Sunday, December 29, 2013
For the person who has everything
For the person who has everything.
We have so much and yet still cant find a balance of possession and happiness. Maybe where we are looking is not where we can find the satisfaction of the soul. Jesus gives us another direction to follow and another path to explore. At the feet of Jesus we find the perfect gift for the person who has everything.
Had to update to accommodate downloads
http://soundcloud.com/smissouri/for-the-person-who-has
For the person who has everything
http://smissouri.tumblr.com/post/71593040200/for-the-person-who-has-everything-we-have-so
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Celebrate Christ
Reclaiming the spirit of Christmas can be difficult. Forces are pulling at us from every side in an attempt to compel us to worship; possessions, positions, and people. If we re-frame the conversation from a me centered to a we centered approach we could regain the wonder of worship and celebrate a Child called Christ. Celebrate Christ
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Tackling Race Head-On To Expose A 'Dreadful Deceit'
this is an interview from NPR with Jacqueline Jones concerning race. there a quite a few things contained therein that are troubling. But first i want to share my brother (Joshua Missouri) response to the piece
Race is a social construct, but it is no less real than religion, or social status. Race is real because an over wheeling swath of society believes in differentiating people based on skin color. It’s not American, see Rwanda, it is absolutely European. Which I suppose is why women were to be fair and white or why Sicilians are believed to be darker and therefor less civilized. It is our failing for not seeking truth and our forefathers for allowing it to be distorted - Joshua Missouri
I will be posting my response to the interview a bit later
Friday, December 6, 2013
Scandal: the suffering and endurance model of YOLO
Reflecting on the episode last night i must say that i was troubled. the immersive world that Scandal has created Parry's between the models of suffering and endurance and a morphed redemptive model. from a pure classical approach it is a recognition of seedtime and harvest. Quinn being seduced by gratuitous violence falls prey to the wilds of her own imagination.
The seed is Quinn wading into the world of violence... the harvest is eventually the violence that we glorify is the violence that overtakes us.
The seed is Quinn wading into the world of violence... the harvest is eventually the violence that we glorify is the violence that overtakes us.
She desires to test the waters of the violence that has been dealt to her on others. the irony is she has a Stockholm syndrome like affinity for Huck and his tormented life. But lets not forget Quinn was a baby to this world of fetishized violence from season 1 to now we see how violence like any other behavior is learned embraced as a necessary evil and then fetishiezed.
Living in a world where we are born into pain. taught that pain and violence is necessary and when the mind is conditioned to believe that pain is a reality pain will become the obsession . This is the world that faithful people live in.
One year ago 26 children and adults died in a school shooting in newtown Connecticut. And one year later we have not found the courage to pass assault weapon legislation's. since that shooting we have had 2 additional mass shootings and yet lack courage to effect change.
This is the world faithful people live.
Catholic priest James Allison suggest that in this world of memetic violence Jesus directing us toward another way to be. Allison suggest that the crucifixion is more than payment but a paradigm shift. A way of mindfulness versus the human proclivity for revenge and pain. Jesus says from the cross... "forgive them father for they know not what they do"...
Below is a link to Exploring the New Paradigm: Giraud and the Christianity of the 21st
Century
Friday, October 4, 2013
The problem with my own personal Jesus
One of the issues that beguile
me is the idea of personal theology that only influences public policy when it
accommodates your particular parties’ talking points. When my conservative
brothers and sisters drag out the big moral 3 of; Gay marriage, abortion , and
access to contraceptives with the idea that these encapsulate all of
evangelical theology i get a little uneasy. The Big 3 have been the
moralistic talking points of conservatives for the last 30 years. Not just for
conservative evangelicals but conservative Catholics as well. What we lose in
the fetishzation of the big 3 is the message of the Gospel.
It’s easy
to scapegoat "baby killers" and "homosexuals" as enemies of Christ and persist
that we are followers of Christ because you enjoy hetero normative orientation. But when it comes to the reciprocative nature
of this statement "as you do to the least of these you do unto me" we
might find that we are not following the Christ of the gospels but rather a
"christ" of our existential crisis. It’s easier to run to the
cubby holes of racist, misogynistic and homophobic certitude rather than cast
our nets into the muck that is uncertainty. Our uncertainty is that we
don't always know what Jesus would do confronted with all the challenges that
modernity brings ... but we are still tasked to do what he told us to do
"love your neighbor as yourself."
How
do we construct an ideological framework where it’s ok to cut money for welfare
but find money for warfare? How can we gather the political will to shut down
the entire government in pursuit of restricting access to health care for
others? How do we keep arguing about legitimate rape and magical uteri that
only procreate with sperm produced from consensual sex? How are the people who
use such language able to call themselves Christians? What part of the
Christian ethic is the NRA and conservatism Christian value aligned? When
children die at school and we are crippled by moral impotence to take action;
are we still suffering little children to come unto him? How can we take
part in a corrupt system and still use the moniker "in God we
trust"?
We
are able to hide behind a form of godliness because we don't see these social
ills as a reflection of our faithfulness to God. We don't see participation in
corrupt systems as sin. We don't understand sin as a failure to provide comfort
and care; we see sin as a failure of personal morality. As long as we are
personally moral and treat our immediate connections "right" than we
are living a faithful life. If we have possessions and others do not that’s
not a reflection of sinfulness but rather a reflection of our ability to make
prudent decisions. (Whatever you do don't think about AIG, Bear Stearns, so
forth so on we all know what great decisions they made) The ability to be
callous and Christian is a byproduct of the privatization of Jesus. When
you privatize Jesus you abdicate the Christian responsibility to seek the peace
and prosperity of the city.
When
you take the walk; take the preachers hand and take Jesus into your heart. We
say "Jesus i make you my personal lord and savior and i trust you to guide
Me." i am an absolute proponent for "personal decisions for
Christ" but we are consistently missing a step the point of salvation is
not for me to have a narcissistic boutique experience with God. I am not just
having a concierge experience with God where he desires the best for only me.
My faithfulness to God is both a private and public declaration and
demonstration.
Faithfulness is a private affirmation. Faithfulness is not a
function of prudent budget decisions that brutalize the poor but bail out the
rich. Faithfulness has to at least reflect an Christological ethic to still be
considered Christian. I mean you have to at least look like you are trying to
follow Jesus right? You can't use piss
poor biblical scholarship to justify an ethic that is antithetical to Christ
teachings. You cannot say that cutting food stamps is empowerment, but
bailing out Fannie Mae is improvement. Such a fallacy is a clear sign that the Jesus
that we profess is not the Jesus we proclaim. Somehow, somewhere somebody
has been lying on my Jesus framing him as a savior to my soul but not a savior
to society.
