Category Archives: Church

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Greenleaf Season Finale Recap, Season 1 Episode 13: What Are You Doing Here?

BISHOP'S SECRETS ARE FINALLY REVEALED!

finale

Hello World,

And just like that OWN’s Greenleaf Season Finale is done! I enjoyed watching every episode of this first season, but I must admit this episode left me wanting more…but maybe that was the point…because I HAVE to know what happens with all of the story lines because clearly all of the story lines did not end with periods….there were more commas than anything…So let’s get into this Greenleaf Season Finale Recap, shall we?

Mac Attack…

Mac summons Bishop Greenleaf to see him in jail. If you can believe it, Mac asks the Bishop to be a character witness at his sentencing hearing! Yes, this unrepentant sinner has asked the father of the child he molested to support him as he is sentenced for what he did to her and other young women. Thankfully, Bishop tells him to go to hell despite Mac threatening to disclose whatever secret he has on Bishop. Apparently, Mac’s elderly father also knows the secret. (Thankfully, that secret at least was revealed by the end of the episode so read on!)

And since Mac is still locked up, he is longer available to be the “caretaker” of his father who shows up at Calvary from time to time when he needs cash from his son. Although Mac is in jail, that doesn’t mean that life on the outside has stopped so Mac’s father decides to hit up his granddaughter Grace for some money. He tells her, “You put my boy jail so you’ve got to take care of my @$$.” From the callous yet careful way they act around each other, it’s obvious they do not have the typical grandfather-granddaughter relationship. I wonder why Grace was kept away from him obviously…

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing…

True to his name Pastor Basie Skanks proves that he is sleazy when he brings Jacob to the site where he wants to build a $40 million Christian community center to include an indoor water park! The center is across the street from Calvary and is the site where Bishop wanted to build a community center and park. (Remember on episode 4 in which the Bishop ultimately rejected the Deputy Mayor’s offer to get the property in exchange for Bishop’s public support of the city’s police officers?) And not only does Skanks want to build the center across from Calvary, he also wants Jacob to run the center. When Jacob questions Skanks about his questionable motives, the pastor says the Lord wants him to do this and he is only a messenger…Wow…

This Woman’s Work…

At long last, Women’s Day has finally arrived! Lady Mae preaches on Proverbs 31:30. Lady Mae tells the women who are decked out in their Sunday best hats and flowery and flouncy dresses that while charm and beauty are weapons, fearing the Lord is the greatest strength a woman possesses. I want to know what First Ladies Lynn Whitfield, who plays Lady Mae, consulted because her First Lady mannerisms are flawless. She imparts Scripture like she is truly the helpmate of a man who has made his living in the Gospel. She explains that the Hebrew word for fear doesn’t mean “cowering” but rather it means awe! While rubbing her belly, she explains that Mary the mother of Jesus was filled with awe about how God’s plan to save the world came through a woman. Then she acknowledged that Calvary was at a crossroads and said that the only way forward for the church is in the footsteps of a virtuous woman!

Although Isabel left town as a virtuous woman, she gives her virtue up to Noah once she is reunited with him following the Women’s Day event that she attended. And that’s all that happened for the Isabel/Noah plus Grace story line. So this is at least one story line that will develop in Season 2!

Speaking of Grace, she meets with her father also following Women’s Day event. Last week, he donned a cream jogging suit and this week in his meeting with Grace, he was wearing another luxurious jogging suit, but this one one was orange. Maybe the orange means he is going to jail…Oops, did I reveal that…uh oh…keep reading! Clearly he is no longer angry at her because he asks her to be a preacher at Calvary. He says, “I know you because I know myself. I’m a preacher. You’re a preacher.” Guilt goes a long way…Although Grace was contemplating moving back to Arizona to be close to Sofia since she will be staying with her father in Phoenix for the summer, she realizes that she is needed more in Memphis…

