Manifest Musicality and Much, Much More

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Manifest Musicality and Much, Much More
“Killer Joe”-- by Benny Golson

by Larry D. Coleman, Esq.

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/page/193.html


Somehow we’ve come to
This sublime moment.
“We” being denizens of this
Earthen Globe.

“We” being those with
Ears to hear, if not eyes to
See. To hear, to hear, to hear, to hear:
“Killer Joe,” “Killer Joe,” Killer Joe.”

Langston Hughes once painted a
“Montage of a Dream Deferred,”
A love-song to our legacy of life, love
And laughter, in iconic “Harlem,” via the
Myriad ancient, dusky rivers we’ve known;
A testament to our spiritual transfiguration
And cultural transformation
Transmuted, now into universal motifs
With which the whole world rocks and riffs.

From deference to deliverance in:
the musicality of Benny Golson’s saxophone; or of
Errol Garner‘s piano. http://www.jazzonthetube.com/page/160.html
Or Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington’s
Transportation “uptown” on the “A Train”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhK-zYfFsIY&NR=1

From deference to deliverance:
In the politics of Barack Obama.
In the virtuosity of Michael Jackson.
In the social gospel/prophesy of
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Montage,” being muted yet manifest melodies and
Rooted yet reified rhythms marking time and inspiring
Subliminally. Beckoning and becoming
In accordance with allegorical algorithms,
Amid dimensions both cosmic and cosmological.

“For where two or three are gathered together
In my name, I am there in the
Midst of them.” (Matt.18:20)
Black, white, mulatto: two or three.
Jesus in the midst who also had a
Flock, “which are not of this fold; them
Also I must bring, and they will
Hear my voice; and there will be
One flock and one shepherd.” John 10:16.

But, why the United States of America?
Why here? How here? How jazz?
How blues? How Gospel?
How Spirituals? Why here?
Boogie-Woogie? Rhythm and Blues?
Ragtime? How here? Why here?

Africa met Europe also in Brazil.
In Cuba. In Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and
Curacao; Europe met Africa in Venezuela,
In Panama, in Colombia, in Costa Rica,
In Haiti, in the Dominican Republic.
How here? Why here.

How hear? Langston of Joplin, Missouri?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyqwvC5s4n8
Or Scott Joplin of Sedalia, Missouri?
Or Coleman Hawkins of St, Joseph, Missouri?
Or Charlie Parker of Kansas City, Mo/Kan?
Or Miles Davis of East St. Louis, Ill/Mo?
Or Blind Lemon Jefferson of Warrensburg, Mo?

Reconciliation. Me, We, and Thee.
Our music leads, but our theology lags.
Truth held hostage, in catholic rags.
Here and there the light breaks through
Overwhelming oppression’s residue.

Slowly awakening we see: (Zech 4:1-14)
a candlestick of gold
With a bowl-- upon the top;
seven lamps with seven pipes,
And two olive trees full and ripe.
It’s no game of “Show and Tell.”
This word of the Lord to Zerubbabel.

“Not by might, nor by power,
But by my spirit,” said the lord of hosts.
Manifest Musicality to the Uttermost:

Killer Joe.

1
Sunday, July 26, 2009

by Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman


“ Power at work Within”


In Ephesians 3:20--21 (NIV), we find:


20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever
and ever! Amen.


Of course, I was raised on King James--
In it, Ephesians 3:20--21 says:


20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen.


God has given us power. We are born with power. A baby’s crying at
birth is powerful, and welcome. It shows everything is alright. That
baby’s cry stirs up all kinds of activity.. . For a lifetime.


Even insects have power. If an angry bee or a wasp were to get
loose up here in the pulpit, it would likely turn out the choir stand!
But, me and Rev. Stancil would stand tall. I’m sure!


Even microscopic and invisible viruses have power. Right now,
In fact, the whole world is wrestling with “H1N1”-- short-hand for
the “Swine Flu” pandemic that is quietly sweeping the world.
Power permeates the planet. Power permeates the universe.


Baby’s have it. Insects have it. Viruses have it. And You and I have
it. All power is from God. “All things come of thee Oh Lord..”


1 Chron.29:11-13, David celebrates as follows ---


11Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and
the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the
earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as
head above all. 12Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou
reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine
hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. 13Now
therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.


“Power?” It is the ability to act or to produce an effect.


“ Power at work Within” is our theme.


