Sunday, Nov 7, 2021 - Receiving the Invitation to an Introductory Ifá and Ancestral Practice Class

Lenny announced to his United States of Grace substack team, that in November he will share classes on his PHD which he described as his personal spiritual walk, and practices which he believes will be integral for our spiritual health and development of this new world we find ourselves in. This new awakening, or Dawn as he names it, is the whole premise of his dissertation, so far. 

People in my circle were intrigued by, and eagerly explored, Lenny’s comments in the email. Many were confused by the accompanying flyer as he talked about integrating his ancestral-infused practices and language into Christian-inspired spirituality. 

For most this was our first exposure to his community ’thecliffatdawn.com’ and Ifá. One commented by syaing this reminded her of the Native American pastors & theologians (i.e. George ’Tink’ Tinker, seminary professor and an EMO Collins lecture speaker in 2015) who finds more inspiration from their Native spirituality than from traditional Christianity’s language and practices. Personally, I began  processing Lenny’s deep dive into the Ifa foundation. 

The background informing that processing should start with how reading Dear Church awakened my heart to a true path for the future of the church that has inspired me, "The church in the twenty-first century needs to change, too. We are trying to detox from systemic racism, and although we may know we need repentance and rightly yearn for reconciliation, we have no idea what it will take to get over our addiction to white supremacy. The answer, in a word, is reparations " Instantly, with that word, the foundation of my perspective and spiritual work shifted with the truth and importance of that statement. I have explored the implications of that shift ever since. Given who I am and what is currently happening, I want to be better, I am trying to learn how and reparations appears to be the key to unlock the shackles of past history that binds us.

The home page of “House by the Cliff at Dawn”, the Ifá community he is gathering and teaches in where he truly finds himself “led” by the children who call him Babá he writes:

The House by the Cliff at Dawn is an I’le that believes that a new world is possible, a new day can dawn for us all. We believe Ifá is the tool we have been called to use as our particular contribution to this effort that spans lifetimes and worlds.

This, once again, led me to a profound YES. I resolved to call and think of Lenny as Babá and felt that this was important as I moved forward.

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