The Master’s Calling…

Despite Jacob initially being threatened by Grace’s return to Calvary, he shows up to hear her preach. While there, Jacob tells Bishop about Basie’s plan. Rather than get angry, he seems unfazed and tells him that Basie is only trying to get back to him. He also says that Jacob can be his spy and even if the center is built, he will march around the center seven times and it will fall to the ground (Read Joshua 6 if you want to know more about this.). When Jacob questions his father about his motives with allowing Jacob to work for Basie, he says, “It’s not my plan. It’s the Lord’s plan.” Between Basie and the Bishop, I can’t…smh…

Although Charity is supposed to be on bed rest, she shows up at the service to sing her haunting rendition of “The Master’s Calling.” (Check out my interview with Charity aka Deborah Joy Winans HERE.) Although she beautifully delivers the song, you can feel her sadness as she looks to her husband Kevin singing the words, “I don’t walk to walk away from here.” Although Kevin is no longer on the couch and he suggests going to a gay conversion therapy program, it’s clear their marriage may not survive…

After Charity finishes, Grace strides up to the front of the church to do what she is called by the Master to do. She says she will be preaching on Romans 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Yes, Lord….we all have…And rather than cover up the sins all over Calvary, Grace starts off by acknowledging the sins of her uncle followed by a moment of silence for his victims. Then she declares that after that moment of silence, no longer will anyone be silent about abuse. “The silence ends today!” Amen! “Are you ready for a new thing, Calvary?” she says to kick off her official sermon!

Following that scene, Lady Mae goes to see her sister Mavis who spares no words in saying that she was complicit in Mac’s cover up! Lady Mae goes off and calls her a “charmless whore” or was that “childless whore?” I like charmless considering her Women’s Day sermon…Lady Mae is nothing if not articulate, ain’t she? Earlier in the episode, Grace went to see her aunt who told her that she did not want her to end up being a preacher like her father and how he was a different person before he was called to be a preacher. (And being a preacher is not why Grace originally came to to town so she thought. And maybe that is why Grace really came or is here…see title…) Mavis believes that his decision to become a preacher is what led to the family becoming enslaved to being a First Family and all that it entailed i.e. Lady Mae allowing her daughter to be molested while she looked the other way. Lady Mae claims she didn’t know what was going on, but I don’t believe her. Do you?

Return of the Mac…

After Grace realizes that her grandfather is dying, she places him in a hospice. Her grandfather tells her that he would like to see his girls before he dies, but Grace tells him that she doesn’t think that is going to happen. However, she does point out that at least his son cared for him although he is in jail at the moment. Grace’s grandfather says that Mac didn’t care for him either, but only gave him “hush money.” When Grace asks why he was given hush money, he reveals that he knows that Grace’s father burned the First Baptist Church knowing that the caretaker was in the basement. The fire wasn’t an act of God like it was thought to be…Hmm….I wonder if Bishop plans to burn down Basie’s community center rather than march around it to make it come down…

The schism in the Greenleaf family continues when Ray shows up to collect his daughter as Grace and the rest of the family say their goodbyes from the stairs of the plantation-styled home where the Greenleaf family lives. As Ray speeds off with daughter with Grace standing there helplessly, Lady Mae says, “Now you know how I feel every day.” And we still don’t know why Lady Mae hates her daughter Grace. The only thing I can think of is that like Mavis, Grace will not protect the wealth of Calvary and the Greenleaf family at all costs…

And just when you think that is bad enough,  Mac returns to the Greenleaf estate in a police car with the sirens going. All that remain are Lady Mae at the door while Grace is at the bottom of the steps in the same spot she where she stood watching her daughter depart. Like the villain that he is, he walks by Grace, strides up his to his sister and kisses on her on the cheek (Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss no less) before going inside. Meanwhile, from an upstairs window, Bishops looks down at the scene and in his eyes, you can tell he knows the police are there for him…And the finale ends!!! I guess we will find out what happens when Greenleaf returns for Season 2!!!

Below is a video of some of the highlights from tonight’s episode!