Now, power can be patent or latent. Latent power is buried power.
Unused power. Like the servant who buried his one talent in a
handkerchief in a field, instead of taking it to the market place, and
getting a bigger yield for his master, who was away. He had power
represented by the talent, but he buried it out of fear that he
would lose it. He was therefore an unprofitable servant. Now, his
fellow servants who were given 2 talents and 5 talents, respectively,
were able to double the yield on their talents for their master.


They exercised patent power. So, when he returned, he rejoiced at
their diligence, their open and faithful use of the power he had
given them. As for the servant, who had buried his talent, his
power, the Lord took the one talent from him that he had and gave
it to the man with ten talents…There will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Both sets of servants had power. Both had potential. One
set chose to exercise, even in the absence of the master. The other
one got scared, and his hid power, his privilege out of fear.
Matthew 25:14-30 is where this scripture is found.


But, God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7


We live in an era of “success” merchants. Napolean Hill, Og
Mandino, Deepok Chopra, Tim Robbins, and many others, assure us
constantly that we can “conceive, believe, achieve” anything we
want in the realm of material riches. I do not condemn them. In
fact, I have read them, in whole or in part.


But, whenever you get through, God can do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us. Above all that we ask or think or are capable of conceiving
God is able to do.


1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.”


We are living in the midst of proof. There are folks here who in
here right now, who remember and probably experienced
segregation, Jim Crow, lynchings, real police brutality. Yet, they
lived to see Jackie Robinson break baseball’s color barrier. They
were able to move south of 27th street. They saw the integration of
the armed forces. They lived to see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the
implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. They lived to see Thurgood Marshall go to the Supreme
Court. They saw Malcolm X. They danced in the streets to Motown.
They marveled at Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfree, Gen. Colin
Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and now President Barack Obama. In fact,
I was living when Nelson Mandela went to jail and when he got out
and became the President of South Africa!


And God ain’t through. He’s still working through me and you.


So, don’t resist the power, church. “Don’t fight the feeling,” as
Geraldine would say! Who is Geraldine? She is Madea’s
grandmamma! She was created by comedian Flip Wilson, just like
Tyler Perry created “Madea.”


Scripture says, Romans 13:1-2--Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be
are ordained of God.

13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation.


Don’t resist the power in you. Don’t fight the feeling in you. There
is power in you clamoring to go to work, clamoring to be used.
That power is from God. All power is from God. Go with his flow,
God’s flow.


But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8.



Continue to be witnesses for Christ Jesus, church. Continue to work the God-given power within
Thank and God bless you. Amen.

EQUITY: THE DISFAVORED TWIN OF LAW?

1
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq.

“The Framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized the providence of
equity by writing in Article III, Section 2, Clause 1, that the "judicial
Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity."
http://legaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Equity.

Later, in the 11th Amendment, such broad judicial power was somewhat reined in:

“The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted
against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by
Citizens or subjects of any Foreign State.”

Viewing “law and equity” in tandem is deceptive. They are not flip
sides of the same coin, called “justice.” They are ancient, historic
antagonists, derived from different sources, serving different ends.

Put bluntly, “law” is man-made, while “equity” is divine amendment.
Law concerns statutes and case law. Equity asks what is morally
right. Law is callous justice. Equity is grace and mercy, applied.

The Old Testament explicates the distinction more fully. After
having defied and disobeyed God by causing the people of Israel
to be numbered, David, through his seer, Gad, is offered three
forms of punishment by God.

They are, “Three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord
destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel.” David’s response to
Gad is classic: “I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of
the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the
hand of man.” 1 Chron.21:12-13.

Though the tendency is to equate the doctrine of “equity” with the
Chancery Courts of England, as has already been demonstrated, “equity,” as a notion, is much older than England as a nation. “Equity,” arguably, prompted King John to capitulate to the nobility, in assigning to them certain rights under the Magna Charta in 1215 at Runnymede, as a check, albeit
tentative, against the untrammeled abuse of royal prerogatives.

“Equity” has biblical roots. And pre-biblical roots.

One of its earliest usages is found in Psalms 98:8-9, “Let the floods
clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he
cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the
world, and the people with equity.”

At the outset of the book of Proverbs, we find “equity” also, viz.:
“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know
wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To
receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and
discretion.” (Prov.1:1-4)

“Equity’s” roots, in fact, predate, the Bible, disappearing into the
daunting mists of Ancient Egypt’s prehistory. “Ma’at,” a teleological
value system, appears to be where law and equity originated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law#cite_note-86.