Following Jesus is not about pulling myself up by my own bootstraps, but
pushing somebody else up so they might be what he would have them to be.
Following Jesus is not an experiment in self-actualization but rather an
experiment in inclusion. How much room can i make for the existence of others? There my friend is the fly in the ointment; Christ
is not creating an environment of homogeneity but rather heterogeneity.
My suspicion is that God is far more diverse than the blue eyed Jesus
from granny's picture in the living room. I also suspect that the kingdom ethic
that we tote around like a bruised banana, is far more public than saying
prayers on the capitol steps, and praying that God repeal Obamacare.
Since Benny Hinn's dance card is full it’s probably helpful that people
can make it to the doctor if they can't make it to the crusade. Here is
an idea lets have Ted Cruz whip out the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and go
from hospital to hospital making it rain healings on the poor and
disenfranchised. As a matter of fact let’s bring out Sarah Palin and have her
pray over some knotted prayer cloths and send them to all the residents of the
states that have the fewest residents with health insurance coverage. Ok let’s
try this ... next Sunday lets have no preaching ... just blood pressure and
diabetes screenings. I promise you the altar call would look vastly different
when you set up I.V's in the pulpit.
My problem with the idea
of "your own personal Jesus"
1) Personal Jesus
is content to heal you and let your neighbor die and you are ok with
that.
2) Personal Jesus is far
more interested in blessing you privately than making you an agent for systemic
change
3) Personal Jesus seems
to Love white men most of all
4) Personal Jesus is
really not "into" caring for others
5) Personal Jesus loves
huge buildings
6) Personal Jesus has way
too many benefits for buildings but never any offerings for the afflicted
7) Personal Jesus does
not believe in global warming in fact he likes the temp just fine
8) Personal Jesus is an
uber capitalist
9) Personal Jesus not
only Pulled himself up by his own bootstraps he also made the bootstraps
10) Personal Jesus
apparently was just kidding about the whole "orphan widow and stranger”
thing
I don’t have a problem
with Personal Jesus being all up in your heart but I also want his heart to be
a reflection of what we do with our hands. But that might hurt a little!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
I've Never seen it
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Paula,Paula, Paula
Much of the rancor concerning Paula
Deen using the word Nigger is misplaced.
Yes I used the word Nigger in a sentence and it looks as ugly as it is. It’s
a filthy, nasty word used to channel the emotional subjugation of 400 plus
years of slavery as an institution. Slavery,
the one institution that Americans just can’t seem to process as a reality of
this our sacred union. When I was growing up I used to hear a song with lyrics
that said “and I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free”. Free, the idea that we all have equal rights
and opportunities. Let’s just stop, the
vast majorities of Americans are not free and will never be free. And if you think the constitution makes you
free than ask the state legislature of Texas why were congressional districts
redrawn over the last ten years? Answer, to disenfranchise the Latino vote. And
the Supreme Court thinks that times are so different than they were 50 years
ago that we no longer need law that protect us against voting violations. Slavery was never abolished it was
institutionalized, so you don’t have to use the word Nigger to put people of
color and poor people in their place. Yes
I said it poor people are victims as well; of a classism so brutal that the losses
from this current recession may not be overcome for at least 50 years. Former
middle class Americans are in the same unemployment offices as the people they
would have openly called niggers 50 years ago.
People
are mad that Paula Deen used the word Nigger. I’m not mad she said it; I’m mad because
we want her to apologize for something she meant to say. You’re mad that Paula Deen used the word
Nigger twenty years ago. I’m mad that she treats her workers like Niggers twenty
years later. It’s easier to address a
single act of incivility than to address the systemic incivility of American culture. Let me make sure I got this right you have a
problem with people saying the word Nigger but you’re totally fine with being
treated like a nigger? To have the
audacity to be offended by an open expression of an ignorant person is a fool’s
error. She is telling you exactly how she feels about people from other races
she thinks that people from different races are not human she believes that
they are animals. And Ms. Deen you have
the right to feel that way but you do not have the right to treat people in an
inhumane manner. Your business practices need to reflect your market reality
rather than your racial delusion.
You don’t
have to like that she said it, but the reality is she said it. Now being from Tuscaloosa
where the KKK has a parade every year to this day, I can say I like my racism
straight up; all killer no filler. If you’re going to be a racist serve it up
like whiskey, straight up. What I have a problem with is this smoke and mirrors
game that we play with ourselves making the issue the word rather than the institutionalization
of the word. It’s bigger than just having
your feelings hurt because somebody used the sacred cow of racism. When your
vote is disenfranchised by the redistricting of maps that is the
institutionalization of the word Nigger. When you cannot live in certain neighborhoods
that is the institutionalization of the word. When there is no fresh produce in
a three mile radius that is the institutionalization of the word. When you make
up 12 percent of the population at whole but a majority of the prison census; that’s
the institutionalization of the word.
When
schools are closed in minority communities first that’s the institutionalization
of the word. When men and women are in jail for possession for something that
is legal in two states that’s the institutionalization of the word. When charter schools play shell games with
educational funds that’s the institutionalization of the word. Access to PLUS funds where cut and the black
community didn't say a word. The rules for the administration of subsidized
loans where changed black folks didn't say a word. Subsidized loans were stripped for graduate
students black folks didn't say a word. The interest rate doubled for student loans,
black folks didn't say a word. But when
it is discovered that Paula Deen used the word Nigger you are up in arms? 500 Homicides in Chicago last year where was
the outrage? 184 Homicides this year
where is the outrage? Again its smoke and mirrors! It’s a distraction as long
as you are fine with being treated like you are ignorant than you give systemic
approval to be treated as such. The soft
underbelly of African American society is that we still feel as if there are
two kinds of black people. Black people and Niggers and as long as the Black
people are upwardly mobile and can move away from the Niggers the world is
right as rain. That is a level of
hypocrisy that is unpalatable.
Every
time the disdainful word Nigger is uttered by a person of non-African Descent
we have to call Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, and have a two hour program on CNN. Let me be clear I want God to Change the
hearts of every racist and prejudice person. Do you hear me???? Change their hearts,
change their actions change their ways!
