Therese Taylor-Stinson - Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Stories of Contemplation and Justice

Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around

AINT
GONNA LET

NOBODY

TURN ME

AROUND

STORIES OF

CONTEMPLATION
AND JUSTICE

EDITED BY

THERESE TAYLOR-STINSON

Copyright 2017 by Therese Taylor-Stinson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (The Message) are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Church Publishing
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New York, NY 10016
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Cover design by Marc Whitaker, MTWdesign
Typeset by PerfecType, Nashville, Tennessee

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Taylor-Stinson, Therese, editor.

Title: Aint gonna let nobody turn me around : stories of contemplation and justice / edited by Therese Taylor-Stinson.

Description: New York : Church Publishing, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017017391 (print) | LCCN 2017036774 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819233646 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819233639 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: African AmericansReligion.

Classification: LCC BR563.N4 (ebook) | LCC BR563.N4 A453 2017 (print) | DDC 253.5/308996073dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017391

W hile in the middle of preaching a sermon one night in my early thirties, I suddenly stopped. I had not planned for the sermon to come to such an abrupt ending; I was simply too tired to continue. My subsequent unscheduled journey through the valley of burnout led me to the writings of Howard Thurman. The words and witness of Howard Thurman (a name you will discover is mentioned more than a few times in this volume) not only saved my life, but transformed it.

Through his contemplative manifestation in deed and word, I learned that I was no less precious to God than the work I did or the people I served. I discovered that leisure was as much of a blessing as labor and that solitude could not only be as sweet as engagement but sweeter, and always, always had a way of sweetening the engagement that followed.

I found Thurmans blending of spiritually appreciative person-hood with social awareness and activism to be compelling and, even more importantly, livable. Moreover, I have come to understand that cherishing personhood is an act of social benevolence. Only as we are our best changed and changing selves, may we offer our best changed and changing selves.

Thurmans wisdom-blend of personhood and service led to another convergence affirmed by countless contemplatives, many of them poets. I speak of daring to intentionally behold the splendor of life amid the scorching of life.

Somehow, along the way of my becoming a savior of the world, I missed seeing that the world was not only something worth saving, but something worth savoring. They who take the time to savor the world are in better shape to save the world. It is through savoring life, alongside our cherished sisters and brothers with which we share life, that we are filled with the just right inspirations and motivations to honor the relentless procession of life amid all that would threaten life.

To seek to save life without savoring life is not only risking exhaustion, but risking missing an abiding awareness of the Source of life. Sensing the Source is now my first and continuing deed of each new day. Sensing the Source allows us to taste wholeness and touch wellness when we are facing the complete opposite in our efforts for social change. Such tasting and touching is the stuff contemplative social activists are made of. They fight for an uncertain social flourishing from a certain personal fulfillment. They are continuallyoften strangely and surprisinglyrefueled. The sources of such fulfillment and refueling are all around us. Whatever opens the mind and softens the heart has Gods fingerprints all over it.

This holy book of wondrous story and testimony will feed you with some of the nourishing blendings I have mentioned above, and much more. Take your time; eat and drink these sumptuous offerings with head and heart; and dare to engage your social calling and endeavors from a place of deep and endless fulfillmentlest the fire go out.

,

author of Calling Forth New Life: Becoming Your Freshest,
Finest, and Fullest Self and creator of Yes to Grace on Facebook

W riting and editing, to me, are fun, but it is also hard work, often involving long nights into morning. Yet even with all of the hard work I accomplish, there are lots of others who help to make a book possible.

First, I thank my Creator, who sustains me, protects me, and teaches me. I thank Nancy Bryan, VP for Editorial at Church Publishing Incorporated, for her kindness and patience, and all of the CPI staff who have been involved in the making of this book, its publishing, and the marketing effort that will take place to make it known.

I thank the board of directors of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd., for their support and confidence in me to take on this particular project alone. Your blessing has sustained me.

I also thank all of the contributing authors in this volume for sharing your gifts with me, with our Network, and with the world, who will be influenced by your thought leadership.

I thank my Clearness Committee; my friend and mentor, Margaret Benefiel; and my dear husband, who encourages me and supports every idea I seek to fulfill.

Last, but not least, I thank Rev. Dr. Kirk Byron Jones, who so graciously, and without hesitation, agreed to write the foreword for this volume, and lends his name not just to this anthology, but to the membership of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd.

Yes, writing and editing a book are hard work, but they are also fulfilling. And I release this work to you with gratitude.

In peace,
Therese Taylor-Stinson
Editor

Awareness is a hopeful sign

Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesnt murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesnt murder lies; it doesnt establish truth.... Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesnt murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesnt solve any problems.