The Creative Calling Series #3: The Energy Source for Life: Living the Abundant Life

The Energy Source for Life: Living the Abundant Life

“When a man (woman) is able to bring to bear upon a single purpose all the powers of his (her) being, his (her) whole life is energized and vitalized.”

Howard Thurman Disciplines of the Spirit p. 19

Thurman calls on us to find that purpose, that thing that calls us, consumes us, inspires us and gives us life.  That thing that gives us life will sustain our life. That thing that gives us life will fuel our life and give us the will to go on in the midst of struggle and hard-times. 

That thing, that thing you do. That thing you enjoying doing.  That thing you do so well that people will pay for it. That thing that comes natural to you even though you have developed it. That thing that you go to bed thinking about and wake up doing. That thing you can talk about all day and never tire. That thing you read about, watch YouTube videos about, that thing that fills up your Facebook timeline, Instagram and Twitter feed.  That is the thing that Thurman is talking about, that thing that gives you abundant life. 

John 10:10 

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). The Amplified Bible

John 10:10

 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.  NRSV

To have the abundant life that Jesus talks about we have to find that thing that give us life. Jesus came to show us the light as he was the light. Jesus came to shed light on darkness. We are in the dark when we are doing things for a living that don’t give us life. We are in the darkness when we are doing things to pay the bills that extract life out of us. If paying the bills is killing us we will die paying bills. To live the abundant life means we have found that thing that we can bring all our powers to and that thing gives us power.

To have the abundant life is to have a life filled with that which gives you life and light. It takes work to find that thing(s). You have to try stuff, be willing to fail, be willing to start and stop, be willing to quit and restart, be retrained, change careers and possibly start over (again and again).  We have to be honest with ourselves about what we want and then be willing to pay the price to get it. 

The thief is the thing(s) we do that suck the life out of us. The things that bring us down and makes our lives dark. These things steal our hope, they steal our joy and are thus they are evil in the sense that they drain us. They don’t sustain us. We can sometimes find ourselves in careers, jobs, relationships or majors in college that are stealing from us.  If we continue to do that thing(s) we are complicit in the crime of theft. The thing we are stealing is the abundant life that Jesus came to offer. Do want the abundant life? What are you willing to do to make your life more abundant? 

Blessings,

Ralph Basui Watkins

Ralph Basui Watkins, MFA, PhD

“The scholar with a camera!”

Five Minute Inspiration with Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins: What is God calli...

The Creative Calling Series #1 Navigating the Turns in Life: Four Essential Questions

The Creative Calling Series #1:

Navigating the Turns in Life: Four Essential Questions

I am often asked by people questions like this: How did you know to do such and such at that point in your career? I often failed in answering that question. I have historically talked about my passion, sense of call and my willingness to act on what iI thought was next for me?  Let me try to answer that question in this series The Creative Calling:

The book that has guided me throughout my life has been Howard Thurman’s Disciplines of the Spirit.  This book has been the most influential book I have ever read.  In the first chapter Thurman gives us three questions, I added a fourth, that has been the central questions I have asked myself at each juncture in my life’s journey:

1. Who am I?
2. What do I want?
3. How do I propose to get it?

When you sit with these questions, and don’t run pass them, they give you pause. You have to think and reflect deeply.  It is not about what others expect of me.  It is not what they call me.  It is not what I have accomplished but rather, at my core, who am I?  The question is not what I do but rather the question is who am I?

What do you want? Not what others want from you. Not what others expect from you. Not what others need from you but what do you want?

How are you going to get what you want, what you want out of this one life you have to live? This life that is passing each and everyday.  This life we live that we can’t stop the clock on. Each and everyday our life gets shorter as we get yet closer to the end of life. How are you going to use the time you have to get what you want?

Now let me add the fourth question that has guided me:

4. What do you want to create?

As a creative, my writing, photography, teaching, videography and other creative pursuits drive me and give me life.  I enjoy creating, it is in the creating that I honor what the creator put in me.  By creating I honor the gifts and call that God placed on my life while I was in my mother’s womb.  I have to create and I have ask what I want to create and then structure my life to create that which I am called to create.

To structure my life to create that which I am called to create at this point in my life requires I say no to somethings, that I change my life, I let somethings go so that I am free to grow. What do you need to let go of in order to grow? 

I offer these four questions to you.  Take time to answer them through prayer, mediation and deep reflection and let the answers guide your next faithful step.  You only have to take the next step on the journey, one step at a time.  Take the step!

Blessings,

Ralph Basui Watkins, MFA, PhD

“The scholar with a camera!”

The Creative Calling Series #2 : What Is God Making of YOU?

My favorite scripture is Mark 1:16-17

¹⁶ As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 

¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

 ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. NRSV

What I love about this text is that they had a faith to follow and let God make them.

