Category Archives: Barack Obama

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Kanye & His Sunday Service to Appear at Pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church Today & I Don’t Know How I Feel About It…

Hello World,

Imagine you’ve entered into my prayer closet…This is what is what you will hear today…

Dear Lord,

Your child Kanye is back in the news again (not that I really needed to inform You of this because You are omniscient)…as if he has ever been out of the news since his first album “The College Dropout” dropped in 2004…I loved his song “Jesus Walks” Lord because it glorified your son and it was banging…And although he didn’t seem like a usual Christian artist based on his repertoire, I knew that song had to mean something to him. It was so in your face. And then he was dating a Delta at the time (“Through the Wire” – “She was with me before the deal she been trying to be mine. She a Delta so she been throwing that dynasty sign.) And he was cute.

And it’s true that his first album was his best album to me anyway, but everything ain’t for everybody and that’s fine. And then he dropped his woman who he was with before the record deal and the fame and fortune and got with different women. But you don’t have to be a famous and fortunate man to have a revolving door of relationships and with fame and fortune, the revolving door probably turns at whiplash speed. And I appreciated his outburst about Hurricane Katrina. It may have not been true, but I respect the sentiment behind his delivery…He spoke from the heart and used his platform to highlight a critical issue…

And Lord, I really don’t understand why his mother had to die when she did in 2007 and so tragically too. I don’t care how famous someone gets and how much fortune someone amasses, nothing compares to having a loving family including your parents in your corner…And let’s be honest Lord, that’s when he started being in the news for not-so-good stuff. I mean it’s been 10 years this year since your child interrupted another one of your children Taylor Swift during one of her first big moments at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 and people are still talking about it…Even then your child President Obama, who is from Kanye’s hometown of Chicago, had to weigh in on your child’s tomfoolery…

And Lord, correct me if I’m wrong, but do you think that then President Obama’s rightful critique of Kanye has caused him to latch on to current President Trump, who is also your child, like he has? And then, your child allowed the words slavery was a “choice” to drop from his lips. He may as well dropped a bomb on the black community with that hate speech! But I did feel compassion for your child again when he opened up about his bipolar disorder.

And then Lord, your child seemed like he was trying to return his first love…Your son Jesus…with his new Sunday Service. And yeah, I was a bit put off by the high-behind Sunday Service merch…(By the way, Lord, did you know that I was yesterday’s years old when I realized that ‘murch’ was actually ‘merch’ and short for merchandise. Why didn’t you reveal that to me sooner? All this time, when I would hear people saying ‘murch,’ I wanted to ask, ‘What is that?’ But I didn’t want to look stupid.) But on the other hand, nobody can force me to part with dollars unless that’s what I already wanted to do.

And then Lord, after your child took his Sunday Service on the road, he finally came to the capital of the Civil Rights, Atlanta, and brought his Sunday Service to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. I didn’t make it, but I read the glowing reviews. I heard your child had folk waitin’ in line for hours just get into church. Ain’t that somethin’ Lord?! That’s what you been tryin’ get us to do. Spread the word that Jesus is King. But we are so disobedient some time…And by the way, thank You God, he no longer refers to himself as Yeezus. Lord, You stay forgiving us when we falter… Lord, your hashtag should be #GraceandMercy…I kid Lord, You know and I know You’re above all of that, but I know You’re cracking a smile because I’m one of your favorites…Just kidding…all your children are all blessed and highly favored…

And then Lord, your child acted like he didn’t even visit the civil rights capital of the world when he made some controversial statements following his visit…Your child New Birth Pastor Jamal Bryant, who once welcomed your child Kanye to New Birth, had some thangs to say ’bout that too…although his “Jesus Is King” album is spreading your word in a way that many other Christian artists aspire too…I mean, when was the last time You saw, “Jesus is King” as headline in the New York Times?!! (Here’s the exact headline…Kanye West’s ‘Jesus Is King’ Is No. 1)

And Lord, the American Bible Society has informed me that over 6,000 Bibles have been given away to Kanye fans!!! According to the society, his album generated more than a million queries on Google alone and prompted fans to search questions such as “What do Christians believe?” And now the American Bible Society will continue to give away free Bibles to Kanye fans through Nov. 22!!! Lord, I’m scratching my head on this one. What am I supposed to do with this? One one hand, he is making controversial statements that hurt the black community and on the other hand, he is reaching the masses for You…

And then as I was cooking this morning, I heard he performed in a prison on Friday and some of the prisoners became believers…(And You know that the average your child, me included, aine really standing in line to volunteer for the Prison Ministry)…I know You know this, but here’s the video anyway…

And in just a few hours, your child will be at Lakewood Church, which I’ve heard is the largest megachurch in the country…I just don’t know how I feel…

But although your child President Obama jokingly referred to your child Kanye as a “jacka$$,” it’s true that you definitely used a a talking donkey to convey your message in your Word…

And then Lord, I know you also said that not everyone who calls your name really knows You…

So…I’ma just end my prayer right here Lord. I’ma let You sort through it all. In summary, help me stay on the narrow way to Heaven because You know I want to wander off from time to time. And Lord, guide all of your children because You created them and know their ways and how they wander off. May we all make it there, some way, some how and some day…

Amen….

