From the Heart of Pastor Jacqueline A. Thompson
I was 12 years old when I shared with my mother that I was sick of going to church all day and that I didn’t understand why we had to do it. As an African American single mother who hailed from Louisiana and who had raised her three older children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, I am certain the declaration of her late-in-life precocious daughter was one that caused alarm.
Deaconess Easter Mae Green was known for reminding all of us that “as for her and her house, we WILL serve the Lord.” It was then that we began visiting various Oakland churches and found ourselves in the balcony of a church to which she had previously belonged. The pastor, small in stature but giant in presence, mounted the pulpit that almost touched the ceiling and began preaching slowly and powerfully on verses found in Matthew 28:18-20. He spoke of the church’s mission and the Christian’s responsibility to go out and make disciples. He spoke of helping people who were less fortunate and standing up for those who could not defend themselves.
For the first time, in my 12-year-old mind church had a reason, a divine reason. Our gatherings were not to be just about singing and having a good time in the Lord. But rather there was a purpose and a mandate with a measurable objective.
The doors of the church were opened that Sunday and before I realized it I was walking from the balcony and then down the aisle.
My mother followed, never questioning or chastising my decision. That day we both became members of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland under the leadership of Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr.
December 23, 2018
In my time off during this Advent Season, I have done what I do every year. I have spent some time reading and reflecting on the birth narratives of Jesus. Every year brings fresh illumination.
This year, I have been struck by two phrases in Luke's narrative. In chapter one verses 28-29, I read these words: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to Mary, you ARE highly favored! But Mary WAS greatly troubled. How is it possible to be both highly favored and greatly troubled at the same time? And yet more often than not, our faith walk is one of dueling polarity. We slide back and forth on the scale between hope and despair; joy and pain; peace and turmoil; fear and courage; faith and unbelief. There are always times when despite God saying we are highly favored, we are also greatly troubled.
We are busy going about preparing for the celebrations of this season. And yet we do so, greatly troubled by the government shutdown, families trapped at the border and dangerously callous policy decisions. A Nation Highly Favored and Greatly Troubled!
Many of us have decorated our homes and will be preparing wonderful meals for family and friends. And yet we do so, in full knowledge that there are those with tents for walls and no room for trees in the cars they live in. A People Highly Favored and Greatly Troubled!
Although we are blessed, there are those of us who wish the season and the day would just come and go. A time that meant smiles, laughter and warm memories now serves as a reminder of loved ones lost producing pain and grief. A Time Highly Favored and Greatly Troubled.
We all have our own situations and experiences that highlight the polarities of our faith journey. Sometimes it seems like a never-ending cycle. Buy the angel said something else to Mary that brought me comfort and joy even this week. The angel also said to Mary, "The Lord is With You".
When you are Highly Favored, the Lord is with you! When you are Greatly Troubled, the Lord is with you! Perhaps this is the secret that helped Paul to be content no matter what state he found himself in.
So as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, please accept my gift to you. Silver and Gold, have I none but that which I have, I humbly give. Be reminded: THE LORD IS WITH YOU! No matter what state or end of the scale you are on, THE LORD IS WITH YOU!
Mary learned later why she would need that blessed assurance when Simeon blessed them and said to her, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." But through it all, the LORD WAS WITH HER!
May the gift of Immanuel, God with us, bring you and yours, Peace, Joy, Hope and Love this Holiday Season!
Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
December 20, 2017
Well, we're almost there. We are just FIVE days away from what we call Christmas, the day we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. I wonder what life was like for Mary the 5 days before she gave birth. Somehow I doubt she was shopping or decorating. I don't believe she was prepping food to cook or hanging lights. She certainly was not wrapping gifts although she was carrying the greatest gift the world would ever know.
Five days before Mary gave birth, she may have been traveling. According to the gospel of Luke, she and her husband Joseph had to leave Nazareth and report to Bethlehem for the census. It was about a four to five day walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The men had to register in their hometown so they could be counted for taxation by the Roman Empire. Who could imagine some 2000 years later, TAXES would still be adversely impacting the masses. Today, our empire passed a heinously deceptive tax bill that benefits the wealthy, burdens the middle class and decimates the poor. Although it's been billed as a "massive tax cut", millions of us will end up paying more under this new plan. Corporations receive permanent cuts while certain individuals receive temporary reductions. It repeals the individual healthcare mandate leaving 13 million more Americans uninsured by 2027. This new plan increases the deficit by 1.45 trillion dollars with no clear plan to pay for the increase.
While this plan was being debated again today, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson was called upon to offer prayer during the Presidential Cabinet meeting. I listened as he prayed that God "give us a spirit of gratitude, compassion and common sense" in what he called "this time of discord, distrust and dishonesty”. I confess: I laughed and in that moment understood exactly why Mary sang her song known as the Magnificat! In spite of the circumstances she faced and the empire could not escape, she was clear about the character and nature of her God. I am not certain of whom Dr. Carson petitioned but I know the God of Mary has very different concerns than the god of empire.
