By Marcus Stringer

I know your works, having come from darkness into light kicking and screaming. Others of you remain in the dark, hiding, peeking out as if the "eyes" in a Disney enchanted forest . Yet when the divine sweetheart serenaded you, you closed your ears. You made no room for the mystery of love.

You remained divided in mind and heart, cozying up to the accuser of the saints, the devil – of which you no longer believe – so I will name 'it' "anti-love". Yes that same force of un-love has been within you, sawing you into pieces and sifting you as wheat.

When Elijah sought God or the "divine force for good" in thunder, lightning and strong winds God was not there. And so you followed his lead. First you ran in fear then sought life in the mindless and mind-numbing thump and smoke of the houses of pleasure and to some, the party house of bar and club, or street corner, parking lot or where have you.

This razzle-dazzle entertainment of bars and clubs was made possible by industrialization, urbanization, and social and religious persecution and neglect in and out of the church. That self-same multi-headed beast that would grind you down, divide you from one another and bind and enslave you as a cog in a machine – destined to ever be controlled and misused and be made to control and misuse others. This thing, this system is not one from the hands of Love – examine the fruit for by the fruit you will know…

Yet your life was trapped in the hustle and bustle. And from there you thought to escape your nervous misery by way of the synthetic manufactured bar, club, bottle and smoke. You purchase more and more material goods, you worked harder to sit higher on the socio-economic ladder to be looked up to and to look down own. These things became your sanctuaries, your community centers, your refuge and fortress in time of trouble. You gave offerings to support these establishments. Yet Love was not in them. It is written that the Good Shepherd leads the sheep beside still waters – not by hip-hoppin', rapin' and rockin' waters, but by peaceful waters.

Love was in the still small voice drowned by the volume of thump and noise, it was in the quiet places valued not by their cost but by their spirit, that same of which you avoided like the plague because you hated to be still. The force of Love was the only force that could give you real life, a life in your eyes to be able to see what was happening to you, a life in your ears to be able to hear Love speaking to you. If you had been still, you would have been able to know all this yourself without me having to write it to you. You would have been able to choose life by your own will, in harmony with and powered by the force of Love. The force could have helped you love and be loved as no other, but you wouldn't be still. In your rush, in your partying you asked to be left desolate.

The opportunity was yours yesterday and you rejected it. Will you do the same thing today?