DANG! THAT'S SO RATCHET.

Some of the situations I deal with every day are ratchet.  They are.   They just ARE. 

Ratchet is a urban slang term derived from the older, more formal English word wretched, and meaning exactly the same thing:  bad, pitiful, deprived, depraved, miserable, etc., etc.

Does that mean that the circumstances are ratchet or that the people in the circumstances are ratchet?  My days are a mix of both.

I deal with some the most noble, generous, hard-working people I’ve ever met---- some of whom are homeless.  I also encounter some of the most selfish, profane, predatory, and arrogant people I’ve ever seen----- some of whom are in junior high school (and I don’t mean teachers).

When you walk into wretched, it’s there.  Whatever your political leanings, no matter what your position on the relevant social issue, the situation is what the situation is.  The choice of adjectives doesn’t alter reality.

Jesus said: For the poor you will have with you always; but Me you do not have always. (Matthew 26: 11; John 12: 8)

We usually stop quoting and thinking after the poor you will have with you always. At which point we throw up our hands in holy resignation and declare, “It is what it is.  Let’s go home.”   

Hold on there, Speedy.  Cross-reference and also read Mark 14: 7.

Jesus’ full statement was: For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  

It is what it is; but whenever you want to, you can do something about it.

You can either say, “Dang, this is so ratchet.  Somebody should do something,” and then pick up your bag and leave.
Or, you can say, “Dang! This is so ratchet.  I’m going to do something to help,” and open up your bag and get to work.

Especially if you claim to be a Christian, if you choose the first option----- that’s wretched.  That’s you being spiritually ratchet.

Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelations 3: 17)

I know how bad it is where I go.  I’m fully aware that many of those I want to see healed are suffering from self-inflicted wounds.  I’m conscious of the fact that I’m diving into an ocean of generational curses trying to save one drowning family at a time.  I see the hundreds of years of history and billions of dollars in economic interests with vested interest in the continued exploitation of people I’m trying to empower.

It’s wretched.  I know.

So I do what I do every day.  I pray and then I open up my bag and get to work.  That’s what Jesus told me to do for them.  That’s what Jesus did for my wretched/ ratchet soul.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

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