Resurrection Day Message

Easter is the most important day Christian observe the world over because it is a celebration of deliverance, with Easter Week providing powerful imagery of faith. I have always been moved by this presentation of Jesus from a Catholic Eucharistic prayer: “To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy.”

Holy Thursday and the Last Supper have an ominous feel because they are in preparation of Good Friday and the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet two days later, the tale ends in triumph and resurrection. Whatever questions Christians may have about the meaning of that empty tomb, most of us have experienced a sense of joy when the words “He is risen!” The basis of Christianity is inextricably linked too and rooted in the idea of liberation.

I have long seen the Exodus and Easter as twin narratives involving a release from oppression and the victory of freedom. These promises have left a permanent mark on the culture outside the traditions from which they sprang. Yet even in the Easter season, it’s hard not to notice that most people of faith, like it has been with Christmas, have lost much of its message. What I mean is that it has been hijacked by man in the commercial sense and Christianity’s, many, do not project the true meaning of this day or present their faith in the best light.

For example, with the assassination of Trayvon Martin, and other criminal acts, mankind seems to have lost the understanding of the symbolic subordination of a rich tradition of social justice. What is more concerning is that popular Christianity often seems to denigrate rather than celebrate intellectual life or critical inquiry into injustices within our society.

What I would like to suggest, as with the civil rights movement, is that the church or at least Christians must not be disengaged from politics. In fact, the early Christian movement was born in politics. If you can recall, Jesus died in opposition of injustice for the least of Thee.

I know there is great debate over how to understand the relationship between Jesus’ spirituality and his approach to politics, but his preaching clearly challenged the powers-that-be. He was, after all, crucified. Now, if we truly claim the life of Jesus Christ is true, then we should be among the most active, most serious and most-open minded advocates for justice. So if Easter is about liberation, this liberation must include intellectual freedom and the right to fair and equal justice.

And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspectives!

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Sojourner Truth: “Ain’t I a Woman?”

Throughout our existence in this place the slaves called “merica”. Where have had many dynamic heroines, dare I say, none were more profound that Sojourner Truth. A woman who’s exact date of birth was not recorded. What we do know is in the year 1797, among Dutch immigrants in the region now known as Ulster County, New York, an African child was born on the estate of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh.

One of 13 children born to Elizabeth and James Baumfree, she was given the name Isabella Baumfree. As the story goes, this name gave her no hint of her mission; years later she renamed herself Sojourner Truth. Her life was a testament to this mission as a truth-teller. In 1851, Sojourner Truth gave her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech before the Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio. Several ministers were in attendance. Truth rose from her seat and spoke the following words before the audience:

“Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the White men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?

Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.”

She underwent a number of transfers between slave-owners and suffered what she described as cruelties that one dare not imagine against a young African girl child enslaved in America. It is said that while living in the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagenens, Truth had a life-changing religious experience. She started to speak in public assemblies. She became known as a gifted preacher. She joined the Progressive Friends, an organization established by the Quakers, which pressed forward the cause of abolishing slavery throughout America.

“In 1864, she worked among freed slaves at a government refugee camp on an island in Virginia and was employed by the National Freedman’s Relief Association in Washington, D.C.,” according to Women in History: Living vignettes of notable women from U.S. history. “In 1863, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s article “The Libyan Sibyl” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly; a romanticized description of Sojourner.”

At the end of the Civil War, Truth worked on behalf of the Freedman’s Hospital in Washington through the Freedman’s Relief Association. In 1867, she moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. While unsuccessful in her efforts, for several years she lobbied the U.S. federal government for land in the Western states for former enslaved Africans. Illness began to reduce her speaking tours. In 1879, she spent a year in Kansas City to help settling African migrants she called “Exodusters”. In addition to racial and gender equality issues, Truth campaigned against capital punishment and called for temperance.

On November 26, 1883, Sojourner Truth was surrounded by her family at her death bed. She was 86 years old when she died surrounded by her family in Battle Creek, Michigan. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, next to her grandson’s gravesite. More than 200 years later, her legacy as a truth-keeper continues to ignite the imagination of the new nation for which she found herself in service. Sojourner Truth lived during times of great change.

First Lady Michelle Obama said of her at the April 28, 2009 commemorative ceremony unveiling the Sojourner Truth bronze bust. “I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the first lady of the United States of America. Now many young boys and girls, like my own daughters, will come to Emancipation Hall and see the face of a woman who looks like them.”

This is a shoot-out to the ghost and spirit of one of the greatest women to live. And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

Religious Zealot Pastor Terry Jones is at it again! You know the hypocrite who spews lies and hatred! This guy who is always up to the insane has really gone too far this time.

This is the same nut who not long ago threatened to burn Korans, which sparked several days of violence in the Middle East. In doing so, this foolish act caused the deaths of dozens across the region and placed our troops in further danger by stoking anti-American sentiment.

I read an article today where this so-called man of God decided that hanging the President of the United States in effigy, in front of a church, is necessary and appropriate. Just so you understand this in Florida, not Afghanistan or some other third-world American hating country where this sort of thing is common. I have to ask what in the hell is going on down in the state of Florida?

