate has once again raised its ugly head. I really thought that we would have made more progress over these forty plus years. That‘s when it hit me during worship on Tuesday night of the General Assembly. There I was in Indianapolis, Indiana, listening to a sermon being preached by the pastor from one of our large churches, Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. I remember years ago, spending the night at that church with my youth group because it was raining hard and our camp ground was flooded. And now I was listening to the preacher, Rev. Virzola Law. Yes, she is a black woman, and her message touched my soul and moved me. And I also realized that just a few nights earlier, on Saturday night we had opened the Assembly with the election of Rev. Terri Hord Owens, a native of Terre Haute, IN, and a descendant of one of Indiana’s oldest African-American free settlements, as our next General Minister and President. A tear trickled down my cheek as it all soaked into my consciousness. Yes, there is much work to do in our culture and in our local communities, but at that moment I could celebrate the work and witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), my church. With a song in my heart, Soul Song Writer

Wow, I haven't written here since January of 2015? Mom was right once again. The older you become the faster time moves by. She said, "For instance, look at Christmas or Birthdays. When you are five it is only one of five holidays but when you are ninety, it is one of ninety holidays." Not that I'm ninety but still time is moving too quickly for me. Soul Song Writer