So how did you like the Greenleaf Finale and my Greenleaf Season Finale recap? What questions do you still have? What are you looking forward to in Season 2?

Any thoughts?

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 12: Veni, Vidi, Vici…

ONLY ONE EPISODE LEFT!!!

kevin

Hello World,

The Greenleaf family has almost as much drama as this year’s presidential election, and it’s certainly more fun to watch! That is for doggone sure!!! So let’s get to this week’s Greenleaf recap!!!

Chile, this episode of Greenleaf begins and ends with Kevin Satterlee, husband of Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee…Also, before I go any further, the Greenleaf – The Gospel Companion Soundtrack Volume 1 will be officially released THIS Friday! If you want to hear a sample of the album and read more about Deborah Joy Winans, who portrays Charity Greenleaf-Satterlee, this blog post is for you – “‘Greenleaf’ Star Deborah Joy Winans Shares About New Greenleaf Gospel Album, Her TV Husband & Her Aunt CeCe: My Interview (With Audio…

Comin’ Out Hard…

Alright back to Kevin…We all know that Kevin is struggling with his sexuality, but when is he going to tell Charity? That is the real issue…When this episode begins, Kevin has spent yet another night on the coach and sees Charity coming down the stairs, ready to head out of the door. He asks where she is headed, and she tells him she is going out for a walk on the lake…And he’s not invited nor permitted to come after he invites himself…

Kevin isn’t the only man in the Greenleaf estate struggling with how to tell something. Jacob Greenleaf is scheduled to meet with his father and Pastor Skanks about being hired as a pastor at Triumph, the rival church of Calvary…(So you know a church shouldn’t have a rival, right? Okay, back to the recap..) and Kerissa is right to worry about Jacob defecting. His move may cost them their home in the Greenleaf estate after all, but Jacob ferreted out another reason for Kerissa’s apprehension: Alexa. His former sidepiece is now attending Triumph after Bishop fired her. He assures her that she is his only one and even compliments her on her sexy arms while Zora is upstairs playing gangsta rap so loudly it thumps through the ceiling…PKs are always causing a ruckus LOL…And I should know since I am one 🙂

Rome is Burning…

Although Lady Mae already contributed $4500 out of her pocket to secure the grand Peabody Hotel for her Women’s Day event in last week’s episode of Greenleaf, there is still trouble afoot. Connie, head of the deacon board of Calvary, comes to see Lady Mae and asks her to consider moving the event to a less prestigious hotel, the River Bluff, as fewer women will be attending the event. At the smaller hotel with smaller rooms, Connie can still make the event look like a big deal. At the larger hotel, the lower turnout will be more apparent, she explains. However, Lady Mae is not having it and insists that the event remain at Peabody.

Connie then attempts to make a deal with Lady Mae. If she allows Grace (who inspired Calvary members to give the most they have given in recent times) to preach for at least three months , she will be able to calm down the rumblings of discord and disapproval she’s heard from members regarding all of the drama that has gone down at Greenleaf lately…

Instead of considering Connie’s deal, Lady Mae lets loose of one of her one-liners. “If Rome is burning, then she is the one who set it on fire!”

Here Comes the Judge…

Grace and her baby daddy Ray, who has been clean and sober for eight years, head to court to settle their dispute about where their daughter Sophia lives. Although Sophia testifies that she would prefer to stay with her mother at the Greenleaf estate, the judge decides that after school is out in two weeks, she will return to Phoenix with Ray for 90 days. Despite wanting to stay with mother, Sophia feels caught between the two and is having a hard time dealing with the dichotomy that is her family…

While the Bishop is not an official judge, Jacob along with Pastor Skanks finally meet with the Bishop for Jacob to explain why he wants to be a pastor at Triumph. Pastor Skanks tells the Bishop that spreading the gospel is the most important thing and if Jacob can help spread the gospel, even if it is at Triumph, then that is good. Even if the Bishop sometimes has questionable motives, he usually comes off as a respectable man of God while Pastor Skanks just comes off as a shyster. Something tells me that spreading the gospel is last on his list of priorities…He’s up to something…I wonder if we will find out what before the season is over…

