What I Learned Outside of Church

What I Learned Outside of Church 9/23/12

I wonder if it’s a thing when ALL of the readings tie together as easily as they do this week. These readings are not picked by a pastor so he could match them to his individual message. They are sometimes seemingly random and difficult for even the most learned bible scholars to connect. Essentially, they provide priests with options for the Sunday sermon. Today, one message was clear. Maybe it’s because of where my life is now.

            This week, we start in the book of Wisdom. The first line of the chapter is the key. “For, not thinking rightly…“ We start out with a little hope and, when it doesn’t work out the way our impatient ego demands, that little bit of hope dies. Hopeless, we choose a life of vanity and ego. We become self serving instead of servants. After we have become self righteous people, we hate to see righteous people. They are reminders that we have given up hope while people still exist who have not given up yet and, likely, never will. It’s a form of envy. This hate says, “How dare you find hope where I could not find any!” It’s all ego. The Bible calls ego self/selfishness/flesh.

            The verse in James covers two chapters. So… You know what that means. Chapter three starts out with the power of the tongue. It points out one of my favorite Ras Kass lines. “I gave man dominion over the Earth, to master the wealth. But most of my children don’t have dominion over thyself.” Just like in Mark 7, it reminds and encourages us to be careful of what comes out of our mouths. “…but no human being can tame the tongue.” is not saying it’s not possible. It’s just saying that it seems that impossible. Of course it is possible. It’s just with so many people not practicing self(ego) control, it can appear that no one is practicing self control. Remember, we hate righteous people so we avoid them. We chose to be hopeless and the law of attraction is surrounding us with other hopeless people. Of course, looking around us, it would seem impossible to control our tongues because who around us does?

            The end of chapter three and beginning of chapter four we are warned of the dangers of ego. Jealousy and selfishness are obviously the fruit of ego and lead to disorder and EVERY bad habit. The ego is the cause of war and division. If you are only serving your self(ego), then the laws of abundance will be abandoned and, instead of cooperation, you will choose manipulation to get what you want. The ultimate form of manipulation is bullying which, on a larger scale, translates to war. Being around a bunch of hopeless people, we tend to distrust and bicker amongst each other. Why? Because we don’t have a common goal/cause. We are each serving our own egos and denying each other. Of course, we are going to hate on that and call each other haters.

            Even the disciples fall victim to ego. In Mark Chapter 9, Jesus catches them arguing over who is greatest. Sound like a dick contest? It was. Jesus took the opportunity to instruct them in humility. “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Even the churches today slip up with this one. They proclaim to the uninformed that Jesus had a favorite. Jesus Loved the world. That is the entire planet, not the ‘world’ as in worldly ways. Then he grabs a random child and reminds us all that giving up our egos is the only way we can achieve Godliness from a child through Jesus. We always use children as symbol of innocence. We should also see children as the last time we were egoless. It’s parents who instill ego into children, either directly or by modeling.

So we come full circle. Through children we can remember being egoless and hopeful. Now is the time to reflect on when we gave up hope and embraced ego. Maybe we haven’t given up hope totally and it’s situational. From time to time we just choose ego. It takes practice. The practice shouldn’t be selfishness but selflessness. The question in situations should be whether it is mandatory to hold on to our selves. It never is if we believe in what we say we believe in. Practice! Ask yourself ALL the time and EVERY time if you can serve God by giving up your self.

What I Learned Outside of Church...

Where is your faith?

I didn’t make it to church but, being a part of such an organized church, the weekly readings are easily found online. So, I’m taking a stab sharing my own understanding of the day’s readings. Usually, the readings are harder to put together into one message. This week, providence came in the form of various issues with family and friends. I thank God for the ability to connect and focus on the solution MOST, if not all, of the time.

So let’s start with the prophet Isaiah. In chapter 50 the church’s focus is not forgetting that God is there all the time to help, encourage and protect us from ALL things. But, sometimes, we forget. And, reading the WHOLE chapter (Because that’s how WE role), we see that Isaiah was REALLY discussing us turning our backs on God. God has never left us. We leave God. We forget that God is with us in the dark as well as in the light. If we want to receive those blessings from verses 5-9, all we have to do is remember and not turn our back on God because God won’t turn his back on us.

Moving on to James Chapter 2, we all know the verses about faith without works being dead. But let’s get into the details of the work. I work with a lot of different charities and community groups. The main hindrances are politics, egos and cliques. So while we all are focused on work, work, work to prove our faith, there is also a warning against the very divisiveness that will kill any good work. Treat Everyone The Same. Don’t have your favorites. Don’t choose political parties. Don’t make allegiances to cliques or classes, because THOSE things will become bigger than the work and turn a positive into a negative.

            My high school alumni are battling that right now. In order to work, some people want to consider class, age, social status, friendships, egos before just getting to work. So much so, a lot of the workers have been turned off despite the overwhelming need and urgency at my high school now.

I remember my faith so I respond with work. I work with everyone. I avoid cliques. I just WORK! I remember that the work is more important than any petty differences among my alumni. My faith in God and the success of my school means that I KNOW my work will not be in vain. I know that the real work will not be stopped. With a strong faith in God and my community, I remember that God in with me no matter how troublesome the problems within my alumni seem. So I work. And, with God, we will win.

