Just a simple "Thank You"

Since I last wrote anything here, I was really hoping that I would write something at least once a week, but I have just been busy. So as I do my wash here at Woody's, I figured that this would be a good time to write.

I had a great experience this past Friday, when one of the people that I am an advocate for on the COM was ordained a Transitional Deacon. Michael is a great guy, and he is on his way to Spain, then to Africa for about 6 weeks. He will be back in the area for about a month, then he is off to Hawaii where he will finish is his as a Transitional Deacon and after he is ordained as a Priest, he will work as a Assistant Rector.

Having him as the person that I am shepherding first has been great, as I have learned much from him in this time. I really don't think that he needs an advocate, as he is really informed as to what he needs to do to go through this process.

After getting to know him, I know that he is going to do great things and to be a shining example of a priest and most importantly a Christian.

Here is a picture of the two of us taken right outside of Grace Cathedral this past Saturday.

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I need to get together with my other “sheep” soon. I was the person that interviewed her for the COM before Vocations day. I figured that it would take an hour, but three hours later we finally ended. Nancy is a great person, and think that she is going to be a wonderful Vocational Deacon. I think that I am going to have to be more involved with her journey through this, but in the end I think that she is going to do just fine.

This is the first year in about 4 years that I have missed going to the San Francisco Black Film Festival. I planned on going yesterday after church,, since it was the last day, but I ended up just staying home.

While I was home, I sat and watched Jesus Christ Superstar 2000. Now I love the original film, and when I had first saw that their was this one was out I kept avoiding putting it into my queue. I finally broke down, and now wish that I had seen this one when I first saw that Netflix had it. I wish that I had some way of being about to cut both versions together.

If you enjoyed the original film, check this one out. Make sure that you watch the Extras.

I am finding it amazing on how people are demanding of my time, but just saying a simple “Thank You” seems to be hard. Back in September of last year, one of the women of my congregation died while in Cuba. Jane was a wonderful person, and I had a lot of respect for her. We did have our differences, but I really respected her. I was asked to do the music for her funeral, and one of her daughters called saying what kind of music she wanted played. I looked all over and found the stuff, and did the funeral. After the funeral her daughter didn't even say Thank You. At our congregation, we hold a Las Posadas (?sp) each year between December 16 and 24. The people who host each night bug me to play music after the event during a meal. In the years that I have been doing this, I think that maybe 3 people who have hosted a night have said Thank You. A woman asked me to do the music for her daughters quinceanera. Not a single Thank You afterwards. This has happened over and over again. What ever happened to saying a simple Thank You to someone?

If you are ever in Oakland, you gotta stop by New Earth Artist Cafe, located at 2008 Park Blvd. The place is a little small, but they play some great music (both on CD and Live,) and some really great food.

I hope that things are going great for you.

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Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

I received the following notice in an email and figured that I would pass this on. I hope that you plan on watching this, as it should be real interesting.

We are thrilled to share with you that Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North will have a national television broadcast premiere on the PBS award-winning independent documentary film series P.O.V. on Tuesday, June 24 at 10pm! Please check your local listings for air date and time in your area.

Traces of the Trade was nine years in the making, with the amazing involvement and support of the Akonadi Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, among many others. It is being released in 2008 on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade (January 1, 1808). In January the film had its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and since then it's been featured at the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival, the National Constitution Center's Legacy of 1808 series, and the Newport International Film
Festival. For those of you in the New York area, Traces of the Trade is an official selection of the 2008 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and we will be there for Q&As after each screening.

Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said at our Sundance premiere: "The power of the film is that it is flesh and blood people with all their shortcomings, struggles, and bravery—so it cuts through the talking heads, policy papers and statistics on inequality." [Salt Lake Tribune] Now is your chance to get involved with the film that has moved Congressman Conyers and hundreds of others in screenings across the country!

•    Host a "tune in" gathering at your home on the night of the P.O.V. broadcast.
•    Gather a group of friends, family, or fellow members of an organization or religious congregation the night after broadcast. Hold a dialog with the P.O.V. discussion guide (coming soon), and decide
how together you can take action in your community.
•    Find out how you can bring the film to your school, workplace, place of worship, civic or community group.
•    Learn more about the family journey in the powerful new book Inheriting the Trade written by DeWolf descendant Tom DeWolf.
•    Visit the Traces of the Trade Get Involved page to find out how you can do more.
•    Spread the word! Please consider posting a listing, or writing us up on your organizational websites, in your electronic newsletters, etc., and share this e-blast with friends, family, coworkers, listservs and beyond.

