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!

I've Never seen it

We delivered this message at the fifth sunday fellowship for the Augusta District . I was so glad to be in fellowship with Dr. Tribble and his wonderful wife. There are two things the righteous will never have to worry about loneliness and lack. I hope you are blessed at the hearing of this word! Happy Sunday !

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.  

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! 

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