CHAPLAIN’S WORD
We all know men, and brothers, whose lives fell short of their possibility and potential because they connected with and trusted in the wrong people. Our noble Bond was forged by our Founders to connect us with the right brothers, men whose presence would support and encourage us in the pursuit of achievement in every field of human endeavor, a fraternity like none other where our broth- erhood propelled each and every one of us to become all the God created us to be and all that our Founders dreamed we would be. What do we require from each other as brothers? What is required from us in this ordained Bond that we have been called to? What are some of the ingredi- ents of achievement that every brother needs from another? Let me broaden our perspective and con- cept of fraternity beyond fellowship and fun through the lens of scripture. In II Kings, Chapter 7 (take a look at it in your next devotional time) we are introduced to four lepers sitting outside the city gates of Samaria. It’s around 800BC and the Assyrians have laid siege to the city causing a famine to break- out, and for three years
The Ties That Bind By Reverend Dr. Howard-John Wesley
H oward Thurman, the Morehouse theo- logian and Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University who was a mentor to Dr. King once said that life boils down to two simple questions: where am I going and who’s going with me? Thurman understood the power of being connected to the right people and the danger of being connected
to the wrong ones. Our connections matter. My grandmother used to say that “birds of a feather, flock together,” and “if you lay down with dogs, you’ll wake up with fleas.” The Psalmist, like Thurman and my grandmother, cautions us to be mindful of our relations, when he declares in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man that doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly,
who doesn’t stand in the way of sinners, who doesn’t sit in the seat of the scornful.” If you didn’t get it from Thurman, or a grandmother, or even from the Psalmist, then maybe you can relate to those Rhythmic American Poets, Whodini, who taught us in 1984 that “Friends” is “the word we use every day, but most the times we use it in the wrong way.”
10 THE JOURNAL ♦ FALL 2023
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker