Embark on a transformative journey this Lenten season with us, Reverend Lynn Washington and Bishop Jack Bomar, as we uncover the deeper essence of spiritual renewal and discipline. Forget the usual fare of giving up sweets; we're talking about a different kind of fast, one that challenges you to strip away the noise and focus on true spiritual nourishment. Our lively conversation takes you through the less trodden path of self-reflection.
Together, we dissect the practices that can lead to profound personal growth, exploring the spiritual wilderness that Jesus endured and its relevance today. Hear from Bishop Jack as he illustrates the power of shedding negative thoughts to reveal your inner divinity. We're serving up a fresh perspective on Lent, one that invites you to plant seeds of abundance, embrace rigorous self-discipline, and resurrect a more authentic version of yourself. Tune in for an episode that promises not just to enlighten but to embolden your faith practice in this season of reflection.
Embark on a transformative journey this Lenten season with us, Reverend Lynn Washington and Bishop Jack Bomar, as we uncover the deeper essence of spiritual renewal and discipline. Forget the usual fare of giving up sweets; we're talking about a different kind of fast, one that challenges you to strip away the noise and focus on true spiritual nourishment. Our lively conversation takes you through the less trodden path of self-reflection.
Together, we dissect the practices that can lead to profound personal growth, exploring the spiritual wilderness that Jesus endured and its relevance today. Hear from Bishop Jack as he illustrates the power of shedding negative thoughts to reveal your inner divinity. We're serving up a fresh perspective on Lent, one that invites you to plant seeds of abundance, embrace rigorous self-discipline, and resurrect a more authentic version of yourself. Tune in for an episode that promises not just to enlighten but to embolden your faith practice in this season of reflection.
Bishop Jack:
Welcome to Spiritual Gumbeaux and Living the Blessed Life.
Rev Lynne:
I'm the Reverend Lynn Washington from the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation here in Atlanta.
Bishop Jack:
And I am Bishop Jack with Hillside International Truth Center here in Atlanta, and we are neighbors.
Rev Lynne:
Yes.
Bishop Jack:
Thank you so much for sharing this time. I'm so excited about this new adventure that we're on.
Rev Lynne:
An adventure, truly it is, and this is a perfect time for adventure because it is Lent.
Bishop Jack:
It is Lent.
Rev Lynne:
And the historic meaning of Lent is spring coming into spring.
Bishop Jack:
Wow.
Rev Lynne:
Wow, so let's talk about Lent.
Bishop Jack:
Let's talk about. How are you lenting? Let's talk. What is it? Why do we celebrate it? How do we celebrate it? What does it mean in your, in your context, and looking forward to sharing what it means in our context and this movement that we call Hillside and New Thought.
Rev Lynne:
Well, historically, in what we understood as what we call orthodoxy, lenten is a time of prayer and fasting and preparation for this thing called spring, but it's also a time in which we are able to turn around, and that's kind of the heart of this notion of repentance and reflection and how we're going to make our lives different. The ancient Christian tradition was to fast, pray, deny, give up something. Now I will say to you, Bishop, I'm not about all of that, right now.
Bishop Jack:
Oh, you're not, you're not fasting.
Rev Lynne:
Well, I'm not fasting, but I do feel very strongly that abstinence from something that is keeping me from getting closer to the divine needs to happen, and this is a perfect time. But I do not subscribe to-- you've got to give up chocolate, sex, wine, all of that kind of stuff.
Rev Lynne:
I don't subscribe to that because most people I know get real grumpy and we don't want those people around during this time, but I do think if those are the things that are keeping you from a closer relationship with the divine, or being one's best self, then maybe that's the route one needs to take. That's kind of my perception of this. And also really thinking about it and Lent how can I be an angel or a blessing to somebody else in this time? And I well, that's just kind of my thought. Is it an orthodox way of being? No, but I think it's a pretty good, Episcopal way of being and I'm okay and comfortable with that. I think it's, It leads us into a new direction if we're serious about change.
Bishop Jack:
Absolutely, and that's a very relative word. If we're serious about it, we share a lot of the same understandings of Lent the season of preparation for us, of introspection. It's a time to go within, and everything around us, outside of us, is always calling our attention, outside of the self. And for us, lent is a time of inner reflection. It's really our process. The Lenten season is the season and the journey to self-discovery, which is what the mystics, that path and the process of the mystics, of seeking to know the true self, the divine self, the God self, the Christ self. And so when we Lent, and the way we Lent here in the hillside and in new thought, is L-E-N-T. We see it as an acronym for Let's Eliminate Negative Thinking.
Bishop Jack:
So we Lent by fasting from negative thoughts and beliefs, because we understand those thoughts and beliefs and those words are creating the negativity in our lives and in our world. And so, before we give up the things in the outer, we want to give up those inner things that are blocking and obstructing the process and the flow of us getting to know our true selves and that sort of obstructs the Christ light and the God light and the God light, that pure, righteous light on the inside, from shining forth and shining through. So that's how we're Lent-ing in our teachings. And yet there are certain things that you know in the outer, as we invite, right now we're doing the Daniel fast. So now, believe us, from Isaiah, how do we fast? We fast in doing good. We're intentional about, during this season, always wanting seeking to do good, but more intentional and mindful of doing good in the acts of goodness during this Lent-ing season. Yes, we might. Right now we're also adhering to the Daniel fast. Anything that's going to cause us to direct our focus and attention to the outer, whether those are habits or foods or what have you.
Bishop Jack:
We have set it as our intention to work on the self, that dysfunctional ego, the undisciplined ego, so that we can give God, give the Christ, give spirit, that pure, true opportunity to shine in our lives. This is how we Lent eliminating negative thinking. So what and I don't have mine with me; we have the Lent reminders and it's usually a rubber band we give everyone. This is a reminder, and I actually shared my rubber band with someone two days ago. Every time we catch ourselves or catch each other speaking negatively or even thinking negatively, because we understand we really can't afford the luxury of a negative thought, at least not completing or articulating a negative thought, because the moment we articulate it, we believe that our word becomes flesh and become the word becomes part of our manifested experience, and so we carry a Lent reminder. So every time you just remind yourself hey, that thought is not producing the kind of results that we want.
Bishop Jack:
And we believe that we are the thinkers who think, the thoughts that make the things in our lives, and so we want to see things changing. It's one thing we celebrate Lent every year, Easter every year. It's not enough just to celebrate the resurrection in our teachings of Jesus, the Christ, that, until Christ is resurrected in us, it's just a story from history. It's not my story yet it's his story, it's not her story or my story, the mystery, and so whatever it is that's gonna help us to remember that we're always on this path of self-discovery, of discovering the true self. What is a scripture? To know thyself, to know one self, not the physical self, not this dense energy, not this suit of flesh, but to know ourselves as a spiritual being here in this universe, the spiritual universe governed by spiritual law.
Rev Lynne:
What I really resonate with is, you know, oftentimes I hear it in clergy talk oh, you know, that church believes this and this church believes that, and one of the things I think that's very powerful about what we're talking about in as we synthesize this notion of Lent, is how Hillside integrates various practices into what looks or seems to be one, a greater understanding. I think for us they're a little bit more compartmentalized because, as we were talking, yes, those things are about our Lent as well, but I believe that as a community we see them as separate and not as a part of a larger way of being. For example, a part of that discipline is Bible study on Wednesday, right, and this particular Bible study that we're doing on Wednesday is Plenty Good Room, African American Spirituals and really doing meditation and biblical work around that.
Rev Lynne:
Part of that is simple soup and bread, sit down and have a small fellowship, simple soup and bread, which is not necessarily the custom in the African American tradition. You got mac and cheese and greens and all the good stuff, and so soup and bread is kind of like hmm, okay, but it's about the simplicity of it and that is one of those acts of of decompartmentalized part of the discipline which I think you have mentioned as well and trying to talk about. Let's not be so negative, let's change our thinking. One of the things that has caught me is that I have a member that calls me our African priest right, which I don't know if that's a good thing or what, but I take it as a compliment.
Rev Lynne:
I take it as a compliment. But what I have attempted to teach them and this is something you have mentioned it just now is this notion of ashe and the ashe you speak. Ashe is coming into manifestation. So those words and language and this is a very old African principle Ghanaians, Yoruba, Cameroonians, Bambaleke, many of the West African tribes understand the power of the tongue, and the tongue, of course, which comes from the mind and this is also, I think, lent is about a training of the heart, because if you're able to train the heart, the heart can train the mind. My experience is that the heart and mind go boom, boom, boom. Let's fight with each other. I wanna help this homeless person or I wanna help this person. That's what's coming from the heart and it's pulling at you and the head said no, you don't wanna do that, you can't do that. And maybe that's a notion of balance, I don't know, but it takes us away from, I think, our core, which is the heart.
