Every year at the Service of the Living Tradition held at General Assembly, graduates are honored that have achieved Preliminary Fellowship along with deceased ministers, retired and those that have gained Final Fellowship. This year was my opportunity to be showcased along with others. Here are a few pictures from the occasion.
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
Question: What are you doing to show up in all your greatness and to testify to your call to life?
L-R Qiyamah and Libra 
L-R Qiyamah and Libra M. Finley (oldest daughter) in front of Fideity Bldg. in Chi Town
L-R Libra and Brandon (her son and my grandson-age 15 years)
L-R Qiyamah and Libra
I love it when my family comes to visit.
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
Question: Have you told your loved ones how much you love and appreciate them? What do you do to demonstrate your love and appreciation?
Dr. Mark Hicks, new faculty person at Meadville Lombard listening attentively to Father Bruce Wellums inside the Holy Cross Church in Back of the Yards.
L-R Father Bruce Wellums of Holy Cross and Mike Hogue, Professor of Theology at Meadville Lombard
L-R Father Bruce Wellums, Mike Hogue and a police officer from the 9th district
Interior picture of the Holy Cross Church located in historic Back of the Yards in Chicago, IL
These pictures were taken on June 19 during a tour of the 20th Ward that I conducted to introduce faculty (Sharon Welch, Mike Hogue and Mark Hicks) to some of the sites that will be hosting our first year students in our Community Partnership Program at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Through Meadville Lombard's new Community Partnership Program, due to begin Fall, 2008, we will introduce first year students to practicums located in the 20th ward community in Chicago. Holy Cross will be one such site that will engage them with staff and clients that provide critical services, and allow the students to explore and enhance multicultural competencies and learn how to be present with others different from them in environments where residents are underserved with minimal resources. Site experiences will be complemented by weekly faculty led reflection groups that focus on the theoretical, ethical and theological implications of service to marginalized populations and what it means to be of service to others.
May we be blessed to stand up and be present with others in their joys and sorrows; in their triumphs and despairs as we build a life worth living in times when hope is sometimes fleeting and a kind word and a smile are few and far between. May we know hope when the sun does not shine and when the light is cast aside by darkness. But still our hope springs ever eternal. Amen
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
Question: What are you doing to change the world, beginning with yourself?
Thomas Norman DeWolf, author and past member of the Oregon Arts Commission and elected official.
..."And when darkness came to me, my visions brightness gave me hope, and I moved on to find tomorrow." Debbie Kennedy - Founder of Global Dialogue Center
The gentleman in the picture above is Thomas Norman DeWolf. He is the author of Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History. I recently had the opportunity to hear DeWolf at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly June, 2008 in Fort Lauderdale. In an hour and a half workshop, DeWolf recounted his family's involvement in the slave trade that resulted in great wealth for his ancestors on the one hand represented a tragedy of epic proportions that is only still being comprehended among the descendants of African people.
Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights leader, chair emeritus of the NAACP and widow of the late Medgar Evers contends that the book is "required reading for anyone interested in reconciliation. Healing from our historic wounds, which continue to separate us, requires us to walk this road together."
I am still absorbing and processing my feelings having sat in the midst of about 75 to 100 European American Unitarian Universalists and hearing this story directly narrated by someone that had traced their ancestors dastardly deeds. It is one thing to read about it. But another to hear it from such a direct source. I think that I disconnected from my feelings and emotions so that I could hear his words. Before I left I took his picture and obtained contact information so that once I am past the initial emotions I can talk with him about how he is using the proceeds from his book and video to help make a difference? I will grant that his book alone can be a part of a powerful healing but there is something perverted about making money off of the story of his slave trading ancestors that is disturbing. But so as not to sound like a hypocrite I Ghanaians.
Time does not allow me to linger but my thoughts will be on this troubling problem of healing and how best to create spaces to do so. Unitarian Universalists are in a particularly unique position to pioneer such work as religious liberals dedicated to the inherent worth and dignity. Furthermore, the publishing company, Beacon Press is a UU company whose mission if furthered by the successful pursuit of this work and marketing of the book.
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
Question: How are you working to dismantle racism? What actions have you taken to interrupt racism? How are you working to foster healing in yourself and others?