What good is it if Paula Deen never uses the word Nigger again but persists
upon treating people of color as Niggers? What Good is it if you removed the word
colored from the water fountain but create schools systems separately for black
and white children? What good is it to
remove George Wallace from the Entrance of the University of Alabama, but
replace him with legislation that restricts higher education opportunities for
people of color?
I hope
Paula Deen offended you. Offended you so much you sell all that good cookware
to me for cheap. I hope Paula Deen Offended you so much she distracts you from
Lawsuit that female managers brought against Wal-Mart because they were not
being treated fairly. I hope Paula offended you so much that you forget all
about the conditions of the workers in the overseas factories that supply your Target.
I hope you are offended! I want you offended.
And after you get all of that offense out, ask yourself “what did that offense
do?”
And
when we come down off of our “I got offended” high, take the offense and make
change. If you’re so offended create a
scholarship to send one of those black boys that works in Paula’s kitchen to culinary
school. If your so offended join the NAACP and tell them to stop marching and
burying the word Nigger, and tell them every day a little boy or girl dies in Chicago
and a march can’t fix that. Tell the SCLC to take the chains off the doors and
be a force for systemic good and not a relic for religiosity. If you’re so
offended move back to your communities of color and improve the property value
with your presence and your work.
And for Ms. Deen who would rather I dress like a servant at
a pre lynching party …. This might hurt a little
1)
Stop wasting my time on the today show playing
fake hurt; you are sorry you got caught not sorry you said it! (I would rather
watch Kathy and Hoda get drunk than watch you waste my time apologizing )
2)
Your crab cakes are nasty (if I wanted to eat
flour I would have ordered a sandwich )
3)
If you are really sorry insure every person who
works for you has access to affordable health insurance
4)
You will still be rich after your apology tour
is over
5)
Stop saying the word Nigger in the privacy of
your home (I know what you do)
6)
If you are really sorry go feed all those
homeless people in downtown Savannah
7)
Don’t you dare make mention to hip hop as an
excuse to why you say and do what you do
You are old enough to be their grandmother
and great grandmother and you were 20 years ago as well
8)
Any good lawyer would have told you to settle
the lawsuit my suggestion is pay her whatever she wants
9)
Be a better person
10)
Just like that black man who secures you, I am
also to dark to be seen against that board so this is me coming into the light.
Would you care to join me?
The following opinions are my own
and are by no way a reflection of the views of all mocha flavored people. I
thank God for halogen lights so you can see my mahogany skin at night.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
The misappropriation of ministry
The misappropriation of ministry
Kathryn Johnston, 92, was
shot and killed on the night of Nov. 21, 2006, when a group of undercover
Atlanta police detectives on an illegal drug raid forced their way into her
home and she fired a warning shot at them.
I remember that night very
well thinking of the horror that the family must be experiencing as their 92
year old mother and grandmother was struck down at the hands of rouge, hasty
group of Atlanta police officers who under unverified information administered
a no knock warrant, which prompted Ms. Johnston to fire a single warning shot.
Ms. Johnston was shot several times, reviving themes of systemic injustice in
the hearts of Atlanta residents. I remember feeling like we should rally to
bring to light this injustice. I was relieved that the very next day I saw the
Rev. Markel Hutchinson standing in the families’ stead crying aloud, being a voice
of justice. I remember watching over the next few months as he was interviewed
by various media outlets declaring the injustice of the “no knock warrant” .
He took the appeal of the Johnston family all the way to
the steps of congress. I felt strengthened, encouraged, empowered to speak out
against injustice everywhere. Then it happened,
I should have known that It would happen, I should have known it was too good
to be true. The family was awarded 4.9 million dollars from the city of
Atlanta. And what do you know the Good reverend came a calling for his cut. He
took the family of Kathryn Johnston to court under the guises that he had a
verbal contract with the family for 10 percent of whatever they received in
restitution.
I was simply astounded that this preacher would actually
charge the family for using him as spokesperson. I was disgusted that this
idiot would bring shame to the ministry by taking the family to court over a “verbal
“contract. How could a person who
declares that he has been called to set the captive free, charge people who
really needed help. I was perplexed three years ago when I heard he was
actually taking the family to court.
Now let me be clear I am all for ministers being paid for
ministry, anybody who is not sure that ministry is a full time job is welcome
to join me at my ministry context for a week. Ministry is a full time job and
its ministers should be compensated to reflect that reality. However, the audacity that he would actually charge
the family for ministry services is beyond me.
In the AME Zion
Book of Discipline it encourages its preachers to always be employed and never
be triflingly employed. This idea is
important as we navigate between that which challenges the boundaries of
Christianity and that which perverted Christian light message of positivism and
prosperity. So just in case we have all
drank the kool aid let me uplift a few areas in which Hutchinson misappropriated
the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1) Channeling the justice ethic for personal gain
a. Justice is free! Point blank period. it is an innate
human right and all those who seek to make a profit are pawns to the system
that they seek to reform.
2) Christians do the majority of their fighting on
the altar; not before the judge.
a. This was not an attempt to recoup lost wages
this was an attempt by a delusional preacher to get monetarily broke off, he
saw dollar signs all over this human tragedy.
3) If there was an agreement in place both sides
should have upheld the agreement and if the family decided not to pay Rev.
Hutchinson than he should have walked.
a. Plain and simple if they receive you not you
dust off your feet and move on. Hutchinson played himself when he attempted to
use the media to shame the family and recoup his lost income. Any preacher congregation who invites him in
is setting themselves up he is a shyster!
4) Ministry is not a hustle
a. Pimping ministry to; build buildings we don’t need,
offerings that are not used to uplift
the kingdom, and where we create idols of ministers is not indicative of the
ethic of Jesus Christ.
5) What would Jesus do?
a. I wonder did the “good reverend” even consider
would Jesus even do this? does this
represent what Jesus was even abt ?
I’m highly
concerned that this delusional preacher would attempt to hijack the legacy of the
civil rights movement and turn it into a den of thieves. In church we often are
alarmed at the salaciousness of sexual misdoings. I’m reminded by the scripture
that Jesus was enraged by the money changers in the temple not by the woman at
the well. I’m getting the impression that we care more about the gospel of
gossip rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ reconciliation OVER financial remuneration.