Although Bishop undoubtedly does not agree with Jacob preaching for with his rival, he gives him his blessing but he tells him that he will be one to tell his mother…

Green Light…

Adrian believes that Kevin has given him the green light to get his flirt on as the two meet for a cozy dinner at a restaurant…Lights are flickering and glasses are clinking so it seems that is what Kevin had in mind…But when Kevin gets Adrian straight so to speak, Adrian says, “Why are we at dinner?” before leaving in exasperation…

Exasperated in her own right and needing some direction, Grace goes to see her Aunt Mavis. Aunt Mavis, portrayed by Oprah, says, “Well look who exists.” Clearly, a visit from her favorite niece is overdue. Grace discovers that her Uncle Mac used his influence with the city government to have her club shut down, but she still manages to give advice to Grace. She says now that she accomplished what she came to do…i.e. Veni, Vidi, Vici or  you came, you saw, you conquered (with Mac in jail) she has the green light to head back to Phoenix where she can co-parent with Ray. But for some reason, Grace feels compelled to stay in Memphis…

You Da Man…

In a conversation with her father, Charity notices that the Bishop’s hand shakes. Not wanting to be the last one to know everything as she usually is, she confronts her mother about her father…Incidentally, she seems to be the only Greenleaf child that notices her father is exhibiting symptoms of an illness. While Lady Mae neither confirms or denies her daughter’s suspicion, she does tell Kevin to “man up” and explains him it’s up to him to make things right with Charity…

Later when Lady Mae sees Bishop, adorned in a cream FILA jogging suit, lounging on the coach before bed, she tells Bishop that she is no longer content to be the woman behind the man. Rather than have Grace in the pulpit, she can be in the pulpit as a Greenleaf does need to be in the pulpit and Bishop agrees that Grace is not the best choice. And at the same time, Bishop knows that speaking once a year at a Women’s Day event does not make one qualified to preach. Lady Mae also pleads with him again tell her what Mac has on him, but he still doesn’t want to say…

The Whole Truth…

But finally, there are some that do want to tell the whole truth. Even as Grace fights for her daughter, she is also still grappling with her feelings for Noah. He comes to see her after he explains that Isabel is coming back to town and what that they mean for their relationship…Although Grace and Noah look nice together, maybe too much has happened for them to be the couple they once were as teenagers…

Meanwhile, Kevin goes to the nursery where he is ready to tell the whole truth to Charity. He tells her that although he loves her and wants to be a father to their twins, he’s been having feelings and that he’s prayed about the feelings but they won’t go away. Charity asks, “What kind of feelings?” Kevin responds with “Feelings about men.” When she asks him if he is gay, he says he doesn’t know. By this time, Charity is crying and is so overwhelmed with emotion that she falls to the ground.

Grace hears sirens from her room and in the next scene, everyone is out front as an ambulance has arrived in front of the Greenleaf home for Charity! After Charity and the twins are stabilized at the hospital, she tells Kevin he can go home…

Speaking of feelings, I really felt that scene! That was the best scene of the season for Deborah Joy Winans and Tye White, who portray the challenged couple…And that was the end of the episode…

Check out that bombshell moment between Charity and Kevin below…

So I’m expecting more explosions in next week’s episode of Greenleaf…Will the Bishop tell his children AND the church that he is ill and what does Mac have on him anyway? Will Charity tell her family what Kevin told her? Will Jacob get back with Alexa now that the two will be reunited at Triumph?

What do you think of my Greenleaf recap of episode 12?

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 11: Men Like Trees Walking…

Only Two More 'Greenleaf' Episodes Left!!!

bishop

Hello World,

So I’ve missed two weeks of recaps as two weeks ago, I interviewed Deborah Joy Winans who plays Charity on OWN’s”Greenleaf” in place of my weekly recap (if you haven’t checked out “‘Greenleaf’ Star Deborah Joy Winans Shares About New Greenleaf Gospel Album, Her TV Husband & Her Aunt CeCe: My Interview (With Audio, please do so!) and last Wednesday was my wedding anniversary, but babay, I’m back!

