A joke my Lynchburg, Virginia high school classmates used to tell; maybe they still do:
Didja hear about the guy who died on the operating table but the doctors brought him back to life? [No!] Yeah. he saw God. [Pause] She’s black. [Sometimes, they added “And is she pissed!”]
Sixty years after my classmates snickered at such a deity, women of color now sit in the front of the bus. They drive that bus. And fly planes. They sit in boardrooms; they sit in the Senate and the House. They’re the mothers of movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. They got us to the moon.
So, no, while I no more believe in that pissed, black Goddess sitting on her golden throne in the clouds than I do some bearded, white guy, when I consider women like Kamala Harris or Erica Garner or women of color I know and love, the God-as-a-verb way I perceive Spirit deepens. Yes.
At morning Worship Service at a friend’s house. We talked about what Oprah has brought to the Light.
Dear Patricia,
Well, hello, there, Patricia, and greetings and salutations to you and to you AND FOR VERY ESPECIALLY FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, my so, so very FOR ALWAYS awesomely precious and dearly special soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker woman who you’re FOR ALWAYS so, so very much!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, sistah, WOW!!!!!! I'm just so, so very excited and happy that I'm very gradually starting to feel better and I've been so pleased that I've been practicing my chair yoga which is just perfect for me meeting me right where I'm at with my very bad, permanent and chronic physical disabilities with my very bad, permanent and chronic pain and with me being a not very tall but otherwise larger, full-bodied woman!!!!! I've been trying really hard and working so much, so hard, and so often on self-care and self-love like with the chair yoga and other stuff to boost and enhance my physical health and well-being!!!!! Sistah, YOU are my very inspiration and so are all of your so, so very cool in spirit and Spirit yoga friends, and my local white sistahfriends who very blessedly and joyously practice yoga, Patricia!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, Patricia, WOW!!!! What a very inspirational and empowering blog post article here by absolutely FANTASTIC YOU, my so, so very precious, dearest and darling friend!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW!!!!!!! I am as well so, so very excited about our absolutely SUPERB Oprah and all of the great talk going on about her!!!!! I just love our Oprah!!!!!! She is amazing!!!!!! Sister, I love your great story here about the joke that got passed around your high school!!!! It' s just great thinking of Spirit as to how we are a reflection of Spirit in all of our various embodiment like with Spirit looking like a black woman or I'd say a white woman or with Spirit being female and male and looking like the Perfect Manifestation of each and every one of us as God's special creation!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Wow, I feel so, so very affirmed, validated, supported, and recognized as the black woman who I am and your ever-loving soul sistahfriend from this beautiful, absolutely beautiful blog post article here!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, Patricia, WOW!!!!!! Our Oprah is just brilliant!!!!! I remember so, so much what that second Monday in September 1986 on September 8, 1986 when our marvelous Oprah premiered her astounding and classic show for the first time. I remember how excited I was all of the Summer 1986 when there were a lot of ads and previews telling of her upcoming unprecedented show! WOW, sistah, it was rarer than rare back in the day for there to be a black host of a talk show, Patricia!!!!! I remember how I so looked forward to our Oprah's first show with such anticipation and how I watched her first show with my now late mother on that second Monday in September 1986 and just feeling so, so very proud of our Oprah and her great accomplishment as a black woman breaking new ground!!!!!! Our Oprah is just outstanding and I think that both she and our very undaunted Senator Kamala Harris would be such an asset as either President or Vice-President of our beloved country with both of these very sagacious women fitting the bill perfectly, Patricia!!!!! Our Senator Kamala Harris is just such a courageous woman doing very vitally necessary and urgently important work!!!! WOW!!!! Our late great Erica Garner was such a dear and precious woman and such a dear soul with her enduring legacy and spirit which remains with all of us!!!!! Our dear late Erica and all of here family have truly suffered in facing, enduring, and experiencing so much, Patricia!!!!! Sisterfriend, I know what you mean about how you see God as Verb and Spirit and not just only as a pissed, black Goddess or with that still pervasively pernicious image of God as some bearded, white guy because Spirit reflects everybody and everything and not just one particular manifestation. Sistahfriend, You've gone straight to this black woman's very heart when you so wonderfully share and declare here how you love the women of color who you know and I just so love and cherish how you talk about the accomplishments of women of color like with the black women geniuses who played a major and key role in helping our precious country get us to the moon, along with all of the magnificent other accomplishments you very sweetly listed in such an engaging and endearing manner by women of color. I along with you my dear, dearest precious Patricia love other women of color and black women and I'm just so, so very incredibly proud of all of the great talents by women of color and black women having such creativity being such great assets for humankind!!!!!! Sisterfriend, I know just how much you so, so very much love and cherish us, Patricia, as women of color and black women. This black woman just so, so very much loves and cherishes YOU, too, Patricia, so, so very much right back at ya, and I just so, so very much love and cherish YOU, sister, and all of my other so, so very, very many soul sistahfriends, so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white women with each and every one of you being my very, very heart!!!!!! 🙂 <3 I care for and about each and every one of you as such super white women in thinking so, so very highly of all of you truly feeling, thinking, and believing that each of you are such good people being so, so very goodhearted and goodnatured, and openhearted with such a keenly sweet, endearing, and engaging openheartedness being so, so very sweetly open and welcoming to me and to others, so, so very sweet, loving, gentle, patient, nice, kind, caring, sensitive, nurturing, friendly with such and open heart and an open mind with such abiding and enduring openmindedness and such wonderful people being the very greatest and the best and the very, very epitome of such overall awesomeness!!!!! 🙂 <3 You all as such precious and absolutely AWESOME white women are my by very, very far my very favorites among white people and also my by very, very far my very favorites among all people in general!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Patricia, YOU and other SUPERB white women are my very life and eternal blessings my so, so very dearest and darling sistah and friend, and I so appreciate each and every one of you being so full of gratitude to all of you as such so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white women!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, Patricia, WOW, I feel even better and brighter with more greatly added cheer with such greatly immense blessings after reading this absolutely marvelous blog post article here!!!! WOW!!!!!! I thank-YOU and Spirit continually FOR YOU, Patricia, and FOR YOUR VERY PRESENCE IN MY LIFE!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Patricia, YOU are my life and eternal blessings, and such an immense joy and blessing for me and for very many other people who along with ME just so, so very much love and cherish YOU just as you also so, so very much love and cherish us right back at us!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Patricia, please have such a totally terrific and thrilling Thursday and may all of your very days be so, so very especially blessed!!!!! 🙂 <3 Spirit so, so very much loves and cherishes YOU, Patricia, and SO DO I, TOO, A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Oh, Patricia, AWWWW, YOU are such a joy and a blessing!!!!!! 🙂 <3
Very Warmly and Sincerely For Always, my so, so very FOR ALWAYS awesomely special and dearly precious soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker white woman who you're FOR ALWAYS SO, SO VERY MUCH, with My and SPIRIT'S VERY PEACE AND LOVE FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, sisterfriend of mine, AND WITH SUCH BLESSINGS AND SUCH VERY EVEN MORE BLESSINGS FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, friend of mine, 🙂 <3
YOURS FOR ALWAYS soul sistahfriend Christian black woman AND FOR ALWAYS in the very great spirit of unity and solidarity, Sherry Gordon in Iowa City, Iowa 🙂 <3
Sistah, oops I meant to also say that the title of your very encouraging blog post article is just perfect, absolutely perfect, with the picture perfect picture accompanying it!!!! Once again You’ve as usual as always very generously and graciously featured and included some very awesome, interesting, and fascinating links so chock full of such great info!!!!! WOW!!!!!! 🙂 <3