The scriptures declare that Jesus has a
true concern for the misappropriation of funds under the auspices of Christian
ministry. The bastardization of Christian ministry occurs when we fall in love
with the thing God hates. Our ministry must be one of salvation and liberation
through Jesus Christ, NOT profit for the prophets. At the end of the day
justice has been lost ; even if the family recoups money for the loss of the
matriarch , when a brother sues another brother we break covenant and destroy
relationship. Tikkun olam is the Hebrew phrase for healing
the world; love and justice heals the word not profit!
1)
I mean every word of it 2) this is a clear
sign that ministry is being done as a hustle 3) this made the Creator weep! 4) We
could be free but my friends this might hurt a little.
So brother I hope you got
your money because I’m quite sure that you have sold your soul!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Miley Cyrus Twerking In A Unicorn Suit
I aint mad Miley i aint mad!!!!!!!!!! Miley Cyrus Twerking In A Unicorn Suit
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Attorney allegedly shot by husband files for divorce
Its pretty safe to say that if we go from exchanging vows to exchanging bullets we probably .... need a divorce... Attorney allegedly shot by husband files for divorce
Monday, March 18, 2013
I dont look like what I've been through
We ministered this word at New Vision in Stone Mountain Georgia. This is for every person who has been kicked, cast out, and demonized. God is giving you the courage to recover in this hour!i dont look like what I've been through
Monday, March 11, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Harper high school part 2
We pick up where we left off last week in our second hour of stories from Harper High School in Chicago. We find out if a shooting in the neighborhood will derail the school's Homecoming game and dance. We hear the origin story of one of Harper's more prominent gangs. And we ask a group of teenage boys: where do you get your guns? http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/488
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
This American life concerning Chicago
We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter; Part One airs this week, Part Two is next week. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Scandal....saints.....and scripture....
Every Thursday night at 10/9
central there is an event that sieges the minds of TV watchers everywhere.
Every Thursday night that jewel of pop culture pervades our consciousness and
gives us a 40 minute escape from reality. That’s right Thursday 10/9 central is
Scandal time. For my friends on the West
coast I advise you to log off of social networking until the tidal wave of
spoilers subsides. Because when scandal
is on we (the collective we) are watching it, and talking about it , and
shocked by it.
Scandal is the latest show by Grey’s
Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. You remember her, the mind behind Mc Dreamy and
Mc Steamy. Shonda Rhimes who battles
back the maelstrom of misogyny and chauvinism in television, with her own
personal brand of masculine objectification with a bit of feminist theory. In Shonda’s
world you better hold on to your seat because what’s up is definitely down and
down is up. She paints her characters in broad brush
strokes of moral turpitude, that more resemble our lives than the leave it
beaverism that is laser etched in our minds as the ideal family dynamic. Shondas characters are lush with character
flaws; from the idealistic Mc Dreamy who has an affair with his later wife Meredith
Grey to Mark Sloan who is the consummate philanderer who’s tryst are pleas for
family and structure. In Shondas world
nothing is quite as simple as we would like It to be. There is never JUST a boy
meet girl, they get married, 2.5 children later all is well in smurf
village. Sub textually there is always a
high level of complexity both morally and emotionally. We connect with her characters because they
are dysfunctional. They are mirrors to a collective social brokenness that we
experiences as we stubble through the ups and downs of life. Shonda has little to no interest in
maintaining the illusion of the rules just because we have fallen in love with
illusion. Enter her latest cluster bomb
of angst and sociological dysfunction wrapped in winter white and lip quivers
Ms. Oliva Pope.
Olivia Pope is the Managing Partner
of Olivia Pope Associates. She specializes in “fixing” which is a combination
of public relations management and legal slight of hand. Her clients range from congressmen to world
leaders. All darken Ms. Winter White’s
doorstep with a plethora of political and social catastrophes from sex scandals
to babies in boxes. In the tradition of
Rhimes characterization the episode plot only goes to teach greater lessons to
the core characters. Behind the episode plot is a series or season arc that
drives the greater Show narrative. And while as viewers we bite for the
episodes we fall hook line and sinker for the salaciousness of Olivia Pope and
her affair with the married President of the United States Fitzgerald Grant.
Every Thursday with tiptoe anticipation we wait to see if this is the Thursday that
Fitz and Olivia finally becomes each other’s lobster (see Phoebe from Friends
for lobster reference). However, no
matter how hard they try the just can’t seem to get right. It would probably be better for them to live
on opposite coasts because their private parts seem to keep bumping up against
each other. Seems as if Olivia and
Fitzgerald have what we in the church call a soul tie. A sort of longing for
one another that is not quelled by time or distance. I remember in undergrad everybody had a “soul
tie”, aka….having unprotected unmarried sex, I’m from Tuscaloosa, Alabama so we
just call it bumping uglies. And as much
as we try to explain and give rationale to that which is occurring most times
if we were to take our “Soul tie” to meet our mothers and fathers the instant
illusion of sensual seduction would be evaporated and we would have our coyote
ugly moment and try to chew off our arm to get out of sexual relationship that
is doomed to give us unquenchable heartbreak. Such is the case of Olivia Pope,
Fitzgerald and Scandal it can only end poorly. Regardless of how many fairy tales
we read the princess still has to find her own way out of her sociologically
imposed prison of modernity. In the
words of the indomitable Tina Turner, Olivia Pope “Don’t need another hero”. Yet she spins her wheels and drops her draws
at the mention of “Mr. President”. Or is
it that Shonda has flipped our world again and Olivia is really the Dj on the 1’s
and 2’s of the mixtape known as the Grant presidency? For no matter how much he tries it seems that
Olivia knows how to actually get the president to act presidential. Who is really running who? And every Thursday
10/9 central we gathers around our LCD teleporters and travel to Shonda Land
where bright eyed bushy tail black girls and idealistic ivy league white boys
hook up and give us Friday morning water cooler fodder in the name of post
racial popcorn drama. ( hear the sarcasm
in my voice)
More ironic than the plot itself is
the viewership. Scandal is overwhelming
viewed by African Americans 25-45 who attend some form of religious gathering
at least once a week. The black church
has traditionally been socially liberal but sexually conservative which begs
the question, why Scandal? Every Sunday we
are plunged beneath the mono myth that morally upright individuals may be able
to overcome overwhelming evil by virtue of their character. And we are wound up into an emotional frenzy
that usurps the power of object of the anthropological experience to trust in
the power of God to fix whatever we are in, as my granny use to say the “wont
he will”. The” wont he will” is a
magical emotional place that only seems to reveal itself after you have done all
you can, spent all you had, and cried all your tears. “The wont he will” is a confidence in the perseverance
of the future or as Niebuhr would put it “Hope”. The “won’t he will” is the confidence that
our God is still working on our condition in the midst of our
catastrophes. Won’t he will = Will not
he do it. This is a declaration of experience saturated in the revelation of
the divine. Will he not fight our battles?