I swear (and I don’t LOL) “Greenleaf ” never fails to disappoint! This show just works! I’m not even sure why yet, but I every week, they serve up the drama and I just eat it up!

So on to the recap…

Pain in the Pews…

There’s nothing sadder than a preacher preaching to empty pews, and that is where Bishop Greenleaf is headed if he doesn’t get right with God or somebody…The episode starts with him in an empty sanctuary recalling how he had just preached…He was sweating and shaking and saaanging “my living shall not be in vain” but the congregation was not moved…Correction, some were moving but in the opposite direction….Someone got up and left right in the middle of Bishop’s sermon and the sanctuary wasn’t even full to begin with…

The head deacon or deaconess (which I prefer to call her because how many times do you get to say deaconess) confirms what you can already tell: Attendance and tithes are down at Greenleaf and have been for four weeks! She pleads with the Bishop get a “fresh face” in the pulpit….someone who is “unsullied.” She suggests Jacob or even Grace to which Bishop responds, “She’s the one that got us into this mess.” Yes, Grace, the Bishop’s favorite child, is now on the Bishop’s hit list! He assures the deaconess that Greenleaf will survive it all. But the deaconess replies, “The Lord doesn’t want His church to survive, He wants us to thrive.” Amen and pass the offering plate LOL!

Orange is the New Black…

Mac is finally wearing an orange jumpsuit in prison as he should be after the family secret that he sexually molested his niece is out in the open. But Lady Mae knows that another secret is being kept but this time by the Bishop. Apparently, Mac has something on the Bishop and is using that secret to blackmail him. She tries to get him to share the secret but he remains silent to her anger.

The fallout from the shoot out at church continues to reverberate as $4500 is needed to secure Lady’s Mae’s annual Women’s Day event at the Peabody Hotel, but the money hasn’t been approved by the powers that be at the church although the expenditure is usually approved without issue. Lady Mae decides to take out her own checkbook and write the check for the amount. Let the church say, “Ouch.” How many tithes went into that $4500?!

He’s a Healer…

One of the reasons that I love Grace’s daughter is her inquisitiveness particularly as it relates to Scripture…As the daughter of a pastor, I’m so used to hearing Scripture that I don’t necessarily see the word of God with fresh eyes. But I imagine that if I was introduced to Scriptures a bit later in life, I would have just as many questions (although I still have questions…don’t get me wrong…) Sophia asks her mother Grace, who can still quote Scriptures by heart although she had been away from the church for many years, why did Jesus have to heal the blind man in Mark 8:23-26 twice? You know I’ve never gave it much thought, but why would Jesus, who is the Healer of all healers, have to heal twice to get it right…Obviously, there was a deeper meaning as the blind man says at first, “ I see men as trees, walking.” So this verse is where the title of this show comes from…More to be revealed later in the recap…read on church!

That’s Just My Baby Daddy…

For all of this time, it has been a mystery regarding the identity of Sofia’s father. At one point, I thought her father may been Noah, but we learned in last week’s episode that Ray, a white man that Grace met in Phoenix after she fled from the Greenleaf estate, is Sofia’s father. And despite the fact that Sofia is about that Greenleaf estate life, Ray wants full custody of her as Grace left Phoenix without properly informing him of her plans. She gets served the papers at church…

Speaking of Lawsuits…

Grace is not the only one who is heading to court and finds this out at church…Bishop Greenleaf meets with Alexa’s attorney as the attorney alleges her client was fired without cause. Remember Jacob’s side piece? (Kerissa makes a joke about side pieces as Kerissa and Jacob attempt to help their young son put puzzle pieces together. When the boy picks up a small piece that goes one side of the puzzle, she says Jacob should help as he is good with side pieces…funny…) Alexa’s attorney (and Alexa is in the meeting too by the way) says a lawsuit won’t be filed if the Bishop compensates for her loss. Now with the tithes going down and Lady Mae writing a check for $4500, where is the Bishop supposed to get some cash pray tell?

