Faith in Action

I believe that it was Bro. Sitawi Jahi - a faithful “Faith in Actioner” (regular visitor/supporter of my blog) that first put me on to Pastor Ray Hagins out of St. Louis, Missouri.

After Jahi put the name out there in the comment section and forwarded me an email, I thought I’d check out this Hagins guy and see what he was all about. It turns out that Hagins isn’t just some guy - he’s a Master Teacher and Conscious Preacher who preaches a challenging message about engaging God, the Bible, and the Christian Faith with “new eyes.”

My seminary journey at Virginia Union and and self-imposed aggressive reading schedule since school has blessed me to be exposed to a healthy portion of what Hagins preaches. He proclaims a challenging and unsettling word that many “sunday morning church folk” would choke on rather quickly. Hagins speaks on the origins of the Bible, Constatine’s impact on the Faith, the Kemetic influence of the scriptures (especially the Old Testament), and many other intriguing topics.

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“Without the African connection we are a disjointed people…begging for entry into somebody else’s house”

The Institute for Urban Research will host scholar, Dr. Marimba Ani, author of Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Thought and Behavior, on Saturday, December 1, 2007 6PM - 10PM at Morgan State University’s Engineering Building Auditorium.

The long anticipated 2nd Edition of Yurugu marks a milestone in the long career of Professor Ani’s contributions in the deconstruction of western thought and behavior.

Marimba Ani holds a BA degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, and the MA Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School University.  Professor Ani has taught at Hunter College in the Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies for the past 25 years and was a colleague of the eminent Black historian, Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

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The center of the discussion revolves around the Black Value System that Trinity United Church of Christand its pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, embrace as a congregation. (Needless to say this has only caught the eye of the national press because Barack Obama is a member of the church and his political opponents are attempting to shave off some of his White supporters)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNTGRL0OJWQ]

Last week at the Young Clergy for Social Change meeting, one of our members spoke about his efforts to “unplug from the matrix“.  Citing the Matrix movie series, he posited that too many people give far too much time to the television and radio.  According to him, feeding your brain with the “junk food” that comes over the airwaves and through the screen has a detrimental impact on how one views him/herself, others, and the world.  He has a group of students called “The Genius Movement” and they have (at various levels) unplugged from the matrix as well.

I agree with his position and have too decided to unplug from the matrix. 

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Enjoy this remixed version of Rev. Graylan Hagler’s speech at the 2004 School of the America’s protest.  Longtime activist, Rev. Hagler, orginally from Baltimore, is pastor of Plymouth United Church of Christ, president of Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice of the United Church of Christ, and is currently running to represent Ward 4 on the DC City Council.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPNF5KfAtY]

Minister: The new president of a city ministerial alliance says young pastors need to build up their communities.
By Frank Langfitt
Sun Staff
Originally published April 16, 2004

The new head of Baltimore’s Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance says one of his top priorities is recruiting young pastors to the faith-based lobbying group to reverse what he sees as a decline in clerical activism.
The Rev. William C. Calhoun Sr., pastor of Trinity Baptist Church on Druid Hill Avenue, said that some younger pastors today are more focused on developing their churches and preaching prosperity than ministering to the broader urban community and addressing its many ills.

“We build up kingdoms unto ourselves and for the benefit of our congregations, only we don’t do much in the way of building up community as we once did during the civil rights era,” said Calhoun, 54, who took over as president of the alliance in late January. “Many younger, newer clergy, you won’t see them fighting at City Hall for welfare mothers or the schools.”

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