Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body (Proverbs 16:24 NRSV).

Although the double consciousness as described by Dr Dubois in 1903 spoke about the reality of living in a world where you were defined by others, and therefore presents difficulty in expressing your true identity, we can now turn this around and use the lesson learned in a positive way.  Not being real with or true to yourself can lead to serious mental health issues. Many psychologists and healthcare professionals have identified a link between health and the capacity to speak truth. Many writers suggest that the problem with identity can now be turned on its head and that double consciousness has given us a worldview with the ability to respond to multicultural postmodern reality. The writer Carlyle Stewart argues that Double consciousness provides a way of responding to the world that enhances the self’s creative capacities.

This response is one that is positive and promotes truth. So we are able to relate to our contemporaries and to our God from a position of truth. Whatever positions we find ourselves in we are able to say like the writer of the Negro spiritual, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Nobody knows but Jesus, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen Glory Hallelujah.  The hallelujah at the end of the stanza is a positive response in that whatever we go through and are going through, we can conclude with praise to our God for taking us through it.

Read Proverbs 16