I got woke You got woke All God's children got woke Everybody talking 'bout woke ain't woke We all got to be woke Rise, wake up We got to be woke For the past few years I've edited a Lenten Devotional for my church. It's a work of love and joy for me -- putting out the call for submissions, nudging people to meet the deadline, gathering the submissions, proofing and editing, laying out, proofing and editing the layout, test printing, printing, distributing. Exhausting work but worth the effort. The most difficult part of the process is Lent generally falls during Black History Month. The Devotional process generally starts in January and my mind is not focused on Black History Month, something always on my mind because for me Black History is all year. This year, the process for me started on Martin Luther King's birthday. It was actually celebrated on his birthday this year since it fell on a Monday. In the past it has been only near the end of the process when...
Unexpectedly, I found something I wrote while looking for another document on my computer. I originally wrote it in 2021, nearly 2 years ago, but have no idea if I ever published or shared it somewhere. A few things have changed since then but not the changes for which I prayed nor the hope I expressed. First, take yourself back a couple of years as I did and put yourself in that time and place. January 6 was the Epiphany. When the word is capitalized, Merriam-Webster defines it as “ a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ.” Most Christian churches in this country don’t make much of this “church festival” but ever since I’ve had my own home, it marks the end of the Christmas season for me. There really are 12 days of Christmas starting with December 25. Epiphany also marks the day to put a...