“Ma’at” is the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law,
morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess
regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the
deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of
creation. The earliest surviving records indicating Maat is the norm
for nature and society, in this world and the next, is recorded during
the Old Kingdom in pyramid texts (c. 2780-2250 BCE).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%27at

All the great civil rights victories attained by such legends as
Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, James Nabrit,
Spotswood Robinson and others involved some form of equity, as
the remedy. No civil rights victory not involving equity comes to
mind. Neither am I aware of any civil rights case in which
monetary damages were either sought as a remedy or awarded.

Jack Greenberg, Esq., in his memoir, Crusaders in the Courts,
Legal Battles of the Civil Rights Movement, (Twelve Tables
Press: NY, 2004) states in the concluding chapter, “A Summation:
Victories and Defeats, Imagining The Future”: “The foregoing areas
[‘Ghetto areas…welfare cases…housing’] are within the domain of
what is often termed economic rights. Court action has been
notably unsuccessful in addressing what in large part is an issue of
economic distribution.” (p.553) The “issue of economic
distribution,” is the area wherein Mr. Greenberg, successor to
Thurgood Marshall as Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, concedes “defeat.”

Equity is defined as “fairness or equality.” As used herein, it is also
defined as “1 a: justice according to natural law or right; specif:
freedom from bias or favoritism…2 a: a system of law
originating in the English chancery and comprising a settled
and formal body of legal and procedural rules and doctrines
that supplement, aid, or override common and statute law and
are designed to protect rights and enforce duties fixed by
substantive law…” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary,
11th ed. 2003) p.423.

"In its broadest sense, equity is fairness. As a legal system, it is a body
of law that addresses concerns that fall outside the jurisdiction of
Common Law. Equity is also used to describe the money value of
property in excess of claims, liens, or mortgages on the property.
Equity in U.S. law can be traced to England, where it began as a
response to the rigid procedures of England's law courts. Through
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the judges in England's
courts developed the common law, a system of accepting and
deciding cases based on principles of law shaped and developed in
preceding cases. Pleading became quite intricate, and only certain
causes of action qualified for legal redress. Aggrieved citizens found
that otherwise valid complaints were being dismissed for failure to
comply with pleading technicalities. If a complaint was not dismissed,
relief was often denied based on little more than the lack of a
controlling statute or precedent.

Frustrated plaintiffs turned to the king, who referred these
extraordinary requests for relief to a royal court called the Chancery.
The Chancery was headed by a chancellor who possessed the power
to settle disputes and order relief according to his conscience. The
decisions of a chancellor were made without regard for the common
law, and they became the basis for the law of equity.
Equity and the common law represented opposing values in the
English legal system. The common law was the creation of a judiciary
independent from the Crown. Common-law courts believed in the
strict interpretation of statutes and precedential cases.”
http://legaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Equity

Those “opposing values” between “common law” and “equity,” have
found a fertile climate in American jurisprudence. On July 21,
2009, in an appeal of an unemployment compensation case, in
Kansas City, Missouri, the Court of Appeals, decried the fact that
under the law, the state agency in charge lacked authority “to
consider issues of fairness.” Thus, the court affirmed a decision
authorizing the recoupment of $7280 in unemployment benefits to
the state by the unemployed worker, who did nothing wrong, but be
overpaid.
http://www.courts.mo.gov/page.asp?id=12087&search=Andrea
Harris v. Division Employment Security&dist=Opinions
Western&n=0

In effect, the Missouri Court of Appeals recoiled from the harshness
of its own opinion, and hinted to the legislature that by changing
the word “shall” to “may” it would enable equity in deserving
cases, such as that then under consideration.

“AT THE TABLE”

May 7, 2009

By Rev. Dr. Larry D. Coleman

For a few remarkable years, a number of black
preachers and pastors, myself included, met for
communal breakfast and spiritual refreshment, every
week day morning at Niecie’s Restaurant near 60th
and Prospect, in Kansas City, Missouri.

We met “at the table,” roughly, over a ten-year
period from 1994 through 2004, under the faithful
and persistent leadership and example of Rev.
Emanuel Johnson, former pastor of Mount Vernon
Missionary Baptist Church, now deceased, and his
friend, Rev. Aaron Neal, Sr., former pastor of
Paradise Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City
Kansas, also deceased.

