Hello World,

Basie Skanks brought in this eventful episode with a sermon that has got everyone in Memphis talking about it…And you will understand it by and by if you keep reading my “Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 12.”

House of Cards…

While he may no longer be playing poker (for the moment), Basie is still using his pulpit to run game. In his explosive sermon calling out pastors who refuse to address homosexuality and homophobia, Basie says, “It’s not enough to say God is love. It’s time to say God loves gays.” While he may wholeheartedly believe his message, I’m sure we all know by now that Basie has an ulterior motive for everything. Meanwhile, Darius the journalist and Gigi’s boyfriend, is steady scribbling notes in the sanctuary as Basie “spits game.”

At the breakfast table, the Greenleafs dissect Basie’s words via the newspaper article that Darius has written about Basie and the topic of homosexuality and homophobia in the black church. Bishop believes that this article is directed to addressing the city’s bathroom bill. Grace makes sure to tell her parents that she only agrees with Basie on “one issue.” However, it does trouble her that Calvary was mentioned in the article but she knew nothing about the piece beforehand. Lady Mae says, “He’s tugging at the threads that hold this family together” in reference to Basie. Bishop says, “It’s time for me and Jesus to pay a call on Basie Skanks.”

Over at the parsonage, which seems to be held together by threads as well, Kerissa complains about the home’s electrical wiring. “This whole house needs to be rewired.” Jacob tells her he cannot afford to pay for that at the moment and asks her to stop getting so upset about it. She responds with, “I will be done when this house stops twitching like a person possessed.” She ends her tirade with, “Get a job.” She further explains that all pastors with small churches have an additional job. My father has been the pastor of a small church for most of my life and didn’t have a second job most of the time (Sometimes, he worked as a college professor). But on the other hand, my childhood home wasn’t prone to random explosions either. LOL.

Make Yours a Happy Home…

Since Kevin is still MIA, Grace has been named the new director of outreach at Calvary. Grace’s secretary Darlene asks Grace if she will still continue to preach since she has a new position. (When was the last time she preached?) Grace tells her she doesn’t know and says it may be just as well since she doesn’t exactly fit the preacher prototype. Wisely, Darlene says, “Some folks never fit in no matter how hard they try” and explains that may be a good thing anyway. I agree. Too many houses of God seem to have cookie-cutter people.

As he said he would, Bishop pays a visit to Basie’s house of God. He walks into Basie’s office where this big dude in a black leather jacket is telling Basie that he is owed money. Before Bishop is able to hear everything, Basie sees him and rushes the man out of his office. Bishop says,”Stay away from my family.” He specifically mentions Gigi. “I won’t part with her easily.” “You said the judgment is coming. It is. It’s coming for you,” Bishop goes on to say.

Later on, back at Calvary, Bishop boasts it about with Lady Mae. “I called the man a fool in his own church. I told the man he is flailing.” Lady Mae tells Bishop she believes there is more to the story about what went down with Basie and Jacob. They decide to visit Jacob and Kerissa in their home.

Just then, the couple is interrupted by a call from Miss Cross. Of course. Bishop is prepared to not take the call, but Lady Mae tells him to take it as she has a meeting with Jacinta Butler. Bishop asks her what she has going on with Ms. Butler. “Is there no ragged part of the world that you’re not knitting together?” Just as Lady Mae is leaving her husband’s office, Bishop says to Miss Cross. “You were just on my mind. Please call me James.” Something tells me that Miss Cross is well on her way to breaking up a happy home.

After Bishop’s conversation with Miss Cross, Grace confronts her father with news she discovered about Kevin after looking through his files. She discovered that he was attending for Fortitude for Families meetings and referred to the program as “self-flagellation.” She asks Bishop when he is going to address the issue directly in church. He tells her she needs to be patient and not press the issue. ” Only God knows when homosexuals will be as welcome as anyone else, but I’m prepared to practice patience.” Grace is not satisfied with his stance to which Bishop responds he will pray on it.

The House Always Wins…

In another part of Calvary, Charity is applying makeup when Jabari comes into her office. “I’ve never seen a face that needs less powder and paint than yours,” he says. Apparently, they are working together on a song for Nicole Mullen and he brings her some sort of device ( I don’t know what it is exactly) that she can use to make music. “So you don’t want me to come to Nashville anymore,” Charity asks Jabari. He tells her that is not the case…Hmmm….Let’s move on for now…

