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Doubt…

Hello World,

Did you eat your collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day? I didn’t.  As far as I know, this is an American custom. I don’t think Jamaicans have a similar New Year’s Day custom – at least it wasn’t that way in my Jamaican household.

So rather than eating collard greens and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, I was at the movies. It’s been a long while since I’ve gone to the movies…I love movies, but I haven’t heard of very many movies lately that I’ve wanted to pay my money to see. But I must say I really enjoyed seeing the movie “Doubt.” I had heard about the movie, which stars Meryl Streep and Viola Davis, on NPR and “The View.” First of all, Meryl Streep is a beast, isn’t she? She is probably one of the best actresses of all time….She literally loses herself in every role. I loved her in “The Bridges of Madison County.” (Swoon, swoon) I hated and loved her in the “The Devil Wears Prada.” (She reminded me of my worst boss ever!) And in this movie, she is a tough-talking nun with a Bronx accent!  (And I believed it! She scared me!)  A beast, I tell you!

Also, I want to shout out Viola Davis too! You know I gotta shout out my black actresses! She is a remarkable actress with an equally remarkable story. Davis was the one actually featured on NPR and on “The View.” I really felt her pain as I watched her wide, wild, teary eyes accompanied by runaway snot in the movie.

Potential movie spoiler ahead! The movie is about a 1960s Catholic school in the Bronx that is undergoing “CHANGE” as its first black student has been admitted.  Sister Aloysius Beauvier, portrayed by Streep, is the principal of the school. Her no-nonsense demeanor and pinched face inspire dread and fear from the students to the teachers under her leadership. Her leadership and sensibilities are challenged by Father Flynn, portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (a beast in his own right. Remember him in “Boogie Nights?” ) Flynn, a card-carrying member of the good ole boy priest network, wants to bring about his own CHANGE at the school by injecting secular Christmas carols during the school’s Christmas program, taking the students on camping trips and other practices frowned upon by the Sister.

The two get locked in a battle of wits and will when the Sister suspects, without very much tangible evidence, that Flynn is having an (ahem) inappropriate relationship with the school’s first black student.  However, her relentless pursuit of Flynn along with a little white lie ultimately lead to Flynn resiging from the school. (Actually, in spite of the accusations directed at him, Flynn is put in a higher position at another school.) By the end of the movie, it is never absolutely proven that Flynn is guilty, and the Sister sobs as she admits she has doubts. And she never reveals exactly what she doubts. I think she doubted if Flynn was actually guilty, but I also think she doubted the Catholic church which has had a history of protecting some of its priests while allowing children to be abused by these  same priests.

Anyway, ALL of that to say, was is it that you have doubted in your life? Some believe that if you have never doubted your faith, then you have no real faith at all. Perhaps, the most famous Biblical doubter is Thomas aka Didymus. I remember how my fifth-grade teacher at Pathway Christian School said, “Didymus.” Something about the way he said it made me want to giggle. I think he even dressed up as the apostle once, but I digress…

Thomas said that he didn’t believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” John 20:25  Rather than banish him to Hell or even chide him, Jesus came to Thomas and instructed him to touch His hands and His side to remove his doubt. Of course, Thomas believed then. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

It was revealed in 2007 that Mother Teresa, too, had doubts about God. Read an article about it here.  In spite of her of her God-given call to the poor, she often wondered if God even existed and cared.

So my question is on this first Sunday of 2009 is, do you ever doubt that God exists? How do you know that God is real? Unlike Thomas, none of us alive now have been able to actually touch Jesus, see the nail prints on His hands or put our hands into His side? Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” But sometimes, don’t you just wish you could see…

Any thoughts?

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Hope. Wish.. Pray…

littlegirl2

Hello World!!!

Goodbye 2008! Hello 2009! By tomorrow, another year in the life of you and me will be over…I wonder what’s coming next! For roughly the past 10 years or so, you can find me in church on New Year’s Eve listening for God’s words to me for the upcoming year. I’ve been amazed time and time again how whatever verse or verses the pastor chooses to preach on that night sums of my experiences for the upcoming year. It’s uncanny… I’m excited to find out what I will hear tonight…

But aside from God’s words for me, I have some words for God…I want to know when some of my deepest dreams will come true…I want to believe that some of my dreams will come true this year, but if you have lived for a while now, you know that sometimes dreams are deferred. (Shout out to Langston Hughes!) If you’ve lived long enough, some of your dreams have been shattered. Maybe your husband died of leukemia shortly after you were married. Maybe your mother died of breast cancer. Maybe your father rejected you. Maybe you wrote a book that will never be published. Maybe your wife cheated on you. Maybe someone has broken up with you. Maybe the love of your life left. Maybe no one has asked to marry you. Maybe you never passed the bar. Maybe you have a crazy behind family. Maybe you never intended to be a single baby mama. Maybe you ain’t got that record deal yet. Maybe you’re a raging alcoholic and you’re impossible to deal with. I could go on and on unfortunately…

Goodness, I hate to write such pessimistic prose, but we all know that sometimes life is a b@#%*. So what are we do? For today, I have decided to hope, wish & pray that my dreams will come true…According to the Word, you are “delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 When I first read this verse years ago, I thought it meant that God will give you whatever you want if you serve Him. I know that’s not true now. Now I believe that if you come to know the Lord in an intimate way, He will guide you to your true desires – that is He will give you the desires He has for you. He will guide you to your God-given destiny. So over the years, God has shown me what are my false desires and what are my true desires.(I no longer desire to date a man from every continent, ha,ha, for instance.)  Anyway, two dreams or two desires remain…at least for today. Well, that’s not true. I have more than two dreams, but I am thinking of two in particular…(What dreams do you think I am referring to? Guess?)