And now, the gospel according to Mark… In Chapter 8, after Jesus feeds 4,000, he warns his disciples about eating of the Pharisees and Herod and they misinterpret that to mean real food. It’s the spiritual food he is talking about. They may have begun with good intentions but are now poisoned with rhetoric, politics, egos, and traditions of divisiveness. If only the disciples were able to hold onto that message… Then, after Jesus heals a blind man, he tells them of his coming death and Peter tries to rebuke him. After all Jesus has done to teach and prove his powers, including instilling his disciples with similar powers, Peter and the rest of the disciples still held onto selfish (corporal) beliefs and responded incorrectly. Death is not the end for Christ and true Christians. It’s just a process. But, because we still hold on to so much of this world (almost to the point of turning our backs on God’s world), we are still afraid of death. We still try to avoid losing all the things we can’t take with us.

So often, even in the midst of God, in the middle of doing Godly work, while the sun is the brightest, we bring the shade of worldly ways and lose our focus on God. We see it in politics, we see it in our churches, and we see it at home. We see people choose their own egos and turn their backs on God. We see people dismiss each other when they could be collaborating for the common good. We see people choosing failure over cooperation. And sometimes, we do it ourselves.

            Jesus came and went. Although he will come again, he’s not coming to lead us, but to see how well we have led ourselves. Dr. King, El Shabazz, Gandhi, and Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy are gone. They will Not return! But, like Jesus, they left us with instructions to lead ourselves. The work is not hard anymore. The focus is. Stay focused on God and not all the reasons to quit. We say we believe in victory but get discouraged when the other team shows up.

We must have faith in our work! We must also work our faith. We say we believe in this or that. We say out God is almighty. Prove it!

The Power of The Media

Mark Chapter 7 (Read it ALL) This is just a high light. “14 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16 [[f]If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]”

Everyone who knows this story knows it’s about food. But doesn’t Jesus use parable to go deeper than the surface? So let’s go deeper.

I have a friend whose favorite rap artist is Brotha Lynch Hung. If you don’t know who he is, he is likely the MOST vulgar rap artist out there. He makes Eminem seem like a gospel artist. This friend of mine hardly ever curses, didn’t drink until recently and still only rarely, and is one of the nicest guys in America. Isn’t that an oxymoron of American culture?  How could it be after more than twenty years of listening to vulgarity this man can lead an unvulgar life

            Simply, he is responsible to his actions. So many of us are so irresponsible for our actions.  [] Tradition is why we do it. “I just don’t know why I did it. Must have been all the Basketball Wives and Bad Girls Club.” “My friends…” “My Family…” Or the worst one ever… “These kids…”

            A picture was posted on Facebook and the question attached to it was simply, “Does this offend you”

The answer to a true believer should be ‘NO’. It is possibly offensive to the person who made it. He and he alone will have to deal with the consequences of his actions. That is, unless a person CHOOSES to internalize this picture and allow it to control their response.

            What I see and am commenting on is a tradition of being influenced and/or controlled by the outside factors. The people I read about and am descendent from in the Bible are stronger than that. The power to tread scorpions is ours. “…nothing shall by any means hurt you.” That is, you/we who believe.

            What goes in doesn't defile you. What comes out does! Be aware not of what's being given to you, the media, associates, environment, family; be aware and responsible of your response (what comes out). No matter what, you are responsible for your actions. Why is it that we know better and still give all the power over our actions to outside influences? Maybe we don’t know better. Maybe we don’t believe in what we know. Maybe… we don’t believe in what we think we believe in…

What I Learned In Church 9-2

I don't owe anyone an explanation for my dedication to church but it may help someone come closer to God if I share my views. I attempted this with one atheist who must go unnamed because her life is in disarray and she is hiding from stalkers.

I was successful with another person. They tried to give me the “I’m spiritual. I don’t feel the need to go to church.”

I said I understood. I had been there myself. But my journey (And I say journey because we NEVER stop growing.) took me to a place of wanting to serve mankind. Being a business man, I know if you want to work, you must advertise. So I dress like an adult and I go to church. I study the bible. I don’t recite rhetoric. If and when people are looking for spiritual help, they know they can come to me because I advertise. I don’t go to church looking to receive anything anymore. I go to give. To, at least, learn to give better. To advertise my charity.
I go because I have learned to see God despite my environment. I don’t need the church to show me God anymore. I don’t need it to be Sunday in order to see God work. I see God in all my activities, in all my days. I don't go to church to get filled up anymore, I go to get emptied out. I am so blessed ALL 7 days. I can do nothing but give!

But I STILL get blessed on Sundays. Almost immediately after coming home to L.A., I was blessed to find a new church home. I even feel moved to become involved. I get to meet people. And not just people, I get to meet GOOD people. People like Vicki are the reason why I LOVE St. Agathas! I had the pleasure of sitting next to Vicki on Sunday for church and then running into her on Monday at the art festival. I take things like that as a sign of good people. I take being invited to walk the tithes down the aisle (totally random) as a sign of inclusiveness.

Why would I try to get anything, when I am given so much?

So that’s what I Learned in Church. It IS better to give. Just remember, giving is more than the action. It’s a perspective.