Fighting Words

Jesus is Lord!

I’ve been singing this since I learned my first praise song under the wing of Mary at Saint Nicholas Church. Those around me sang it with a triumphant yawp. We’d summon our religious fervor and pierce the sky with our declaration about God who reigned supreme. We stood exuberant in our praise. Some called us charismatic crazies, but we didn’t care. If we could we’d shout from the church tops: Jesus is Lord!

But sometimes, when the guitar strummed slow and we swayed gentle like a breeze, it could sound like a lullaby on our lips. Sweet as orange blossom honey, we savored the taste on our tongues. Like a whispered prayer we’d say it with hands outstretched. We took comfort in knowing: Jesus is Lord.

I’ve heard pastors say it in the pulpit: Jesus is Lord! And the congregation responded with a hearty “Amen!” It echoed through the sanctuary as a holy affirmation. This has become a common refrain in the various churches I’ve attended over the years; it is almost too ubiquitous to keep its original edge. I suspect we’ve dulled the meaning.

Read the rest over at SheLoves Magazine!

Want to read more? Get new posts delivered straight to your inbox:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*



All content on this site is copyrighted by Kelley Nikondeha. Please do not copy work without permission. You are welcome to quote or reference my blog in your article, but please make sure you link back to the original post. Please do not post an article in full without permission, because that is a violation of intellectual property. (My African friends have a different sense of this, but being American, I can tell you it does matter to me!)

All writing on this site represents my own journey, my own wrestling, my own epiphanies. While I work with Communities of Hope, ideas shared here do not necessarily represent this organization.