In our year or so of the pandemic, the phrase carpe diem has taken on a fresher meaning than the carefree “seize the day” attitude it had come to represent. The words come from Horace, who died about 8 B.C., in a poem in his first book of Odes: Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. Which translated reads, Pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one. (There is no need to completely lose those four years of Latin I took in high school and college.) Over the last 300 years pluck became seize.  Carpe diem is another way of reminding us not to miss out on life today by focusing too hard on the tomorrows yet to come. What is God up to today? Ready or not, our todays are filled with the divine moments that form, change and define our lives.  But we do have to guard ourselves from the fatalistic Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die. Paul warned believers about this attitude in 1 Corinthians 10.

Our expanded view of carpe diem includes seize the opportunity. As those extraordinary moments are happening, go ahead and enjoy them. Relish in the opportunity at hand. What gift is God providing? What are you experiencing? Say “Yes” when it might be easier to say a habit-formed, “No.” Put aside the phone and look around. Smile, listen and see what is really taking place all around you. Look up into the night sky and be awed. Look into your heart and discover who you have become.

Today’s new understanding of carpe diem includes seize the ordinary. Most often our life is experienced in the ordinariness of everyday.  Author Dallas Willard once said that “the ordinary is a place where the life of God flows.”  Thus, if you are mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, cleaning your room, or just pumping gas into your car, God can be found even in the ordinary and mundane tasks of everyday life.  Do not assume that God is only found in the extraordinary but be sensitive to the divine ordinariness of the day. Where is God in your routine and in your relationships? The Bible tells us to “give thanks in all things.” Gratitude always seizes the moment.    

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Seize the divine.  And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Rev. Robert Turner, pastor of the Vernon AME Church, spoke briefly at a luncheon I attended that was sponsored by the Oklahoma Baptist Convention and hosted at Tulsa’s First Baptist Church on April 1. The Vernon AME Church is the only structure to partially survive the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The church basement became a place of shelter and refuge from the fires and destruction of May 31 and June 1. The basement held strong, and still holds strong today. Rev. Turner told of an unusual incident that had just occurred on the previous Friday, March 26. While some workmen were renovating a basement bathroom, they accidentally broke through an historic wall. They were startled and confused by the smell that filled the bathroom. Rev. Turner was called to inspect. The strong odor was the smell of smoke and ashes that still lingers in the soil buried for 100 hundred years. 

There are approximately 70 days until the centennial anniversary becomes the focus of the nation. It was reported that hotel rooms for the week are being reserved quickly. Bus tours and pilgrimages are anticipated. Much has been planned for each week from this weekend forward. Phil Armstrong, project manager for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, spoke of the new museum, Greenwood Rising. On Sunday, May 30, churches are asked to stand in unity with the spirit of reconciliation and renewal. 

Following the luncheon, we were invited to the Tulsa Race Massacre Prayer Room designed by the people at First Baptist Church. The stated purpose of the Prayer Room is to explore the events in 1921 and to “prayerfully oppose the sin of racism in our world, in our churches and in our heart.” The Prayer Room is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 to 5:00, without cost. It is well worth the time. Parking is free in the lot at 5th and Detroit by parking in the spaces marked for “FBC.” 

The lingering smell of racial sin is all around us. The fires of hatred still burn in the hearts of so many. The smoke of prejudice and pride clouds our eyes with tears and pain. We are seeing it played out before us every day. Our only hope is in Jesus, who has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Read 2 Corinthians 5:12-20.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Be reconciled.  And let’s experience the love and power of God together again.

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(I wrote the following article for the Facebook site, Center for Congregational Ethics and the daily lectionary reading for April 8, 2021, based on Daniel 1.)

What if compassion were like a contagious disease that spread through contact with others?  What if, for instance, a police officer contracted compassion from his superior, and then spread it to the others they encountered that day? What difference might it make in a life or two or four?

How would the story of Daniel, in chapter 1, be different without the compassion of the palace master Ashpenaz? Four of Ashpenaz’ charges had been force-marched from their homeland hundreds of miles to be immersed in a foreign culture with strangers and stripped of their names. These four young people were bonded by their language, religious faith, and the agonies of their homesickness. They were valued for their abilities, yet they were deemed slaves by the callous and cruel.

According to verses 9 and 10 (NRSV), Ashpenaz was inspired to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but even so, denied the dietary request. Maybe Ashpenaz winked when he publicly said what he had to say. It was the under-guard appointed to oversee the four who demonstrated contagious compassion by allowing the ten-day faith and food test. Compassion brings out the best in ourselves and in others. 

Like Daniel and his friends, thousands upon thousands of heartsick and desperate people in 2021 are being forced to move from their homes into migrant and refugee camps, detention centers, and prisons each day. What if compassion were as contagious as the callousness that so easily besets us? I propose a ten-day faith and compassion test. Spread compassion to the stranger, to the neighbor and to yourself, inspired by the gift of God within you. 

Darryl DeBorde is pastor of the Braden Park Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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