Dr. Charles W. Ferguson

These are the personal thoughts that filtered through my personal time of meditation this morning. If you have ever felt or still feel like this, I pray that this will be a blessing to you.

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I cannot begin to express how difficult life is been over the last year. I have attempted to make sense of all that I’ve had to do. I have tried with my whole heart to figure out why my heart, my mind, and my soul have been grieved. Now I get it. The challenge is been to become the man that I was meant to be, not the man that everybody wanted me to be.

When I began reading scripture this morning, I began to realize that everything that I’ve been through for the last year was nothing more than a seed. Seeds do not live in order to live again, but seeds live in a state of constant death in order to live.

What do I mean by that? I mean a seed has no capability unless it it enters into the ground, is watered, and stays under ground until something breaks forth from its shell. It’s in a constant state of pressure with the hope that it will produce what it is intended to produce.

The last 35 years of my life have been nothing more than a bag of seed. I’ve been sowing my heart, my mind, my spirit, and my energy into people, institutions, jobs, and other elements of life. The season has come for fruit to come forth.

I said to some people, via social media, that my season is now to assess all my relationships, my production, and my partnerships. I’ve come to the place where I want to be productive and prosperous not just tangibly but spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

I no longer want to be seen as the young man that is grown up in a neighborhood. I want to be seen as the man that God gave not only gifts but sensibilities in order to enhance his community. Today I declare that my life and my everything will finally be resurrected into a new life. My existence will no longer be defined by what others have said by how devalued my life is been in the eyes of others. My life will finally begin for the very first time. It’s Resurrection time!

I have been away for several months. Some of the time away from the blog was due to normal life. Working, marriage, and fatherhood is enough to keep any man busy. However, I have been reflecting on the world around me. Just because on does not write or creatively express as often does not suggest that observation ceases. During the observation, one conclusion has rested in my spirit. We have given the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue too much credit. Allow me to elaborate. 

Through social media, print, television, and random conversations, people have expressed their disdain for our current president. I am definitely not going to write as if my displeasure does not line up with the masses about constant incompetence, lack of leadership, and emptiness of decency. Nevertheless, people have to stop feeding into the idea that one man is the sole reason for the condition of our nation. 

Now, Donald J. Trump is the embodiment of our nation’s deepest seeded character and personality flaws. He does represent individuals who would desire that privilege would outweigh doing the right thing for all people. His presence proves once again our ineptitude to recognize that we must address the sick and twisted mentality that permeates the fabric of the United States. But ladies and gentlemen, this image and representation is not new. 

Look at any organization that has a warped corporate culture. The organization places a charismatic individual at the top of the ladder. The intention is to make certain that the organization will grow, prosper, and gain relevance in the eyes of the greater corporate community. That leader is given everything possible to feed the ego, cover faults, and tolerance indecency across the board. Ultimately, that culture becomes subject to that leader because the lose control of what the organization is supposed to represent. The organization now embodies the personality/monster they created in their chosen leader. Wrong is now right. Right is subject to feelings or tweets. 

May I offer a few things so I can overcome my personal weariness and aid others in not engaging in the worrisome, tiresome antics of this mentality? 

1. Do not express any displeasure about the nonsense you see without acknowledging any possible hypocrisy you may exhibit.  That means you must be careful about possessing Trump criticism without sweeping to see if you possess the same detrimental tendencies for your environment. 
2. The best way to address the issues is to develop strategies using your skill set to face them head on. Do not be critical of the protester when you are unwilling to educate yourself of the problems around you. Do not pronounce the ignorance of others when you lack desire to educate those who need it. Do not engage trolls when it wastes your energy to be productive toward a solution. 
3. If your environment has not been improved by your presence, you are in no moral position to speak against anyone pursuing the greater good. That means, you do not get the right to group people into your negative experience projection of any culture, institution, etc. (All communities, organizations, and faith fellowships that are generally for the greater good of humanity must undergo continuous internal examination. That idea is the standard. That concept is the ethical and moral burden that must always carry.)

Grow weary of the foolishness. Become active in shifting the culture. Provide the antidote to heal the community. Be the change. 

It is a difficult place to occupy as a young preacher living in this world today. I recognize that we have always dealt with injustice, anger, strife, and oppression. We have questioned authority that is supposed to address the needs of the community. Yet, I confess that I am more perplexed by the current state of affairs in our country than ever before.

In Columbus, OH, we are in the midst of an extremely bloody season on many fronts. Another cop shooting has taken place. More homicides and shootings have broken out, we just began the 5th month of the year. We have special elections taking place around the country. We are under the oppressive cloud of separation and hate. We have been trying many ways to address all of these various issues, but we have not taken the moment to address a strategy that will sustain change, growth, development, and empowerment.

It is my contention that every movement taking place at this moment in time is significant to our awareness of the constant decline in the fabric of our society. We can not go around and act as if nothing negative is going on. We can continue to express our hatred for police brutality. We can demonstrate our loathing for apathetic leaders and self-serving individuals.

My concern is that we need a holistic approach to sustaining a movement of power and change. We need our minds and spirits to be renewed constantly from the negative issues before our eyes. We also are in need of being honest about how we arrived at this moment in time.