In a moment of synchronicity, Jacob comes to see his father just as Alexa and her attorney are finishing their meeting with the Bishop…And this isn’t the only time that Alexa is mentioned in the episode…So obviously Alexa will continue to be a temptation for Jacob…

But for the moment, Jacob is not thinking about Alexa and pleads with his father to reinstate him at Greenleaf. Instead of reinstating Jacob, the Bishop attempts to redirect him by reminding him that being a pastor was never his dream and that he only became involved in the church after Grace left. Jacob finally gives up trying to convince his father that he is ready to return to Greenleaf and instead apologizes for getting involved with Alexa. The Bishop says, “Pray for her. She’s chosen a painful path.” What does that mean, saints?!!

Ever Seeing but Never Perceiving…

For all of Sofia’s inquisitiveness with her mother, Sofia is totally quiet in youth Bible study so much so that the leader asks her what she thinks of Mark 8. Although she didn’t know what to think when she asked her mother, she has obviously continued to think about the passage and she has an answer for the leader. She says that every person is rooted in something although we cannot necessarily see it with our natural eyes…I like that…

Gaming the System…

Although Jacob doesn’t necessarily perceive it, his actions are rooted in pleasing his father although he has a funny way of showing it. Since his father won’t reinstate him at Greenleaf, Jacob decides to go to the other megachurch in town – Triumph (where Alexa is a member) – and convince Pastor Skanks to hire him there…Jacob approaches the pastor while he is playing basketball at a gym…The pastor lets out an expletive when he realizes that Jacob, the crown prince of Calvary, is coming to him for a job…Okay, I need at least one pastor, other than Grace, that I can admire on this show…

Instead of simply hiring Jacob, Pastor Skanks (as his name suggests, he really ain’t ’bout nohin’) shows that he is really playing chess rather than basketball and tells Jacob that he must set up a meeting with the Bishop so that Pastor Skanks knows that he didn’t hire the Bishop’s son behind his back…

Almost a Golden Wedding Anniversary…

In the midst of all this, Bishop and Lady Mae are celebrating 45 years together! (Ironically, my parents celebrated 45 years of marriage on Sunday!) Well, let me correct what I noted. Bishop celebrated their wedding anniversary by sending her flowers but he later sees the flowers nearly dead on the floor of her office. If Bishop wants them to make it to their golden wedding anniversary, he better tell Lady Mae everything…

Just Call Me Nicety…

I think my favorite character next to Grace is Lady Mae because she is the champion of being nicety…She can be so nasty but because she says and does almost everything with a smile on her face. You think she is being nice when she is really being nicety…nice plus nasty equals nicety…After she discovers that Melisse,  chief housekeeper at the Greenleaf estate and better known as Lovita Alizé Jenkins-Robinson LOL, is the one who confirmed there was shooting at the church to the media, she turns around and gives her one of those scholarships (you know the ones that are used to keep people quiet). In other words, she has paid for to go to nursing school simultaneously releasing from her job at the Greenleaf estate…

My Secret

So actually Bishop isn’t the only one in the family who is holding on to a secret in the wake of the Mac revelation…Kevin, Charity’s husband, has a secret too…but it’s the worst kept secret on the show…The leader of a local charity Adrian becomes particularly friendly with Kevin and he reveals to him that he doesn’t want to be like his father who left his family when he was a little boy…Adrian assures him he is not like his father…Hmmm…whatever…It’s obvious that that this man has feelings for Kevin and Kevin might be feeling him too…Although Kevin has twins on the way, even his desire to be a good father won’t be enough to squelch his other desires…

Below is a video from Jacob’s b-ball game with Pastor Skanks….

Y’all I’m tired…but those are my thoughts…What y’all think of my recap of episode 11?

TWO MORE EPISODES LEFT!!!

Any thoughts?