The eldest “Greenleaf girl” Lady Mae meets with Jacinta Butler, president of the St. Josephine Society from last week’s episode. She runs the debutante program in which Zora and Sophia are now able to participate in courtesy of Rochelle Cross. Speaking of Rochelle, Jacinta reveals that Rochelle is a “wizard with money” and handles Jacinta’s finances. (I guess that is why she was able to make such a large donation to Calvary. Also, I had once thought Rochelle was connected to Basie, but if that was true, wouldn’t Rochelle have helped out the cash-strapped Basie by now?) Lady Mae tells her that Rochelle told her what happened at her previous church, Greater Redeemer. Jacinta seems shocked that Lady Mae knows about what happened and refers to it as a “terrible situation.” “As if the man has to have no self-control.” Say what? That aine what Rochelle said happened at Greater Redeemer. But I’m not worried. Lady Mae wasn’t born yesterday and Rochelle doesn’t know who she’s messing with…but she gon learn…I will bet on Lady Mae over Rochelle any day. Y’all know the house always wins.

Speaking of she gon learn, Zora and her little boyfriend Isaiah or Gospel Chris Brown as I like to call him are up in her bedroom taking “study breaks” when her daddy discovers them. “He’s helping me with biology,” she tells her father. LOL…Sho is…Jacob kicks Isaiah out of the house before telling him he is violating house rules.

Also in violation of house rules, Rochelle is in the house of God continuing to spit game (this time in person) to Bishop. He tells her what happened with Basie. I guess telling all of this to his wife didn’t garner enough stroking of his ego. Men can be so funny this way. Always looking to have their egos stroked. “I told him the next time my name passes his lips, it should be in the context of praise.” Rochelle responds with, “This just reinforces my decision to make Calvary my church home.” Smh…

I’ll House You…

Charity asks Grace to watch Nathan for her while she is on a date with Jabari. Although Grace has a date with Darius as well, she agrees to do so and hopes Darius won’t mind watching her nephew since they will be just be at the Greenleaf estate anyway.

Bishop and Lady Mae, however, ventured from the estate and to Jacob and Kerissa’s home. While there, Bishop tells the couple that as he was building Calvary, he worked a two jobs in addition to being a pastor. He sold Bibles door to door and worked in maintenance and groundskeeping. Bishop also tries to get more information about Basie from Jacob and tells him about the man he saw in Basie’s office. He describes him as “rough-hewn” and the kind of “man that hangs around a pool hall.” “Is he doing prison ministry these days?” Jacob doesn’t reveal the full truth and instead quotes 1 John 2:5. Lady Mae calls Basie “Nebuchadnezzar.” LOL. Kerissa tries to tell Lady Mae and Bishop what is going on with electrical wiring in their home, but Jacob stops her from telling that information too.

Charity is getting nowhere fast either. At the end of her date with Jabari, he kisses her on the cheek after she smacked him on the lips last week! What’s up with that?

And Grace’s date doesn’t turn out much better. She asks him Darius did he interview Carlton for this article and why didn’t he tell her about it. She also mentions that her father wasn’t approached about the article. I agree. As a journalist, you should always strive to get both sides or all sides of every story if possible. Darius blows up and says that Grace is always finding a way to push him away. She responds with asking him why he doesn’t go to church. Before he leaves, he says, “I’ve never gotten so little from someone and stuck around.”

Later on, Charity and Grace discuss their dudes and dates. Charity says, “I don’t think he’s gay. I don’t what he is.” I don’t think Charity should be dating right now anyway. The divorce papers haven’t even cooled down yet, and the father of her child could be anywhere on God’s green earth!

Back at Jacob’s house, Kerissa pushes the electrical wiring issue with Jacob and he blows up. He tells he is finally the man that she prayed for him to be all of those years that he was creeping! (You have to wonder why she stayed with him while he was doing that.) “I have the moral authority that you prayed for me to have. Trust me and trust Him. Wait.” Alright, the man has spoken. I think I agree with him. I think…He also tells her to pay more attention to their daughter, who gets up hung up on by Isaiah later in the episode when she couldn’t take his call because of debutante duties. What a jerk!

Much later on, Darius shows back up at the Greenleaf estate to tell her why he is so salty with the church. Apparently, his wife died in a car accident and when he asked the pastor to help him understand why God would allow that happen, the pastor told him, “It’s best we don’t question God.” So, Darius is suffering from church hurt. “I was holding back and that was why.”

Likely in violation of Jacob’s house rules, Kerissa seems to be like “I’ll house you” or “I’ll show you.” She meets with Bishop and Lady Mae and tells it all – how they used their savings to pay for the Triumph land and parsonage. “We’ve got the land and the house but we should have gotten Triumph .” “That would beat that two-acre soup kitchen you’ve got right now,” Lady Mae says. Leave it Lady Mae with the one-liners! Bwwaaaa! She also tells how Basie still owes over $250,000 of the church’s money! After all of this, she asks them not to tell Jacob. They promise not to do so…

Below is a snippet from “House Rules.”

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