Four More Years! - Celebrating the bishop's return in spoken word
At a staff meeting on Sept. 11, the staff of the BWC celebrated Bishop LaTrelle Easterling's assignment to serve for four more years as the episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington & Peninsula-Delaware Area. The bishop is the first African-American woman in the denomination to be given a missional exemption to be able to serve a third quadrennium because of the important work that requires her leadership to continue. During the worship celebration, the Rev. Wanda Bynum Duckett, superintendent of the Baltimore Metropolitan District, shared a spoken word poem she had written.
Four More Years!
2016…Easterling jumps on the scene
Declaring, “We are one!”
I’ll never forget it.
It’s the way that you said it,
Like you knew us already, so steady,
And ready to lead the BWC in unity.
It sounded good to me
Not a lot of words…
Just three, two…one simple message
So plain, keeping what’s main, main.
Wesleyan as the day is long.
How could we go wrong?
What a way to start this journey,
planting Seeds of Security,
Watered with the Word.
Turning over tables of injustice
So that all could be heard.
Anti-racism, standing against sexism
And even in the midst of schism
Holding up the mirror of Methodism and Reminding us of who we are.
Who Are We indeed
To be so favored to be
Part of your ministry,
And to see you make history over and over So that little brown girls with curls,
And women would know that they too can Take leaders to the next level.
You defy the status quo and
On the regular Shame the devil.
Building a bridge of love across an affiliation To become just one area,
United in love and mapped for mission, Breaking barriers.
Turning the church right side up and
Making outside in,
Drawing the circle wide enough
For she and her, and they, and him…
We are so grateful on this day
I wanna sing a hymn:
Great is thy faithfulness!
For the ceiling isn’t just broken,
It’s shattered!
Because it mattered more to
Sustain the momentum rather than the norm.
So that more lives could be transformed,
Younger and more diverse.
A future not to be rehearsed
From years before,
But so much more is in store.
I can feel it in my bones
Dead cartilage reconnecting,
The Spirit perfecting
That which the devil thought he stole.
Understanding that no part
Is greater than the whole.
Sinew being woven and
Wrapped in the muscle
Needed for this present age.
You have no failure of nerve.
For God is center stage and
Through your calling,
God is reassembling us for action
That is not safe, but brave.
Some say restructuring,
But it’s more like revolution,
Because we are about to turn a new page And move from an institution
To an organ alive,
A Body that thrives,
Taking deep dives
Because your leadership is powered by Winds that do not drown.
Real discipleship never takes you down.
It’s a new day and our leader is back
For another quadrennium
So let’s go!!!
Into a vineyard so ripe we’ve got to grow, Multiply, and divide nothing but the
Word of God rightly in verse and in deed.
Welcome back Bishop!
God knows just what we need:
Our episcopal servant for four more years.
Lead us, teach us, push us past our fears Into a future so amazing that
God won’t reveal it all at once,
But in moments, miracles,
Drops and dreams,
So rich and so bright it
Blinds darkness and gleams.
And may each and every
Single one of your days,
Be so full of God’s purpose
That our only response will be praise!