Yes he will. Will he not make our
enemies our footstools? Yes he will. Will he not heal our bodies? Yes he will.
There seems to be a misappropriation of the word “not” in the sentence but that’s
the secret sauce of the “won’t he will “it defies negativity and inspires the
hope of the Saints. Still doesn't explain why saints like Scandal
or does it?
Maybe our addiction to scandal is
nestled into the very fiber of Theodicy and Theophany itself. In our searching of scripture we look for
answers to find the movement of God as well as how God confronts evil in our
experience. And through the biblical text we find examples of thoroughly flawed
individuals who like Ms. Olivia Pope persist in spite of deterrence. The more flawed the character the greater that
we cheer for them. Because in the seat
of our greatest character flaws is still operating that “wont he will”
principal that defies conventional knowledge and dares to believe that greater
is coming later. We go to the scripture
looking to identify with the circumstances of the Saints gone by. We open the
text to find our struggles mimicked in the emotional marketplace of Matriarchs
and Patriarchs gone by. We crack the cacophony of scriptures seeking solution
for our day to day “scandals” and we find our “wont he will” moments. What makes scripture speak to us is not the
fact that moral imperatives and virtue abounds but rather that severely broken
people are still; used, loved and affirmed by a virtuous God. Not only does he use and love them but he
purposes their character defects as a cauldron process in order to refine them.
In other words what should work against them is working for them. Hidden in the struggle of scripture is the
revelation of identity the moment when obstacle reveals epiphany and theophany.
What else do we see in scripture? For lack of a better word we see scandal. The Bible is a book full of booty calls, and
broken hearts told with a candy coated moral center.
There once was a man who had too much fun at his bachelor party so
involved with entertaining other guest that he paid no attention to his wife. When
it was time to lay it down for the night he found her in the arms of the best
man. Get got so mad that he committed a
drive by beating and killed thirty men. The
aforementioned is not the plot to a Hughes brothers film but rather the beginning
salvo of the story of Samson. The saints have an intimate relationship with
this idea of scandal. Scandal is the
black sheep of our theological family.
Scandal is the twisted back story to our salvific success. Scandal is the
pit to our pneumatological plum. As quite as kept scandal is part of the
equation that is Romans 8 :28 , in the tradition of FF Bruce “to those who love
Christ All things (scandal) works together for the good.” Yes even our
scandals. This is not an admonition to
go find some drama, you have enough as it stands but rather a call to look for
the Theophany in your own experience. Where has God shown himself to be
God. And the
moment when God took out scandal and made it into our success.
Another Aspect of the idea of
scandal as it relates to scripture is the idea of craftiness being a virtue
rather than a vice. The idea of
craftiness or cleverness as an intellectual pursuit is the “God in the Machine”
moment of our experiences . Understanding the sociological origins of the
Biblical text yields illumination to the way that voices are heard through the
text. The bible as a collection of wisdom
stories is collected by a people who are always outnumbered, out gunned, and
out manned. And in spite of their captivity, geographic dislocation, and social
status (God chosen people were a kind of historical misfits) they find ways to
win. Again these same rhythms are mimicked in the plot lines of Pope and
Associates. They are always fighting opponents bigger faster stronger but they
always find a way to win not through strength but through intellect.
There was a lady whose husbands dies
and she is left all alone his brother prey’s on her and takes her time of
mourning to his advantage creates a jump off situation cause he want the booty
but not the duty. The woman become so
out of sorts that she finds herself selling all she got to get by. One day her
father in law wants to see somebody do something strange for some change so he
solicits her services. And when the morning comes he wants to pull a shaggy and
say it wasn’t me. But sister girl put that thang thang on him and he forgot his
identification in the room. And when he tried to say the baby was not his she
replies “I got the evidence”. This is
not story from the scandal writer’s room but rather story of Tamar (not Braxton)
from Genesis. Judah’s response was that
what she did was right and that he was wrong.
Cleverness, craftiness in seeing a dire situation in new lights is
integral to theophany or seeing God in our situation. Yes
the saints have a fond fellowship with scandal.
The Saints love scandal because it allows
us to low key work out some recurring plot lines in our own lives. Places where
we have not used wisdom but should have. Places where we lost ourselves in server
closets and oval offices. Places where
we dropped our draws and lost our heads over a little tail. Moreover, scandal is a proxy for some places
in our lives where we still need a win. We
still need victory over some enemies who have scandalized our names. We need Closure with the J Babies of our
lives. We need release from the Fitzgerald’s of our experience. We need
deliverance from our Stevie J’s. We need to have some people “Hucked” off of us
so we can reclaim identity. But Most of
all we need some therapy so we can welcome some healthy relationships in our
existence and escape our dependence on people who mean us no good.
For those of us who have escaped
the scandal bug, God bless you and your virtue but be kind to those who like to
take little field trips to Shondaland and get our escape on. I would rather
watch a scandal than be a scandal, and if I ever find myself to be in a scandal
I would hope that “Saints” could remember that a few episodes ago what is currently
me used to be them.
But you know that
might hurt a little.
Miss you all see you after lent
Solomon!
Pray works
Somebody should shout right now!!! Won't he give you double for your trouble. Won't he make your enemies your footstool .won't he will!....