Any thoughts?

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Executive Produced By Stephen Curry & Viola Davis, New Documentary ‘Emanuel’ Comes to Theaters on June 17 and 19 Only!

A Review of the Documentary That Honors the Emanuel A.M.E. Church Shooting Victims & Highlights the Power of Forgiveness in the Wake of Tragedy...

Hello World,

Tonight, thousands of churchgoers throughout the country will convene at their respective churches for Wednesday Bible Study. Where Sunday Morning Service can be a spectacle in many churches, Wednesday Bible Study is less of a production and as a result, more relaxed. Many of those who show up on Sunday don’t on Wednesday so the gatherings tend to be smaller. In many smaller churches, the members gather in a room that is not the sanctuary and even sit in a circle of chairs. Although the church is primed for visitors on a Sunday morning, a visitor or two may amble in and be welcomed to the fold without much ado on a Wednesday.

Maybe that’s why 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof chose a Wednesday Bible Study to show up at South Carolina’s Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church, the oldest A.M.E. church in the South, to slither in and sit among the people he intended to slaughter. In the Bible, it says the Lord will show up like a thief in the night so we must be ready but the devil knows the Word too. Roof’s slaughtering of 9 Emanuel A.M.E. members, the historical threads that led to what unraveled that fateful day, the astounding forgiveness of Roof by the family members of those whose lives were stolen and more is explored in the documentary EMANUEL. Marking the 4th anniversary of this distinctly American act of terror, EMANUEL will be in movie theaters across the country on Monday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 19 only. I was able to see a screener of this movie, which is from executive producers Stephen Curry and Viola Davis, co-producer Mariska Hargitay, and director Brian Ivie, and I was in a word “moved.”

While the news coverage of the church shooting was rightfully plenteous, EMANUEL was an exhaustive exploration that simply cannot be covered in the constraints of a news story. It has been said that “nothing comes from nothing” and that is true in the case of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church shooting as well. Apparently, Charleston, where Mother Emanuel A.M.E. is located, is called the “Holy City” although the unholy had a safe harbor there. Charleston was the capital of the slave trade and roughly 40 percent of slaves who entered this country entered through this city. In fact, the amount of black people in Charleston was so voluminous that the city had a black majority. Freed slave Denmark Vesey, who helped to found the African Methodist Episcopal Church, planned to lead a slave revolt there until his plan was discovered. Vesey’s church, where he able to galvanize members to revolt with him, was burned after he was executed for his actions.

And then in modern day times, you have Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was not only senior pastor at Mother Emanuel A.M.E., he was a member of the South Carolina Senate.  (Thank God for progress!) He spoke about black people having the freedom to be what God intended intended them to be and that sometimes death would be required for that freedom to come to fruition.  Saints, it was no accident that Roof choose Charleston and Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church.

Family members of the slain members were interviewed in EMANUEL. I was touched by all of their testimonies by I was most touched by the testimony of the Reverend Anthony Batiste Thompson, who is the pastor of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church of Charleston. Rev. Thompson was married to the late Myra Thompson, who was killed in the shooting.  Thompson, like Samuel in the Bible, was called to the ministry as a boy. While Samuel heard the voice of God in the house of the Lord, Thompson heard the voice of in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot! He heard someone call his name three times although he was in the parking lot alone. It was after the third time that he realized it was God and that God wanted him to be a preacher.

Many years later, on that tragic Wednesday night, he wondered why his wife Myra was so happy as she readied herself for Bible Study. He said she was “overjoyed” and “floating in the house.” He wanted to ask her why she was so happy because he had nothing to do with it. (Just like a man to say something like that, LOL. My husband is not only source of my happiness and he should be happy that’s true!) He said he decided he would ask her why after she returned from Bible Study so as not to affect her high. He usually hugged or kissed her before she left the house but this time he was in the bathroom just as she was leaving and she was in a rush. She told him to catch her at the car. But he didn’t get to her car on time either. He said after the shooting, he realized why she was so happy and why he couldn’t touch her. “God had already scooped her up.” Imagine that? She was already in the loving arms of Jesus. No earthly love can compare.

