Hello World,
Yes, I am writing recaps for each episode of “Greenleaf” for this first season at least and yes, I know I missed last week’s episode. But I have a great reason why I was unable to do so last week. I was getting my hair done and the appointment ran late. Yes, that late…smh…
Anywhow, I swear Oprah, her team of “Greenleaf” writers and OWN are determined to unearth every issue that has ever happened at somebody’s church throughout these not-so United States (right now, anyway). You will see what I mean…
Sisters of Tamar (not Tamar Braxton although she was named after the biblical Tamar I’m sure)…
This episode begins with a meeting of a sexual abuse survivors group that Grace formed. During this meeting, a woman named Stacy shares how her life seemed doomed from the moment she was born as her father felt he couldn’t afford another child. After her parents divorced, her mother began dating a man who became a father figure and began sexually abusing her. When Stacy’s husband comes to get her after the meeting is over, his aggressive tone suggests that although Stacy may no longer be abused by mother’s boyfriend, her husband has taken his place.
Jacob’s Ladder…
When you think of a ladder, you typically think about using it to climb higher, but if you’re already high, you can use a ladder to go lower even if you would rather not do so. That is the position that Jacob finds himself in during this episode. After Kerissa reveals that Jacob was getting it on with Alexa, Bishop Greenleaf’s assistant, in last week’s episode, the Bishop is now ready to deliver his punishment. Jacob will be relieved of all of his ministerial duties for 90 days. Oh, by the way, the Bishop has fired Alexa as well. Jacob accuses his father as using his infidelity as a reason to make GiGi (Grace), obviously his favorite, a preaching pastor rather than just a pastor on the Calvary staff.
When the Bishop tells his wife Lady Mae that Jacob is on punishment, she says that Jacob is only human and it’s not like the Bishop hasn’t been human before. Was she insinuating that the Bishop has cheated on Lady Mae before? Could be….But I’m not sure at the moment. Like Jacob, Lady Mae is afraid that this is the Bishop’s chance to get Grace in the pulpit as he obviously wants.
The Bishop wastes no time in approaching Grace about preaching to the 4,000 people that come to Calvary’s Memphis location the following Sunday as he will be preaching in Calvary’s Birmingham location. Apparently, they have churches in Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Knoxville Tennessee. She says so, but then he commands, “You’re going to do it.”
When Lady Mae realizes that Bishop has convinced Grace to preach on Sunday, she goes to see her daughter privately and asks that she does not use her sermon as a “switch to punish us publicly.” I wonder why Lady Mae is so threatened by her daughter’s presence. I’m thinking she is uneasy with how much influence Grace has over her father and the fact that Gigi tells the truth whether or not church folk approve…
Trapped in the Closet…
Charity Greenleaf continues to clash with Greenleaf choir director Nigel so much so that she complains to her husband. I’m surprised that Kevin is able to tear himself away from his phone, as he obsessively peruses various gay dating sites, long enough to give her advice, but he does. He suggests that he simply fire Nigel and find a suitable replacement. When she takes his advice, she is overwhelmed by the number of applicants. Kevin suggests that she treat the process like dating and simply and quickly subtract the applicants she knows she is not interested in and interview the remaining applicants. He should know since it seems he may be dating someone and not his wife in the near future. She bonds with one applicant so much that after they sing an impromptu rendition of “Jesus Be a Fence Around Me” (Jesus be a fence around your husband because he is going to get out…), she offers him the job during the interview. However, before he accepts her offer, he tells her he is openly gay and will be bringing his partner to church. Charity doesn’t mind his candor she says and he accepts her offer.
