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

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..."

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?"

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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"

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!"