Bishop Jack:
You know, that's often where the greatest battle is fought, and I believe it was Lord Krishna who tells the warrior is it Arjuna, arjuna? And the Bhagavad Gita is that the greatest battles are not fought on the battlefields and some distant land. The greatest battle is fought on the battlefield with man and woe, man's very own mind. It's that battle between our humanity and our divinity and what we have been conditioned, conditioned to believe, and how we've been conditioned to perceive the world and what our spirit is telling us. Spirit says this or directing us to do this, but the mind, or that conscious mind, that undisciplined mind, is telling us otherwise. And that's a part of the temptation you mentioned the words you know, during this whole Lenten season, which is symbolized, and often, in many cases, the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry, where he was tempted. And it is that temptation, and he had to rely on the word, the word of truth, the word of God, became his weapon of warfare. That when he was tempted, you know, to in self glorification, tempted in self accomplishment, he went right back to the word that man, woe man, shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and it's that word, the word of truth, but we got to know it. If we don't know it, we can't use it. We don't know it, it can't work for us. But when we know it, we can use the word of truth, the word of God, the word of good, to demonstrate and live out this best life, the blessed life, in a way that works for all.
Bishop Jack:
You know, as we're talking about earlier, even in our community, a lot of the things that are happening in our community, and oftentimes we feel powerless. You know, this Lenten season empowers us. Something happens, something truly magnificent, magical, wonderful happens. When we come right back on the inside and get the guidance and direction from spirit, from God, from the source to and from that direction, from that space and place, we'll get the instructions on how we can change the conditions and circumstances and situations in our life, world and affairs, what often happens. We've been so conditioned to allow our conscious mind because we gather, remember, the conscious mind is governed by everything, our senses, what we can see, taste, touch, feel and smell, what we can make sense of with our ability to reason and rationalize. But there are some things, some things and approaches. Even Jesus said some things. Some power can only come through fasting and praying. I know you don't want to fast, but I believe that we gotta fast through negativity.
Bishop Jack:
Fast from, fast from that and fast from the negative impressions, the negative images that we're given about ourselves and about our community from all of these social forces, all of these social agencies that are benefiting greatly from our own ignorance and how our own negative images are continuing to perpetuate negativity in our lives, in our community.
Rev Lynne:
Well, you use two words that are very operative change and fast.
Bishop Jack:
Hmm.
Rev Lynne:
Change is the hardest thing to grapple with.
Bishop Jack:
We don't want to change, but we got to.
Rev Lynne:
We don't want to change. We just said everything must change, but that's a hard space and I want to use that. I'm going to talk about change in the context of the church, meaning the institution.
Bishop Jack:
Oh right, oh, you're bound to touch on a hot topic here.
Rev Lynne:
Talking about the institution, because there are things that are constant. God is a constant, yes, Jesus is a constant. But here's the thing how we understand Jesus has changed. If we look at scripture as a living book, if we keep looking at the book and seeing the same thing we thought we saw 1,000 years ago, then that book is dead.
Bishop Jack:
That's it.
Rev Lynne:
That book has to have new life in it.
Bishop Jack:
All right now.
Rev Lynne:
Now the other piece to this is Lent is the perfect time? Yes, because this is the season of change. How do we know that? Look at the weather. This is the time in which we plant. Why are we planting? Because we want new growth.
Bishop Jack:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Rev Lynne:
We're looking for abundance, but you got to plant that mustard seed. And until we plant, we cannot this is the time we structure ourselves to plant Absolutely.
Bishop Jack:
To expect the harvest that we're designing? Yes, and the results, the fruits.
Rev Lynne:
I mean, and that's important in this season of Lent, that is a universal truth.
Bishop Jack:
It is.
Rev Lynne:
Whether you want to accept it or not, it's a universal truth. Now let's go to this notion of fasting Again. If you are fasting like a works righteousness Lord, I fast. I ain't getting nothing out of it, but I fast. You didn't do nothing but get grumpy. You just did come to church or wherever your spiritual community is, and you acted a fool. Fasting didn't help you too much, but if you are fasting with something that is allowing you to grow spiritually, keep doing it.