However, once Kevin learns of Charity’s selection, he does not approve as the choir director’s openness with his sexuality demonstrates how closeted he is…
Swing Out Sister…
With his sister poised to be hottest new preacher pastor at Greenleaf, Jacob realizes that he must have a plan B to secure his position. He meets some sort of business executive who could potentially guarantee that Calvary becomes a televised ministry. I’m surprised that as big as it is, the church is not already televised but maybe I’m missing something…Anywho, Jacob invites the business executive, whom he has bonded with over fantasy football, to the Greenleaf estate so the business executive and his wife can spend some time with Jacob and his wife. Well, the wife starts throwing herself at Jacob while her husband makes a play for Kerissa. When the evening is over, the flirty couple invites Jacob and Kerissa to enjoy their hot tub in a cabin as a foursome. Yes, they swing like that…
Once they leave, Jacob asks Kerissa if she is down for what this couple is proposing. She answers, “Who knows what your stock is going to be once [Grace] closes that Bible on Sunday?” Kerissa is such a team player! And Jacob appreciates her willingness to be on his team so much so that he tries to start something with his wife (hey Alexa is gone), but she is not trying to do that…In other words, Kerissa is willing to get down with another man for her husband but not actually with her husband…That’s deep and even Jacob realizes that…
So on the night that they are supposed to get together with The Swingers (since I don’t know their name) with Kerissa in a strappy little purple number, Jacob decides that he longer wants to meet them. He tells Kerissa he doesn’t want another man touching his wife and says, “You’re mine.” And just like that, Kerissa happily dissolves in her husband’s arms…Great scene!
Sermons on Demand…
As Gigi never wanted to preach a sermon in the first place, she is stumped about what what she will say on Sunday. Zora, Jacob’s daughter, says when her father doesn’t know what to say, he buys a sermon online and reads it in front of the church. Gigi doesn’t believe her and decides to google buying sermons. To her surprise, she finds a site where she can download a sermon on demand for a small fee of course. But before she can continue to think about her sermon, she gets word that Stacy was beaten up by her husband and needs a place for her and her daughters to stay for a while. When she cannot find a suitable location, she puts them up at a hotel. She is surprised to discover that Stacy doesn’t intend on staying away from her husband forever as she wants her daughters to have a father as she didn’t have one. Still Grace continues to hope that Stacy will have the strength to be able to stay away from him anyway.
At church on Sunday, Lady Mae, who is happy to see Jacob and his wife smiling and happy together, tells him that Grace will not be able to get the upper hand although she is preaching. She says, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God and believe in me.” So that is a Bible verse: John 14:1 and refers to Jesus, but it seems that Lady Mae was referring to herself…So obviously, she has got a scheme planned. Her husband may be the head, but she is the neck which is how she was able to get Deaconess Connie Sykes back on as the head of the deacon board in this episode after the new head of the deacon board would not approve of the purchase of a new plane that the Bishop plans to buy…
So when Grace gets up in the pulpit, she begins to preach what seems to be a rather innocuous sermon she bought based on Matthew 6:28, but when she sees Stacy, donning sunglasses, sitting next to her abusive husband in the pews, she backs away from the New Testament and heads back to the Old Testament with Job 3:26.
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Yes, Lady Mae has every reason to be scared of her daughter Grace which is why the Bishop met with Grace’s favorite aunt Mavis. He believes she can tell him why Grace really came back to town, but instead of answering his question, she tells him he already knows the answer to her question…What happens at night is always revealed in the morning….my words not her words…Good Morning, Calvary…
Check out Aunt Mavis and Bishop Greenleaf discussing Grace below…
I cannot wait until next week…
Any thoughts?
Now this novel has been in the works for at least a year and this book isn’t the only one written about the experience. The fifth accuser, Centino Kemp, who wasn’t included in the initial lawsuit wrote a book entitled “First Lady,” which was published in 2013. If you want to read an interview with Kemp, check out The Christian Post’s interview with him about that work.
yours and the truth. I don’t know whose account is true, but prior to his January 2017 death from cancer, Bishop Long wrote his own story “The Untold Story – The Story of Adversity, Pain, and Resilience.” Now, according to an interview with Steve Harvey, Long could not address the sexual abuse allegations in the book but all three of these works should give insight into a tragic set of events.
