A Defining Moment
A guest post by Rev. Dr. Angelle M. Jones
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” –Luke 10:27 (NIV)
Reflecting on the happenings of 2020, we all probably have a few memorable moments that will forever define the year as one like no other.
Call it spiritual, an instinct, or maybe even intuition, but from the very onset of the pandemic, I knew that this unknown phenomenon would be different.
As a minister open to divine movements that sometimes turn into defining moments of the Spirit, I felt a shift was taking place. It was as if the challenges of life and the unseen nature of things in the universe were in some way spiritually and physically aligning. In a new way it seemed that even though nothing was happening as I wanted it to in my life, there seemed to be something monumental happening in the spirit realm. As news of the pandemic began to unfold, instead of resisting the unknown, I immediately found myself working to embrace what has become for me and others as a defining moment.
Before the media started sharing that an unknown virus was attacking the world, a friend in high places warned me that life as we knew it was going to take on a sudden change. I knew instinctively not only was life-changing in the present, but things were forever changing. I felt that whatever was taking place would have much more of a long-term effect in a way that I couldn’t explain. I believe the Holy Spirit chose to use the time to make a demarcation in the world. This time of uncertainty, including the racial unrest in America, became a defining moment for those who may be uncertain whether there was a God.
This was a time, especially after the riots incited by the killing of George Floyd, that Americans knew we were being defined. The racial differences we’d all allowed to become the norm were now placed on display for the world to see as anything but genuine. The restrictions between living in the uncertainty of COVID-19 and now the truth of racial injustices and disparities became an everyday disruption.
A few months in, the attention of the world was suddenly turned toward America’s original sin of racism and the continuous cry for racial and social justice. With heightened racial tensions, even Black Americans who had lived through the racial unrest and riots of the sixties, or the elders who lived through the Jim Crow era, were hypersensitive to these new restrictions. Never before in America, the land of the free, had we ever felt restricted to come and go as we pleased. Our country and the entire world seemed frozen in time.
With every new bit of news came new changes. With every change, I found myself embracing this as a defining moment. As the world found itself fearing an unknown virus that had quarantined what seemed to be the entire universe, I found myself being asked by the Lord, “Can you trust Me?” As I wrestled with what seemed to be the obvious answer, I realized the question at hand was really, “Do you love Me enough to trust Me?”
As the eyes of the world were shifted interchangeably between the pandemic to the ongoing fight for racial equality, there was an obvious fear by Blacks and Whites. Not since the sixties and the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had life in America been disrupted in such a way that everyone knew this would become a defining moment; a moment of change. With trepidation, I took to writing and to sharing my passion for social justice. This became my opportunity to share how the intersection between the scriptures and the face of justice revealed my answer to God’s question. I propose that this was a defining moment.
I recognized that by entering the fight for the struggle for the whole of American humanity to live in the equality we have so long fought for, my love for God was revealed. As an activist, I knew I had a part to play.
I realized as difficult as the time was, in the midst of it all, the timing was my defining moment. It was my time to use my voice as a minister and my writing to help eradicate racism.
As an oracle of God, I found myself using the words of scripture intersected with those I penned to fight for justice and equality. My love for God serving as my foundation, I used everything within my heart, soul, and strength to speak truth to the powers that be.
This was the time that God had ordained from the very beginning of my existence for me to use my pen to speak. I took to social media, blogging, and writing for publications and anyone who would listen. I preached a message of justice seasoned with God’s love for my neighbor.
How will I show that I love God with my whole heart, soul, and mind in this defining moment?
I will show the world my love for my voiceless neighbors. I will write the story of those I love as my neighbor who has been born in pain. I will recite the narratives that have been painted by the trauma inflicted upon the ancestors of those still struggling to overcome. I will pen the anecdotes of my neighbors from the past with hopes to change the history of their present and their tomorrows.
I will write to break the chains of the emotional scars placed upon my ancestral brothers and sisters. I will chronicle a message of hope to shine God’s love onto this defining moment.
But I cannot do this alone. Therefore, I ask you, my friend, “How will you define the moment?”
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Author Bio:
“Inspiring and Motivating With the Power of Words”
Dr. Angelle M. Jones believes that the power of words inspires, and motivate to bring about transformative change individually and collectively.
Angelle originally hails from Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in African-American studies from the University of Cincinnati. Angelle has a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia and an earned Doctorate in Ministry on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, and his philosophy of The Beloved Community from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Her ministry career began as a staff member of the Northeastern Ohio Billy Graham Crusade in 1994. For twenty years, as founder and director of In The Spirit Ministries, Inc., she led teams on mission outreaches throughout the world. From 2007-2012, Angelle served as Missions Director of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio where she currently resides. Angelle is founder and director of GlobaLife Coaching and Consulting serving as a Life and Transformation Coach and Church Consultant.
In 2016, Angelle authored and self-published her first book, Happily Never After. Along with sharing words of hope by sharing her writings on her social media platforms, she has been published in Vantage Magazine which is a literary source for faculty, students and alumni of Columbia Theological Seminary, and Ready, which is a cutting-edge online magazine addressing current events and trending socially relevant topics for women.
Angelle is the mother of an adult daughter. She is a grandmother and great-grandmother.
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Connect with Dr. Angelle:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelle.m.jones.5
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abundantgrace1/
Email: globalifeconsultants@gmail.com