They left their old life for a new life.  They left what they had to get what God had for them.  

They weren’t promised stuff, they weren’t promised riches or fame.  They were promised if you follow me, I will make you.

God is always making us, forming us and calling us but we have to let go of what we were, what we have and who we have been to be what God is calling us to be.

We have be still and know that God is God and God isn’t through making us.  Where is God taking you and what does God want to make of you?

This text is clear, we can’t be made if we will not go. We can’t be made if we will not follow?  We can’t be made if we are not willing to let go of yesterday for the promise of tomorrow!  

What is God calling you to leave, give up, move on and become what God has prepared for you?

What is God making of YOU?

Blessings,

Ralph Basui Watkins, MFA, PhD

“The scholar with a camera!”

The Family Photo: Life After Death

The Family Photo: Life After Death

From Left to Right (Back Row):Jennie, Alejandro, Alex, Momma Beverly, Roberto, Sara, Isaiah and CJ
Front Row: Me, Ava and Vanesa (Photo taken by Joshua Rashad McFaddden)

When my wife, Vanessa and I, moved to Atlanta nine years ago we were responding to a call from God.  That call was supported by Vanessa’s siblings who already lived in Atlanta.  We left California and moved to Georgia to be greeted by our family.  Vanessa’s brother Alex, his wife Jennie and their son Alejandro along with her brother Roberto, his wife Sara and their three children CJ, Isaiah and Ava were here to welcome to the A. What joy to have our family living in the same town we were living in. This was a first for us and we were so thankful for the privilege of doing life together.

We have enjoyed these last nine years with our family but this pass weekend we lost one. We loss Sara Jackson-Chandler (June 5, 1979 to April 25, 2020).  Sara and Roberto were the youngest of the bunch, he was my little brother and she was my little sister. They represented the future of the family. We enjoyed watching them parent as their children went through the stages our children had long since passed.

On Sunday, February 23, 2020 we had one our usual family gatherings.  Two years ago Vanessa’s sister and her family moved to Atlanta.  All of Vanessa’s siblings and their families now lived in Atlanta and it was over her sister’s home, Adrianna, we had what would become our final family gathering that included Sara.  We didn’t know it at the time, that this would be the last time.  We engaged as we usually do, fun, laughter, food and playing games. We played the game Taboo and the women beat the men as usual.

I had just bought a new lens for my camera. I wasn’t really into taking pictures on that day. I was enjoying family but something told me to pick that camera up and take a few shots. As we began to play the game Taboo I took a few pictures, and then I took a few more. When I got home to process the pictures I wasn’t pleased with them. They were muddy and looked almost dreamy.  The new lens I bought had failed me and I didn’t send the pictures out to family like I usually do. I let them reside on my hard-drive never to be seen again. Then last week happened.

Sara was rushed to the hospital and she wasn’t breathing.  We found out that she had severe brain damage, couldn’t breathe on her own and the family would have to make decision.  Sara was taken off life support on Saturday, April 25, 2020. She passed away and we couldn’t be there to comfort her, Roberto, CJ, Isiah and Ava.  They had to say goodbye to Sara without the support of family.  We weren’t allowed to go to the hospital and be with them. They had to return home and we still couldn’t go to comfort them, sit with them, pray with them, hug and them and support them.  We had to mourn alone. The pictures, could I find the pictures from our last time together?

I woke up early Sunday morning.  I couldn’t sleep.  I had to find the pictures.  I found them and there she was, Sara was alive in the pictures.  I saw her, I heard her voice, I remembered the last time and it was as if I was reliving that moment as the tears ran down my face. She came to life in the pictures.  She was yet alive in the stillness of a photograph.  The family photo yet gives life after death.  When you get together with your family don’t take it for granted. By phone or otherwise take time to snap a picture.  It is through the family photo that family never dies.

The Need for Real Leadership and Not Petty Politics

This Picture Says it ALL!

At a time when we need to come together and support each other across all lines of division we have 46-1 excluding the leaders of both parties. The bipartisan bill wouldn't have been as inclusive as it needed to be if the two sides hadn't worked together.  They worked together and in the end we had a much better bill than we had in the beginning.  The leaders of the House and Senate proved they could work together, that is leadership.  What we see in this picture, the exclusion of an entire party, an absence of diversity led by a  narcissist taking credit for what he did not create.  I respect leaders on both sides of the political spectrum.  What we have here isn't about republican or democrat but rather utter madness.  This madness has cost and will cost thousands of lives because of the lack of leaders standing up to the madness.  This is real and the consequences are real.  Lives are being lost daily because of a lack of leadership on the national, state and local levels. Leaders are called to level-up and lead. We need you, we elected you, and we know it is in you. It is time to support the most vulnerable in real tangible ways so that they can stay at home just like white collar workers and still get paid.  Those who are living on the streets must be taken care of and not forgotten. This can't be a white collar stay at home / quarantine. All people need to be able to be safe and taken care of and for this to happen leaders need to shut it down, stop playing politics with peoples lives and make sure that all are secure financially and with health and safety.  This thing can be beat, but if our leaders continue to play politics more blood will be on their hands. We have to call our leaders and support them as they stand for justice. Write, call, email, post, make videos, scream from your windows, "We are tired of this madness and we are not going to take it anymore!" Call on our leaders to standup, speak-up, put up and tell madness to shut-up!