Thompson said it was the voice of God, which he originally heard as a five-year-old boy, that told him to forgive Roof and tell him so during a bond hearing just TWO days after Roof murdered his wife. Since then, Thompson penned his book “Called to Forgive: The Charleston Church Shooting, a Victim’s Husband, and the Path to Healing and Peace” which was release this month through Baker Publishing.

Many of the family members of the victims expressed their forgiveness of Roof, which shocked many and angered some. But not all family members were able to instantly forgive Roof. Melvin Graham, who is the brother of shooting victim Cynthia Hurd, has not been able to do so. While expressing admiration for those who forgave, he said, “I’m a work in progress.” I get that.

Other key points in the movie that affected me:

  • Polly Sheppard’s account that Roof let her live so that she that she could “tell the story.”
  • Felicia Sanders, who was a human shield over her granddaughter, watched her son Tywanza Sanders get killed, after he confronted Roof. Tywanza told Dylann that “we mean you no harm” but that did not matter to the terrorist. Thankfully before he passed, Sanders was able to tell her son, “Tywanza, I love you,” and his last words were, “Mom, I love you too.”
  • Charleston’s Chief Coroner Rae Wooten’s examination of the bodies revealed that Roof had ambushed them without warning.
  • Not only was Roof captured and arrested without being killed in the process, he was given Burger King.
  • When President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” at the homegoing for Rev. Clementa Pinckney. Lord knows I miss me some him. Can I get a witness?

There are many astounding accounts such as Felicia Sanders’ pink-paged Bible and Chris Singleton’s wrist-written Scripture, but I cannot give the whole documentary away. But hopefully, I have told you enough to make you want to see it for yourself. I highly recommend doing so…

Below is a trailer for EMANUEL:

EMANUEL focuses on the incredible forgiveness that was demonstrated by the victims and their family members, and how that forgiveness prevented potential backlash by the in response to the racially motivated crime. The movie was made in direct partnership with the City of Charleston and the families affected by the tragedy . The producers of EMANUEL will donate their share of profits from the film to the survivors of the shooting and the families of the victims

For more information on EMANUEL, please visit, www.emanuelmovie.com.

Any thoughts?

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The Top 10 Blog Posts and or Articles for Black Christian Women in February 2018

Hello World,

I’m back with my monthly roundup of blog posts and or articles for black Christian women! So below is my Top 10 monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine/newspaper articles for black Christian women for February ( but you don’t have be a black Christian woman to to check them out 🙂  As usual, let me know if you like my list! Enjoy and share!

1. “See the Newly Unveiled Official Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama” by Mary Rhodan

Excerpt: The National Portrait Gallery unveiled the long-awaited portraits of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday. The Obamas’ portraits were painted by New York based artist Kehinde Wiley and Baltimore-based artist Amy Sherald. They are the first African Americans commissioned to paint official portraits of the first couple for the National Portrait Gallery. The two artists’ works will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery starting on February 13. Aside from the White House, the Gallery is home to the only complete collection of presidential portraits; according to the Smithsonian, it is comprised of more than 1,600 works. See more at: time.com.

2. “Rosa Parks Was My Aunt. Here’s What You Don’t Know About Her” by Urana McCauley

Excerpt: Sometimes I struggle with social media because it seems there’s always somebody belittling Auntie Rosa. I recently saw someone post that my aunt wasn’t really black. Or people say that she was strategically placed on the bus in Montgomery because she was lighter skinned. It’s amazing to me that they would think that. Yes our family ancestry is part African American, part white, and part Native American. Auntie Rosa considered herself black and was treated as black. We have a lot of work to do in this country regarding colorism, but whether you’re light or dark — and this is still true today — you are black in America and you’re going to be treated accordingly. See more at: shondaland.com.

3. “‘Black Panther’ brings unexpected boost to makers of African inspired clothing” by Nedra Rhone and Shelia M. Poole

Excerpt: In Wakanda, the fictional African country from which Black Panther hails, the prints, colors and cuts of African clothing are woven throughout whether in an action scene, a street scene or a backdrop to other significant moments. Atlantan Carl Ulysses Bowen was one of tailors on the “Black Panther” film. Ulysses , who owns a tailoring and custom clothing business in Buckhead, said he added some of his own touches to the clothes designed by Ruth Carter. “I drew my inspiration from African culture and different African tribes within that culture,” said Bowen, who graduated from Morehouse College in 2005. He perused videos and looked at African history and photography books. He also scoured the internet. See more at: myajc.com.

4. “Ayesha Curry Is Pregnant, Expecting Third Child With Stephen Curry” by Emily Longeretta

Excerpt: The couple are already the proud parents to daughters Riley, 6, and Ryan, 3. The CoverGirl spokesperson met Curry, 29, when they were 14 and 15, attending the same church youth group. The went on to marry in 2011. See more at: usmagazine.com.

