HOLIDAY WHITE-OUT

Guest Editorial by Carole J. Mayo

As a poor, black child growing up in a small town in Kentucky, outside of Louisville, we always looked forward to the Christmas holidays.  As poor as we were, we still looked forward to Christmas with hope.  One of the most enjoyable holiday activities was putting up our Christmas tree.  Surprisingly enough, we usually had a decent tree.  For years, we made many of our own ornaments out of construction paper of various shapes, sizes, and colors.  We spread on a little glitter with flour paste and finally made red and green garland to wrap around the tree. 

We always bragged about our tradition of putting up our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  Sure, we knew that many people put up trees as early as a week before Christmas, but that was not OUR family tradition.  It was not until many years into adulthood that I learned the truth about this family Christmas Eve tradition.   As the family talked about Christmases past, my mother pointed out the reason we created that tradition.  The hay market closed down early on Christmas Eve and we were usually there at the last minute buying reduced apples, oranges, a bag of mixed nuts, peppermint sticks and perhaps a bag of hard candy.  Then we would go the area where the workers were tossing out the unsold Christmas trees.  We were allowed to pick a tree as large as we could carry to take home to decorate for Christmas.  We had a great tree…. fir, pine, cypress, spruce, whatever we wanted and more than we could ever afford… and it cost us nothing.  How ingenious and creative was that! 

It is time for African Americans to again demonstrate our ingenuity and creativity in the way we spend money.  This year we want family, friends and associates to know that you still don’t have to break the bank to have an enjoyable Christmas celebration.  There are many reasons why we should refrain from excessive spending during the holidays but the concept of an Economic WHITE OUT during the Christmas holidays is multi-faceted.

I was recently impressed, overwhelmed and extremely proud of the victory won by students, faculty and athletes at Missouri State University.  I have not seen such an expression of solidarity among African Americans since the Montgomery bus boycotts and sit-in demonstrations.  In order for these protests to be successful, everybody had to participate, sacrifice and cooperate.  Workers did not ride the bus and individuals, churches and businesses who owned vehicles helped transport people to their jobs, grocery stores, church, etc.   Certainly, we have protested various issues and events since the boycotts of the 1960’s, but we have never collectively experienced the power of seriously impacting the economy as the young people accomplished at Missouri, in order for their voices to be heard.

In 2015 on the brink of 2016, there is a desperate need for Black voices to be heard and Black Power to be exerted.   We are experiencing overwhelming turmoil, degradation, and destruction in our homes, communities, streets, and schools.  There is an overt, organized effort to destroy our black institutions of higher education (HBCUs) and create pipelines to prison in our elementary and secondary schools.  We are the prostitutes of conspicuous consumption in every industry; health and beauty products; hair weaves, nails, eyelashes, designer clothes, shoes, purses, and high priced vehicles, etc., and we have never demanded anything in return for our product loyalty to Nike, Coach, Michael Kors, Mary Kay or Cover Girl, Samsung or Apple; Mercedes, BMW or Lexus….not even JOBS.

This Christmas, we can make a difference. THIS CHRISTMAS we can exert our creativity and ingenuity and see just how much BUYING POWER AFRICAN AMERICANS POSSESS.  WHAT IS OUR VALUE TO THE AMERICAN ECONOMY?  IF WE DON’T BUST OUT THE LINES AT WALMART AND BEST BUY, HOW MUCH MONEY WILL BE LOST IN SALES?  Can the American economy afford for African-Americans and like-minded Americans to WHITE-OUT their BLACK FRIDAY Christmas sales?  This is so logical it escapes reason!!!!

First of all, for us as a family of believers, taking the focus off conspicuous consumption (wanting to buy what everyone else is ‘probably’ getting) will help our families focus more on the true meaning of Christmas, The celebration of the Birth of Christ.

Secondly, After Christmas, overstocked items are sold at greater discounts than before Christmas.  Buy the kids some coloring books, crayons, puzzles, books and a rubber ball at the dollar or $.99 store, if you have to buy something.  Tell them your tradition is to celebrate the gift giving part of Christmas after the regular holiday. (You know, like the Christmas Eve Christmas decoration thing.)  Start buying stocks, bonds, create college savings accounts, or purchase life insurance for uninsured family members instead of buying trinkets that have no value.

Thirdly, you avoid all the stress and frustration of Christmas shopping and enjoy other celebrations at church, school, social clubs and organizations much more.  Many of these activities focus on giving to others, which again emphasizes the true meaning of Christmas.  For God so loved the world that he GAVE………..

Finally, you can become part of a MOVEMENT to WHITE OUT CHRISTMAS and make Black Voices Heard.  The American economic and political systems only respond to the Almighty Dollar.  African Americans have billions of dollars that can “speak truth to power” in 2015 and on into the future.  This we must do if we want to “be the head and not the tail”.  The Almighty God says “I have not given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  A WHITE OUT requires freedom from the fear of being ridiculed, ostracized and criticized by our family members and others and also tremendous self-discipline.  As we realize the power we have to effect change in this manner, we will become less fearful and more motivated to take control of our families, our schools, and our communities.

Walk With Fiscal Responsibility (The Holiday White Out)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...well almost. I have already started receiving advertisements concerning black Friday and all kinds of Thanksgiving sale items. Honestly, the only thing that reminds me of Christmas this week, is that Thanksgiving is next week, and WE All know that Christmas is roughly four weeks after Thanksgiving. And the season always kicks off with, you guessed it, Black Friday. Supposedly Black Friday is the biggest sale day with the best sales of the Christmas Season. People leave their turkey and dressing, put on their warm attire, and go stand in line awaiting stores to kick off their Christmas sales by making its anxious customers offers they cannot refuse. Unfortunately, this unnecessarily targets people who are either obligated to buy gifts for small children, religiously hold onto timeless traditions, or simply are enraptured with the season's nostalgia. This Black Friday event can be persuasive to persons who have been living within their means all year long, but with the pressure of losing out on the deal of a lifetime, along with the aforementioned nostalgic obligatory tradition keeping, undisciplined, fiscally financial irresponsible persons can dig a financial hole for themselves in a few weeks, so big that it will literally take a "Christmas Miracle", to break free of the debt, sometime in the next year (if you are lucky).


  So in hopes of helping some of my friends, family, and associates, empowering a whole community of persons, who have the will power not to be involved in the useless spending of trite trinkets, and enlightening as many people as possible, especially those whose skin has been kissed by nature's sun, of the great economic impact we can have collectively, my family invites your family to join us in a "White Out", in opposition to Black Friday. I know wearing white is faux pas after labor day, but it's not that kind of White Out. This Christmas season let's all unite in celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, the first coming (Advent) of Jesus Christ into the world. Enjoy time off from work by spending it with loved ones and catching up and perhaps even making new friends and traditions. But also engaging in our "Holiday White Out". A Holiday White Out is the voluntary abstaining from the commercialism and purchasing of useless, depreciating, and budget busting gifts. The goal is not to completely by-pass Christmas altogether, it is to rally together to prove that we can do anything we can put our collective minds to and free ourselves from the financial yolk of impulse spending just because someone suggests it on a calendar.


  The goal of the Holiday White Out is to have a gross economic impact on the season so the purchasing power of our community's dollars are no longer taken for granted. Another goal is to educate people on creative gift giving that doesn't involve you maxing out your credit cards or emptying your savings account to buy something that won't last or hold it's value through the weekend. We can also share ideas and opportunistic options with one another including agencies, programs, and ministries assisting people to enjoy Christmas this time of year by giving away food, clothes, and toys for those who may not have the means to financially do these thing on their own. The alternative, if you have to buy anything, is to buy something substantive, within your financial means, without charging it on a credit card, and not after the regular Christmas shopping season (Black Friday through Christmas Eve). By substantive, I mean something that is not junk or have a depreciating value immediately after purchase. For instance, Buy a Certificate of Deposit (CD), stock, savings bond, a mutual fund account, or open a Christmas Account for next year etc. These are things that will increase or appreciate in value over time and not depreciate. These are things that cannot be destroyed moments after your children open them and shred the wrapping paper.


 These ideas are not popular, and these kind of gifts are not in chic, but they will help your financial portfolio for the better and not the worse, you'll be involved in a movement that can educate and empower others, all while sharing the true meaning of Christmas with your loved ones. If all of us do it together we can turn the malls upside down! Please write us back and let us know what you think or share your ideas on how to make this better and more impactful for everyone, and please share this blog post with as many of your friends, family members, and social media circles as possible. Jesus came to make a radical difference in the lives of those who believed in him. An economic empowerment movement is something that will educate, empower, and employ the masses to make a radical difference for years to come.

Walk with Flexibility

 

A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

 

It was Harry S. Wright, Jr. who said, "There is not a move on the checkerboard of human experience that catches God by surprise."  It is humanly impossible to outmaneuver, outsmart, or outwit God.  You can attempt to run ahead of him, drag behind him, or run away from him, but you always end up right where he wants you to be.  It's amazing how this works out, and usually for your good.  "God led his "lost" people through the wilderness.  God led his people through the sea.  God led his people to the promised land and I'm so glad he leads me."  When you know that you know God is leading you, that should immediately lower your stress level.  I mean why keep spinning your wheels trying to control everything in the universe, when that job is already taken?  You can retire from being controller of the universe!  You can stop tripping and wondering if you are going in the right direction.  The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.  He will direct your path.  He will make your paths straight and plain, but you have to learn to walk in flexibility.

 

You can make the most organized and detailed plans, but if they are not God's plans, you will blow an emotional gasket trying to force an infinite and immeasurable God, into the tiny confines of your finite designs. All the temper tantrums I've witnessed of grown men and women, including myself, were individuals not able to get their own way. If you want to do anything, leave room for God to adjust, delay, or even scrap your plans.  My best advice is for you to seek God initially, ask God to show you his plans, and follow them!  The Bible tells us time after time in a plethora of ways and words, God is leading you.  The question becomes is this your desire and/or God's demand? 

 

When I come to many crossroads in my own life and am struggling with a decision, especially what appears to be two equally advantageous choices, I can rest now (after I stop struggling and stressing) in the fact that God is leading, guiding, and deciding.   I have decided I am not smart enough, far-sighted enough, or deserving enough to know where God wanted me to serve and wanted me to do.  So, in the words of one of the hottest gospel classics, "I put it all in hands!"  Whatever the problem, situation, or circumstance you can put it in the hands of an all-knowing God and let him lead you.

 

Dear Lord,

 

Thank you for being a God that not only guides, but provides.  Remind us every morning to seek your plans for the day before we stress ourselves out trying to make our ideas work.  I am glad to know you are directing my steps, my starts, and my stops in order to avoid destruction.  Thank you, sir!  Amen.



"Walk With Great Expectations"

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…Ephesians 3:20

No matter how hard I have tried, I have been as accurate as the local weatherman, when it comes to predicting how God would answer my prayers.  Even when there were only a limited amount of choices for God to pick to deliver me out of a situation, He seems to always opt for the fill in option.  He always chooses option C which was not an original choice of A or B.  That’s why it is never inaccurate to describe one of God’s attributes as the ability to “make a way out of no way”.  God shows that He is still God by going over and above our expectations.

  

Isaiah 55:8 still rings true even in the 21^st century.  We have a 24 hour a day news cycle.  We have new technology almost daily.  We have improved on our ability to shrink the world with the internet and communicating on our ever improving cell phones and smart devices.  The printed word in our newspapers and magazines are quickly approaching extinction.  Yet, with all of our advances and advantages, we still have to wait for God to move.  We still have to depend on God for our daily needs.  We still have to look to God’s word for our holy, moral, standard of living.  We still need the vicarious act of Jesus now well over 2000 years old to wash and forgive us of our sins.  The more things change the more things stay the same.  We can stand flat-footed and still declare in antiquity, God’s ways are not our ways, neither are God’s thoughts our thoughts, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts.

