So Heavenly Bound, We're no Earthly Good...

I learned something this week.

I knew that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

I knew that the UDHR is considered the most translated document in the world.

I remember learning in my political science classes that the Declaration was derived directly from the world's experience of World War II. I knew that it represents the first global expressions of human rights.

I am aware that various treaties, constitutions and laws have been formulated with the UDHR as their basis.

I knew that during the course of it's 60 years in existence, the Declaration has the force of international law.

I have read that, in the face of genocidal atrocities under the administration of President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir, the UN has issued a warrant for the arrest of President Bashir under the auspices of the Declaration and the ICC (International Criminal Court).

I've learned that this past December, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration, the Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrice invited Church of God in Christ Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake to participate in a signing of a document known as the Faith in the Declaration of Human Rights. It's purpose is to affirm that, even after the tragedy of World War Two, sixty years ago, we still agree that human rights must be protected around the world. Many diplomats and religious leaders from around the world joined in this auspicious occasion. And so Bishop Blake sent an emissary to participate on the Church's behalf.

I've also learned that this action has ignited a firestorm of controversy. There are those in the church world who have gone on record to say that participating in this exciting demonstration of peace keeping is to endorse gay marriage. Huh?? How did you get that out of this signing?? Nowhere in the Universal Declaration does the issue of gay matrimony come up. Rights where it comes down to sexual orientation are not mentioned here... The document clearly is designed to deal with tyranny, slavery and genocide.... not sex.

Then I learned that there are those who say to participate is to violate and ignore denominational doctrine. They say why are you participating with other religions.... They don't believe how we believe... The fact that Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and a host of other religions participated in this event is interesting. For my perspective, there is one common denominator with all these religions... Peace is at the foundation of total human completeness..... I don't know if that is doctrinally sound, but from my view of the world that's a fact...

Are the people of the Lord supposed to sit in our pews and do nothing as world tyranny, poverty, atrocities and the like just run rampant in the community and the world? I mean, God is in me and when he says move, I move... I believe in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and in it I am directed to move about the community building peace, love and working to promote social and economic justice, and alleviate poverty as tangible expressions of the Kingdom of God...

These days people are seeking God more desperately than ever, isn't that evidence that the Holy Spirit wants us to get busy in the direction of combating the evil principalities in the world and promote peace and love?

Church folk need to stop getting so caught up in holiness that you can't see the forest for the trees.. We need to get out of our pews, get from behind the walls of our churches and get out in these streets and advance Christ's agenda.. Be demonstrative to the masses that which is the commandment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - love one another. In today's world, we cannot show love sitting up in our churches with our hats and suits, we have to hit the bricks whether it's in our communities or on the world stage...

As to the argument that we should not be associating with other religions, that in and of itself is an interesting conversation. This is the part that feels to me like folk are reducing the issue down to spiritual gangbanging.... I prefer to think it's about relationship with God not Religion.

All I know is that you will not lose any portion of the light that burns inside you if you share it with the world... In fact it is that light that will attract the world to you so you can be a witness to the essence of God in Jesus Christ...

For me, the symbolism of joining the world in making a stance against genocide, tyranny and injustice is powerful to me. To do nothing says that we're so heavenly bound, we're no earthly good.


 

"And He said to me, "Son of Man, can these bones live?" So I answered, O Lord God, You know."
Ezekiel 37:3

After years of doing things the same old way, executing the same old policies, promoting our essence based on the old concepts and procedures, we find ourselves realizing that change is inevitable. The old ways are dead. There's a new way of thinking, a new consciousness. A new order... We have to change.
Change how we want our country to work.
Change how we look at our neighborhoods.
Change how we walk.
Change our talk.
Change and/or increase our spiritual consciousness.

But we find change is not easy. We have found a measure of success doing what we do for all this time, but we have not gotten higher. People know us for what we do when we do it. People expect us to be what we are when we are it. And this makes us comfortable. But deep inside, we know that it is time for change. We are not living life to the fullest potential as God has planned for us....
Stagnant.
Dead.
Dried up.

But it's not that we don't know what to do for positive change in our lives, we know what it is that will add to our essence. We know we have the skills, the contacts, the experience to go higher.. We know and feel that God has so much more for us in our lives... so what is the next level?

In the scripture quoted at the top of this blog, the prophet is shown a valley full of dry bones. The bones represent the whole house of Israel who has given up all hope of reviving their kingdom because they had been captives of Babylon for 10 years. And so God asks the prophet "Can these bones live?" His answer "Lord God, You Know"... The prophet knows that God is all powerful, omnipotent and merciful and he already knows the answer to the query. In our Bible, we can look to Ezekiel 37.. the story of the dry bones.. (you can read it here)

Sometimes I think we forget that we are children of God... oh yes, we go to church, we pray and meditate, and even as we read our bibles, we lose hope. We become stale. Complacent. We forget that our God can do anything. We have forgotten that he can certainly guide us to the highest potential. We have forgotten that he will revive our vigor, our enthusiasm and stimulate within us the creative vision to lift us to the next level... We have to have faith. We have to tap into that inner strength that got us to this level and leverage it to take us to that next level.

In the text, God instructs the prophet to speak to the bones. He told the prophet to tell the bones to hear the word of the Lord- the word that tells them to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19)... The word that tells us that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us (Eph 3:20) When the prophet spoke, the Lord moved, breathing life into the bones to where they were restored with skin, sinews and stood up to be again a strong army... 

And so we have to speak to our situation. Yes, life and death is in the power of the tongue, so we have to encourage ourselves. Tell our situation about our God. And God will therefore move and promote and elevate you to the next level.  When we find ourselves stagnant, needing change, looking for the next level, all we need to do is trust God to move in our lives and we can step forth with courage and conviction because we know that God is able to do anything. And if he is able to do anything, he can certainly guide us to the high potential that he has planned for our lives. If he can raise an army from a valley full of dry bones, he can certainly move in our lives to take us to the next level. If he can raise Jesus from the dead (graveyard dead), than he can certainly resurrect the vim and vigor in your consciousness causing you to continue to achieve greatness.