Nancy is a prison chaplain in North Carolina for 850 men in a medium security prison. She spends her days with men named Mad Dog, Porkchop and Pookie: murderers, rapists, child molesters and others who have made poor choices in life and committed acts of violence against others. Still others have messed up their lives over minor things and gotten caught by mandatory sentencing laws such as "three strikes and you are out" which include victimless crimes such as parole violations and possession of small amounts of substance abuse. Nancy talks about the Department of Corrections being a place of "unrelenting hopelessness, a place of darkness, where it is hared to see the light shining through." The first day on the job, the Lieutenant stopped by her office, "I'm not glad you're here. Women don't belong in a men's prison, they only make more work for me and my guards," he said. And this is how their professional relationship began.
After a few months,the Chaplain and the Lieutenant stepped into an altercation between prisoners and together stopped a fight. Later when things had quited down, the Lieutenant stopped by the Chaplain's office. "I know that you need me here," he said. "What I hate to admit is that I need you here." "You're right, Lieutenant, I do need you here to keep order on the floor, but how do you need me? She replied.
"I need you here to restrain my inclination to physical violence," he answered, "I need you to show me another way, another kind of force.
Source: recorded by Bob Reister in the newsletter of the Allisonville (Indiana) Christian Church http://www.zionvillecristian.org/sermon.html
Question: What are we teaching by our example? How do we let our light shine so that others might be influenced to try something different or inclined to a different path that might transform their lives?
...I've saved some sunshine should you ever need a place away from darkness for your mind to rest." Rod McKuen
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
Recently, Amnesty International sent me one of their letters from a prisoner of conscience, Lim Guan Eng of Melaka, Malaysia. When I read about his personal hardships to protect a young girl who was raped and the consequences, that he and others face in their lives I am compelled to ask myself:
"How am I living?" "What am I doing to demonstrate the power of love in my life?" "How might I do more?" "How might I allow Spirit to use me as a vessel?"
I invite you to read about Lim Guan Eng's life and to examine your own life.
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
To my friends at Amnesty International, Greetings from one of your adopted prisoners of conscience from Malaysia.
I am finally free after spending one year in jail for trying to defend an underage girl who was raped and instead of being protected by the law, punished and detained for three years.
The girls' rapists were never jailed because of the Malaysian government's attempt to cover up the scandal as the rapists allegedly included a senior government Minister. I find a certain satisfaction that a man can go to prison for women's rights.
During those bleak days in prison, your letters brought me much cheer.
Coming from foreign lands, it gives a whiff of exotic places far away that makes you forget the dismal situation one is in for a while. Even the stamps lend promise of a much better world outside, one that we can escape to if we can endure the adversities of prison life. These little things matter when you are a prisoner with nothing much to look forward to.
I can never say thank you enough to all of you who wrote, whether in English or languages I did not understand, especially little notes and crayon drawings from children.
Your cards and messages of support give hope not only to a better future but gave me the personal comfort when I was ill that I was not alone.
It is an unfortunate fact of life that one agets abandoned by frends when in prison eveb for a just cause. I never lost faith for I know that I have friend's from Amnesty International (AI). That is the magic of AI, its ability t gather a community of peoples all over the world for the common cause of humanity and dignity of man and woman - not only to lend hope to prisoners of conscience but also to give human fellowship and warmth.
From the scriptures, we learn the value of serving others, of raising the sould by diminishing the self. In AI, we hae seen its practical application.
I wish to share some of my experiences inside my prison where I learned a great deal of the sorrows of fighting injustice. Such sorrow endured by my family and me, painful though it may be, is expected.
What is not expected though is that sorrow can help to strengthen my resolve to endure all these adversities. Struggling on despite our sorrow serves to affirm and reaffirm the commitment to our cause and the rightness of our principles.
Even though I have lost almost everything, I am thankful for the love of my family and the moral support you all have shown. I will still continue my struggle to bring justice, freedom and human dignity to my people.
Prison bars may break our backs our backs but they can never break our spirit to demand nothing less than equality for women.
Together we can overcome, whether in Malaysia or other parts of the world. May God bless you!
Lim Guan Eng
L-R Rev. Qiyamah, Dr. Amina Wadud and Rev. Alma Crawford
I recently ran across a poem by Maya Angelou that a friend, Mary el sent to me. It is one of Maya Angelou's lesser known works that contains crisp snippets of wisdom about Black women's realities and ways to stay sane in a world that demands so much of us and often gives so little. It depicts the strength and humor of our lives.
Blessed Be! Rev. Qiyamah
A WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
HOW TO QUIT A JOB,
BEAK UP WITH A LOVER,
AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love or more...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live alone...even if she doesn't like it..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't
take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...