Rev. Neal, himself newly arrived from
California, had invited me to the table shortly
after I was licensed to preach in the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1994. Brand new to
the ministry, my zeal for the word was such that I
would carry a minimum of two different versions of
the Bible with me, among my legal papers, in my
“satchel,” as Rev. Johnson, an Arkansas native,
termed my brief case.

They called me “De lawyer,”
as I was, in fact, a sole practitioner, and also
the pastor of Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church, in
Butler, Bates County, Missouri, simultaneously.

Other ministers who frequented the table,
during my tenure there, included Rev. Kenneth Ray
of Highland Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Gregory
Washington of Good Samaritan Missionary Baptist
Church, the late Bishop Emmanuel Newton of the
Christian Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, the
late Bishop W.B. Henderson of the Trinity Temple
Church of God in Christ, the late Rev. O. Cordell
Moore of the Temple of Faith Missionary Baptist,
the late Rev. A.L. Johnson and his associate, Rev.
Carl Hatcher, both of Zion Grove Missionary Baptist
Church, Rev. Gregory Stevenson, Park Avenue
Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Davenport, Pilgrim
Rest Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. F.J Jordan,
Gospel Tithing Baptist Church, Rev. Elijah Clark,
Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Frank
Witherspoon, Freewill Baptist Church, along with
many, many others. Visiting ministers, revivalists,
and evangelists also enriched the table while in
town.

Camaraderie and commensality distinguished the
table. Laughter was always on the menu.
Sometimes, even Myra, and Renona, her sister,
two of Niecie’s no-nonsense waitresses, would chime
in with their acerbic wit, to keep “it” and
everybody “real” at the table.

Of course, the main preoccupation at the table
was Jesus Christ: him crucified and resurrected.
In this regard, I remember Rev. Johnson describing
how he had fashioned a sermon entitled “It Depends
on Whose Hands It’s In.”

Once, while driving to Omaha, Nebraska, up highway I-29-North, he happened
to see a billboard describing an insurance company
as “The Good Hands People.” That insight led the
preacher to proclaim that in his hands a piano was
just a noise-maker, but in the hands of a skilled
musician, it became a magnificent instrument.
Similarly, a scalpel in his hand was a murder
weapon, but in the hands of a skilled surgeon it
was a healing tool. Finally, 2 small fishes and 5
barley loaves, in his hands, was just lunch. But,
in the hands of Jesus--but, in the hands of Jesus!-
-that little lunch could feed over 5,000, with
twelve baskets of fragments left over. (Matt.14:13-
21) “It just depends on whose hands it’s in.”

At the table, there were no big “I’s” and
little “u’s.” There was brotherhood at the table.
There was hope at table. There was renewal at the
table. There was love at the table. Deliverance
at the table. Joy at the table. Provision at the
table. Holy Ghost at the table.
At the table, at the table, at the table!

"Witness" to Obama's Inauguration

“WITNESS” TO OBAMA’S INAUGURATION
By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq.
Sunday, May 31, 2009

My wife and I drove from Kansas City, Missouri, to Washington, D.C. to
partake in the epochal inauguration of Illinois Senator, Barack Hussein
Obama, as the first black President of the United States in January 2009.

We spent the first night in St. Louis with childhood friends. Departing early
the next morning, I glanced at, and was recognized by, my third grade “girl
friend,” Gail, now, herself, a school teacher, in a QT convenience store/gas
station coffee aisle. I had not seen her, easily, since the 1960s. My joyous
reunion with Gail and her adult daughter was compounded by my discovery
that, they, too, were meeting family members to drive to D.C. for the historic
inaugural. We were both amazed and reassured by this double coincidence.

The drive was uneventful, even restful--as my wife, Lyla, did most of the
driving--until nightfall found us on Highway 70 near its conjunction with
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where it began to snow and sleet and
rain, so heavily, the lane dividers disappeared and visibility, too. We had a
choice to make: take the Pennsylvania Turnpike with its narrow lanes and
steep ascents and descents through the Allegheny Mountains; or drop down
into West Virginia and take our chances with that flatter, southern route
through the same mountains. We took the southern route, and spent the night
in southern Pennsylvania, 20 miles from West Virginia in a warm motel.