I don’t know about your relationship with God, but I let Him know how I feel. And sometimes I say, “Okay God, the answer to this problem is taking too long. I need for You to act right now. I cannot take it anymore.” When I get like this, my face is glistening with tears and I am prostrate on my bedroom floor. And sometimes I throw a tantrum. Yes, I get down and dirty. I take the Lord at His word. According to the Word, you can “cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you.” Psalm 55:22. So I’m steady castin’ !

But that’s the beauty of God. If you know Him, love Him and try to serve Him, you can claim His promises. I do. And so with the sliver of belief that I have left that my dreams will come true, I will hope, wish & pray that in 2009, at least one, maybe two will come true…Please God!

Any thoughts?

P.S. The title of this post was inspired by the Hidden Beach artist Lina, who sings the song “Hope, Wish & Pray.” Why she hadn’t blown up yet! Check out the song here. Isn’t it beautiful?

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Christianity Obama Style…

Hello World!!!

What it do? In just over a month, you know what it is…Barack Obama will officially become the 44th president of the United States!!! Yes, it’s another post about Barack Obama. No, I’m not over it…So read on if you’re an Obama fan!!! Here’s the thing…As I mentioned in another post, many Christians are convinced that President-elect Obama is not a Christian although he has publicly professed faith in Jesus Christ many times. It seems these same Christians believe that President Bush, aka Iraqi shoe dodger (crazy huh?), is a devout Christian entrusted with the sacred duty of leading our nation to the Promised Land where all secular music is of the devil and legalized abortion is worse than starting an ill-advised war.

But check it…Was anyone watching President Bush’s interview with ABC Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden on Dec. 8?  According to a Baptist Press article, Bush said he believes there are multiple ways to God.  He also said that he believes that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God.

“I do believe there is an Almighty that is broad and big enough, loving enough, that can encompass a lot of people. I don’t think God is a narrow concept. I think it’s a broad concept. I just happen to believe the way to God is through Christ, and others have different avenues toward God, and I believe we pray to the same Almighty — I do.”

And Bush may or may not believe that humanity started in the Garden of Eden.

Asked if the Bible is “literally true,” Bush said, “Probably not. No, I’m not a literalist. But I think you can learn a lot from it.”

Now, y’all know if Bush had voiced these same words about eight years ago, many evangelical Christians wouldn’t have voted for him. But here is the response of Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

“I am very grateful that we have a president who is a person of personal and deeply committed faith in Jesus Christ, but statements like these remind us that he is indeed commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief,” Land told Baptist Press. “I know the president, and he is a person of strong faith and has sort of a C.S. Lewis Basic Christianity kind of faith that is very deep and profound in his personal life, but he is not a theologian. In this particular instance, he is wrong. The Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is not Allah, and there are not many paths to God.”

Now if Bush can be seen as as “a person of personal and deeply committed faith in Jesus Christ” in spite of his controversial beliefs, can these evangelicals also support Barack Obama, who also is a Christian?

Andre C. Willis, an assistant professor of the philosophy of religion at Yale Divinity School, explored how Obama’s brand of Christianity may influence his leadership in an article on TheRoot.com.

First of all, this is what Obama said about his faith in Jesus Christ to Rick Warren, pastor and author of the best-selling book, ” The Purpose Driven Life,” during the campaign.

“Well, as a starting point, it means I believe in—that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and that I am redeemed through him. That is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis. Yes, I know that I don’t walk alone. And I know that if I can get myself out of the way that, you know, I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends. And it means that those sins that I have, on a fairly regular basis, hopefully will be washed away.”

And for the record, Obama is also an evangelical Christian although some evangelicals may not know this or choose not to believe this truth.

All forms of evangelicalism share core tenets: a belief in the importance of personal conversion through Jesus Christ (salvation); the commitment to biblical activism (authority of the Bible, not reason or experience); and an investment in public morality (public witness). Where they differ is in their emphasis: progressive evangelicals strongly emphasize the suffering of Jesus and his political struggles against the social order, while conservative evangelicals are preoccupied with imposing “biblical” morality.

According to the article, Obama’s style of Christianity will be more progressive rather than conservative. Rather than focus on the rules and regulations brand of Christianity (a Pharisaical type if you ask me), he will focus on empowering the poor and disenfranchised.

So what do you think? Do you believe that Bush and Obama worship the same God? Do you believe that it is possible for both Bush and Obama to be Christians? Do you think the evangelicals that support Bush will also support Obama? What role do you think Obama’s faith will play in his leadership? Do you think that Jesus loves both George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama?

Any thoughts?