My Spiritual Journey
By Marlene L. Johnson

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been a part of my life since I joined the Second Baptist Church in Mumford, N.Y. at age 11. Every Sunday I would wake up, put on my "Sunday best" and go to church with Ma and Daddy. Sunday was church day.  Sometimes that meant all day.

Our church was blessed to be able to attract graduates from Colgate Rochester Divinity School to pastor the flock. Among them was the renowned Rev. Mordecai W. Johnson (1913-1916, who later became the President of Howard University, and H. Beecher Hicks, Senior Pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church (in the nation's capital.)
After services the pastor often would come to our home for dinner, and then back to church we went. (And that sometimes was no small feat when snow was piled high in upstate New York). It was just understood that this was what our family did on Sundays. Although my foster grandfather left our church because of a dispute and remained outside of the congregation for years, he made sure we studied the Bible with him at home.

Born on the margins of society and reared through the New York State foster care system, my faith in God kept me. My spirituality is as much a part of my life as breathing and has helped me ward off adversity and hardships I have faced. My spirituality manifests itself in my deep concern for justice, equality, fairness and compassion for the downtrodden. It is the deep inner connection with the Divine that I experience when I am contemplative and reverent, ecstatic or sad, and when I pray to the Father seeking guidance in my daily activities and interaction with others.

God kept me as I left home to attend the University of Buffalo on a partial scholarship, with few other resources,but a strong desire to arm myself with the knowledge necessary to help others. My ministry has been through my God-given talent as a writer and I have spent much of her career working at various organizations that provide programs and services to the poor and the marginalized.

As I contemplated retirement a few years ago, I asked the Lord to show me what I should do in His name during this phase of my life journey, and his answer was to attend Howard University School of Divinity. I embarked on a journey to totally immerse myself in the pursuit of God’s truth, which is the prism through which I will continue serving Him.

...Helping those plagued by poverty, injustice, discrimination, racism and personal tragedies.