The next morning we arrived in the District of Columbia, via Silver Spring,
Maryland, on Sunday, January 19. Driving down “sweet” Georgia Avenue,
toward northwest Washington, nostalgia overwhelmed me; I was being
mysteriously summoned to “The Yard,” my alma mater, Howard University,
“The Capstone of Negro Education.” Relenting to the spirit, I rolled onto
main campus, past the security guard station, which kindly waved me in,
after looking at the mud on my car, my Missouri tags, and that “don’t you
know me” look in my confident eyes. Cars, as usual, were parked
everywhere. But as fate, and the good Lord, would have it, we found the
perfect spot.

We then headed for Cramton Auditorium to see what was up.
Unbeknown to us, the Right Reverend Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of
Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, and confidante of Barack
Obama, was just about to preach, when we entered the overflowing
vestibule. This was too wonderful to imagine. Others, we later learned, had
been redirected to three different overflow facilities, so massive were the
earlier crowds. But, our timing was exquisite. We walked right in. We were
blessed as Rev. Wright, also a Howard alumnus, preached “till my dungeon
shook, and my chains fell off”.

Leaving Howard, we retrieved “Silver” Inauguration tickets, and logistical
information, from the Capitol Hill office of our Congressman, the Honorable
Emmanuel Cleaver II, Democrat from Kansas City, Missouri, who had
kindly befriended us.

Thereafter, we drove to 13th and “U” Street, N. W. , to
Ben’s Chili Bowl, in a vain attempt to procure a legendary half-smoke,
newly popularized--indeed sanctified--by an unannounced, but televised,
visit of President-Elect Barack Obama during the previous week. The line
was too long to get in, so we shopped among the outdoor vendors at a
nearby Ethiopian flea-market, where all things Obama were on sale. After
purchasing a few items, we headed to Northeast Washington to the residence
of my late mother’s first cousin, Edward Merriweather, our obliging host.

Edward and his wife, Clementine, both retired school teachers, are natives of
Canton, Mississippi, also my birth place. Their sense of family and
hospitality are overwhelming. They spoiled us. We certainly did not lack
for anything. Providentially, we resided only three blocks from the D.C.
Armory subway station, our means of transportation to and from the
inauguration at the Capitol.

The morning before the inauguration, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday,
I attended a Howard University Law School Alumni Association luncheon,
at Marriott Hotel, 14th and Pennsylvania, N.W., where I delivered the
invocation, which was keynoted by Congressman Gregory Meek of New
York, who was a year behind me at law school. The empty seat on the dais
next to me was to have been occupied by Illinois Senator Roland Burris,
another Howard Law alumnus, but he did not appear. At the luncheon, I was
pleased to see my good friends, and Howard Law graduates Kamau King,
Kwame Osei Reed, Donald Thigpen, and Robert Bell, all National Bar Association stalwarts,among others.

That evening we finally got our half-smokes from Ben’s! Once again, we battled the long lines, but there was an irrestible and lively esprit d'corps, among the prospective consumers, which mitigated the cold and the length of the wait.

Finally, the day of reckoning arrived. We had been warned to arrive early
due to record crowds. We heeded that advise, but it did not matter. The
crowd was prehensile, contiguous, viscous, alive. Getting to one’s
designated area was an act of grace, subject to fluid dynamics. The logistics
were designed to effectuate the very diverse crowd’s control, not to expedite
movement, nor to differentiate among ticket holders. No official knew
anything about anything, except “keep moving.” After hopelessly battling
the Mall crowd for 4 hours, and finally being blocked by a phalanx of
mounted police, I had a choice to make: stand where I was and see and hear
nothing Presidential , in the cold; or catch the subway back to my cousin’s
house, where food, beverages, warmth, a television and a front-row seat
awaited me. Hello, Brother Obama! And good-bye, brother! I booked.

Headed back to the subway station, I encountered my lovely wife, standing
in yet, another long serpentine queue, of course. Serendipitously, I had
somehow passed her in route to the National Mall, even though she had
caught the train, before me. When I told her I was headed back to Edward’s
home, owing to the lack of accessibility for “silver” ticket holders, she
declined my invitation to return, and ignored my admonition about lack of
access, and stuck it out. She claims that she ended up hearing, but not seeing
anything, being blocked by a tree near the wading pool. As for me, I saw
and heard; ate and drank; was warm and well-seated, enjoying instant replay.
God bless America, and to each his own!