Bishop Jack:
Absolutely.
Rev Lynne:
Keep doing it and look at the change in your life, look at what's manifesting out of that, and so I think those are the. This is where, in many ways, if we keep doing the same thing that we're doing, we're going to keep getting the same things we got.
Bishop Jack:
Absolutely.
Rev Lynne:
And that's where I think the difference is, and one of the things I really like about doing this Plenty Good Room Bible study is because we've been able to do this, because most of our spirituals and hymns come from a place of pain and suffering and wanting something better. I really quit doing a lot of the classical Bible studies during Lent because I believe and I think most of us know people of color, black people understand suffering in a way. Absolutely, you ain't gotta keep reminding us about suffering. No, we get that. We get that.
Bishop Jack:
Absolutely yeah.
Rev Lynne:
Let. How do we sing a new song?
Bishop Jack:
Good word, good word.
Rev Lynne:
And that should be the perspective in my mind, because if I continue to keep telling you, oh, suffering is okay, and if you wait, one day you're gonna get to heaven, and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're gonna be in that mindset forever.
Bishop Jack:
Missing that. Heaven is here. We can be in heaven here.
Rev Lynne:
The kingdom of heaven is right here. I didn't say this the kingdom of heaven is here and now.
Bishop Jack:
You know, and this is, I believe, the purpose for fasting, it is self-discipline, learning how to discipline the self. And so, as we mentioned earlier, so that we're getting to know the true self, discipline the little self and get to know the true self. So it's, I love this time, I love the Lenten season, I love this journey to self-discovery, this journey and, with the words of Paramahansa Yogananda, to self-realization, of realizing who we are as spiritual beings, who we are as the Christ one. You mentioned the Bible, and for if we, until we can find ourselves in the Bible or the Quran, or the Bhagavad Gita or the Dow or any sacred texts, until we can find it in ourselves and find ourselves in it, those are just dead books, dead writings by dead men and dead women.
Bishop Jack:
But until we can find it in ourselves, and once we do, it becomes, rather than history or his story, it's the mystery, my story, every character, every city, every mountain, every river, every story of the Bible represents a phase of man's, woman's, own consciousness and the evolution of the consciousness of man and woman from Genesis to Revelation. So, when we read about Jesus in the wilderness, that's that part of me that's in the wilderness, that's that part of me that's been tempted by the tempter, the undisciplined ego. That's that part of me. And just as the Bible shows that we can enter and come out, he entered and came out, or she entered and she came out. That's the story, our story. Although we might go in, we can come out, regardless to what it is.
Rev Lynne:
A she
Bishop Jack:
That's easy.
Rev Lynne:
It's funny because when you start talking about consciousness, I've heard people say oh, that's a bunch of hoomy pooey, blah, blah, blah. But think about it what makes you different from an animal? Because most of your basic needs are just like animals. So if you don't, what connects you with the God?
Bishop Jack:
Is your consciousness awareness?
Rev Lynne:
Yeah, it's your consciousness, which is really kind of interesting because I've been doing a lot of thinking this Lent about. Well, we can have another conversation about this.
Bishop Jack:
This is got to be part two Christian nationalism. Where's the?
Rev Lynne:
consciousness in there. What are we talking about?
Bishop Jack:
I don't know that there are any. That's another. That's our next conversation. But listen, Spiritual Gumbeaux, Living the Blessed Life. This has been exciting.
Rev Lynne:
So let's Bishop, let's have a resurrection podcast.
Bishop Jack:
Yes.
Rev Lynne:
And in that resurrection podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think about that?
Bishop Jack:
A resurrection podcast.
Rev Lynne:
Well, we can talk about what it means to be resurrected.
Bishop Jack:
Yes.
Rev Lynne:
What does that mean for us? So is it just a day for Easter eggs and pretty dresses?
Bishop Jack:
Oh no, this is a powerful spiritual experience that we can all have. We can all be resurrected and experience the resurrection in our lives. Let this be our new commitment to the Easter resurrection celebration this year. You can be, you should be, you ought to be. You will be resurrected this year, Thank you so much. Amen, amen, ashe Ashe. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you, thank you, yeah, yeah.