It is Not About a Sermon It is About Vision and Mission: Charlottesville Ain’t New

It is Not About a Sermon It is About Vision and Mission: Charlottesville Ain’t New

All over the internet, we had calls last week for preachers to preach about Charlottesville.  I heard the call and I fully agree that we should stand for, live for, fight for and preach about justice.  What I am responding to are the calls that went something like this, “If your pastor doesn’t preach about "said issue" this week then you should find another church.”  I would rephrase that call. If your church does not have as a core value the liberation work of God for all people, then you should find another church.  What I am trying to say is that this weekend was not about a sermon but rather it was about the very vision and mission of the church.  We as a church are not called to be reactive but rather we are called to be prophetic.

At Wheat Street our vision reads like this:

We exist to develop mature disciples of Jesus Christ who make a real difference in the world by actively seeking the justice, freedom, liberation, and peace of God.

(Luke 4:18; Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 1:16-20; Mark 6:30-44; Mark 7:1-23; Mark 9:33-37; Mark 10:13-16; Mark 12:41-44; Acts 1:6-11; Acts 2:14-21; Acts 2:43-47; Acts 4:23-37; Philippians 4:4-9)

At the core of who we understand ourselves to be as a faith community, at Wheat Street Baptist Church, is built on the foundation of the liberative work God is doing in the world.  This is more than a sermon, or a reaction to the latest, continuing acts of hate. We do this work every day, it is not about the latest sermon it is about the continuing struggle for justice.  It is not the sermon but the vision and mission that I am more concerned about.  What is your church’s vision and mission and how does it speak to justice?  It is the everyday work we do in the struggle that I am focused on.  As much as what we say on Sunday is important it is equally important what we do Monday through Saturday as prophetic witnesses who act by the power of God in the world to fight for justice, this is our call.  So yes, we preach and we then live in such a way that our preaching becomes lived in this world as we fight for justice.  We don’t need an act of hate/racism to spur us into action.  We are called by the prophetic ministry of Jesus, the radical liberator, to this work of liberation every day!!

The Strength of a Woman: Power, Pain and Liberation

The Strength of a Woman: Power, Pain and Liberation

What is it about Mary J. Blige that is amazing? Everything. She is a super star, first class performer, great voice, authentic and transparent.  My wife and I love Mary J. Blige and we have been fans since the early days.  Mary and her music are simply the best.  Her songs tell stories.  Stories of pain, power, desire, disappoint, hope, ecstasy, and love.  Yes, love.  I can’t help but feel Mary is a person filled with love and whenever you see her you really feel like she loves her fans, and we sure do love her back.

The show last night was simply amazing. Mary took us all the way back and brought us up to her new work.  The Wolf Creek Amphitheater was packed and we didn’t sit down the entire show.  We sang every song, did the Mary J. dance and to put is simply the choir was in the house.  While I was there as a true fan and follower I couldn’t take my preacher hat off.  There was something spiritual about this gathering of faithful Mary followers.

The band of followers weren’t Mary worshippers but Mary took us to a place of worship.  We were in touch with life’s twists and turns, ups and downs and the power of God to get us through what we have gone through.  The honesty in Mary’s songs and her re-telling of these stories through song took us to a place of truth.  Her telling of her story honestly and transparently meant we felt her.  As she shared her pain, her hope and her refusal to give up on life gave us life.  She didn’t tell us all is well but she told us all will be well.  She let us know we will get through what we are going through because we got through what we went through.  She showed us the power of music to minister to us and pull us through the hard times. She also pointed us directly to God as she was clear that it was God and good friends who got her through and continue to get her through.

There is something about Mary J. Blige and her body of work.  She is once in a lifetime artist.  I am so thankful to God for creating her for this time.  To have experienced her and her work has been and continues to be such a blessing.  Mary has inspired me to be a better husband, a better pastor, a transparent/authentic story teller and to not be afraid of sharing my story because in sharing others are liberated with me.  Mary,  “Thanks for being a model for me, for putting on a great show that did more than entertain. Thanks for the liberative work you do to set us free to be free and get through this thing called life!”  What does Mary mean to you?  How has she or other artists spoken to your life?

The New Jim Crow - Re-Read / Recommitment: Just Mercy

The New Jim Crow - Re-Read / Recommitment: Just Mercy

I just finished re-reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness  when I read this book when it first came out I was overwhelmed.  I read it in awe but on the second read the issue became digestible.  I could see, feel and carve out a space for contemplative action.  I see what I need to do to address the life trajectory of my brothers and sisters who are caught in this vicious system.  As a professor, pastor and artist I have to create work that calls attention to this system of injustice.  I have to shine a light on this evil. When we see what is happening it will lead us to doing something about what we see.  You can’t look at injustice and be in relationship with just God and do nothing.  Our faith compels us to act.

At our church we are going to develop a Freedom Ministry.  The birth of this ministry will be a six week Bible Study and reading centered around the book The New Jim Crow along with looking at the work of work of Bryan Stevenson and his book Just Mercy.  The ministry will start with a time study and prayer to first understand both the real and spiritual sides of the issue(s).  As we come to an understanding of what we are dealing with we will then develop a plan of action. We will act on our plan and then move forward. We ask your prayers and support as we do what God has called us to do.  What is God calling you to do?  I would love to hear from you.

Good Music Ain't Hard to Find: Adam and Kat Hawley are The TRUTH

I am a huge jazz guitar fan.  My love affair with jazz began with Wes Montgomery.  So I am biased when it comes to my favorite artists. I have a new favorite and it is Adam Hawley.  This brother is the truth.  I became hip to Adam when he hit Billboard #1 with his 35th Street jam off of his debut release Just the Beginning.  I checked out the album I was blown away from start to finish.

When I heard he was coming to Atlanta I made it my business to be there.  I had been in church all day but I drug myself and my camera to the Velvet Note.  I met the brother and his family and you could feel the love immediately.  A real good brother who loves his wife and his family, you can see it and feel it.  This love I felt after meeting them was transferred to the stage.  What a performance.

There is something special about a very talented artist who loves the music and the people they perform with and for.  Adam cares about those who come to see him.  He reaches out and touches you when he plays.  He is such a gifted musician that you don’t even notice how hard he is working because the musicianship is just that good. He makes that guitar do things that make even a novice go…WTH!  

When he and his wife, Kat, perform together you see the love and respect they have for each other.  They take you to a place with them as their two souls unite on stage. I say this while realizing all the connotations of this phrase, there is a sacredness about the Hawley family and I thank the creator for this union.  To sum this up. If you don’t have the album Just the Beginning - get it today.  Stream it today.  If Adam Hawley is coming to a town near you drive, catch an uber, walk, run / jog you want to experience this brother all the way LIVE! 

The future of jazz is in good hands.  We have to support these artists and their work.  Will you join me in supporting my brother?  Will you buy the album?  Stream it on Spotify, Apple Music…will you do that today? A star is born...give him some shine.

Seeing Jazz: The History of Jazz Photography....carrying on the tradition

Seeing Jazz: 

The History of Jazz Photography....carrying on the tradition

I am so thankful for Benjamin Cawthra’s book Blue Notes in Black and White:  Photography and Jazz because this book helps me see the history of what I do.  I am a photographer who has a rich and deep connection to jazz.  Jazz was the music that I feel in love with as a kid in the 1960s.  As a baby my father would sit me beside the speakers of his record player and let the smooth sounds of Wes Montgomery quiet a crying child.  I was that child and Wes Montgomery was my comforter.

I find myself in my mid-fifties and I am still in love with jazz.  As a photographer jazz is one of my main subjects and Cawthra’s book has helped me wrap my mind and eyes around the history of jazz photography.  While I knew of the artist he writes about, both musicians and photographers, I needed his work to help me put the big picture together. The book gives you a timeline and way to walk thought the history of jazz and jazz photography in context.  The color and context of jazz comes to life in this work.

This book also helped me see what is next.  I am not just collecting images of jazz artists but rather I am creating a visual story that speaks to the past, present and future of jazz in historical context.  My images are a part of this great legacy and I must treat this work as a child of those who have come before me.  The great photographers whose work Cawthra’s helps me see is so important to be familiar with.  As a modern artist I am not creating new work but rather I am creating work that is connected to the past. 

Artist must know their history because in knowing your history you see how you and your work are connected.  Your work is what is next but it can’t be separated from what came before.  As we look back at our artistic history it informs our work and we begin to see and shoot in relationship to our ancestors and elders. Cawthra’s book brings those great artist from the past to life. This is a life giving book and I thank God for the life it gave me. What is that story that you are a part of? What came before you and your work that you need to consult in order to create?

Blue Notes in Black and White