Reclaiming Our Way promoting the well-being of African American children & families

A Generation On Purpose: Wisdom Monday with Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. “Wright, Jr. & Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III (Standing with #Ferguson)

A couple of weeks ago I stopped by the Howard University Bookstore to see what books some of the professors are using in their classes.  I tend to stop by there at least once every semester, sometimes a little more.

On this most recent visit, one of the books I purchased was Soul Fitness, a 2007 publication of Rev. Dr. Frederick Haynes, III.  Soul Fitness is a book of daily meditations intended to help us all reflect and be inspired, both on what makes us special as well as on what makes everyone and everything happening around us special.

This morning, I'd like to share some of the earliest wisdom you'll encounter in the book.  In fact, this first piece I'd like to share is actually from the Foreword, which was written by Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.. As we continue to witness and participate in the unfoldings in Ferguson, Missouri and other places, and especially the discussion about the so-called generation gap with respect to demonstrations and civil disobedience strategies, this passage becomes especially important.

I hope you all find this reminder just as valuable as I did when I read it, and as valuable as I continue to find it each day.

From the Foreword:

In one of the old hymns of the church, "A Charge to Keep I Have," the songwriter says in one of the verses:

"To serve this present age, my calling to fulfill,
May it all my powers engage to do my
Master's Will.

What the hymnodist is saying - or really, praying - is for the grace to use all the gifts God has given him to do God's will and to serve the generation in which he finds himself. What a powerful truth is wrapped up in the words of that hymn.

We cannot serve our parents' generation. We cannot serve our grandparents' generation. We can learn from the rich legacy they leave us. We can drink from the fountains of wisdom that they filled for us, but we cannot equip them to live back in their day or equip them to live in the future. Their day has passed!

The real task in ministry is to find ways to serve the people who are our contemporaries. The difficult challenge in saying yes to God's call upon your life is to find ways to address the realities of life with which those who live around you and those among who you live face everyday of their lives. That is what "serving in the present age" means.  (my emphasis, not the author's)