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
One more reason to say thank you
Gratitude is a powerful gift. It takes very little to receive but giving requires a special kind of revelation and insight. In our time together we look at the condition of gratitude and grace in the lives of the ten lepers. How can some take the benefit of benevolent blessings and fail to even bat and eye, while others receive the blessings of God and are driven to worship? This is a tension that we live with in out everyday lives between recognizing the blessings of God and our response as being the benefactors of being blessed. My prayer is that something might be said that evokes and inspires the sentiment that after we have counted all of our blessings that we have one more thing to say thank you for. One more reason to say thank you
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Ministry with pre existing conditions
Sometimes if feels like the very place that should be open to dealing with our issues is the one place afraid to touch them. Every person is going to have issues that they bring to God and that they are going to have to deal with in their walk with God. However, your pre existing condition should never prevent your progress. In our time together i hope to encourage you to press until you get the healing that you came for . We preached this sermon in Montgomery Alabama i hope your blessed Ministry with pre existing conditions
A purpose driven man
What does my purpose look like ? we all come to life and livining with the anxiety of unfullied purpose. in our time together we seek to unmask the framework of purpose and uplift some purpose driven traits. As we look at the story of Samson my prayer is that the lenses of purpose give you a new perspective to view your situation. This is a word that we shared in rome Georgia. I hope you are blessed A purpose driven man
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
mutant ministry
Christian entertainment is
a cottage industry that is a veritable billion dollar enterprise. The
Christian entertainment realm includes gospel music cd’s, inspirational
books, concerts, church conferences (mega or otherwise) and gospel
getaways/cruises. These Para church gatherings are not a bad thing in and of themselves;
I know many people who come to know God in a deeper way because of these events
and ministry tools. I think that these are important supplements to our
spiritual regime. But just as you would never attempt to live off of vitamins
it is problematic to attempt to live off you’re the aforementioned spiritual
supplements. You need a diet first then you can supplement the diet in order
to strengthen the body. We have usurped the diet and began to
draw directly from the spiritual supplements that were never intended to be
source but rather resource. God bless Oprah’s choux pastry heart but all
the super soul Sunday in the world aint gonna help you if you first don’t get
the soul right first.
The institution is partly to blame; the church became disconnected
and disenchanted with itself and its mission to the world. The
church institution has fallen out of love with the world that it was
designed to save. The check on the church has been one of failing
to corporately acknowledge its failings and revise its methods to interact
with the world at large. The message is complete, God is love and be
transformed by that love, but the messengers are distracted.
How have the messengers become distracted? We turned an open invitation to change into a
show to be entertained. It's what I like to call the message of being a church
dude. The message of being a church dude is simple “you came here to see me and
here I am ". It’s not just men it’s the prevailing church culture; who has
the most stylish preacher, best choir, best hair and nails, biggest hat, best musicians,
who can give you the best bump (dance), and who looks the best. Frankly, I’m
exhausted, church dudes kill me. It’s a whole lot of pomp and circumstance with
NO substance. I have not seen so many horn rimmed glasses in church since
the late sixties (only through pictures cause I’m an eighties baby). The appeal
for church dudes to even come to church is not development, improvement or
transformation but rather it’s almost a sick fraternal order where an
ultra-emotional existential experience may be sought that tickles the
fancy but drops the believer back to a faithless existence.
This fraternal group of believers is
hyper flamboyant without the penchant of dignity or humility.
Church dudes are a danger because they tout this message that sounds just
enough like the gospel to pass but ultimately devoid of any subsequent action
that is literally the fruit of that gospel. Where is the fruit of service
that comes with the gospel? There is a strange spirit around choirs, praise
teams, soloist, musicians and the like that suggest that ministry is all
exhibition. The litmus test of church dudes is they show up for the performance
but can’t make it to bible study. Church dudes can make it to the conferences but
can’t seem to make prayer. Church dudes can make worship but can’t seem to make
much else.
The service element of
church has been totally divorced from their experience. Church dudes would not
have fared well being disciples of Jesus, he would have sent them back home
because they love the show more than the substance of Christ. Christ would have a difficult time making them
disciples because they don’t show up unless they are on program to be
seen. Again this is not a designation
for just men this is a specification for a sect of church attendees who have
little to no desire to take part in the mission of Christ. The members of this sect are addicted to the
uplifted hand (seeking to receive) rather than the outstretched hand seeking to
give. Church in the minds of Church
dudes should; GIVE me a feeling, I should RECEIVE a word, and I should leave
AFFIRMED. This mutant form of Christianity ties whatever giving that might
occur to a trigger mechanism that comes after the giving that would cause the
giver to get. There is NO cross at the heart of their faith system. The faith system, as a matter of fact, goes
out of its way to never talk about the sacrifice of crucifixion at all. The faith system then goes on to postulate
that the ultimate enemy of the believer is not sin(cause who needs sin hanging
over their heads) , but the enemy of the believer is the mythological hater who
floats around like a wraith seeking to hijack our terrestrial experience by sabotaging
what we were divinely designed to do. When we move our battle from the confines
of the pneumatological to the anthropological, our worldview
become myopic and we become the center. Who is really hating on us? Have we become so narcissistic
to believe that people are actually going home and thinking about us after we
leave their presence ? Scarier still is
that fact that you believe that you have done something revolutionary enough to
merit such concern. Maybe just maybe all
that shade that you seem to be receiving is just a culmination of all the shade
that you have been giving others.
Which
leads me to another caveat of church dudes attitude. There is nothing like a Christian
with attitude. A Christian with attitude is like going to the fridge and
picking up a carton of milk taking a healthy pull, only to discover that the
milk has spoiled. Your expectation has been
crushed and you can’t remove the taste from your mouth. The world needs
Christians who are over themselves. Christians who don’t need titles to do
ministry and who don’t think ministry involves a mic. The world is looking for Christians
who have clean hearts and dirty hands.
The heart is ready to love and the hands have been sullied with the work
of their Christ. The world needs Christians who are not Christ LITE, but rather
Christ LIKE. I cannot stress enough how
awful Christians with bad attitudes are its false advertising. Now this is not
a solicitation for the bright and shiny Joel Olsten’s of the world to rise up
and make us all into Stepford wives. But nasty, immature, little Christians can
be taken to the space ship and dropped off into the black hole; your disservice
is no longer needed. I would rather a
person be straight up with their issues and say “listen I’m working on my mouth, or my heart isn’t
all together right” than give me that fake half love of Christ stuff. Y'all know about that stuff the placating rub
on the back with the Christian concern face. (I by the way have got a mean back
rub granny taught me)
Church dudes are killing the church because
the gospel of Jesus is not alive in their lives. But a mutant form of spiritualism
is pervasive. This is the mutated form
of Christianity that is “spiritual” but not religious. The mutant courses
through their veins and the bad news is the mutant is airborne and it is catching.
