Wow! 5 months out of the shoot and we are having a blast (planted Epiphany Fellowship in September ’06). We feel like we are in a support group with Bobby Brown. We have High, highs and Low, lows. Planting in our particular context has made us bi-polar. Our emotions are sometimes like rubber bands. So one of the things we have been developing as a congregation are buzz/slang words that reflect a more comprehensive picture of redemption of our community from the inside.

In Proverbs 3:5-6 and Ezekiel 36:25-27, generally the word heart is used to describe euphemistically, where the redemptive process begins. Heart, in these passages, defined further represents the mind, the emotions, and the will (BDB, HALOT). In the Ezekiel 36:25-27 passage, we find that under the New Covenant redemption begins with the mind (which can be equivalent to our values), emotion (which could also be said “passions”) and the will (or another way for us to say it is volitional application).

When you look @ the timeline of African-American's in America, there are noticeable food eras of food being consumed by each generation predominantly. Scraps were given to slaves who made the tradition of chitterlings and other delicacies popular to this day with some. That era of food points to an era of survival. Soul food included some of the foods from slavery, but came to its prominence during post slavery house traditions of big momma and madea (nick names for grand mothers) developed the staple of soul food which points to an era of stability. However, carryout food rep an era when the hip hop generation eats out a lot and find ourselves in an era of a fragmented situation. This fragmentation is due to several factors which I will speak about in several blogs and my doc dissertation, but the above is an exemplification of how different the timeline blacks are than other ethnicities.