Yesterday evening, during our R3 study group, among other things, we discussed and searched for the origin of the apparent disdain among "our" people for books, reading, and, indeed, learning or studying as prevailing values.
We attributed this, in part, to our transition to and acquisition of materialist values at every level of "our" society. We posited that knowledge and wisdom were essentially spiritual values, which have fallen into unspoken disfavor.
As we resolved to investigate the causes of this cataclysmic shift, and when, where and how it first began to manifest among us, we sensed, rightly I believe, that the answer to this question may also supply a solution to its harmful effects.
Such effects/affects include the usual litany of woes paraded before us in sociological studies, epidemiological forecasts, police blotters, and daily media reports. The true story, however, we came to recognize, during our discussion, is that similar forces and conditions produce different outcomes among neighbors, relatives, even siblings. As an instance of this, we looked at how certain uneducated parents emphasized the value of the acquisition of knowledge in the upbringing of their children, and how their children prospered in accordance with this emphasis. We also looked at its predictable parallel: Where education was not a value, and how this led to prison, deprivation, early death, exceptions notwithstanding. The marvel is that we are yet alive and see each other's faces, http://www.lyricstime.com/hymn-and-are-we-yet-alive-lyrics.html given our historic oppression. It did not kill us, so it made us stronger, whether we realize this or not. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_does_the_saying_'What_doesn't_kill_you_makes_you_stronger'_come_from
Frankly, we don't know our own strength.
"Exceptions" are the key. The exceptions are the "whosoever's" mentioned in the Bible. Because everything and everyone that God made was and is unique, and because God is no respecter of persons, I propose that we cast our net to "whosoever," rather than simply to "us." Who really is "us," anyway? Is not limiting our net to us limiting us?
"Our" people are so heavily invested in and bonded to others, especially "our" former oppressors, that separating "us" from "them" will be like separating "the wet from water, or the dry from sand," to quote Smokey Robinson. Better to let the "wheat and the tares" grow up together "until the harvest" when angels can distinguish them. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.
Our spiritual reach (knowledge and wisdom acquired from, and through, reading, writing and arithmetic) should spread to, and enrich, all in its wake, "whosoever" they may be. That is the very definition of "choosing the better part." Luke 10:42.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Righteous But Imperfect
“RIGHTEOUS BUT IMPERFECT”
(tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy)
By Rev. Dr. Larry D. Coleman
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
2 Chronicles 25:1-2 reads as follows--
1: Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
2: And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
Let us pray.
Earlier this week, we witnessed the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. “We,” folks my age and older, knew him as “Teddy.” He was the baby brother of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, “Bobby.”
We watched the growth and maturation of Edward Kennedy. From a somewhat wild, impetuous, overshadowed and under-achieving scion of a rich and ambitious family, to a very wise and very principled and historic “Lion of the Senate.”
Many of us matured with him. Agonized with him. Triumphed with him. And, in the end, we suffered, courageously, with him through the brain cancer, which killed him, but which could not conquer him. Or his legacy.
“O Death where is your sting! O Grave where is your victory!" 1 Corinthians15:55
Sen. Kennedy was a righteous man. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, 1 year ahead of the death of one brother, John, and 6 years before the death of another brother, Bobby, he served in the Senate over almost 50 years. http://kennedy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Kennedy%20Accomplishments.pdf
Sen. Kennedy was also an imperfect man. This trait he shares with us all. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
As our scriptural text from 2 Chronicles 25:2 reflects, however, one can be imperfect and still do that which is right in the sight of God! Senator Kennedy was such a man!
Would that we were all so blessed! Hallelujah and Amen!
(tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy)
By Rev. Dr. Larry D. Coleman
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
2 Chronicles 25:1-2 reads as follows--
1: Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
2: And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.
Let us pray.
Earlier this week, we witnessed the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. “We,” folks my age and older, knew him as “Teddy.” He was the baby brother of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, “Bobby.”