5. “Stephanie Paul stays true to Haitian heritage” by Yash Bhika

Excerpt:  In Bayshore Drive in Naples, Florida, lies the Naples New Haitian Church of the Nazarene. The church is owned by Paul’s dad, Renauld. This is where she spent a good portion of her childhood. Paul would learn how to sing gospel songs, which she still sings to this day. Just as she was able to express herself inside her church, she also had the love and support of her family. It is in Naples where she grew up as the youngest of nine siblings. Her siblings are Lo, John, Jean, Matt, Josie, Nephtalie, Da-anna, Eunice and Dann. There is a 25-year age gap from Paul’s oldest sibling, Lo, to her. All of her siblings participated in sports either at the collegiate or the high school level. They all played basketball and Paul was able to learn from them. Despite such a large discrepancy in ages between the children, the love for each other was always there. See more at: redandblack.com.

6. “‘We Mean Business or No Washing’: The Atlanta Washerwomen Strike of 1881” by Brandon Weber

Excerpt: In the 1880s, twenty years after the “official” end of slavery in the United States, African Americans continued to suffer extreme oppression and violence. Lynchings were common and “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws gave African Americans minimal access to schools, the military, and labor unions—the kinds of institutions that helped other Americans move toward prosperity. It was in this context that a group of African American washerwomen in Atlanta organized themselves to demand better wages and working conditions. “The Washing Society,” as they called themselves, struck in the summer of 1881, taking on the business and political establishment of Atlanta, Georgia. The action served to remind the city’s white majority whom they depended on for the clothes they wore. The strike—a group of black women organizing against omnipresent discrimination to demand recognition and respect for their work—stands out in union history as a most unlikely success. See more at: progressive.org.

7. “Lillian Thomas Fox was a journalist and champion for her race” by Dawn Mitchell 

Excerpt: History refers to Lillian Thomas Fox as a journalist and club woman, which seems to be a slight on a woman so far ahead of her time. As a black woman at the end of the 19th century, she became a champion for public health for the Indianapolis black community.Fox was born in 1854 in Chicago to Rev. Byrd Parker, an AME minister, and Janet J. Johnson, a schoolteacher. Fox’s father died in 1860, and her mother married Robert E. Thomas. The family moved to Wisconsin. Lillian took his last name. See more at: indystar.com.

8. “4 ways that black Catholic sisters rewrote the American story” by Diane Batts Morrow

Excerpt: As we observe Black History Month in 2018, examining the early history of the Oblate Sisters of Providence can teach us several important lessons. The sisters proved exceptional in 19th-century America: They were black and free in a slave society that privileged only whiteness; female in a male dominated society; Roman Catholic in a Protestant society; and pursuing religious vocations in a society doubting the virtue of all black women. Organized in Baltimore in 1828, this pioneering black sisterhood dedicated themselves to educating black girls. The Oblate Sisters confronted many challenges in their early years. Most white people did not believe that black people could lead virtuous lives and rejected as impossible the idea of a black Catholic sisterhood. See more at: catholicphilly.com.

9. “Doing a New Thing – A 21st Century Vision for AME HBCUs” by Tiffany Brockington

Excerpt: Arguably, the two most important black spaces in America are HBCUs and the Black Church.  The importance and connection of both is outlined in the new documentary, “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”  The title of this documentary is attributed Richard Wright Sr., and serves as a directive which influenced not just the arc of the film, but several historically black campuses.  See more at: hbcudigest.com.

10. “A Harlem Woman With A Wardrobe Worthy Of A Deeper Look” by Channing Hargrove

Excerpt: On Friday, Turner’s wardrobe went on display once again, this time at the Projects+ Gallery in Saint Louis, Missouri. Open now through March 31, the exhibit features a series of black and white photographs of Turner’s pieces by Dario Calmese, which explore the role of Black churches “as activators not only for imagination but as crucibles for the construction of self” within the African American community. Calmese, whose father was a pastor, has a personal connection to to Turner’s story. “Growing up in the church, the ritual of getting dressed for Sunday morning is a heavy thread in the fabric of my childhood memories,”he told Vogue. Through the photos, it’s evident that Turner has a similar collection with clothing. See more at: refinery29.com.

If you know of any black Christian women bloggers and or writers, please e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com as I’m always interested in expanding my community of black Christian women blogs and websites. As I noted before, while this is a roundup of interesting blog posts and or magazine and newspaper articles for black Christian women, you don’t have to be one to appreciate these pieces  🙂.

Any thoughts?