The mutant loves to go to para church events but is highly allergic to the
service of the church. The mutant loves the mic but breaks out in hives with
authentic ministry moments. The mutant is allergic to service because service
would expose the weakness of its witness. The mutant does not reveal identity but
replicates fragility. The mutant does
not want Christianity because that would require obedience to Christ. The
mutant wants the shakes and shivers without the service and sacrifice. Yes dear
hearts the word is still true “to live is Christ and to die is gain” the
commitment still requires sacrifice. However the gospel of mutant Christians would
suggest that we need to “go back to Eden and live on top of the world”
ironically Christ ministered to the disenfranchised first and chose to live on
the bottom rather than the top. Spectacularly enough Christ changes the world
from the bottom up. This debunks the myth of the mutant that “I can’t help
nobody if I can’t help myself” the
mutant acquires more only to keep more, Christ Borrowed two fish and five loafs
and broke what he had and found the power of multiplication not in hoarding but
in helping. The mutant wants to be seen, Jesus has to ask “who do men say I am?”
he will be recognized by what he does not what he wears. The mutant is constantly in a search for identity,
the master says “I am that I am”, his identity comes not from what church he
has joined this year but the God he has joined in this life. The mutant is lost
in self-aggrandizement; the master was never lost to begin with. The mutant wants duplicates, the master wants disciples.
For
those of us who believe that we have overcome the mutant allow me to further
extent this metaphor. The Mutant speaks the language of legalism rather than
the language of relationship. The mutant loves judgment and scandal because it further
perpetuates the uniqueness of its own abnormality. The mutant loves topics like
abortion because it’s a place of high contention where it can spread its virus.
It loves the divisiveness of sexuality and sensuality because that’s where the
scandal lives. It loves racism and sexism because quite as kept the mutant
loves oppression. The mutant loves these
areas because the mutant knows that Christians who have been changed will not
let any point of disagreement separate them in love. The mutant exacerbates the speck in our neighbor’s
eye blocking our view of the plank in our own eye. How do will kill the mutant? My suggestions
·
Hard dose of anti me medication make
community more important than yourself
·
Get out of survival mode, scared to risk,
scared to attempt, and scared to try different things.
·
Every vision for the church should not
include a new building without envisioning a new way for community to take
root. Especially when you are under-utilizing current facilities
·
Service requirements you love to sing/preach
great….now I want to know can you serve?
·
Professional Counseling … I cannot tell you
how many of us are suffering from severe narcissistic disorder, I am Not
laughing.
Maybe if we stopped getting high off of
our own supply we could get back to changing the world. But that might hurt a
little…
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Moving to celebration
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Sir Please step away from the rubber duck
At this
point in our collective human experience I am flabbergasted. We seem to have
reached a zenith of stupidity, better than a zenith a reality shaking paradigm collapse.
We have reached that point because we simply
are not thinking. Collectively we kinda shut down. Lance Armstrong decided to
tell the truth, and Manti Te'o decided to
catfish the world and kill of his fake girlfriend. I mean really, we have entered a social
intellectual space where we commit violence against women who never existed in
the first place? And if the assassination
of fake girlfriends was not enough, (its more than enough for me in a single
week), we have preachers taking baths with their granddaughters.
Please understand, I think that
have grandparents are God’s built-in support system for raising children in the
village ethic. Grandparents understand the parental value set and have special
bonds with their grandchildren.
Grandparents are good for instruction, deliberation, and affirmation.
Grandparents have enough skin in the game to care but not so much that they
stifle identity. It makes them wonderful places to receive additional love and
support. Got the warm and fuzzzies yet ?
With the aforementioned being stated,
get the heck out of the bath tub with your granddaughters. As a minister I am keenly aware of my
interactions with the opposite sex, you have to be it’s the time that we live
in. when I counsel doors stay opened or another female minister is present in
the room for the duration of the counseling. I have mastered the side hug and
the shake your hand like a man for women. I do these things because I am aware
of how preachers can look even when trying to be open and authentic. When a
family comes to church I greet the husband first acknowledging that I recognize
his presence and importance in the family system. If the husband does not come
to church I ask about him EVERY Sunday. Again to acknowledge the fact that there
may be a point of discomfort in the interaction. My goal is to be approachable, warm and
inviting and in that same action subtly establishing boundaries. Usually it
works… usually, it was this one time a dude kissed me on the cheek , (he kinda
snuck me , I was fire hot , I just don’t like being kissed by dudes) for
another time.
I can imagine what the preacher
was thinking as his granddaughter wanted to take a bath with pop pop. “hey this
is my little bear and I love her with my whole heart” so yeah jump on in. NO, this is not ok , it’s not cool. First think of what your granddaughter is
going to say afterward, “oh I bathe with
pop pop” , the teacher exclaims “oh” runs to teachers’ lounge calls DHR and you
go to jail do not pass go do not collect a 100 dollars. I’m not talking , I stole billions of dollars
AIG jail (by the way no one has gone to jail for the theft of America) I'm talking OZ adebisi , imma meet you in the shower, did u drop that jail. And you a
preacher… bruh, that’s not a good look.
Seemingly harmless actions can
have unexpected consequences. More than
that when you fail to think about the impact that your actions might have you
are making a plan to fail. But let’s
look at it from another perspective nowhere in your mind are u thinking that
this looks pervy , you’re a 60+ bishop taking a bath with your granddaughter .
And not one moment do you step back and say “wayment” something aint right
here. You never stop to think, with the
churches current struggles with sexual abuse that this is probably not what I need
to be doing cause it just looks bad. The
fact that this was overlooked is troubling and shows a lack of godly judgment. This
is one of those shun the very appearance of evil things. Kinda like I can do evangelism
in the strip club but it’s probably better if I didn't.
But I don’t just blame the
bishop. I blame whoever took the picture and whoever posted it to Facebook. Come
on yall help the Bishop out who in his circle says “oh bishop its ok, you cool,
post the bath time picture on Facebook” It speaks to the kind of people you
have following you when nobody speaks up and will give you sound counsel. Clearly this is a case of the emperor has no
clothes and his people are content to let the man walk down the street butt
naked and be embarrassed.
It speaks to the need for
ministers in this highly sexual climate to think about how things look. Our
intent may not be to create a scandal but we can’t just think of what we do
from the warm and cozy Jesus loves everybody room of life. We live in a world with some sick people and
we cannot afford to be numbered as being morally deprived just because we
forgot to put on our thinking caps. So a
bit of advice, one stop laying on people cause it’s time for their ordination,
you can ordain people with your hands. It is not necessary to belly flop ordain
people. Two, get out of the bath tub with your grand-kids it just looks wrong. Three
stop taking boys on trips with you (you are not a mentor you’re a pedophile). Four, If you need that much security you
probably need to take a sabbatical. Five
Stop speaking in tongues on twitter it looks like you having a seizure on the
keypad. Six, Get rid of two of your yes men and find some people to encourage
you who don’t need anything from you and whom you cannot do anything for. And for Pete sake get out of the darn bathtub
who are you B. Slade???