We watched the growth and maturation of Edward Kennedy. From a somewhat wild, impetuous, overshadowed and under-achieving scion of a rich and ambitious family, to a very wise and very principled and historic “Lion of the Senate.”
Many of us matured with him. Agonized with him. Triumphed with him. And, in the end, we suffered, courageously, with him through the brain cancer, which killed him, but which could not conquer him. Or his legacy.
“O Death where is your sting! O Grave where is your victory!" 1 Corinthians15:55
Sen. Kennedy was a righteous man. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, 1 year ahead of the death of one brother, John, and 6 years before the death of another brother, Bobby, he served in the Senate over almost 50 years. http://kennedy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Kennedy%20Accomplishments.pdf
Sen. Kennedy was also an imperfect man. This trait he shares with us all. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
As our scriptural text from 2 Chronicles 25:2 reflects, however, one can be imperfect and still do that which is right in the sight of God! Senator Kennedy was such a man!
Would that we were all so blessed! Hallelujah and Amen!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Old School Styling Back in the Day
OLD SCHOOL “STYLING” BACK IN THE DAY
(St. Louis, Missouri adolescence recalled)
Back in the day, the brothers were clean.
That was part of the set, part of the scene.
The music was hot, the sisters were cold.
The lingo was hip, the spirit was bold.
The era was ‘60s, all about change.
Anything went, and nothing was strange.
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
Too cool to riot, we chilled in “The ‘Lou.”
While other cities burned, we jammed anew.
Doing the 2-step, the 3-step and the Bop.
The Deal, the Dog and the Slop.
Sure, Stokely came through on a blaze.
But there was also Jimi and his “Purple Haze.”
Malcolm had his moment, as did Dr. King.
But the crowds came out when James did his thing.
“Mama come here quick,
And bring your lickin’ stick! Owwww!”
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
After Steinberg skating and a White Castle treat
Came some Forest Park loving, real discreet.
There was the Rocking Mr. G and Bernie Hayes
There was the mighty Steve Byrd all ablaze.
“Black Radio” rocked all day and all night.
There were house parties galore, yet very few fights.
The pertinent question was the name of your school.
Your answer defined the depth of your “cool.”
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
Of course “cool” was relative in attribution.
But “jive” was categorical in its diminution.
One’s rhythm on the dance floor and even one’s walk
Could broadcast one’s status as quick as one’s talk.
Nuanced and complex was the social interplay
Among St. Louis’ black teenagers back in the day.
Looking back at the Arch some 40 years later
No adolescent experience could’ve been greater!
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
#30
(St. Louis, Missouri adolescence recalled)
Back in the day, the brothers were clean.
That was part of the set, part of the scene.
The music was hot, the sisters were cold.
The lingo was hip, the spirit was bold.
The era was ‘60s, all about change.
Anything went, and nothing was strange.
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
Too cool to riot, we chilled in “The ‘Lou.”
While other cities burned, we jammed anew.
Doing the 2-step, the 3-step and the Bop.
The Deal, the Dog and the Slop.
Sure, Stokely came through on a blaze.
But there was also Jimi and his “Purple Haze.”
Malcolm had his moment, as did Dr. King.
But the crowds came out when James did his thing.
“Mama come here quick,
And bring your lickin’ stick! Owwww!”
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
After Steinberg skating and a White Castle treat
Came some Forest Park loving, real discreet.
There was the Rocking Mr. G and Bernie Hayes
There was the mighty Steve Byrd all ablaze.
“Black Radio” rocked all day and all night.
There were house parties galore, yet very few fights.
The pertinent question was the name of your school.
Your answer defined the depth of your “cool.”
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
Of course “cool” was relative in attribution.
But “jive” was categorical in its diminution.
One’s rhythm on the dance floor and even one’s walk
Could broadcast one’s status as quick as one’s talk.
Nuanced and complex was the social interplay
Among St. Louis’ black teenagers back in the day.
Looking back at the Arch some 40 years later
No adolescent experience could’ve been greater!
Beep-beep, bang-bang, umgawah--Black Power.
#30
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