Faith in the Lord combined with decisive action will bring us to the next level. Faith without works is dead.

Stay Focused my brothers and sisters.
Be encouraged.
Trust in the Lord.
And always Love One Another....
 

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a
chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.
It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to
find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.
It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.
Period.
But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President
Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism. This most certainly was
not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.
However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had
differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an
opportunity for payback. To them, no apology is due.
Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

Some say this is not a racist portrayal, but merely a satirization- a parody of the tragic incident,where a chimpanzee went berserk, mauling the owner's friend to the point of inflicting life-altering injuries. Police had to be called who shot and killed the primate. They say the satirized chimp represents the Democratic Congress who pushed the Stimulus bill through.

At first I saw the parallels and what the cartoonist saw, but as I thought about it - I find myself asking why the cartoonist and editors of the Post could not see that this was a bad joke that could result in the community taking offense to the piece. Sometimes you tell a joke that is not funny. The history of racism and prejudice in America is rife with the imagery of chimps, monkeys, baboons and gorillas being used to describe black people. The image of the chimp is offensive. Not to mention that the animal is being killed...Are you saying President Barack should be killed? President Obama deserves much more respect than this. He is due the same decorum and elevation that every other American President has received.

I watched Anderson Cooper 360 the other night and he had a panel consisting of David Gergen, Ron Christie and Roland Martin. I was very surprised even as David Gergen saw the racist imagery as did Roland Martin. Ron Christie (in his words "a proud black man"), could not. He cautioned against seeing racism behind everything and while I feel him on that point, I agree with Gergen and Martin, finding it hard to believe that he could not, no strike that, would not see the problem with the cartoon. I think he is being untruthful to himself, proud black man that he is... click here to see the conversation...

I think the lesson to be learned from this is that the imagery of racism past still exists. I agree with Roland Martin when he says "I'm going to call it out every time I see it"...

This cartoon was intended as a joke. It was a bad joke. Not funny. A dud. New York Post, your comedy bombed... But in the process you've reminded us that the struggle continues and the more things change, the more they stay the same....

"Today, I'm giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and
disaster...Deuteronomy 30:15

"rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing constant in prayer.."

LaBelle: 30 years later

Is it just me or does it annoy you when groups who were popular back in the day get back together for a last go round.... They make the national tour circuit, they get the massive PR blitz and then when you get to the show, they sound really bad... I mean like they should have just stayed home... I went to see LaBelle last week. They came to the Nokia Center at LA Live... and I have to admit they were stupendous, off the chain, awesome, super, all that and some chips!!!

I really liked this girl group back in the day seventies when they were out. Remember they had the futuristic outrageous outfits and the socially conscious lyricism... Their harmonies were off the hook. I remember "Come into my Life, Get Somebody New and of course the R&B/Disco classic "Lady Marmalade"... And while this is not the first time they reunited, I was really excited about this reunion for the simple fact that I just was not aware of the earlier reunions.
 

Interestingly enough, there was not a lot of press regarding their appearance in Los Angeles. And perhaps that explains the lack of buzz regarding their appearance. In my opinion the show should have been hosted in a smaller venue as the Nokia Center was not the optimal location for a LaBelle Reunion show. Sad to report, there were a LOT of empty seats in the Nokia Center... This program would have been more effective inside the Club Nokia or one of the smaller venues around town. That said, the group fought through sound issues (OK,Live Nation, I have been to a couple of shows where your sound was really sub-par... I mean Teena Marie, LaBelle and even a few more R&B legacy artists of whom I will not mention here but my opinion of y'all in LA consists of poor sound production),,,

 

I was amazed at how beautiful the women of Labelle looked. I have seen Patti LaBelle a thousand times and she has definitely is an R&B legend after she left LaBelle... And Sarah Dash, she has remained active in the industry over the years, but I have to say, I was surprised to be reminded how she had the body of life back in the day and now she is a healthy, size 17/18...(that's my estimate meaning to say she is a voluptuous woman as opposed to the brick house she was back in the day... of the three females, Sarah had the body of life...)

 

These women were off the chain... experienced, charming, entertaining.... But I was most struck by Nona Hendryx... from the moment they took the stage, her energy was apparent... I was really surprised when the ladies confessed their ages... Patti and Nona is 64 and Sarah is 63... But Nona was clearly to me, the most beautiful... No disrespect to the other ladies, but I am trying to tell you that Nona Hendyx is FOINE!!!

 

I did not know that Nona wrote most of their songs.. It was apparent that Nona was a phenomenal songwriter...And upon further review, she is certainly due her respect... But up until this point I just did not know... I mean this was an awesome group back in the day.. and Nona's creativity was central to that success...
 

During the middle of the set, they showed film clips of LaBelle from back in the day...I don't know about the rest of the audience, But I really appreciated where LaBelle came from and where they were today, as I watched the vids on the big screens in the venue....
 

Amid technical difficulties and what seemed to be uncertainly of the house as they seemed surprised at the house attendance LaBelle was off tha hook.... I am so glad they sang Isn't it a Shame... And while their new core audience (the LBGT segment was THICK in the House) definitely supports Nona and Patti, I am not sure they remember, appreciate or celebrate the legacy this girl group has with the timeline that is black music history...

 

All I know is that LaBelle in 2009 still captured the essence of what they were back when I was in school.... Tight harmonies, stage chemistry...and a library of songs that will always be a central element of black music history....

 

LaBelle... if you can, check them out... support this legacy group by your attendance....