But remember all of the aforementioned
might hurt a little.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Christology in context and in crisis
Christology is the pursuit to understand
and reclaim the person, pneumatology, and purpose of Jesus as a messianic
device. The idea of Jesus as a messianic device is important as a deus ex
machina of the anthropological snare of substitutionary atonement. This
atonement type suggests that Jesus serves as a replacement /substitute for
sinful fallen man. Jesus takes not only place But bears the weight
of sin in the stead of humanity.
Christology in this light places Jesus as the ultimate foil to sin and
sinfulness. Jesus us the ultimate foil because he is man enough to feel and yet
God enough to heal. Jesus is the ultimate foil because he is man enough to see
and yet God enough to save. He is the ultimate foil because he is man enough to
suffer and yet God enough to suffice. Jesus is deus ex machina ,or God in
the machine. Jesus solves the problem that was too big too bold and too
bad for us to solve alone. Jesus is the answer to the unsolvable problem that
rest in the fabric of man.
The problem is how can a holy God love sinful man? This problem is solved
through the reconciliation of man through Jesus Christ unto God. Jesus
exchanges and interposes himself for us in order to transform
us. The enemy of freedom is defeated not through violence but
through sacrificial love. Jesus becomes that which we cannot bear to
birth that which we must become. James Allison calls this sacrificial love the
exposition of violence.
But what happens when we subvert the identity of Jesus? What happens when we
live in a culture where everybody is ok? What happens when Jesus is
reduced to a motivational marionette? We reduce his life to cannon fodder in
context and catastrophe in praxis. We preach the gospel as if we are theological
snake oil salesmen pushing an existential experience that makes us feel good
but rarely causes us to actually be good. This
experience can’t be stamped with the label of worship because nothing is
surrendered. Worship will cost you but playing worship will exhaust you.
We play musical chairs with membership moving our affiliation when we lose that
special feeling. We fall in and out of
love with preachers like newly minted American idol contestants. And we drop doctrines faster Kim drop Kris
only to get Kanye.
This
is not to say that church should be boring or dry. I like engaging
preaching, the rhythm and artistry captured in the exchange between
preacher and congregation. But I am not a fan of life coaches,
motivational Muppets or prophets for profit. Preach a word if you’re
gonna preach, I don't need the first three chapters of from "Good to Great",
can do without delusional relationship advice from people who have no
empirical data, oh and miss me with the thinking like a man. We have hustled
the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto no end. In our attempt to make Christ fit
culture we have lost the revelation that Christ recreates culture. Jesus takes
a blind man that found himself on the fringes of society and re-introduces him,
not as a seeing blind man, but as an avatar for liberation through revelation. The
blind man sees clearly but his first vision is Jesus. The sighted blind man
cannot return to nomenclature because the blind man who now sees, understands
what the modern reader misses, Christ is not a captive to the rules of the
machine he is the key to escape the machine. Christ does not twist and cajole
himself to the pressures of culture he reaches into culture and reworks what
culture could be.
Christology is in
crisis because “give me Jesus” no longer satiates the pallets of his followers.
And why should it when we replace Jesus with “mo money mo money mo money”? Christology is in crisis because instead of
looking for a savior we don’t even think we need to be saved. And if we don’t need
to be saved surely we don’t need to be led. And if we don’t need to be led than
what exactly are we following? The never ending cycle of self-satisfaction
tells us that if we buy more we will love ourselves more and if I can just love
me more than I will have the solution. If
I can just do more for myself I can finally be happy because I am the problem,
oh but im also the solution. Just one more pay raise will get me ten
thousand square feet so I can put all those people who keep taking my happiness
from me , on the other side of the house. Just one more car and then everybody
can know im successful. Just one more
surgery and I can finally be happy with my face. Just one more relationship and
all of my loneliness will just float away. The solution for all of our ontological tension,
I am happy to say, is just do more for you. Thousands of years of philosophical
musings and thought for what marketers can show you in a thirty second
infomercial.
My friends you are
not the solution. Sorry! it pissed me off when I discovered that I am not the
solution either. I so wanted to be the solution. I needed to be the solution. I
dream at night about walking up to my problem and giving it a dragon upper cut
(google it) just demolishing my problems because I’m the solution. I would be
an awesome solution. (A guy has to dream) It exhausts me to no end to keep digging
inside myself for solutions that don’t answer my questions. The end of all my digging
just creates more desperation, wanting and anxiety. Where is Jesus ? Why can’t we see him ? Why won’t
he heal us if he is here? We can’t see him because Jesus comes to give we
follow him, but we come to take. Jesus
is not found in the act of taking in life he is found in the act of giving. He gives his life away and we reduce his
sacrifice to pitiful paltry punch line preaching. Jesus asks his disciples to
give up everything and follow him but what does it cost to follow Jesus today? Does it
cost everything to follow Jesus today? Today is cost even more to follow Jesus
because you have to actually try. Putting forth effort is so 1993.
Please do not sell
your cars, houses, or cash out your 401k and move to Middle America with a
commune where you sell jam on the road side.
But learn your neighbor’s names. Don’t take to the streets with bullhorn
telling people to repent for the “end is nigh”. Do take the time to say hello
to people you pass in your goings and comings.
Don’t pull a “seven pounds” and donate all your organs while you are
still using them. Do hold your neighbors hands. Don’t stop celebrating holidays
cause now your too holy. Do celebrate every day because Now you serve a Holy
God. Don’t get all mystical and spooky, that’s
just weird. Do talk to people, I mean really stop and talk, yes I mean those
uncomfortable talks that exhaust you.
Give your life away. Yes it’s
uncomfortable, yes it’s exhausting, yes it’s a pain. But when you give a hug
you get a hug. With each act of kindness we reclaim a little more of the face
of Christ put enough acts together and we see him clearly to love him dearly.
With each act of giving we see that God is not pulling a biosphere standing
over us looking on our condition but doing nothing to help. God is deus ex
machina , inside the machine with us pushing and pulling us. So give a little
bit, but you know that might hurt a little.
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