Flourishing!

"The Laying On of Hands" - my favorite part of the service! In 1998, I took a position as the middle school youth director in an über suburban town called Wayne and served a Presbyterian Church with a name that was the same. I had good memories of that time in my life. Youth mission trips. My wedding. Figuring out the call to attend seminary. Reluctantly saying yes to attending Princeton Sem (of all places). It is almost ten years ago from the day I left this place. And now I'm back. But in a different way. New pastors. Many of the same families. Same old love and support that I remember so well. If my life were a movie, my youth minstry days would have been a forshadowing of this moment. The Lord took me around the world and back to be able to serve the place that nurtured me as a young adult and as a new Presbyterian. So today is kind of awesome. I get to renew my vows as a teaching elder. I get to say yes, again, to serve in new and exciting ways. I get to sh...

So, it's that time of the year again. Christians all over the world have gotten through the sights and sounds of Ash Wednesday. And now its time to put into practice 40 DAYS dedicated to giving something up. Why? Because we want to get our minds around the idea of sacrifice. We want a tangible way to remember the sacrifice Christ made for the world. So, we take a moment, reflect, and decide to let go of something as reminder of the big sacrifice Christ made for us. (you know, God in the flesh, death on the cross, raised again on the third day ------stuff like that) I like the idea of Lent. I don't always like the implications of the practice. I like people who say, "instead of giving something up for Lent, I'm going to take something ON!" I never did too well with that. I always forget to do the extra stuff and before I know it, Lent gets away from me. This year, I think I have a custom made Lenten practice. For the next 40 days, I will turn off the TV after 9...

Meet EMAN's new Board President Rev. Aisha Brooks-Lytle — NewsWorks

Since I’ve been a full-time Pastor, I have not had enough opportunities to sing my original tunes with my band as much as I had dreamed. I watch folks in the public eye like Smokey Norful, Bishop Paul Morton, and even my girl Kim Burrell (a friend in my head) maintain the phenomenal balance of being pastors and musicians. While my Presbyterian Pastoral reality would not allow me to move and shake in the way these folk do, I have watched from a distance with the hopes that ONE DAY I can flow with ease as a singing sistah of the cloth who can swing with the best of them. As I try to find the balance between being a musician and a full-time pastor, I realize the real struggle is being a freak of nature who is equally administrative as I am creative. When life is calm and balanced (yes, I am trying to see how many times can I use a variation of the word ‘balance’ in this blog...), I seem to be able to fully attend to my creative outlets like singing, composing, writing, and yes, knitting...

Let me say this first, I am raising a male version of myself. I cannot believe how strong and powerful genes are in the business of family lineage. I know that nature and nurture run neck-in-neck in their ability to shape and mold a child. But this boy is undeniably mine. At first glance, its obvious that Ellington looks a lot like me. We have the same chocolate drop skin, big brown eyes (with long lashes), a laugh that can cause a troll-who-lives-under-the-bridge to smile, compassion for others, and charisma for days. On a much deeper level, Ellington carries my trait of appearing like a fearless extrovert to the masses but holding close to his chest introvert-like tendencies. So it is wild to watch and a roller-coaster ride to parent a smaller, male version of myself. This past week my overly-articulate, eager, polite, nerdy, and high energy kid made the transition from his small group Pre-K class to the daycare’s Summer Camp program. Summer Camp is great in theory....trips to par...

This is the summer of way too much. But like always, I love it! I usually get excited and nervous when I have to do something new, or some variation of a new thing. In my typical Type-A fashion, let’s make a list of all the ways in which this is the summer-of-way-too-much”...(1) I have my first college intern (who’s given ghetto fabulous nickname is “Jo-Jo”), (2) we have five summer interns serving The Philadelphia Project and being a support to MAPC, (3) my male diva BFF/seminarian (who’s given ghetto fabulous nickname is “S-1” for literally being my first seminarian) is moving onto another internship as we are incorporating our fall seminarian into the mix, (4) we are embarking on a joint venture for an 8-week summer children’s ministry program, (5) we are having an changeover in our tenants and (6) I said, YES, to being President of a great civic association in our church’s neighborhood. Wheeeew!!!! This is why I hate seeing my reality in print. Making this list freaks me out eve...

So this past week, my husband kicked me out of the house and sent me pouting to a yoga class. Let me be clear, I love yoga. But I love it at my own pace, in my house, on the DVD. Me and Rodney Yee are best buds. And yet I must admit that I have been a TOTAL slacker in the hype of church installations and all the wonderful things the pastorate brings. So Carl called our gym, found out the time for the class that is FREE with my monthly gym fee, and sent me on my way. I was the chubbiest person in the class and I thought I was going to DIE. And half of the participants had come from a SPIN CLASS that the instructor taught an hour before. As I quietly grunted, twisted and turned, I came to a realization. The time in my life when I felt the most comfortable in my body was when I ate the least amount of carbs I could stand. I had lost around 60 lbs and I felt great. All I kept thinking to myself was..."Aisha, weight watchers is cool, but you gotta lay off some of the carbs". As m...