Race and Grace
God speaks through people who do not have titles of Pastor, Minister, Bishop, Prophet, Teacher, Evangelist, Apostle, or Opossum before their names. God does not need our special roles to do anything heavenly authorized and official. It is unnecessary because we are talking about Gee-Oh-Dee: God.
Days twenty-two through twenty-eight provided an experience that reinforced the truth that God will meet me wherever and whenever according to Divine timing.
Before folks with Jesusintheirheart (one word) bless me with a lecture on the five-folding chairs ministry from the book of Ephesians in the Bible, I know God uses spiritual offices and gifts.
God uses these gifts generously but not exclusively to build the church and bless the world. Although it seems that much of the church intellectually knows that God moves and speaks beyond people with a religious title, I have observed how this knowing does not align with our living. I challenge people to evaluate for themselves to make sure that their honoring of the woman and man of Gawd has not twinkled toed over into the land of idolatry.
With this said, turn to your neighbor and say, “Generously, not exclusively.”
Now High-five your other neighbor and say, “Oh, no she dih-int.”
Oh, yes, I did.
Stay with me, Church. I’m going somewhere: The spa.
Spa Church
I was out of town for a few days last week, and the day before my return home had been a rather strenuous one. Because I anticipated it several weeks ago, I had already booked some time at the spa.
Have you ever done something like an intense workout and said to yourself, “I’m going to feel this in the morning?” Well, it was one of those mornings.
I arrived at the spa ready to have dead skin scrubbed away into the sea of forgetfulness, essential oils anointing me like Aaron, black and white heads vanquished in a Jericho triumph, muscles soothed like the cedars of Lebanon (It doesn’t make sense, but it sounds Biblical enough), and be wrapped in a robe like sweet baby Jesus in a manger.
I passed on the communion champagne, though (I need help understanding why I would drink and go into a hot sauna-In that order. I am not joking or judging. I really desire help in understanding.).
The therapist for my deep tissue massage was Kate, a White woman about my height with a vibe that was a cross between “Kumbaya My Lord” and mixed martial arts. In other words, she cool.
From time to time, I share a joke with people about how I am gazing into their souls.
It is one of those jokes based on a truth.
Typically, the things I spiritually discern about people, I keep to myself. Otherwise, I would not be able to get through life if I stopped everyone I come across to talk about what I sensed.
I could discern when Kate looked at me, we were alike in this way. I am challenged to describe the moment. The best way I can put it is this: Within a matter of less than a minute, we were looking at each other, while looking into each other.
Later, after the massage, before going to the relaxation room, Kate began to share insights with me. As she spoke, she started confirming things that only the Lord would know. She used exact words about an aspect of my life and things that had been revealed to me in prayer (Umm… heck yeah, I am being ambiguous as all get out because I am of a descendant of the Nunya tribe: Nunya Bizness).
The point is that I knew it was a Divine appointment.
Before I left the spa, Kate stopped me, again, and we spoke some more (see: Nunya tribe).
God moved all up in the spa.
Say what you want, Honey.
I feel like it was money put to better use than a building fund. Think about it: A woman sustains her livelihood by using her gifts, and as a result, the people are blessed by her work. I call it a win-win. Look at Gawd!
Now this situation was not the first time I had experienced a close encounter of the non-church kind.
For example, once, I was at a grocery store, and a man working in the meat and seafood department came to the counter and called for my attention. He began to speak things about my life and what was going to happened. Needless to say, what he shared not only confirmed things that the Spirit had already revealed to me, but also more. All of it came to pass.
God moves outside of the church services, especially the services that allow prophelying instead of prophesying to people in need of hope. For the folks who are quick to label Kate and anything beyond the pulpit as demonic, please bring your spiritual gift of correction to the prophelying services. We do not need to have Apostle or Opossum in front of our names to be do God’s work, either.
Ask Kate.
Uncontainable God
The love of God is all over the place. We do not need special rituals and clothing. We do not have to try to contain him in glorified boxes we esteem as sacred buildings. We do not have to be in the best place in our lives.
When we recognize that God will meet us at home sitting on the floor (I like to sit on the floor) communing with the Spirit, at a grocery store, in the alley, or at a spa, we open our lives to a much more expansive spiritual vision. We allow ourselves to have a richer relationship with God.
I love the work of Christ. He made the way for all of us to have a life of spiritual freedom. Every time I think of a God I can connect with at any time or any day, I get excited and feel overwhelmingly grateful. On the other hand, I perceive religion has a way of raining on the parade.
Speaking of rain, we can be the living water of Christ in our day to day lives without any particular titles and educational backgrounds.
I saw Christ in Kate: Ready and open to shine as a light in unexpected places.
Imagine if more of us showed up fully and overflowing, including our spiritual selves, to work. Imagine if more employers encouraged it. We would have much more healthy workplace cultures and happier people (from employees to customers). It would be another way of allowing the love to flow in the world as God intended.
God wants us as just as we are wherever we are.
Do we desire such an uncontainable God, or do we really want God on our terms?
Three Points of Wisdom from Days 22-28
- You can walk as a balm and a light among a hurting and confused world (online and offline) without a religious title.
- The Spirit connects across diverse identities and draws you away from willful ignorance.
- God does not desire a building to be honored or to reach you. People do. God loves you, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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