                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
This was an exaggerated, elongated, and eloquent way to say God can still blow your mind! Cessationists are wrong when it comes to the miraculous activity delegated to the hand of God.  Miracles are a daily, if not minute by minute occurrence.  You should pray for practical resolutions to situations, but you should expect the unexpected miracles to show up in your life.  You can call it providential provision, or manipulating the affairs of mankind, but when it happens after you pray, and happens in a way you would have never imagined, you must admit nobody but God could have did what He did, when He did it, the way that He did it that even surpassed your wild and fancy imagination.  It is not a crack in your faith to be in the dark on how God is going to move in a situation.  As a matter of fact it is the deep rooted faith that no longer has to ask who or how.  Whatever you are waiting on God to do today, expect him to do it sooner, bigger, better, greater, and watch Him blow your mind by abundantly, exceeding even your expectation!

Lord, I thank you that you work and live outside the box of limited human imagination.  God let me rest in the assurance that you will, if it is your will, and I can trust in your divine results even if I don’t understand the divine process.  You are a great God who greatly supersedes our great expectations and you are worthy of great praise!

Walk in Good Works

Walk in Good Works

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them - Ephesians 2:10

"Nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy." - Albert Barnes

One of the reasons I love my pastor in general is his Godly wisdom and insight, particularly, in his ability to debunk certain accepted "Christian" colloquialisms and common cultural philosophies.  If you don't own any of your own "mother wit" or "street philosophy" explicitly, you are probably implicitly, if not secretly, harboring some of our culture’s cute colloquialisms.  For example, "God knows my heart", "God helps those who help themselves", "If you're scared, go to church", "Follow your heart", et cetera, etc.

Now, I would be remiss if I left out the one philosophy that has guided most of my adult life and Christian walk. I felt like it gave me a pass and justified my sin. I thought God agreed with me and the Bible backed me up, when I would say about one of my Christian brothers/sisters, "I love you, but I don't have to like you." This simple street saying leads to a "hands-off" approach, forms a physical buffer and infuses a mental disconnect from individuals whom we don't care to entertain or be involved with for any extended amount of time.  When the truth is these are the very persons, we are individually called to serve and minister to, because they personally pluck our last nerve, rain on our parades, get under our skin, rub us the wrong way, or God forbid cause us "to lay down our religion".  Do you have them in mind now?

                                                

Who else should witness the love of Christ protruding through your personality more than "the thorn in your side"?  The truth is as a Christian brother/sister these individuals are displaying an attitude, action, or creating an atmosphere you deem other than Christian or "unGodly".  And if this is the case, your responsibility is not to build a barrier between you two.  It is to build a bridge.  It is to show compassion and mercy, because they are exhibiting behaviors that are preventing Christian fellowship.  Your job is now to pray for them.  If it is possible, go to them in love and explain the riff you feel they have forged by their attitude.  Then intercede some more when they reject your loving concern.  Then go out of your way to show them the love of God, you said you had for them, until your prayers and partnership with God's love have grown so you even like them, now!

 

If Martin King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa modeled our Messiah's message in any manner, they each uniquely personified, that you can't miss with mercy. You never lose by helping people!  Compassion is the one common Christian and cultural colloquialism we all should carry. We should Walk in Good Works!!!

"WALK HOLY"

"Captured by culture, the Church has taken off the whole armor of God, slipped on an evening gown, and gone as the world's escort to the devil's ball!" - Dr. James C. Perkins

                           

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16

There was a time when Churchgoers were unashamedly and unapologetically portrayed as “Holy Rollers, Bible Thumpers, Religious Fanatics, and Jesus Freaks".  The believer’s badge of honor and calling card use to be their weird uniqueness and stark differences that separated the saints from secular society.  However, this new 21st century religion is both “vanilla” and lukewarm, because churches are now overly concerned with adjusting themselves in order to assimilate to this current, counter-Christian culture.  The people of God are becoming increasingly more interested in being politically correct and non-offensive, while going out of their way to be "seeker-sensitive" friendly, and all-inclusive.  Instead of operating like a mission rescuing prisoners of war behind enemy lines, the church more resembles an exotic resort entertaining and pampering its paying guests. The church is quickly and quietly acquiescing and becoming camouflaged on the canvas of American Culture.  This keeps the contemporary congregation from maintaining its historic and thermostatic prowess and has reduced it to a thermometric ministry.  Meaning, it is becoming more difficult to differentiate the people of the world, (non-Christians & non-church goers) from the People of the Way. 