The God of Mary, has regard for the low estate of God's servants
The God of Mary, is Mighty and has done great things - Holy is God's name
The God of Mary, has mercy of those who fear God from generation to generation
The God of Mary shows strength through God's actions
The God of Mary scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts
The God of Mary pulls down the mighty from their thrones
The God of Mary exalts those of low degree
The God of Mary fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away
Is it any wonder why her soul magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in the God of her salvation? We have lit the candle of joy. There are times when our reasons for joy our shrouded by the burdens of our everyday reality. But James left an instruction for us in the first chapter. James 1: 2-3 says we must "COUNT IT ALL JOY." It refers to trials and tribulations that test our faith in God. These times increase our ability to endure and endurance will carry us all the way through to the purpose of God for it. So today, I make a decision in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of this season to COUNT IT ALL JOY....The God of Mary has placed Joy on the inside that will soon bring Joy to the world! This joy we have, the world didn't give it and the world can't take it away.
COUNT IT ALL JOY!
Blessings to you!
Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
December 13, 2017
It's what we all say we want. It's what we all say we need. It's our desire to see it in our families, communities, nation and world. This time of year, we declare it in the earth. Some of us would be satisfied if we could just get it in our own hearts and minds even if for only a moment. What its IT? PEACE! Peace in our western, Christian context has become completely synonymous with the absence of conflict, discord and strife. The word itself conjures images of tranquility and quietness. Literally, many see peace as a place, a destination. We will know we have reached it when we are free from worry and concern. We pray for it. We attempt to pay for it. We travel to exotic locations hoping to experience it and yet it often eludes and evades us.
During Advent, we light the candle of peace and recite Isaiah 9:6. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." In addition, other scriptures tell us to do what makes for peace; live in peace; to seek peace and pursue it and then be peacemakers. But some things are just easier said than done.
The birth of Christ reminds us that peace is so much more than the absence of chaos and conflict. Shalom in the Hebrew and Eirene in the Greek carry with them the notion of well being. Everyday there is something and even someone that comes to rob, distort and destroy our sense of well being. That's why we must know the true source of our peace. Jesus said to his disciples in John, "Peace I leave with you. My peace, not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Our sense of well being does not come from our government, our education, our social status nor our career achievements. It is not found in our reputations, our affiliations or our vocations. It is found in the one who said, in this world you WILL have trouble and suffering-I have overcome the world. I have told you these things that you may have peace IN me. You can have it, in the middle of all the chaos and discord - there is a peace that passes all human understanding. Ask for it...Believe it!
When peace like a river attends my way;
when sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say
It is well, it is WELL with my soul!
Until next week, may these texts increase your peace: Philippians 4:6-7; Isaiah 26:3-12; Matthew 11:28-30; Matthew 8:23-27; Colossians 3:15.
Blessings to you!
Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor
December 6, 2017
I don't usually write during Advent as December begins my time of annual vacation. But my spirit kept nudging me and so I write. This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. The season of waiting and expectation. It is the time where we are supposed to reflect on the first coming of Christ and look forward to the second. At my church and perhaps at yours, we recited the litany and lit the first candle: the candle of HOPE. I wanted to be there, excited..expectant..hopeful...full of anticipation but I wasn't quite there.
CONFESSION: I'm tired of waiting and hope deferred makes the heart sick. In reality, I've been stuck. Stuck right around November 2016, living in a constant state of dissonance perpetuated by every tweet, every regressive policy, every asinine press conference and every alternative fact that has taken place daily since then. Hope has been marred by shock and disbelief that what I never thought would happen, happened and at how fast and how far we have fallen.
And yet while I wasn't looking, Hope found me in the most unexpected place. It wasn't found in the visitation of the angel. It wasn't in the Song of Mary nor in the leaping baby of her cousin Elizabeth. Hope found me in the socio-political context of his birth. Jesus was born into a climate very similar to ours. He was born to a people and family who lived under Roman occupation; burdened by excess taxation that benefitted the wealthy; governed by a religious aristocracy who had traded the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the political agenda of Caesar Augustus. Literally, he came into a society for which there was "no room" for him. Meanwhile God was said to have been silent for some 400 years prior. It appeared as if all anyone could do was imitate Simeon in the gospel of Luke, who spent his time fasting, praying and "waiting for the consolation of Israel".
But then I realized it was into the midst of this burdensome, oppressive, dark, silent situation that God came. Unassuming and without need for anyone to make room, Jesus came. While they were waiting, God was working. God did again as God had done in the beginning. Without permission or invitation, God stepped into the middle of that which was dark, void and chaotic! It helps me hope to know that God doesn't need perfect conditions, optimal surroundings or human permission to move and act on the world's behalf. And neither do we. We are living in times where the message has been made clear, that for some of us - there is no room. Perhaps there never was and these days are just reminders of that forgotten truth. But the first coming of Christ serves as a reminder that despite man's agenda, God's Kingdom can and will prevail without human permission or invitation. It is a challenge to us, to avail ourselves believing that God can bless us and use us in spite of our own oppressive, dark, burdensome and silent situations. It is a reminder that in these times, Jesus is STILL Emmanuel, God with us!
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. I wasn't quite there Sunday but today, I'm on my way. Context is everything! It's a journey...and I'm on it...Join me!
Until next Wednesday, may these words Help You to Hope: Lamentations 3:21-23; Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:6; Proverbs 23:18; Romans 8:24-25.
Blessings to you!
Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor