{"id":19445,"date":"2021-05-24T19:09:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T19:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theoklahomaeagle.net\/?p=19445"},"modified":"2021-05-24T19:09:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T19:09:14","slug":"weekly-words-of-inspiration-with-pastor-anthony-l-scott-an-invitation-to-lament-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/2021\/05\/24\/weekly-words-of-inspiration-with-pastor-anthony-l-scott-an-invitation-to-lament-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Words Of Inspiration With Pastor Anthony L. Scott: An Invitation To Lament And Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

www.fbcnt.org<\/a><\/p>\n

May 31st<\/sup>-June 1st\u00a0<\/sup>1921~2021<\/p>\n

\u201ca time to weep, and a time to laugh;\u00a0a time to mourn, and a time to dance;\u201d \u2013 (Ecclesiastes 3:4, ESV)<\/p>\n

As I write my current weekly words of inspiration, we are days from a national commemoration of the worst act of racial and domestic terrorism committed on the soil of the United States of America, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The centennial of this tragic event will take center stage in our national media as well as in our national consciousness.
\nSitting at my desk in the \u201cMother Church\u201d of North Tulsa on Black Wall Street or Greenwood Avenue, I cannot help but sense the cries and spirits of our ancestors hovering in the air prior to this weekend. The magnitude of the moment compels me to reflect and engage in personal interrogation. How should this historic event be commemorated? What should we be doing now? And what are our prospects for a hopeful future?
\nMy initial thought is to consider the value of lament.\u00a0 There is value and a constructive purpose for our crying out in grief, wailing, complaining, mourning, and expressing strong emotions for what transpired one-hundred years ago.\u00a0 The value and significance of the moment is turned up in our soul such that we notice and feel with greater intensity what transpired.\u00a0 This in turn gives relief to our bleeding souls from the pressure of having to have all the answers.\u00a0 A permission to grieve implies the ability to lament without explanation.\u00a0 As the Spirit laments within us and for us with groanings too deep for words, we become, even within ourselves, small sacred spaces where the presence and healing love of God can dwell.
\nOut of this can emerge new possibilities and new vistas of hope as the importance of resting in the sovereignty of God beckons our attention.\u00a0 We have a rare invitation to realize that God is sovereign.\u00a0 The race massacre did not take Him by surprise.\u00a0 It is this knowledge of God that switches our spirits from despair to hope.\u00a0 There is no denying the terrible calamity, but there is also no denying that God has redeemed from terrible situations in the past and God will do it again.
\nThe steadfast love of God (Hesed) is a word that involves action rather than just feelings.\u00a0 This word describes a sense of love and loyalty that inspires merciful and compassionate behavior toward another person.\u00a0 Loving the way God loves involves action on behalf of someone who is in need.
\nMany years ago, a pastor delivered a sermon on forgiveness in which his major premise was a love that rights the wrong.\u00a0 He urged God\u2019s people to get right with God and one another.\u00a0 Especially if it is within their power to right the wrong.\u00a0 Like an arrow to the heart, those in attendance were compelled to right the wrongs they had committed.
\nThe commemoration of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 will center on strong feelings and emotions, but beyond sentiments, to love as God loved, most notably in Jesus Christ, requires a love that also rights the wrongs by repairing and restoring what was destroyed.
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

www.fbcnt.org May 31st-June 1st\u00a01921~2021 \u201ca time to weep, and a time to laugh;\u00a0a time to mourn, and a time to dance;\u201d \u2013 (Ecclesiastes 3:4, ESV) As I write my current weekly words of inspiration, we are days from a national commemoration of the worst act of racial and domestic terrorism committed on the soil of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,116,103,106],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-19445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-faith","category-featured","category-tulsa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19445"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.willoughbyavenue.com\/eagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=19445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}