In addition Jones released a video to go along with his protest where he states “Obama is killing America.” He claims that Obama increased the deficit (he lowered it, actually), increased the debt more than every president before him combined (but leaves out the part where the increase is due to the budgetary disaster left behind by Bush, including two wars and massive unpaid-for tax cuts), and that he supports radical Islam (by killing more terrorists in three years than Bush did in 7, including bin Laden. If that’s “support” I’d hate to see what Obama’s version of opposition is). The mock president is holding a baby, presumably to symbolize abortion, and accompanied by a gay pride flag, an American flag and a mock Uncle Sam, Obama’s “victim.”

When addressing the reason for symbolically hanging the president, Jones veers off into the surreal:

That is why we have now chosen the hanging of Hussein Obama to represent how the American people must, in a peaceful way, stand up and reject President Obama, reject his anti-American policies. It is time for us to stand up. It is time, again, for America to become America.

As an African American this act is particularly troubling because I see a deeply racist component in depicting a black man being hung, especially in the South. Jones is surely aware of this, but like most right wing demagogues, he’s perfectly content to invoke such imagery. Hate and intolerance is the fish and loaves of the right wing religious fanatic. If Obama had been a white man, this scene would have played out much differently.

Religious extremism is almost just as much a problem in America as it is in the Middle East, and Jones is a prime example of the violence inherent among religious reactionaries. As long as we, as a nation, continue to pretend that only Muslims can be dangerous radicals, we’re ignoring the ticking time-bomb in our midst.

I have to ask – “Where is the Secret Service”. Government agencies like the NSA, NYPD and FBI spend millions of dollars conducting illegal surveillance on mosques and law abiding citizens going about their business peacefully in the name of fighting terrorism. This hasn’t yielded a single lead to any terrorist activity, yet this nut along with other right wing nuts openly threaten the life of the president as well as peace and order in general without any investigation.

The far right represents a greater terrorist threat to the US than any group in the world and is a threat that is continually ignored to which I say at America’s own peril. The government used COINTEL against other groups – yet, this danger is allowed to exist. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…


Excerpts from an Addictingingfo

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This is a DISGRACE!!!

The Meaning of Christmas

I read a very interesting article the other day that asked, in so many words, if we know what we believe, which caused me to think about that as we approach the Holiday Season. I’ll say from the on-set that regardless of your religious beliefs you’re probably familiar with the Christmas story; whether you’re a devout Christian, doubtful, unsure or an atheist. You know the story of what is said to be the greatest story ever told. Or do you? This story with its significance and traditions are sometimes misunderstood.

This day has been turned into a massive commercial holiday. If you count all the Nativity scenes displayed you would think Christmas is the most important date on the Christian calendar. I don’t believe that it is. Easter is the day on which Christians believe Christ rose from the dead, which has more religious significance than does Dec. 25. In fact, science would have us believe that the savior was actually born in the spring. Whereas Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection means not just that one man conquered death, nor was it simply proof of Jesus’ divinity to his followers; it holds out the promise of eternal life for all who believe in him.

The Christmas season lasts 12 days ending with the Epiphany, a feast day in early January commemorating the Wise Men’s visit to the infant Jesus. The Easter season, on the other hand, lasts 50 days. On Sundays during Easter, Christians hear dramatic stories of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ to his astonished followers. The overriding importance of Easter is simple: Anyone can be born, but not everyone can rise from the dead.

Let’s me talk about the written knowledge from a Christian source; the Bible, more particularly, the four Gospels. We believe that the journey of Mary on a donkey accompanied by Joseph, the child’s birth in a manger surrounded by animals, shepherds and angels, with the Wise Men appearing shortly afterward. But two of the Gospels say nothing about Jesus’ birth.

The Gospel of Mark the earliest of the Gospels, written roughly 30 years after Jesus’ crucifixion does not have a word about the Nativity. Instead, it begins with the story of John the Baptist, who announces the impending arrival of the adult Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of John is similarly silent about Jesus’ birth. The two Gospels that do mention what theologians call the “infancy narratives” differ on some significant details.

Matthew seems to describe Mary and Joseph as living in Bethlehem, fleeing to Egypt and then moving to Nazareth. The Gospel of Luke, on the other hand, has the two originally living in Nazareth, traveling to Bethlehem in time for the birth, and then returning home. Both Gospels do however place Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem. This much they all agree.

Then there is the idea that Jesus was an only child. Catholics, for example, believe Mary’s pregnancy came about miraculously as a “virgin birth.” They also believe that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, although many Protestants do not. For the purposes of this writing I will not expand on the thinking of the thousands of religious philosophies.

Nonetheless, there are Gospel passages that speak of Jesus’ brothers and sisters which seem to confuse many. For example, in the Gospel of Luke, someone tells Jesus: “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” And in Mark’s Gospel, people from Nazareth exclaim: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?” Saint Paul even calls James “the Lord’s brother.” Therefore, I agree with many scholars who maintain that Jesus indeed had brothers and sisters which might be explained perhaps through an earlier marriage of Joseph. Or not!