Below are links to some photos of our beautiful First Family:
http://news.aol.com/main/politics/article/obamas-in-new-yorkcity/
452442?icid=webmailwbmlaol
dl1link5http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Fmain%2Fpolitics%2Farticl
e%2Fobamas-in-new-york-city%2F452442

Quantum Theology

“Quantum Theology”-- (A poem without end)
Friday, June 12, 2009...
By Rev. Dr. Larry D. Coleman

1

On the verge of happiness
On the edge of joy
Toward “Quantum Theology”
We must employ:

2

All disciplines available
To usher in--
A man-God relationship
Devoid of “sin“;

3

Bereft of “evil,”
It shall subsume
The notion of devotion
And the shock of doom.

4

Jesus died on the cross
To expiate
The “sins” of all and
To propitiate:

5

Yet, prevailing doctrine
Promotes the conceit:
His life, death and resurrection
Are yet incomplete.

6

Despite his oblation
So perfect and true,
There remains a cross
For me and a cross for you.

7

If “sin” precedes
And if “sin” is abides
Was the Savior’s death
Mere fratricide?

8

Of no force, nor effect?
Just another dead Jew
On a Roman cross
In the morning dew?

9

“Heaven and earth shall pass away:
But my words shall not pass away.”
Mark 13:31 predicts, while Gen. 1:1
“In the beginning God” inveighs:

10

An ineffable energizing spirit,
Creator of time and space;
The devolution of matter,
Within God’s enduring grace.

11

Jehovah created Good and Evil
According to Isaiah 45:7.
“He is before all things,” says Col.1:17
“and in him all things hold together.”

12

“To be or not to be,”
Wrote Shakespeare in Hamlet.
The harmony of polarity is
Quantum Theology’s epaulet.

13

Whether wave or dot nor neither
Each observer’s act decides.
Here and there simultaneously,
Where curses and blessings betide.

14

Both Literal and figurative together
At once, male and female too.
It’s the reconciliation of allegory
With what science believes is true.

15

It’s where math and myth
Approve each other’s theorems;
Where life in all dominions
Is varied as Solomon’s harems.

16

Where everybody is somebody
On God’s spectrum of being
Where everything is everything
Divinely imbued with meaning.

17

“Who (or what) shall separate us from
The love of Christ?” asks Rom.8:35
“Neither death nor life, nor angels nor
Principalities ...” no jive!

18

“Nor things present nor things to come,
Nor height nor depth, nor any other --
Created thing, shall… separate us
From … Christ” our brother.

19

In Christ, the wolf and the lamb shall dwell together.
Likewise, The leopard and the kid.
Cow and bear are not otherwise.
Nor shall the knowledge of the Lord be hid.

20

Isaiah 11:10 predicts: “a root shall come out of Jesse,”
Whom the Gentiles will seek,
Enabling recovery of that ancient remnant,
And the redemption of the meek.

21

The amorphous God and the personal God
Exist as one and the same.
“His" Uncertainty Principle, And
“His” Ordered Universe both bear “His” sacred name.

22

Symbol and substance walk together
From one source both having come,
Light and dark and day and night
Unite in the Summum Bonum.

23

Like a treasure hid in a field, Matt.13:44,
Quantum theology awaited “discovery”
By intrepid explorers, undaunted;
Wholly fixated on its recovery.

24

That which was, that which is,
and that which is yet to be;
Sanctified, mortified, glorified:
There for the blessed to “see.”

25

Great in the kingdom of heaven
Are they who do and teach divine law.
But least in the kingdom of heaven
Are they who do not, but scofflaw. (Matt.5:19)

26

Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. (Matt.16:24)

27

Heed what you hear: (Mark 4:24)
With what measure you mete, it shall be measured
to you--Pressed down, shaken together (Luke 6:38)
And running over: a good measure is your treasure.

28

Go not into the way Gentiles, nor Samaritans,
But only to “Jews” who are “worthy"; (Matt.10:5-15)
Then, only extend your peace to them conditionally.
Should it be rejected, shake off their dust fully.

29

While all may grieve, all may not receive.
Just like all seed does not bear fruit.
And that fig tree which bears leaves but no food
is deservedly cut off at the root.

30

For he that hath to him shall be given:
And he that hath not, from him shall be taken
Even that which he hath. (Mark 4:25)Sow, then,
Sower your seed faithfully, without fear, awakened.

31

For God has not given us the spirit
Of fear. But of love and of power
And of a sound mind. (2 Tim.1:7) We are
“Thechildren of God” (Rom.8:16) every day and hour.

32

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us,(Ephe.3:20)
through his spiritual food and drink;

33

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.