Trinity United Church of Christ - Gary

Ministry and Mess

2011-05-23T20:41:00.003-05:00

Mike Carson is a gifted Saxophonist. Mike Carson is a great teacher of the appreciation of music. Mike Carson is also one of my most faithful deacons. Mike Carson blessed my life like never before a couple weeks ago. I shared with Mike a recently particularly painful experience in my ministry. I shared with Mike how sometimes it makes no sense for some people who claim to be saved to be so pathetically silly.

Mike then said Pastor, I had an experience not long ago where I saw an older woman who was struggling with the burden of some bags. Mike said I offered to help her by taking her to her home and helping her get her bags safely in her door. She consented and he said he took her home, carried her bags to her door and bid her a good night. Mike said as he walked back to his car there was some debris in her yard and he ended up stepping into something that did not smell good at all. Mike said he looked down to see that he had stepped into a soiled diaper. The Baby bowel movement in the diaper oozed all over his shoes and mike said he was ticked off. As he attempted to clean his shoes on the curb Mike said he kept saying to himself, All I was trying to do was help somebody in need now look what has happened.

As he pulled away from the address he kept thinking about stepping in some mess while trying to do ministry to someone in need and with all the other issues in his life he just did not need something like this to further depress him. Mike said while he drove he kept seething as he smelled the residue of mess on his shoe when God spoke into his spirit.

Mike said the voice of the Lord said to him "Mike, when ministering to the needs of my people every now and then you will step into some Mess, but be encouraged Mike because I can turn mess into a miracle."

After Mike said that to his Pastor he just walked away and said that's for you too Pastor.

Beloved I remember the words of Jesus in John 16:33 "In me you may have peace; In this world you will have trouble, but be of Good courage for I have over come the world."

Mike's experience blessed his Pastor that night and Jesus words illustrate that insight and serve as a blessing to you. We will face messy situations and messy people while we strive to do our best to be a blessing. But Jesus said don't get mad, don't get frustrated and don't turn back. In Jesus you May have peace if you believe that he is the real Transformer. He transformed Death into Life; A negative into a positive and a Messy situation into a Miracle.

Be Blessed, Be Faithful and Be Encouraged!

Pastor JJ

Do you really want to be free?

2011-05-01T20:13:00.002-05:00

Jesus said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed"

Do you want to be free? If you answered yes then can I also ask you Free from what and what does freedom actually look like to you? Have you ever really thought about it? In fact may I also ask you, do you want to be free or do you want everybody free?

As of the writing of this blog our world is in s state of upheaval. In Britain the western world was subjected to the wedding of the Royals. The Prince belongs to a family, the Windsor family whom I hear own at least 1/6Th of the earth's surface which would make them the largest landowners on earth. Does that make you feel more free that one family with no visible means of support yet who owns so much wealth? What is freedom and do you want to be free or do you want everybody free?

While there are wars, poverty, blight and extreme oppression all over the world our country is reeling from the resurgence of conspicuous racism and race baiting in politics. America has been in arrested development from corporate greed and governmental complicity. all while the average citizen is confined to concerns of their own individual circumstances. Do you want to be free or do you want everybody free? How does freedom look, smell, feel taste to you? Can you imagine being free from the societal, situational and individual external constraints that add to your daily burdens? Let me ask you, is being free in this life reasonable to consider? Have become so accustomed to adversity that you revel in the drama of others because it gives you a vicarious feeling of victory in your situation?

With maturity have we experienced the death of innocence of the deception about innocence? I remember growing up as an adolescent forming friendships, falling in love and having an uplifted out look on what the future held for me and the world. I remember friendships falling out and forming again, love being lost and falling in love again, being disappointed but with the next sunrise having hope again. Here is the challenge can we still have the hope, exuberance and expectation of innocence but also be practical, patient and persevering through the problems and problem people we know will put us to the test? Is this balance possible?

I submit that we can have balance, beloved. I submit that you can experience the liberation of love despite being let down at times lovers. I believe we can still wrap ourselves in he rapture of relationships despite the ramifications of being in a relationship. With all that is revolving in the external to give us low expectations there is an internal reality that can rule one's perception of the external to empower one's imagination about the each moment.

The Truth of the matter is that freedom is being free of the need to be free. Jesus said "you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Knowing that there is a hopeful truth is freeing. Knowing that there is a truth that transform the trials of everyday life into testimonies of triumph is freeing. Knowing that what you see around you does not have to have the last word is freeing.

And being free indeed because there is one who is able to set your mind free of the mess and mundane of life is mystical. The key is that freedom starts from within beloved. It does not mean being free from the responsibilities of life or our obligation to one another but free to be encouraging, inspiring and empowering to others. Freedom is not a fantasy woven by wordsmiths of wonder but Freedom is a reality to be reached from the inside out. There is a relationship that sets one free indeed to dream, to hope, to imagine, to conjure, to expect, to want, to desire and to work toward. This freedom can be touched with the mind, it can be embraced in the heart, it can be sense by smell it can be tasted by the soul. "He who the Son sets free, is free indeed." Be Free beloved; Be free to let go of petty mess and latch on to love. Be free to release the elevation of the negatives of life and wrap your arms around the nurturing in life. Be free to strip down from the shackles of the same ole, same ole, stuck, stiff, and stinking thinking and surround yourself with sagacious, sublime spiritual study of what can be when the Son sets you free to see.

"Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!"

2010-06-09T20:28:00.002-05:00

During the late 1970's when bands were bringing it. Bands like Brass Construction, The Gap band, Cameo, Earth, Wind & Fire, The JB's(more early to mid 70's but who cares), Graham Central Station, and George Clinton and the Parliament/Funkadelic express were rocking concerts all night long. I shall neva forget at the end of one of George Clinton's funk party Concert he led a chant that said, "Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!" over and over we recited those words (Yea, I was in a Funk blurry back then). However, my friend Lance Peeler and I began to examine that slogan in a more significant context.
We as a nation have been hit with a strong dose of dumbing down. I thank my spiritual son Jon Wilson for his piece on the dumbing down going on in Hip Hop that inspired this piece. The average news paper is written on a 6th grade level, does that suggest something? Okay, what's up with this media blitz about incumbents having a hard time this election cycle? Think, it ain't true! only a few incumbents have suffered, most have fared well but the corporate controlled media keeps making this bogus point. Could it be trying to manufacture a movement? Check the record for yourself.
There is however an anti intellectual virus infecting this country. How do you explain a half term governor who quit her job (couldn't handle it?) who can see Russia from her Kitchen window, who either doesn't read, or reads literally everything printed everyday, who cannot tell you if Kandahar is a place or candy bar commanding so much attention? What gives? She uses so-called "folksy" comments that connect with a certain segment of this country, but she flies in a private jet, wears designer clothes and demands "ginormous" amounts of money to speak at events. "Think, It Ain't Illegal Yet!"
Or consider a Libertarian who is running for a Senate seat in Kentucky who is against holding BP accountable for the catastrophic devastation of lives, coastline and living of thousands of people for decades to come. Yet he would have voted against Civil rights legislation that people died for. He is riding a wave popularity because he sounds sensitive to a select section of this society who believe they need to take their government back. Think, it ain't illegal yet!
Consider Sharron Angle in Nevada who believes fluoride in water is a government plot, who signs on with the far right "oath keepers" and encourages her sector to buy more ammo, a serious deficiency in analysis has affected this country.
Finally when "Fix news" is so popular yet having little or no substance on any issue but influencing the Republican party and energizing a Tea Party movement there is a serious dilution of the standards spokespersons are expected to have for any understanding of the issues threatening this country. Think, it ain't illegal yet!" Okay, you ain't feeling the George Clinton reference, how about Jesus? Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your MIND!" I hope and pray that we as a nation will raise the standards of those who are expected to make decisions on our behalf.
When the right wing corporate controlled cronies attack health care reform, "think, it ain't illegal yet." When Sharron Angles,and others on the right attack tighter and stricter regulations on corporations like BP, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When the President hesitates to be critical of Israel attacking flotillas carrying humanitarian aide, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When our law enforcement can find and capture a failed terrorist without a snitch, or picture in 53 hours but cannot apprehend the killer of a black child being gunned down in the inner city, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When a black man who nobody knows, who did not campaign, had no rallies yet wins in South Carolina and the republicans claims they did not plant him, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" When you are facing financial devastation yet corporate execs and the so-called "upper class" are sharing million dollar bonus' and the lavish life, "think, it ain't illegal yet!" The economy is bad for you and me, but for others spending $80 million to win an election in California the economy is booming for them. We must wake up, and Love the Lord with all our minds so that we can "think, it ain't illegal yet!"

When You are at the Breaking Point

2010-06-02T09:09:00.003-05:00

Somebody right now is at the breaking point. The economy is anemic and your employment is in danger. You are at the breaking point. What will you do? How will you pay your bills? You are over 45, so who will hire you at this age, in this economy? You are at the Breaking point.
Somebody reading this is at the breaking point. Disease has disturbed your life and/or disease has disrupted a family members life and now you have to care for them. The medical bills are piling up, your energy is fastly evaporating and you are feeling alone in all this, you are at the breaking point. Somebody else is overwhelmed with the mis-direction of this country and the Mis-education coming from the corporate controlled media. Two unwinnable wars, a hateful and mean extreme right wing boldly dismissing, disparaging and disrespecting the Democratically elected president because he is a black man. You are at the Breaking point. To make matters worse this President that you put so much hope in for meaningful change has moved at snails pace to bring about that change. He has uselessly tried to appease folks who will never like him or vote for him; he has bailed out wall street and they took your tax money to give million dollar bonuses to cronies. What are you doing, Mr. President? Why is it that your campaign pledges are piled up in some corner in the White House while you dance the two step with the people who put you in office? You are at the breaking point. What kind of world will your children inherit? Young roving and marauding gangs of no particular origin are murdering innocent young people for the thrill of it; Law enforcement can catch a would be bomber in New York in 53 hours with no picture, no name and nobody snitching but the DOA bodies of hundreds of young Black & Brown boys and girls all across the major cities of this country go unsolved. What kind of life will your babies be forced to live in? An Oil spill in the gulf has already destroyed the way of life for hard working fishermen and threatens the ecology of this hemisphere because a materialistic corporation decided that the lives of the men working on the rig, and the lives of the people in the gulf were not as important as their profit margin. You don't want to watch the news, you are tired of mindless gossip from midget minded folks and you are sick of having more month than money, you are at the breaking point.
There is some Pastor out there who has tried to do their best, tried to be faithful to the calling of our Lord, tried to empower God's people through diligent exegesis of the Biblical text but who is beginning to feel that there hard work is going unappreciated. The people of God would rather hear about their break through than Jesus building up a beleaguered life; they would rather gravitate to a prosperity gospel of "G" string spirituality by throwing money on the pulpit to get it back three fold; they would rather be stimulated by the "Crack pipe" preaching of somebody who cannot spell seminary less known than have attended one and you brother/Sistah preacher are at the breaking point.
Somebody tired of wearing the mask of make believe mouthing meaningless churchy lingo "Too Bless to be stressed." You are stressed; you are sick; You don't sleep at night wondering what will happen next? You are sick and tired of watching those who don't care about who they hurt, who don't care who they walk over, who don't care who they discourage continue to operate without impunity. You are tired of having "No Good Deed go unpunished," You are tired of doing the right thing but owing the IRS while others doing the wrong thing flaunt their fake lives in your face. Why is God playing favorites? Why is God silent? Why is God letting the tyranny of wickedness run amok? You are at the breaking point!
Well Psalm 73 shows us David, The Shepard King was also at the breaking point in his life. David says "His foot had almost slipped, he had nearly lost his foothold because he had become envious of the arrogant and prosperity of the wicked..."(vv 1-3) Now before you put your foot in the stirrup to mount the judgement saddle, you too at some time was envious of some arrogant folks. We all have fallen short.. We all have wondered why them and not me? We all have been tempted. David saw folks who did not seem to have it hard, they seemed healthy vibrant, no worries, no burdens, carefree and enjoy the adulation of thousands..." (vv 4-10)Next time you dream, fantasize or visualize your life in the place of some wealthy, extremely popular bad boy actor or actress; next time you give excuse for somebody who commands the limelight but cowers away from the cause of conscious against a corrupt industry in order to stay a hot commodity you are where David is in the text.
David felt like he had kept his heart pure in vain; he felt his altruistic honesty was a waste; He looked at his life and frowned because he had constant pain, constant misery, constant Unmerited suffering. In fact David felt he was being punished every morning for striving to Be good (vv12-16).
Beloved when you are at the Breaking point all is not lost and it ain't destined or determined that it is all over. David gives us some direction when we feel the weight of the world weighing us down.
David fist of all shows us it is at that moment that we need to go to church! In Verse 17 he says, I could not understand what was happening to me "Until I entered the sanctuary of God..." Yes you can and must worship by yourself but you also need to feel the eternal ambiance of the Almighty in His sanctuary. Going to the House of the Lord will uplift your mental Attitude while giving Ascension to your Spiritual Altitude or (as the late Dr. Frederick G. Sampson used to say) "Heightens your vision and extends your horizons." David saw in the sanctuary of God that the wicked he had been envying had an expiration date on their arrogance. In other words no matter how well they seemed, no matter how good it looked for them, no matter how prosperous they seemed "All that glitters was not gold," and "Trouble don't last always." God showed David that his Destiny had unbroken continuity in his creator. His horizon perspective was extended to see beyond the external, temporary and material. David was able to see the "big picture." When we are at the breaking point the lens of our perspective tends to narrow on us, but if we can get to the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude while Adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude.
God will also help us see that We (like David) are not Alone - Verse 23 "Yet I am always with you..." When you are at the breaking point get to the sanctuary of God and let God show you that he is with you, that he Holds you with his right (Mighty-Powerful) hand, let God show you that you ain't dead because his counsel has directed you even when you did not know God was leading you (vv23-24)You are not alone beloved, God has not forsaken you and God is still keeping you. You are still here; despite the evil deeds of the devil and his imps, you are still here; despite bad news all around, you are still here therefore you are Good news. My late daddy used to say "Where there's life there is Hope..." there is life in his Sanctuary; there is life in his holy temple; there is life in every prayer and there is life in you. That Breath you just took is God (His Ruach/Pneuma)therefore you have hope. "For Hope that is seen is no Hope at all, but if we Hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it patiently." That's why David could say "Wait on the Lord, for he will strengthen thine heart, Wait I say on the Lord."
Not only are you not alone but you have a divine Advocate and Almighty Assistance that is Always Available. Verse 25-26 "whom have I in Heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. ...God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion forever." Everything earth bound is going to decay, lose its value or lose its importance to you at some time but God is good all the time. God is fresh every day, "Morning by Morning New Mercies I see...Great is Thy Faithfulness..." God is our holy Advocate in Heaven and our Almighty Assistance on earth. There is nothing or no one more exciting, energizing, hope facilitating or joy generating than God. And God Beloved never fails-People will fail, governments will fail, Corporations will fail, friends will fail you, family will fail you, church people will fail you But God will never fail you. He is your Portion forever! That is why David could Declare "The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid?...One thing I ask of the Lord and this is what I seek, that i may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple for in the day of trouble he shall hide me..."
Finally when David went into the Sanctuary of God he realized that there are others struggling like he had; Others who are ready to give up like he was; others at the Breaking point as he was and therefore he must Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts Goodness to all he encountered. Verse 28 "As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds."
When you go into the Sanctuary of God, God will Uplift your mental Attitude While adding Ascension to your spiritual Altitude (Heighten your Visions & Extend your Horizons); God will also show you, that you are not Alone; God will demonstrate that God is your Divine Advocate in Heaven and your Almighty Assistance that is always Available. God ultimately depends on you to Acknowledge and Announce God's Mighty Acts to All you encounter. Don't keep it to yourself; Don't try to hold Good news for you and you only; Don't let selfishness strangle your Spiritual strength, tell somebody! Somebody needs to know the Goodness of the Lord, in the Land of the Living; Somebody needs to hear from somebody who WAS at the Breaking point but now is Back on track because of the Balm in Gilead; Somebody needs to see and hear about how far God has brought you. If you love to be near God like David, If you have made the Sovereign your refuge like David, If God's Spirit put Steel in back while in the Sanctuary then "Let the Redeemed of The Lord say so..." "when you've been Blessed...Pass it on..." I don't know about you but, I just got helped by this Passage and the Hope in God's House. So excuse me, but "I just wanna say that He is near me always..." Can I tell you, that "They whispered, conspired, they told me lies (But God favored me). Get to the sanctuary like David and worship the Lord! Don't look at what other people are doing look to the Lord. don't try listen to what people maybe saying listen to the songs of Zion being sung and worship him. Don't focus on them but worship Him! God wants to me somebody at the breaking point in his Sanctuary to serenade you with his Spirit; to Saturate you in his presence; to strengthen you in your struggle!

Enough is Enough!

2010-05-15T19:43:00.003-05:00

Isaiah 58:1 says "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."

The prophet is instructed by Yahweh to scream to the people, those especially in power who practice absurd hypocrisy. They proclaim a national religious faith but practice oppression. They have good worship, fast, bend their knees and bow their heads to pray yet they do nothing for the hungry, hurting and harassed. Their religious practices offend God because the policies of the administration pulverize the poor and God seems to be saying "Enough is Enough!!!"

We have witnessed the absurd arrogance afflicting the affluent in Arizona this past couple weeks. First 1070 is passed which in its vagueness leaves vulnerable the voiceless to Racial Profiling. In the guise of guarding against so-called "Illegal Immigrants" the governor of the State sacrificed sensible sound judgement by stigmatizing a segment of the American society. Then to add insult to injury she offers another piece of legislation that bans "Cultural Studies" in the public schools. The bold bigotry of these bills is beyond belief. While they are aiming at the Hispanic community in particular the spray from this shotgun of hate shatters all our lives. When people are disallowed the right to study their culture it is a crime against the humanity of that people. No Latino/Latina studies, no African and African American studies, no Jewish Studies, no Japanese studies, no Chinese studies, no polish studies and no Native American studies and the country was stolen from them.

What further complicates this context is that polls are being produced that say a so-called majority of Americans support this Racist legislation. I want to suggest that there is a tidal wave of Hegemony washing away the moral fiber of this nation. This wave is being surfed by media hate mongers like Rush Limbaugh (the real leader of the Republican party), Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coultre, and Sarah Palin. This blaze of Bigotry is being fanned by a right wing republican mindset of "Do any and everything" to stop the first democratically elected President of the U.S. by any means necessary. These obstructionist have spewed dis-respect unknown to any other American President. They have supported by their silence a "Tea party" and its distorted images of hate stoking the embers of evil with code words of armed violence, i.e, "Reload" Beloved a Fever of Fear is affecting this nation. People have been soaked in the the salty waters of worry by scare mongers. As Colin Powell stated we face a "Terror Industrial Complex." The fear that has been irresponsibly fomented is further dividing people while the fear mongers are making money. The military contractors have made billions while innocents on both sides of the ocean have died. Fear has put a nation on edge raising anxiety levels of all Americans. Fear of economic disaster; fear of losing homes; fear of losing businesses; fear of folks who are different. Fear beloved has become big business! That is why 1070 and the actions of Arizona's Governor is so afflicting. It feeds and fuels more Fear!

If the Corporate Controlled media will not do honest reporting and call it what it is "White Supremacist," Jingoistic, Hegemonic hate then we must. Black media must call it what it is and not let so-called liberal whites make them feel ashamed. Black media must "name the demon, to tame the demon." Black media cannot let scared, assimilationist African Americans hush them up. Too much is at stake!

Black organizations must keep the pressure on this polluted vile political climate. It is time for those historic organizations who fought so valiantly in the past to bring suits, sit ins and resources to counter the Racist Rhetoric ruining lives.

It is especially time for Black people of faith (all Faith traditions) to "Cry Loud and Spare not." No Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple or place of worship should be silent. "Enough is Enough!" Arizona's draconian legislation is catching on in other states just like the loony lawsuits states have entered in against "Health care Reform." Did any of you ever think you would live to see a day when American politicians would seek not only to stop Health Care but now campaign on repealing it? Absurd!!! Health care for the least of these? Did not Jesus say "I was hungry and you fed me, Naked and you clothed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, sick and you visited me?" Did not Jesus say "As you have done it to the least of these you have done it to me?" How then can a country whose National Narrative says that we are a Christian nation act so callously contrary to the calling of that Christ? Absurd! Enough is Enough! Those who pray and profess a faith but are passive in this political predatory climate commit the same sham that Isaiah spoke against in the 8th century. Let facebook, Myspace, blogs and websites wail, scream, holler, Cry Loud Enough is Enough! Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. has a closing word here, "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends!"

Peace

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2010-04-16T01:19:00.001-05:00

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Sistah's Gotta Work it out

2010-04-11T20:40:00.002-05:00

Philippians 4:2-3(The Message) "I urge Euodia and Syntche to iron out their differences and make up. God doesn't want his children holding grudges. And, oh, yes, Syzygus, since you're right here to help them work things out, do your best with them. These women worked for the message hand in hand with Clement and me, and with the other veterans - worked as hard as any of us. Remember, their names are also in the book of life."

The Sistah's that Paul refers to in this letter to the church that worshipped in Philippi had a falling out. They were at odds with each other which resulted in broken fellowship. There is nothing more sad than when two followers of that man from Galilee get on each others nerves. It is a sour situation when the faithful end up fighting one another. Euodia and Syntche were estranged in the company of Kindred hearts.

Yet please note that the African Apostle Paul did not Illuminate the Issue that caused the enmity. Why, my best theological supposition is that it didn't matter what the issue was. That is extremely helpful to us in the 21st century. Whatever the issues we have with one another are not important in the plan of God. In other words whatever your particular personality difference is with your co-laborer in the congregation of Jesus Christ is not a concern of the Kingdom, it is a concern of yours. Which begs the question whose concerns are most essential for the deliverance of God's people, yours or God's? Who would dare think that God is going to suspend his salvation work because you are "stuck like Chuck" over what someone said or didn't say to you? Do you think God is going to put his Hope in a holding pattern for those living in the hell of no Health Insurance, no living wage and their jobs shipped overseas for sweatshops because you have a disagreement about the color of Choir robes, whose name got called or space in the church?

Paul did not illustrate the issue because whatever the personality issue was it was not important to the Eternal. It was not about who was right or wrong about an issue that had nothing to do with giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless and love to the unloved of the community and world!

Secondly Paul did not take sides but exhorted both Sistahs to invest in Repairing the relationship. Paul told them to iron out their differences and make up. Paul did not lean one way or the other because neither had any Jesus ground to stand on. Beloved we are expected to make peace with each another when we get perturbed with one another. Jesus said in Matthew 5 "that when you offer your gift at the altar and remember the your brother (or sister) who has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother (or sister); then come and offer your gift." Your worship is not worthy until you make the attempt to reconcile with the person who is upset with you. It is not up to you that they receive the honest, heartfelt desire to be in community but it is up to you to sincerely offer it. Paul said in II Corinthians 5 that "we all have the ministry of Reconciliation..." If you believe that you are right on a personality issue with another believer then "Let your mind be the same as Christ Jesus who HUMBLED himself and became obedient unto death..." Our standard is not each other but Jesus! Whatever your issue be like Christ and limit your want, desire or need to be right for the ministry of Jesus Christ and not the other person Per Se.

Finally Paul told Syzygus to help the Sistahs work it out. Which says the the community has an equal responsibility to help repair the breach in relationship. Those of you who have direct or indirect knowledge of God's people at odds with one another Must intercede on behalf of the Eternal and not either side. You may be friends, you maybe "Cut Buddies" you may be "Ace Boon Coons" but that should not taint you bringing the two together. Your loyalty in Jesus is not family, friends, Cliques, or like minded members, it is to none other than Jesus and Jesus only! Why because these Sistahs had each served at the side of Paul unselfishly. They had both sacrificed for the ministry of our Lord and Master magnanimously, and their names are also written in the Lambs Book of Life. Their lives, their labors, their legacies were too important to leave in this state. The Late Justice R. Eugene Pincham used to tell my pastor Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., that "Jesus did not come to earth to make heaven better." Jesus has called on us to make this planet better and we do that by starting with the brother or Sistah we see every day who have separated over simple issues. Beloved, Be The Sermon you Seek to See, So that when you See yourself in the mirror you can Identify with that Sermon! The best sermons bring God's people together on "One Accord" like in the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles chapters 2-4! If you claim to be a Child of the King then start by bringing the beloved back together in your Branch of Zion!

Guest Blogger my friend Lance Peeler

2010-02-14T22:48:00.002-06:00

It is Valentines weekend. To most men this is a Hallmark holiday but regardless of what she says, brothers this is a major day for her and will introduce benchmarks for your relationship. I usually try to keep it simple and reach for the small things that bring the biggest smile …. To her heart…
I just read an amazing article written by Jill Scott for Essence magazine entitled “A Real Man”. She wrote about things that most women will not be able to grasp unless men begin to reveal them. Problem is men are not wired to “reveal” anything but our masculinity. She wrote. “Men get afraid. Some cry. Most are far more sensitive than we can imagine.” Without further elaboration this statement for most men will just slide down the locker room shower drain along with anything else that moves men away from their image of warriors in the “300” army holding the line for all our ancestral fathers that guarded the mailbox like “mister” in “The Color Purple”. It is extremely hard to fight hard wired circuitry. This is for those who desire to know or understand. If it matters not, stop now…. I might be wasting your time but let me at least try.
Whether she is your wife, your girl friend, your baby momma, your boo, or your friend with benefits, she will only see what you show her or what her “hormonal” detective skills discover. The latter usually reveals the most misunderstood, fragmented, and indistinguishable “facts” available. Your relationship is really just a series of situations strung together over time due to a need to be familiar with somebody who “may” not hurt you. Cut the thread of time or introduce a new you (or an unseen you) and the situations become not so good memories. You have heard the saying we were good together but not good for each other.
Most women think that a man’s power and fortitude is driven by his inner strength and pride. A man’s power is driven, yet stabilized by his ability to control, contain, and judiciously dispense his feelings for any given situation. Physical prowess is a by-product of self control of raging emotions. Woman are allowed to let it flow. Men must hold the line. Every man has a treasure chest of emotions buried so deep inside his heart he dare not let them be discovered by mere mortals.
Until you let her see this part of your heart, this part that you rarely take the time to view, she may never truly be your help mate. Because she may never really know you. Your boo needs to know your hurts. Your baby momma needs to know you fear not being able to provide, whether it be money or majesty. Your girl friend needs to see and know the anxiety that envelops you with thoughts of a true committed relationship. All these emotions live in the chest.
Ladies it may be hard to understand given what you have seen and been taught overtime by various sources. Be patient if you can. Be understanding because you must. But most of all recognize there is an awesome power to love and to protect and to provide within your grasp. Make it safe so it can be revealed.
During this Hallmark season let her see you. Her heart will smile…

Happy Valentines day….

Lance C. Peeler

Haiti: A Reminder by Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

2010-01-15T11:28:00.001-06:00

Haiti: A reminder

While I was watching the news today (01/13/2010) concerning the earthquake, reporters constantly reminded us of Haiti’s poverty. It is the poorest country in this hemisphere was repeated. Let us look back at the history of why Haiti is such a poor country. I doubt the media will inform us of this.

I will quote extensively from two books by Randall Robinson “An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President”. The other book “Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from his Native land”

From “An Unbroken Agony”, page 21;

“As punishment for creating the first free republic in the Americas (when 13 percent of the people living in the United States were slaves), the new Republic of Haiti was met with a global economic embargo imposed by the United States and Europe. The embargo was strengthened by a further demand from France for financial reparations of roughly $21 billion (2004 dollars) as compensation from the newly freed slaves for denying France the further benefit of owning them. It would be the first time in history that reparations would be imposed by a defeated nation on the nation that had defeated it.”

“American economic sanctions against Haiti would not end until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, nearly sixty years after the founding of the free Haitian republic.”

“In 1825, twenty-two years after L’Ouverture’s death, the Haitian army was no longer the feared fighting force it had once been. France, threatening to reenslave Haitians, imposed an ordinance requiring from Haiti a payment of 150 million francs and a 50 percent tariff reduction for all French ships docking in Haiti.* To meet the first payment of 30 million francs under the terms of the ordinance, the government of Haiti was constrained to borrow the full amount from a private French bank, MM Ch Ternaux Grandolphe it Cie.”

“After extended negotiations, in 1838, under the Traite’ d’Amitie’ (Treaty of Friendship), the original obligation of 150 million francs was reduced to 90 million francs, with the government of Haiti required to make thirty annual payments of 2 million francs in order to pay off the 60 million franc balance. Haiti had to make these payments in addition to payments it had been making to a succession of private banks from which it had to borrow at onerous interest rates in order to meet the terms of its original obligation to France.”

“And forcing slaves who had won their freedom to compensate their former masters for their lost property was recognized, even in the 19th century, as a violation of human rights and international laws. By the time of the 1825 Ordinance, the international slave trade had been abolished and the reintroduction of slavery into free territories forbidden by the Second Treaty of Paris and the Congress of Vienna – both of which France had signed in 1815. Human Rights Advocates
*From a statement by Human Rights Advocates, an American organization that supports efforts to win restitution from France for the Haitian people: “Compare the (French-) imposed cost of Haiti’s independence – 150,000,000 francs – to the price paid by the United States to France for the Louisiana purchase – 80,000,000 francs for an area of land seventy-four times that of Haiti and one can only begin to sense the enormity of the reparations burden and the extortionate terms imposed.”

“As late as 1915, 111 years after the successful slave revolt, some 80 percent of the Haitian government’s resources were being paid out in debt service to French and American banks on loans that had been made to enable Haiti to pay reparations to France.”

“In 1922, seven years into a nineteen-year American military occupation of Haiti that resulted in 15,000 Haitian deaths, the United States imposed a $16 million loan on the Haitian government to pay off its “debt” to France.”

“The American loan was finally paid off in 1947. Haiti was left virtually bankrupt, its workforce in desperate straits.”

“The Haitian economy has never recovered from the financial havoc France (and America) wreaked upon it, during and after slavery.”

Agony, page 57;

“On April 7, 2003, The Bicentennial of Toussaint L’Overture’s death, President Aristide announced the findings of a restitution commission formed by his government. The commission determined that France owed Haiti $21 billion, the value in current dollars of the money France extorted from Haiti following its successful slave rebellion. On October 12, 2003, the president convened a four-day international conference of experts at Haiti’s National Palace to further discuss Haiti’s restitution claim against France for repayment of the debt. Among the participants were French historian, human rights commissioner, and author of The Crime of Napoleon, Claube Ribbe, and Tulane law school professor Gunther Handl, a respected authority on international law.”

Indeed, much of Haiti’s current problems are directly attributable to the exploitation and repression during France’s colonial rule, as well as the brutal, far-reaching measures imposed on Haiti by the major powers in response to Haiti’s declaration of independence… Arguments supporting France’s right to have drained Haiti’s treasury were not persuasive 200 years ago, and they are not persuasive now. As legal scholars and litigants, we are willing to work with Haiti to seek redress from France, and this deserves broad-based international support.”

Professor Charles Ogletree
Harvard Law School

“France was not the only Western society that would capitalize an industrial economy with proceeds amassed from slave labor. The United States, Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Great Britain would do much the same.”

“The personal and public wealth of Britain created by slave labour was a crucial element in the accumulation of capital that made the industrial revolution possible, and the surviving profits have remained a bold element with specific families and within British society generally, cascading down from generation to generation, in John Major’s felicitous phrase. In this context, the demand for reparations is a serious position, similar to the claim put forward by the nations of Holocaust survivors for the return of property stolen by the Nazis. Black people whose forebears were slaves, victims of that other Holocaust [Maafa], are simply asking for the stolen fruits of their ancestors’ labour power to be given back to their rightful heirs.”

Richard Gott
Guardian
January 17, 2007

“If Britain owes reparations to the descendants of the enslaved Africans whose uncompensated labor, in large part, financed Britain’s industrial revolution, France owes Haiti a great deal more than the $21 billion Haiti applied for in late 2003.”

“Over a century and a half, France not only appropriated the worth of Haiti’s enslaved population’s toil but also forced Haiti to pay reparations to France following the Haitian revolution. France’s real debt to Haiti thus amounts to the $21 billion France exacted, in addition to the assessed value of the labor of the Africans France enslaved in Haiti from the mid-seventh century to the end of the slave revolt in 1804.”

“One month after the conference, in December 2003, French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin sent his sister to Port-au-Prince to tell Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president, that it was time for him to step down.”

From “Quitting America”, Randall writes, page 200;

“I’ll try to make this as painless as possible, but Americans really must learn that one needs to know, at least, a little of what went on in the past to have any chance at all of understanding the present. Between Toussaint’s heroic rebellion of 1791 and Aristide’s stunning election in 1991 (with 67 percent of the vote to the U.S.-supported candidate, Marc Bazin’s, 14 percent), the United States has done documentably some quite awful things to the people of Haiti:”

• During the rebellion itself, the United States joined European powers in aiding France’s violent suppression of the slave uprising.
• The United States blocked Haiti’s participation in the Western Hemisphere Panama Conference of 1825 and did not recognize Haiti until 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln thought of Haiti as a convenient repository for freed American slaves. Said Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina in 1824: “We never can acknowledge her independence…. The peace and safety of a large portion of our union forbids us even to discuss it.”
• Placatory toward France, the United States accommodated its European ally as France pressed Haiti for 150 million francs to be paid in reparations to the slave plantocracy for losses suffered in the slave’s successful quest for freedom. This served early on to destroy the new black republic’s fragile economy.
• During the American military occupation of Haiti, which began under President Woodrow Wilson on July 28, 1915, and lasted for nineteen years, de facto slavery in Haiti was reinstituted; Haiti’s constitutional system was dismantled; 226,000 acres of Haitian soil were given over in concessional lease arrangements to American corporations; fifty thousand peasants were dispossessed in the North alone; workers were forced to toil for twenty cents a day, and the U.S. Marine Corps” “pacification” efforts claimed up to fifteen thousand lives.
• In 1937, three years after the American occupation had ended, Rafael Trujillo, ruler of the neighboring Dominican Republic, ordered troops to undertake a massacre of Haitians that claimed eighteen thousand to thirty-five thousand lives. Afterward, Cordell Hull, the U.S. secretary of state, said: “President Trujillo is one of the greatest men in Central America and in most of South America.”
• President John F. Kennedy provided the murderous Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier with broad military assistance, in the words of Noam Chomsky, “as a part of a general program of extending U.S. control over the security forces in Latin America, a long-standing project carried a long step forward by the Kennedy intellectuals, who recognized that ‘in the Latin American cultural environment’ the military must be prepared to remove government leaders from office whenever, in the judgment of the military, the conduct of those leaders is injurious to the welfare of the nation.”
• Under Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the ruthless dictator’s ruthless son, the United States funded efforts to establish American assembly plants in an environment of terror and pittance wages. Chomsky: “The consequences were profits for U.S. manufactures and the Haitian superrich, and a decline of fifty-six percent in Haitian wages through the 1980’s.”
• The United States provided the post-Duvalier National Council of Government (NCG) with $2.8 million in its first year, a year in which the NCG killed more Haitian civilians than Jean-Claude Duvalier had killed in fifteen.

Now you know that the aid being given to Haiti is no more than reimbursement. Aid tends to make money for U.S. companies because goods and services are paid by taxpayers’ money to these companies providing the goods and services.

Now we know.
By Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

The Prophet: Tribute to Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

2009-12-19T23:02:00.004-06:00

The late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel described the Prophet of God like this:
"The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at man's fierce greed. Frightful is the agony of man; no human voice can convey its full terror. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging in the prophet's words."

We are living in a time hand made by God for the prophetic voice of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. His life, his legacy, his gifts are what America needs to hear at this time in her turbulent history. When lesser prophets have been co-opted by the cooing of a Cash register Christianity or pacified by the allure of being in proximity of the first Black President we have a Man of God who stands with the Steel of the Holy Spirit strengthening his back. We need only tune our ears from Trash to Truth to be empowered by that "Certain Sound of the trumpet."

And then the late Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Proctor has said, "One of the preachers in Norfolk who influenced my life most when I was a boy pastored a neighboring church. He never was heard to say much; he never owned a car and yet was seen all over town with his umbrella, visiting the sick and helping people. He was the one person who gave significant tone to our little section of town. He finished Bucknell in 1917 and never had a chance to attend seminary. His academic preparation for ministry was done largely on his own. The few times I heard him preach, it sounded like the heavens had opened and God had leaned in the church windows, as the old folks used to say. When the idea first struck me that I was to preach, I wanted to be like Rev. Richard H. Bowling. It is still a goal for me. His life, his reputation gave authority to his sermons, and his trumpet always gave a certain sound. I would covet for every preacher the kind of response to preaching that Rev. Bowling enjoyed."

To the Magnetic North Pole of Prophetic Preaching Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., you are that Preacher for us! Thanks be to God for you!

"...As you have done it to the least of these..."

2009-10-02T21:35:00.002-05:00

His name is Derrion Albert and he was an Honor student at Fenger High School in Chicago, IL. However his life was cut tragically short by another act of senseless violence to a Black child in the Black community of Chicago. Chicago is not the only place where violence is robbing the Black community of the most precious resource we have. It is happening in every major City and it must stop.

Derrion was the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet the paradox is that he was killed in the parking lot of a church. That building in the background of the news reports is a church and there is another church right across the street. How ironic, the place that is seen as a place of life, sanctuary and safety was the seen of a senseless death. Why didn't anyone call the police? The place where Derrion was murdered is also a busy Chicago street. Cars passed by during this murderous melee and no one called 911. There were homes on both sides of the streets and no one called the police, Why?

One of the citizens during a news report said that "if it had not been for a cell phone video of the horror no one would have been in custody." She is sadly probably right. The police cannot seem apprehend the killers of our children, with most being unsolved and under investigated. Most of the deaths of Black children never make the national news like the attacks on white children in other areas. Thank God for the cell phone video but here is the paradox again. Should the person taking the picture have called 911 instead? It is a perplexing thought trying to wonder what might have happened.

Father Michael Pfleger has said "The Village is sick," and he is right. It is embarrassing to be a Christian while children are dying and Christian folks are minding their own business ignoring our responsibility. It is embarrassing to be Muslim or any faith and our children are being taken from us like this.

We need the President to sign into permanent law the Assault weapons ban. I pray the President will call a national summit and the power broker Blacks who went to lobby for the Olympics in Copenhagen will put that much and more effort in saving our Children. What do you think? What are you willing to do?

"Father, Why must Wars Be fought?"

2009-08-31T21:13:00.003-05:00

"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:9NIV)

"Father, why must wars be fought?" (line from "March to the witches castle" by The Funkadelic)

The question in the prayer of the song "march to the witches castle" by The Funkadelic was addressing the ending of the war in Vietnam and soldiers returning home from one hell and stepping into the nightmare of readjustment. All of this because of war.
And as we approach the 8th anniversary of 9/11/01 and the subsequent war that was launched through a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, the same question is just as valid; "Why must wars be fought?" The original question by The Funkadelic was addressed in a prayer to God but I also want to ask each of us, "Why MUST wars be fought?"
I focus on the word "MUST" because there are those who think that we have to bomb people; we have to send drone planes to KILL people we believe are apart of the Taliban or other so-called "terrorist" sympathizers. America is engaged in two wars that don't seem to have an end in sight. How do you defeat a notion? How do you destroy a thought? How does killing bring peace? How can you occupy another person's country and expect sympathy and cooperation? How do you justify unlimited funding of the war effort but extremely limited funding of social programs to lift up those stuck at the bottom of your free society?
What justifies two wars and one that has proven to have dubious reasons as to why it was started in the first place? Why is Killing so acceptable to a so-called Christian nation? If Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers..." then what rational do you use for sitting silent as our country fights two wars against a small segment of a country yet disrupting the whole in the process?
Does any Christian have an answer they can take to God and tell me as to Why MUST wars be fought?

Musing about Misery and Magnificence

2009-08-04T00:32:00.003-05:00

Isaiah 11:6 says "The wolf will live with the lamb, the Leopard with lie down with the goat, the calf, and the lion and the yearling together; AND A Little CHILD will lead them."

We hosted a powerful, gut wrenching presentation by Brothers known as the "Lost Boys of The Sudan." Their story is nothing short of epic. As I have been reflecting on that night they spoke to my congregation a question to Peter Magai Bul and his response haunts me. He was asked "How did 9, 10, and 11 year olds develop such leadership skills in the face of the incredible odds they faced?" The questioner was referring to the fact that these boys were driven from their Dinka Village of the Sudan because of illegal, unjust war and they walked over two years first to Ethiopia and ultimately to Kenya all while fending off attacks from Northern Arab (& Africans turned against their own children) Muslim militias armed by Arab states and American support to annihilate these children. Peter told how they feared walking at night because wild animals would attack and by day the human animals were prowling. Peter said he and others (9, 10, &11 year olds) took leadership and broke the thousands of boys(at least 38,000 at start) up into groups where some would have to bury their dead, others would have to gather resources and so on.

Peter responded to the question by saying he used to sit with his Father and the Men of his village quietly while the men discussed important issues of leadership. His Father eventually seeing his interest in being a man would teach him how to handle different situations and instructed him that men lead in moments of crises.

The question that rolled around in my mind then as it has for a decade now is, "What is the difference in a boy 9, 10, 11 or 12 now days and one in the 1800's like Frederick Douglass or like Peter Magai Bul in the Sudan in these present times? How come a young man, 9, 10, 11, 12 or even 16 can't take care of himself without using a female or joining a gang? For that matter why can't so many 18, 19, 20 and 25 year olds take care of themselves and rise to leadership for other brothers their age to help them not only live but thrive and overcome like Peter did and Men like Frederick Douglass during that awful night of Chattle Slavery?

The Black boys in the 1800's or the Lost boys of the Sudan had far less than the 9, 10, 11, 19, 20 and 25 year olds have today in North America, so what is the difference? I want to say right now that what ever it is it ain't their fault!!! It ain't that they just need to pull their pants up it is much deeper than that and it holds us as an adult community accountable. What is it?

Pain Has a Ministry

2009-07-26T22:22:00.003-05:00

Dr. Howard Thurman once wrote a powerful meditation called "Pain Has A Ministry." I have wrestled with this reality, not because I doubt the veracity of Dr. Thurman's words because I don't doubt them. In fact my Lord said "In this life you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world." Yet there is still the struggle with the unknown; the pensiveness with the unexpected and the mind bending maze of misery from unmerited suffering.
I wrestle with this concept because Hurt does not halt at the door of Hope. I wrestle with it because brokenness does not bow to Belief. I wrestle because doubt does not disperse with Faith.
However wrestling is not a bad thing I have come to know that to wrestle and not act like I got it all together is first of all liberating. Liberating from the opinions of others who have not walked in my shoes. Liberating from old beliefs that don't align with the Bible that say "you ought not question God." Well Jesus sure did!
Wrestling is also not a bad thing because it means I am continuing the fight for Life. I am not sitting back wasting away in the whirlpool of worry. I am not self medicating myself with prayer tranquilizing placebos (I'm too blessed to be stressed-Bull). I am not letting name it and claim it soothsayers seduce me into the scandal of my problems are a result of my lack of faith. No I'm like Jacob wrestling with God at the river Jabok. I am fighting for what is good and "I will not let go Lord until you Bless me."
Finally to wrestle is to learn How much God really Loves me. God Loves me so much that he lets me struggle with him on subjects like these. God loves me so much that even though he could destroy me in the struggle he doesn't; he may cause me to limp so that I will remember I met him for myself but that is for my testimony to someone else. God loves me because he knows in my wrestling with Pain, with problems, with difficulty, disaster, despondency, brokenness and doubt I'm really fighting to help usher in the Kingdom of heaven. I am fighting for the day and the hour where God will wipe away all tears from our eyes, and where there will be no more crying, no more suffering, no more pain, and no more death. Pain does have a ministry but you might be surprised to find out how the ministry manifest itself. What do you think?

The Joke About Self-Responsibility

2009-07-18T12:12:00.001-05:00

The Joke About Self-Responsibility

In one week, our new President delivered a speech in Ghana admonishing Africans there to take responsibility for their future and to stop blaming their present condition on colonialism, while admonishing blacks (the very next week) at the NAACP Convention to “get over it” and be responsible. Maybe he meant be “responsible” like Bernie Madoff and the other crooks who put the whole world in trouble, not just the black community.

At any rate, in that same week, while listening to that madness, Michael Hagos sent out an article entitled “Overcoming Caucasianization and Dehumanization.” He starts off his article with Steve Biko’s quote, “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”

I recommend the entire article to you, but I want to call your attention right now to what Michael Hagos calls, “the ineluctable pain of blackness.” To put that phrase in context, Michael Hagos quotes Frantz Fanon who says,

“The Negro enslaved by his inferiority, the white man enslaved by his superiority [both behave in accordance with a neurotic operation.” Hagos argues that neurosis is, in this case, a by-product of alienation trumped truly human values -- -- in the case of the white man, self imposed and imposing, in the case of the Negro, imposed from the outside and then self-perpetuated.

These are the synoptic psychic factors underlying the need for overcompensation in the Negro, in light of his pathological need and relentless efforts to achieve the white existence in order to ease the necessarily ineluctable pain of blackness!”

Hagos is quoting from Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks. Hagos goes on to explain why he calls our pain “necessarily ineluctable.”

He says he uses that phrase because of the extremely destructive enduring legacy of European colonialism, which is compounded many times over by the white man’s refusal to apologize and make reparations for his monstrous, historical crimes [this is in the same week that Obama says the effects of colonialism are not really the problem any longer for Africans].

Hagos continues:

“Such a responsibility cannot be evaded given that the basic institutional structures (the nation-state system, capitalism, the Christian church and its disgraceful role in legitimating colonial policies with Christian missionaries having served as effective servants of empire) since the time of colonialism have remained essentially the same in the West, but also because the crimes committed at the time were so very consequential, with noticeable effects on contemporary African, Latin American and some Asian societies.”

Ron Daniels says that our President is well read. Ron Daniels says he is widely read. I just wonder what our President reads when it comes to the country of his father’s birth. Maybe his absentee father is causing some “absentee gaps” in his reading and in his thinking. They are certainly causing humongous gaps in his reasoning process.

Back to Hagos:

“This is why Thomas Pogge invokes the effects of a common and violent history ‘since the social starting positions are the worse-off and the better-off have [globally] emerged from a single historical process that was pervaded by massive, grievous wrongs.’”

Hagos then goes on to make a case in point:

“Most of the existing international inequality in standards of living was built up in the colonial period [are you listening, Mr. President?] when today’s affluent countries ruled today’s poor regions of the world: trading their people like cattle, destroying their political institutions and cultures and taking their natural resources….

“The relevant historical crimes were so horrendous, so diverse and so consequential that no historical-entitlement conception could credibly support the conclusion that our common history was sufficiently benign to justify even the radical inequalities in starting positions we are witnessing today. [Hence] we [in the West in general and in America, in particular] are not entitled to the huge advantages we enjoy from birth over the global poor, given how these inequalities have been built up [or, to put it differently] we affluent have no rights to property, however acquired, in the face of the excluded. Rather, they have a right to what we hold [because] the actual history [ie., the horrors of European conquests] is relevant.”

Hagos is quoting in this passage from “A Cosmopolitan Perspective on the Global Economic Order” that is found in Harry Brighouse and Gillian Brock’s (eds.), The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 97-99; (The italics are in the original.).

Many years ago I preached a sermon entitled: Somebody Ought to Say Something! A lot of somebodies are saying something. The problem is I do not think the President can hear what they are saying.

When Friction Forms Faith

2009-07-15T18:05:00.002-05:00

I don't know why it is but real depth in things of the spirit only come about through difficulty. I know, I know that is something modern day Christians do not want to hear. There are too many public figure preachers all too willing to water down the word of the Lord. Too many Christians are into "Name it and Claim it," "Blab it and grab it," "call it and haul it," slot machine Christianity to hear what I said. Too many televangelist talkers who are too willing to slide down the Pole of prosperity in order to coax superficial saints to put money in the "G" String of their Get more money gospel.
Beloved the Bible does not authenticate a stress free, problem free, faith. All deep Christians have had to go through great trials, great sufferings, great challenges to achieve a sensitivity to the spiritual subterranean treasures that run like still waters deep beneath the surface of life.
Jesus said "In this world you will have trouble..." In Matthew 11 Jesus also says, "From the days of John The Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." This ain't no Cozy Christianity; this ain't no Comfort zone faith; this ain't no battle free belief we share with our Lord. It takes struggle; it takes some fighting; it takes some friction to grow you into one whose name is worthy to placed in the hall of fame of the faithful found in Hebrews 11.
And Proverbs 27:17 says "As Iron Sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
In other words we need people in our lives who will stretch us. If you have assembled folks around you who are only soothing instead of creating some struggle in you then you are wasting a needed area in you that has yet to come alive.
We need allies who agitate us into achieving new heights and new experiences. If the folks you call homeys and home girls don't stimulate you because they are striving to be better and to do better then you will end up sinking into substandard thinking about yourself.
Finally we need Friends who will keep some creative Friction between us to help sharpen our spiritual skills. If you have people who will not hold you accountable, folks who will not call you on the carpet, folks who won't challenge you then you do yourself a grave disservice. "Iron Sharpens iron..." If you want Steel in your back then you need friends who love you enough to make you struggle. If you want a deeper prayer life then you need people who care about you enough to push you even when you don't want to be pushed. If you want to grow in Faith you need friends who create creative Friction to test your metal.
Anais Nin says "There came a time when the risk to stay in the bud was more painful than the risk to blossom."
Paul said it like this "We know that Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us..."
Beloved gets some friends in your life who love you enough to create some creative Friction with you in order to strengthen you!

Body Language

2009-07-06T21:12:00.002-05:00

You can tell a lot about a person from their body language. In fact 70% of communication is non-verbal, your expression, tone of voice and posture. Beloved your Body language betrays what you really feel and your Behavior Broadcast what you truly believe. when I worked as a police officer this became an invaluable tool to read a person's Body Language. It could mean health or safety. In many ways the song was right, "Your Body is talking to me..." For instance if a person is attentive to what is being said, they tend to sit close to the edge of their seat, or lean forward, eyes fixed on the speaker while making attention noises. What are attention noises? they are "uh huh," "mmm," or in the Black Church tradition, "amen," "Preach it," "Yes Sir," and "I Know dats right." Conversely when a person is inattentive, hostile or not interested they tend to cross their arms over their chest, lean back with a blank stare or they will fiddle with something, or doodle with a pen.
Your Body Language Betrays how you really feel and your Behavior Broadcast what you truly Believe.
Those are individual examples of Body Language but there is a kind of collective Body Language displayed by a Nation, People, Community, group or family. For instance when our nation refused to attend the conference on racism in Switzerland, or when our Nation refuses to speak out against the killing of African Christians in the Sudan and the American people do not raise up in protest it sends a collective Body Language message to the world that we are uncaring and unfeeling about the oppression of other peoples in the world.
When The Black community, Black politicians, Black churches are not rising up and demanding action concerning the obscene numbers of Black Children dying on the streets; when children are pulled off buses and beaten in the South by the KKK; When a 9yr. old boy is burned by 3 older white males in Indiana and they are not charged; when a minister of the Gospel in Benton harbor Michigan is incarcerated for quoting the bible and the Black people, Black leaders, Black grass roots cannot collectively come together and demand change that we can believe in, our collective Body Language as a people says that we are worse off than ever before.
When the Church is no longer public space for the hurting to gather and find hope. When the church is fixated on confusing "Bling Bling" with God's Blessings we say with our collective Body Language that we have dismissed Jesus to the vestibule while we carry on business as usual. When Preachers, Pastors and lay will only Preach Jesus and not what Jesus Preached which was a word of rebuke to the "haves and have mores," Hope to the Hopeless and Truth to Power about the inequalities, injustices and evil from persons in high office it says collectively with our Body language that we are disconnected from the mind of Christ.
Your Body Language betrays how you really feel and your Behavior Broadcast what you truly Believe.
The African Apostle Paul said "let this Mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus our Lord..." What mind Paul? Paul replies, "He Humbled Himself..." Our collective Body Language as the Church of Jesus Christ should speak Humbly to the Hurting. There but for the Grace of God go I. We collectively, church by church, person by person, denomination by denomination should collectively speak Humility to others in need of compassion.
The Collective Body Language of God's Church should also say to the World Sacrifice is our Sacred duty. We always think in terms of giving one's life, that is true but more often than not it means being gracious; it means being forgiving; it means voting to spend money on ministry to the homeless, hungry and helpless rather than amassing large endowments. It means taking time to listen to the story of someone you don't like (and Listening means attentively letting what is said touch your heart). Jesus said "Deny yourself daily, take up your cross and follow me."
Ultimately having the mind of Christ where our Collective Body Language will speak Love! Not sentimental, Biological love, but Love that will stand in the storm with a struggling saint. Love that will stay on the wall against City Hall, The state House or the White House if it means the disenfranchised, The Dispossessed, and The Disinherited can receive Deliverance because we Love them enough.
Love that may not agree with someone else but Loves them unconditionally anyway; Love that puts the Church right in the midst of the mess so that God can make miracles out of the mess; A Love that wilt not let go of those dangling from distress, dis-ease and despondency. A Love that will Love the Hell out of your haters because the Church (churches individually & Collectively) will not return evil for evil and will continue to "Cry Loud and Spare not" when it comes to eradicating Racism in all its forms.
Remember your Body Language Betrays what you really feel and How you Behave Broadcast what you truly believe! Love is not what you give me, but Love is what you are willing to give up for me. Jesus not only gave up Heaven but he gave his life-"Wherefore [because of that] God also highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every other name. that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!"

Pathetic Priest or Prophetic Prophets

2009-06-27T16:58:00.003-05:00

Amos was an 8th century Prophet (760BCE-750BCE) who was given the assignment by The almighty to announce his Anger against the affluent in Israel because of their oppression of the poor and powerless. The only thing that would alleviate God's anger was fair treatment of those who were the dispossessed, the disadvantaged and the disinherited.
"Let justice roll down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream."(Amos 5:24) was God's word to the haves and have mores in Israel.
So Amos would have to travel from his home in Tekoa of the Southern Kingdom (in Judah) to the Northern Kingdom (Bethel of Samaria) to tell "what thus say the Lord..." and upon his arrival he is verbally accosted by the Priest Amaziah who served at the pleasure of King Jeroboam II.
Beloved under Jeroboam II the Poor, the weak and the vulnerable were under severe pain because of the policies of the government.
Yet Amaziah the High Priest of Israel because of his privilege, because of his position and because of his perceived proximity to power was a Pathetic Priest!
He was a pathetic priest because he refused to address the adversities of the disadvantaged because he did not want to upset the apple cart.
He was a pathetic priest because he would not use his Voice for the victimized voiceless because of his vanity and veneer of religiousity.
He was a pathetic priest because he did not proclaim God's will choosing instead to pacify the King's wants. Amaziah was a Pathetic Priest!
But Amos was a Prophetic Prophet. Amos was a Prophetic Prophet because he told God's truth instead of talking the King's trash. The Lord had shown Amos a "Plumb line" that indicated Israel was no longer Plumb. They no longer were operating according to the standards of the Sovereign of heaven. And that upset Amaziah. Amaziah ran and told his earthly master on Amos "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all of his words."(Amos 7:10) In other words how Amos is speaking sounds harsh, it sounds hard, it is hurting our delicate ears. Yet Amos had to say it how God gave it; Amos because of Heaven's heart had to bring Light and heat to the hell God's people were under. Amos would not pamper the privileged or the people by falsely preaching "Peace, Peace, when there was no peace..." Beloved Amos chose to speak the truth anyhow even if it was an inconvenient truth.
Secondly Amos was a Prophetic Prophet because he was motivated by God's mandate and not by money. Amaziah tried to dismiss Amos as a Prosperity seeking Priest who only preached for money (Amos 7:12). Yet Amos told Amaziah that he did not preach for money and in fact he did not pick up this Prophetic ministry as he was minding his own business under the sycamore tree tending his flock when the Lord picked him out and put this ministry on him. Amos therefore chose to be God's Mouth piece to Mitigate the misery of the masses through the mercy of the master in heaven. Amos' motivation came from his eternal relationship and not an economic reward.
Ultimately Amos was a prophetic prophet because he sought God's Approval instead of Human Applause! Amaziah told Amos "don't prophesy anymore at Bethel because this is the King's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."(Amos 7:13) In other words do not speak the truth; do not say what the Lord told you to say; Shut up and be silent and it may go well for you. Amaziah could say that because his allegiance was to the King and not the King of Kings. But Amos was not called by the king; Amos was not called by the people; Amos was not called by the pathetic priest, Amos was called by God! Amos like the prophetic prophets before him and those who would come after him sought God's approval and not human applause.
That is why I celebrate the prophetic ministry of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Dr. Wright has determined by his divinely designed destiny to tell God's truth instead of this countries civil religious trash. God's plumb line shows that racism, militarism, and materialism has gotten this country out of plumb.
I celebrate the ministry of Dr. Wright because he is motivated by God's mandate and not by money. Like Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. before him he has Chosen to be aligned with the almighty in his eternal relationship instead of seeking after an economic reward.
I celebrate the prophetic ministry of Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. because for 36 years he has sought God's approval and not human applause. He has not changed who he is because of where he is or who is uncomfortable. To change what God guides him to say and HOW God gives it to him to say would make him a Priest posturing for approval and that ain't him.
God deliver us from pathetic priest who posture for position with politicians; God deliver us from Pathetic priest who preach a prosperity gospel pimping the poor; God deliver us from pathetic priest who who want to please people and not be pleasing to God!
I pray that God will send us more Prophets like the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. who refuse to water down God's word because people tend to be wishy washy.
Rev. Wright stands in the sacred sagacious stream of Prophets like Amos, like Jeremiah, Like Ezekiel, Like Isaiah, like Elijah, like Elisha and like Micah who said "What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God!"
Dr. Wright stands in the biblical brook of the prophetic Black church tradition of Prophets like Bishop Richard Allen, like Rev. Harriett Tubman, like Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, like Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, like Rev. Jerena Lee, Like Rev. Dr. Vernon Johns and Like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I celebrate the prophetic ministry of Amos who was lied on and had his sermon Luped out of context (read Amos 7:10-11) to create controversy. I celebrate the ministry of Dr. Wright whose theology comes straight from the 8th century prophets and the modern prophets of the Black churches liberation gospel for the oppressed.
And I say to Dr. Wright and the faithful prophets coming after him in the words of another prophetic prophet and "Prince of Preachers" Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley, "Harder yet may be the fight, right may often yield to might. Wickedness a while may reign, Satan's cause may seem to gain [but] there is a God, who rules above with hand of power and heart of love and if I'm right he'll fight my battles I shall have peace, someday!"
James Russell Lowell says, "truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future and beyond the dim unknown standeth God in the shadows keeping watch above his own."
I say to Dr. Wright keep on preaching like the other Prophets in the bible who were lied on, lied about and lied to; Keep on giving God the glory like those same prophets who were also given grief by the diamonds and gold chasers of their day; Keep on staying true to the God who called you because that same God who kept them will keep you. That same God who told Joshua "As I was with Moses, so I will also be with you" will not forsake you Dr. Wright. That same God who took a 3 day dead Jesus who also was lied on lied about lied to and had his sermons luped out of context; that same God who rasied Jesus can still take a crooked stick and hit a straight lick; That Same God can still transform tradgedy into Triumph; That same God can still take the misery of a blues people in slavery and turn them into the miracle people of today! That same God will make away somehow!

"Swagger Like Us"

2009-06-15T17:55:00.015-05:00

T.I. says in "Swagger Like Us", "You kick it like me, no exaggeration necessary. Livin' revolutionary, nothin' less than legendary-Gangsta [stuff] hereditary, got it from my Dad-Flow colder than February, with extraordinary swag...No one on the corner swagger like us!"

To have swagger is to have style, to be bold, to have confidence in who you are and what you can do. It's about how you carry yourself. Swagger!

And I just believe the Apostle Paul had swagger. You know the Apostle Paul, who once was Saul, the persecutor of the Church. Saul, who stood by holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, giving his approval. Ya'll know Paul, who once was Saul, the one who got knocked off his horse and met Jesus on a Damascus road. Ya'll know Paul, who once was Saul but who got sent by the Savior to a street called straight, where he was transformed from a thug into a theologian! Ya'll know Paul! And I believe Paul had swagger ya'll, but his swagger came from a different source than that about which T.I. raps. Paul's swagger was supplied by our sovereign Savior, Jesus!

Paul says in I Corinthians 15:58, "With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort." (The Message Translation)

Therefore, I want to suggest that for Paul swagger means "living victoriously though living through vicissitudes!" Paul starts this verse out by saying, "With all this going for us..." All what Paul? C'mon and back up with me to verses 56 & 57. Paul said, "It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of life, all three-sin, guilt, death-are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!" (Message Translation)

Swagger for the Saints of God means living victoriously though living through vicissitudes, because Jesus was victorious over the things that taunted us; He was triumphant over the things that terrified us; Jesus overcame what Howard Thurman calls "The Hounds of Hell" that harassed us! Sin tries to stifle our view of self; guilt, because of sin, tries to grind our great expectations about our life into the ground; and death is determined to destroy any hope on our mental horizons! But thanks be to God for the victory through Jesus Christ. Glory to our Savior for suffocating sin, gaining the advantage over guilt, and defeating death on our behalf. You can have swagger, Saints, not because of you and your insufficiency, but because of Jesus and His total sufficiency that has stood up for us. So as Paul says.....stand your ground. Stand strong because the Savior has put steel in your back! When you have done all that you can, stand!

Secondly, swagger for the Saints of God means "being benevolently bold as a blessing to somebody else!" Paul says because of what Jesus has done for us, "Don't hold back, throw yourself into the work of the Master..." The work of the Master, as Pastor Marvin Wiley says, is "ministering to the misery of the masses through the mercy of the Master." The work of our Savior is being strength to someone who is weak through your relationship with our Redeemer. The work of the Master is boldly being a blessing to somebody else because God has bountifully blessed you! Don't let the limitations in life limit you lifting your hand to help somebody; don't let negative folks negate your confession to somebody else that God is still in command and still in control; don't let the enemy eradicate sharing your elation in the Everylasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and our Mighty God! Give God some irrefutable, unrestrained, incredible crazy praise so that someone else knows that there is a reality in serving a true and Living God!

But ultimately, swagger for the Saints means "what you do for Christ will last." Paul says, "Be confident that nothing you do for HIM is a waste of time or effort!" Beloved, all faithful labor for the LORD will ultimately be fruitful.

Be confident that bearing your cross for Christ means one day wearing a crown!

Be assured that your adversity cannot avert the Almighty's divine assistance giving you the advantage.

Be confident that your trials cannot curtail the triumph of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What you do for Christ will last; what you do for the Redeemer will have a reward; what you do for our Liberator will lift somebody's life.

So go ahead and strut your saintly swagger; go ahead and be bold for the Balm in Gilead; be a blessing for our Burden-bearer; be joyful in Jesus, our Bright and Morning Star! Go ahead and let your light shine! The song says, "This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine; let it shine; let it shine!"

"It's The God In Me"

2009-06-13T14:19:00.002-05:00

The Gospel duo Mary Mary's song "It's The God In Me," illustrates that sometimes folks may hate on your glory but don't know your story. For instance the hook in the song says, "what they don't know is when you go home And get behind closed doors man/woman you hit the floor And what they can't see is you on your knees So the next time you get a chance tell em, It's the God in me, You think I'm so fresh you think I'm so clean You think I'm so sweet It's the God in me..."

And because of the God in them the Youth and Young Adults of Trinity UCC-Gary are demonstrating that they have what the late Dr. Frederick G. Sampson called "Some Un-recorded Moments with The Master..." And On Saturday and Sunday June 13th and 14th our Youth and Young Adults are illustrating this indwelling inspiration from the Eternal One through Fellowship as Beloved Community over food and fun. They are illustrating how the subterranean streams of deep spirituality surge through their very being in Spoken Word or Nommo. Dr. Molefi Asante the father of Afri-centricity describes Nommo from the West African Philosophical perspective as "The Magic Power of The Word." Nommo he says "Refers to the powers of The word to generate and create reality." In fact John The Gospel writer another prolific African Apostle said, "In The Beginning was The Word (Nommo) And The Word (Nommo) was with God and The Word (Nommo) was God..."And our youth and Young Adults are speaking Truth into the atmosphere to create the reality God desires and demands of his children. Nommo in their Praise dance, Nommo through their Spoken Word poetry, and Nommo through Song. In fact an African Proverb says, "The Spirit cannot Descend without Song," and Song is the practice of Nommo!

Ultimately our youth and young Adults will allow The Nommo of the Preached Word to regenerate life into dead situations; Deliverance to drowning dreams; Liberation to locked up visions and Transformation to tied up and bound up lives.

All because as Mary Mary says, "It's The God In Me..." Because "Greater is He that is in You than He that is IN The World..."
It's The God In Me Nommo that "walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am his own!" It's The God In Me, Nommo that though "The lightening may flash and the thunder may role tells me to still fight on!" "Wickedness awhile may reign and Satan's cause may seem to gain, but there is a God who rules above with hand of power and heart of Love and if I'm right, [Nommo tells me] I shall have Peace Someday!"

Dedication Week at Trinity UCC-Gary 2008

2008-11-26T23:04:00.000-06:00

The week of Nov. 9th through Nov. 16th was Dedication Week for my church Trinity UCC-Gary where Rev. John E. Jackson, Sr. is Senior Pastor.

I would like to share some of the things I learned:

During the alter call on last Sunday our pastor shared the story of the centurion who asked Jesus to cure his favored servant who was ill. Jesus was willing to go but the centurion said "just speak" and it will be so. Jesus spoke and the servant was cured. Now when I ask in prayer I have learned to add, and ask you to try to add in prayer, "SPEAK JESUS" over your families, "SPEAK JESUS" over your finances, "SPEAK JESUS" over your health, "SPEAK JESUS" over your jobs, "SPEAK JESUS" over all aspects in your life that you have taken to Him in prayer - and it is done!

The Rev. Dr. Ozzie E. Smith, Jr., Pastor, Covenant UCC in South Holland, IL shared that his wife was diagnosed with a malignant form of cancer that had a mortality expectancy of 2-3 years. That was 10 years ago. Her response to her extended lease on life: "I choose to dance!" Please pray for Mrs. Barbara Smith as she continues her battle.

Psalm 34:1-3. David's desire was to do something good for God. We allow the Enemy to rob us of the joy of blessing God.

Matthew 22:34-46 Sometimes the "Law of Me" gets in the way of the potential/Lord in me. We have been taught that Jesus came to love and to give. Loving God is about doing for, and loving people. Certain things you should not ask Jesus if you really know Him. Question: Are you ready to stop asking God questions He already has the answers to?

All that I am is because of Thee
All that I'm not is because of me!

Everyone should have four people in their life:
one to CELEBRATE you;
one to CORRECT you;
one to COVENENT with you in prayer;
one to CHALLENGE you.

In Exodus 15:19-21 others followed Miriam into praise (not to a party) in the midst of their situation. Praise is not a party. However, celebration is at the heart of praise. We have got to learn to celebrate and praise God as we come out of a situation and in spite of circumstances.

The Lord Jesus loves the one I claim I "can't stand." WoW!

As a Christian you can recognize regret by an offending party without waiting for the apology. It is o.k. to say “I don’t agree with his/her perception/opinion” and keep moving without removing the person from your life.

In Matthew 20:17-28 we learn that on His way to His Destiny, Jesus takes the 12 disciples aside just outside of Jerusalem and tries to prepare them for what is to come. (Just in case you were not paying attention, as Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. pointed out, Jesus took ALL 12 – including Judas) The point: Everybody going along with you ain’t necessarily with you! Put another way, Everyone you share your heart with, ain’t got your heart in mind. Amen.

As the lesson continued, Dr. Wright pointed out that John and James – two of the favored, two that were there, along with Peter, when others were not invited like at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1), when He healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29); and when He brought the little girl back to life (Luke 8:51), asked (through their mother) for favor in Jesus’ kingdom. When the other disciples found out what John, James and mommy dearest were up to, they were outraged at John and James’ audacity. QUESTION: Why are you a part of His Ministry? Is it for recognition and/or position? THE ANSWER: Discipleship is NOT about recognition or position. This journey is about SUBMISSION. When we do it God’s way, we may indeed have to drink from His cup. Can YOU handle it?

This is what I learned at church this week.

For all that were able to attend, thank you for celebrating with me and my Trinity UCC-Gary church family. For those who could not - you missed a REAL revival experience. Feel welcomed to come and celebrate the Living Christ anytime with us at Trinity UCC-Gary.

Be blessed! And always "choose to dance!"

Sisterly in Christ,

Bridget

Exodus 19:1-6

2008-10-20T19:34:00.004-05:00

The people of promise are poised on a precipice of new possibility, yet God tells Moses (in so many words) hold up, wait a minute let me put some preachin in it.

In other words these ex-slaves have just spent 400 years in bondage and now have been wandering in the wilderness, drifting in the desert and ambling about in barrenness for the last 3 months and they need a focus point.

God first reminds them of where they have come from. In verse 3 God says to Moses "this is what you are to say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel." It seems God is saying that they once were the blues people and now they are the miracle people(to quote Cornell West). Jacob was a liar, Jacob was a trickster and Jacob was a hustler who brought blues into the lives of a lot of people. Yet God Reversed his rout at a river called Jabok and changed his name and his destiny when he called him Israel. It is an awesome thing to know that God is able to make miracles out of our messes.

God then reminds them that it was he (or more specifically She) who bore them on Eagles wings from Slavery to freedom to him. It is the female eagle who carries the babies thus the text uses the female personal pronoun for God here.

Yet the best is yet to come. As God has gathered his people at the foot of Mt. Horeb (The Mountain of God) and God gave them what they needed the most; Their Identity!

God says you are my "Treasured Possession" a "Kingdom of Priest" and a "Holy Nation!"

Treasured Possession did not mean that they were better than any other people but God saw in them what they could be before they became what they should be. He saw in them something that could bless the world.

Kingdom of Priest-That they were to mediate for the masses to the master. They were to intercede between the other nations and God. They were to bring others closer to God!

A Holy Nation-That they were set apart for sacred work. They were to be an example to others of what abiding in the presence of the Holy looked like. God was not expecting them to be perfect but Excellent. No one could achieve excellence but all could give their best which is excellence.

Relevant questions:

What has you bond, frustrated and afraid to move forward in your destiny?

Where do you see yourself wandering in what seems like barrenness?

Where do you see God taking you from a Jacob mindset to an Israel new reality in relationship with him?

Where in your life can you see the swift wings of God whisking you out of weariness, and worry to his Wonder?

Where do you see yourself in the text as you journey through this life?

Where do you see this nation? Is it poised on the precipice of promise?

How important to you is it that all people remember their own particular sacred stories (history) as a compass to their future?

Finally God's words to God's people here are conditional; there is an "If" clause. How does that if clause inform your personal journey with God?

Bless you on your journey with God of Joy