The church's calling has never been to conform to the world.  The church has always been called forth and called out to transform the world.  The church is called to be Holy because its creator and sustainer is holy.  God is holy and everything about God is holy!  All of God's attributes are holy.  God is the "holy other".  He’s pure. He’s perfect.  He's love.  He's light.  He has no trace of sin.  He has no darkness or shadow of turning.  There is never a need for re-branding our God, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.  Who is like our God?  All of God's activities are holy.  No one or nothing else can do the things He does!  Who else would do the wonderful things He has done?  Who else could love you unconditionally, forgive you wholeheartedly, and give to you freely and abundantly from his extravagance?  God hates sin, but He loves sinners.  Who does that?  We are called to do that!  We are summoned to be separate and set apart from the world.  We are called to be in the world, but not of the world.  We are called to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people.  You are a part of an exclusively inclusive club called holiness.  Entrance into this club is where and when you are most like God.  It is your fellowship with God that fuels your fire to be more like God.                                                              

Holiness is one of those words that can be abused and misused by the church.  Too often it is relegated to what you adorn instead of who you adore.  But Holiness has more to do with what is in you, than what is on you.  If you have the right stuff on the inside of you, He'll make sure you have the right stuff on the outside of you.  Holy literally means to be set apart.  To live holy means to stand in direct opposition of assimilation, inclusiveness, and “getting in where you fit in”.   You need not be ashamed of being different in every aspect of living.  It is time for you to stand up and step out from the crowd.  Here is the crux of the whole matter: Since God is holy, to walk holy is to live a Godly life.  This starts by being filled with the spirit of God, by placing your trust and faith in the son of God, Jesus Christ, standing solely and being saturated by truth found in the word of God, being surrounded by the people of God at your local church, praying fervently for the will of God, working faithfully in the house of God, and serving fearlessly in the world of God by showing the love of God to your brother man.

Walk Circumspectly

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15-16

 “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  Soren Kierkegaard

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”  Socarates

There's nothing like a New Year to help recalibrate all the loose ends of your life.  However you need not wait for a new year to start on a new you!  We can thank God for the circular motion of the hands on a clock that mark seconds, the revolutions of the earth on its axis that constitute days, and the orbits around the Sun that create seasons and years.  These are all constant reminders that we can pause, ponder, and then proceed to do a new thing, with better preparation, programming, and planning right now, rather than later, because you  have taken the time to reflect.

  If there is one thing a fool is guilty of, it is a lack of introspection, a failure to reflect. Life is too short and time is too valuable to have a series of synonymous seasons of self-inflicted nonsense (sin).  You owe it to yourself and to all those you love to only suffer from the pain of any single mistake one time.  A fool will return to his folly.  He will major in repeat performances.  He will not self-correct.  It grieves me when I think of the things the younger generation is rushing to get into, that we are tirelessly trying to keep them out of, because they fail to value the expertise and the time their elders have taken to reflect on certain situations in life. You can literally lengthen your life by learning lessons from the mistakes of others.

When they surveyed people who had lived over 100 years, they discovered that: 1. Investing more in personal relationships. 2. Reading more and 3.  Reflecting more were among the major things they would have done differently.  The bible tells us to walk circumspectly, to reexamine, re-imagine, to take notice of things, to think about things, to consistently and cautiously concentrate or consider things, to reflect, review, reason, reevaluate, and then make the necessary adjustments in life and to our living.  Today you have a newly deposited 86,400 seconds.  Give some back to God.  Invest some in your family and loved ones.  Take some and dedicate it to work and creativity.  Use some to read a book.  But don't discard the rest.  Save some by giving time to reflection.

“Reflection is a rich and rewarding resource for the redeemed.”  Robert L. Lyons