Dr. Ben, the noted African historian, points to a story thousands of years before Christ that is very similar that occurred in Upper Africa to Isis, the mother of Horace. If this is true, then the greatest story ever told is a recent phenomenon. For sure, the way it’s practiced today is a phenomenon that is not consistent with the true meaning of Christmas. However, worries about diluting Christmas’s meaning go much further back than recent memory.

Gift-giving, for example, was seen as problematic as early as the Middle Ages, when the church frowned on the practice for its supposed pagan origins. The holiday season has become so distorted that our children now think that Jesus was born at Wal-Mart.

This recounting of these few recorded facts is in no way intended to steal your joy or deter your faith. As we all know, faith is, believing to be true that which is unseen. No one really knows the truth of this miraculous event that resulted in a poor peasant boy changing the lives of mankind since his birth two thousand years ago. The point is this: in the mist of our joy and celebration lest not forget the true meaning of Jesus’ birth which is to love one another and humanity. After all, the purpose of our existence is to continue the species – mankind – which is what Jesus preached!

I am looking forward to the blessings and opportunities that the New Year can bring us all and wish you and yours a Happy Holiday Season, Abundance, Prosperity and an Extraordinary 2012! Therefore, I give the gift of love and empowerment. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…



Remember - Legacy - A New Season is Coming Soon!!!
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Prayer Saves - Help Haiti !!!

The pain that comes with living makes the journey seem almost impossible at times, and as we witness the devastation inflicted upon the country of Haiti is unimaginable. This tragedy makes it very clear that life is a fragile state of existence that most can’t fathom in its totality. In our daily lives we often take for granted how fortunate we are with the many blessings and comfort that we enjoy. The emotions I feel, not unlike yours, watching people who look like me in such misery and helplessness from this natural disaster that was unexpected and beyond their control is heart-retching.

I have always believed unless and until you suffer enough pain, then and only then, will you reach deep inside and feel the breath that God has breathed into your soul coming eye to eye with your destiny. This may or not prove to be true in this instance but I understand the meaning of faith, which is believing what is not seen and knowing it to be true. Many times I’ve pondered that remark along with many other reflections of those valuable lessons taught to me during my early Sunday school days. Therefore, I will begin this post with something I have not done via this blog – a scripture.

Colossians (3:12-15) comes to mind, “as God's chosen people, hold and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called ...” It is this call that each of us must answer for the benefit of others.

I know you have been watching the network news, listening to radio, and reading newspapers where today all eyes are on Haiti - but the question is “for how long”. It will take years and maybe generations to restore some semblance of life the Haitians once knew, which was far from wonderful to start with. We must remember that this is the place that the celebrated criminal Columbus landed in 1492 and historical records tell us from that day to this Haiti has suffered. I want to rebuke and say regardless of what that old senile pastor said, they did not make a deal with the devil. (VIEW THIS CLIP)

Haiti has a long storied history and therefore retains a very rich culture. Haitian culture is a mixture of primarily French, African elements, and native Taino, with some lesser influence of Spanish culture. The country's customs essentially are a blend of cultural beliefs derived from the various ethnic groups that inhabited the island of what was once know as Hispaniola. In nearly all aspects of modern Haitian society European and African elements dominate.

Haiti is a largely Christian country, with Roman Catholicism professed by 80% and Protestants make up about 16% of the population. Haitian Vodou, a New World Afro-American Diasporic faith is unique to the country and practiced by roughly half the population. Religious practice often spans Haiti and its Diaspora as those who have migrated interact through religion with family. Haiti's regional, historical and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons.

Under French rule they enacted the Code Noir (Black Code) ratified by Louis XIV established rigid rules on slave treatment and permissible freedom. After years of brutality, Haiti became the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion - the first of its kind. The success of the slave rebellion caused the newly elected Legislative Assembly in France to realize it was facing an ominous situation. In order to protect France’s economic interests, the Legislative Assembly needed to grant civil and political rights to free men of color in the colonies. The decision was confirmed and extended by the National Convention in 1794 when they formally abolished slavery granting civil and political rights to all black men in the colonies.

The Haitian Slave revolt model then spread throughout the hemisphere bringing about liberation to people in New Granada (now Colombia), Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. America also benefited GRATELY as a result because it was the Haitian defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte that he sold most of France’s land holding in the central United States known as the Louisiana Purchase for penny’s an acre. So in spite of the country’s sorted and often difficult history that followed these events, this is a country largely forgotten by most world powers while these events changed the face of the world.

Yes, this country has had many brutal dictators, disasters, and strife. It is near the top of the world’s poorest nations but in spite of its problems over time nothing compares to what Haiti faces today. Therefore, with all good conscience and anyone who has any compassion for humanity? “HELP THE HAITIAN PEOPLE”.
If you are not able to or in your mind you think you cannot do anything to help I would suggest something very simple – PRAY!!! I believe prayer saves.

www.yele.org to make a donation.