The Rev. Dr. Cynthia T. Turner, pastor of the Dayspring Community Church in Lanham, MD, will write occasionally about the “Righteous Mind” on the Soul Rhythms blog.

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Feb. 19, 2010       Righteous mind

One of the best lines in the movie The Great Debatersis when a Wiley College professor, played by actor Denzel Washington, introduces himself to three anxious and unsure debate students by telling them his role is to help them “to find, take back and keep their righteous mind.” He reminds the students that the slavemasters’ most effective line of attack was not through controlling the body, but to take the mind. Click here to read more.

Feb. 26, 2010         Had I known

I shouldn’t have said it. As soon as I said it, I knew I shouldn’t have. But I blurted it with intentionality before the filters in my conscience took over.  I was feeling good about myself for finishing my entire set of strengthening and cardio, and was walking out of the Silver Spring YMCA with my workout partner when it happened. Click here to read more.

March 6, 2010       Broken Things

This has been a season of things breaking,  about to break, or crippled to the point of  being broken.  The gutters above my porch.  The check engine light on the car  again. The railing  outside my mother’s door. And the Bruno Stair Chair Lift in my  mother’s home. Perhaps that’s the one that hurts the most because it is designed to carry my mother. Click here  to read more.

March 13, 2010    Mess? … SMH (Part 1)

It’s Women’s History Month, and all I can do is smh. In case you don’t know, smh is the text-world shorthand for shaking my head. And that was all I could do when I heard this statement: “Men need to fellowship alone — women just mess it up.”  Click here to read more.

 March 29, 2010     Death Becomes Her

Death has been heavy on my mind lately. I don’t know why.  I don’t have a bad diagnosis. I am not in preparation with anyone who is waiting to cross over. I have been to a couple of funerals recently, but ample space has been allotted since then that I can’t use funerals to explain it away.  Click here to read more.

April 23, 2010    I’m Keeping My Scars

I confess that I don’t really understand tattoos. I hear they are painful and they last a lifetime and they cost money. Well, I have some marks on my skin that are painful and carry lifetime reminders of getting them. There’s one on my foot from when I fell down running in sandals in kindergarten. Click here to read more.

June 30, 2010     A Whole Lot of a Little Bit of Stuff

On a Saturday some weeks ago, I cleaned my bathroom. Not just the tub, sinks, toilet, floors and shower. That was easy. But when I ventured under the cabinets, it was a virtual wonderland of colorful plastic containers. When I started, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was under the impression that because I had a lot of bottles of stuff that I had lots of stuff. In reality, most of their contents – when consolidated – amounted to hardly enough to make a good half-bottle. Click here to read more.

July 7, 2010           When a Black Woman Screams

When a Black woman screams out loud, it’s bad.  It’s not that she never screams; surely she does and often. But seldom out loud. Surely she had to scream during slavery when some slimy creepy body climbed on her belly to use her as a receptacle. I know she screamed then but not out loud. Or when she – in the name of survival – had to give her breast to nourish somebody else’s child, while her child lay home thirsty, craving her warmth. Click here to read more.