We can no longer discuss any level of oppression or challenge without admitting that some root cause existed first. Generally, human beings have lost the ability and desire to embrace the sacredness of our nature. We do not celebrate our uniqueness or creativity. We find a million ways to tear down and have not stopped to consider that our survival is directly connected to our spiritual condition.

I believe that spiritual neglect is a major component to the current landscape we occupy. We are outraged and appalled by the insanity that we see. We are enraged by things that seem to be simple to understand. Don’t kill people. Don’t abuse the wounded. Don’t judge harshly the stranger. These issues are measured according to our moral code. The “normal” person sees a person shot unjustly and says “It didn’t have to occur”.

However, we place the story within the media or the court of public opinion and attempt to discredit the humanity of the person harmed in order to justify what happened. We look to our leaders to make simple sense of what has taken place, but they are now governed by their agendas. Being prophetic in action and speech is not financially expedient. Actually governing with heart is not at the forefront for many officials.

So why are we here? Why question all these problems? We need a revival of our spirits. We need a determination to rise in us to the level of active pursuit of right. We must engage in the work of no longer hiding our faith as if it is only a piece of our existence. We must demonstrate to the world that our convictions, faith, and hopes cannot be compromised for the sake of others comfort. It is time to shift our focus to improvement. It is time to stop settling for second best. We must fully dissect the strategy to begin recovering our sacredness and drive.

I was reading the book of Nehemiah. During my private time, I read something interesting. The nation of Israel began to repent for all of the history that demonstrated their neglect and rejection of God. Think about this idea for a moment. God gave Israel the distinction of being chosen. However, they rejected the notion of preserving the blessing attached to it.

Constantly, Israel decided that it would be okay to reject God when life was prosperous. They chose to run back to God when they were in captivity. It seems really silly to go through that type of cycle when it did not have to be the case. This continuous cycle resulted in captivity and a destroyed city.

When Nehemiah comes on the scene, Israel was in a position to rebuild and recover. They were permitted revive and restore Jerusalem to its former glory. Now, the people needed to confront the root of their issues. They needed to repent. They needed to acknowledge their role in the deterioration of their environment. They needed to recognize change was necessary to bring them to a new season.

As they nation fasted and prayed, they came to a moment of clarity. They knew that God had been with them the entire time. However, they realized that they had been absent from their connection with God. The realization was that every part of their environment was affected by the choice to walk away from God. Something had to give. Check out this prayer.

³² “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. ³³ Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. ³⁴ Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. ³⁵ Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. ³⁶ Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. ³⁷ And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

^38 [a] “Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of^[b] our princes, our Levites, and our priests. –Nehemiah 9:32-38, ESV

They realized that even in the current set of circumstances that they were slaves in their own land. Tangible blessings were not enough to compensate for their inner turmoil and oppressed state. They knew that they needed to change to experience the complete manifestation of God’s power at work.

I believe we are in a state that we need to repent. I begin with the African American community. I am a serious proponent of the reality of inequality and injustice that we have faced for over 400 years in this part of the Northern Hemisphere. I will never deny that we face disproportionate attention in many areas of life. Yet, we are the same community that has created various forms of music, businesses, economic advancements, leaders, social change, etc.

It is difficult for me to continue to strictly play from a position of weakness. I cannot continue to look at my skin and believe that am second class or social entertainment for people that do not see my worth. We as a people need to repent. For what? We must repent for tearing down one another. We promote Worldstar fights, but not economic empowerment. We say nobody will give us a hand, but we possess the creative ability to create our own money. If we could create Black Wall Street, the Mount Vernon Area of years gone by in Columbus, and other economic platforms, we can do it again.

We need to repent for telling anyone that they are not going to make it because of their past. We tell single parents that they will never be a success. We tell kids that they are no better than their absent parents. We say the talented lack necessary hood tendencies. We call our street corner the limit to what can be obtained. Every person has the capacity to be more and do more. We are responsible to let them know not to settle for less. We must remind everyone they their are no limits.

Ultimately, we must repent of our neglect toward anyone who needs empowerment. We cannot continue to watch tragedies take place without putting in the effort to aid in avoiding these results. Now before people get up in arms, hear me out. Many people that I know are working hard to push the issues that are most important to the entire society. They are working tirelessly for equality, equity, and justice. That work must never stop.

With that work, another layer exists. We must make certain that people are not only doing the work of rebuilding and empowerment, but builders must also be rebuilt. We must continue to make certain that all do not grow weary in doing the work of change. Everyone needs at least one person to remind them of the promise and purpose of being chosen.

We have times when we go tired of our issues. We grow weary of trying to press forward. We have a tendency to lash out of our frustration because things will not move fast enough. We lose ourselves because our environment changes due to our moments of not being vigilant. We must stop long enough to take a moment to refocus so we will not lose ground and have to start all over again.

I do not want to bury or eulogize another young man (R.I.P. Tyrone Malcolm). I do not want to look up and see anymore unnecessary police-led violence toward anyone. I don’t want to see anymore human trafficking. I don’t want to witness the tearing down of community. I don’t want to see police tape near a house where a conversation could have defused a conflict. Let us continue to commit to no longer neglect our house. Let us rediscover our value and worth.