Sincerely,

Katrina Browne, Producer/Director
Jennifer Carr, National Outreach Director

TRACES OF THE TRADE : A Story from the Deep North
by Katrina Browne with Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray, Elizabeth Delude-Dix and Juanita Brown

Watch the trailer at www.pbs.org/pov/traces
National PBS Premiere on P.O.V.
Tuesday, June 24th at 10 p.m. (check your local listings)
Filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery—her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in Unites States history. Her journey offers powerful new perspectives on the black/ white divide.
Tune-in, Get Involved and Join the Conversation—at pbs.org/pov

Log on
Visit the P.O.V. website to read an excerpt from "Inheriting the Trade," a deeply personal memoir by a family member who went on the journey. Learn more about the ongoing debate surrounding reparations
in the U.S. with additional video interviews. Download an audio podcast in which Katrina Browne talks about the making of the film and what she learned from the journey.
Join the Conversation
Visit our website or email pov@pbs.org to share your thoughts about Traces of the Trade.
Learn More

Teachers, access lesson plans and video clips!
Buy the Film
To buy the DVD go to www.tracesofthetrade.org

Major funding for P.O.V. is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Educational Foundation of America, The Fledgling Fund, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The September 11th Fund, and public television viewers. Funding for P.O.V.'s Diverse Voices Project is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. P.O.V. is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KCET Los Angeles, WGBH Boston and Thirteen/WNET New York. Simon Kilmurry is executive director of American Documentary | P.O.V.

P.O.V. - Traces of the Trade . Preview | PBS 2008

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Was it Copyrighted?

A question came to mind about the whole speech thing? Was it on a dvd/tape that the pastor had copyrighted? If it was copyrighted, has the press asked for permission to play it over the air? How much is the church making money wise fro the right for it to be played on all of the news shows and elsewhere. Now I am sure that the press will come up with all kinds of excuses as to why they don't have to pay anything, but what if it was something of their's? Would they be jumping up and down complaining about copyright issues?

I say that the next time that you see it on a show that you can call in on, that you call them and ask the question on air.

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More on the Obama thing

It's amazing how this stuff with Senator Barak Obama's Pastor continues on. Now Senator Obama has been forced to denounce his former Pastor. With the things the polls now saying that it is hurting Sen. Obama in this election, it makes me wonder who int his country really deserves to be elected to any political office in the country? How can someone run for any office if someone that they know has something that could be taken wrong or they have disagreed with?

Even though I have a lot of love and respect for him, at times my pastor will say things that I (and others in my congregation) totally disagree. With some of the things that he has said, if taken out of context could fall against me if I were to ever choose to run for office. This is not only true of my current pastor, but for ever pastor that I have ever had.

Think about that the next time you listen to a sermon some time, or a clergy person speaking in another situation. Because of what is going on in the Anglican Communion now, and some of the things that the Presiding Bishop has said, does that mean that every Episcopalian are going to be identified as believing at heart those comments?

What makes things really bad about this whole thing is the press and the political shows on television. I wonder how many of these people on these shows have been MEMBERS of a Black Church? I'm not talking about going to a service or two, but attending one week after week for a period of time. A church were if they were asked where they went to church, that would be the church that they name. They sit there and say how wrong what Rev. Wright was for saying what he did, but that was only a small clip of an entire sermon. How would they like it if someone were to take a small clip of something that they said on one of these shows that made them look bad?

Are we looking for Perfection in who we want in our next president, and if so, where can we find the Perfect person? Not only will we have to elect the perfect person to be our President, but also our Congress people, Mayors, Governors, and so on. Where do we find such people? I personally think that people like that wouldn't even think about running for political office.

One thing that I do wonder is who was the first to put those small pieces online, and for what reasons? Was this one of the other camps that put this up? Has this video helped Obama gain in votes?

Will this video actually hurt the GOP if they proceed to use this in advertising? Think about it. Because the press has tried to make this a racial issue, and the GOP has been seen as a group that is against equality amongst the races in ways, will this get people out to vote Democratic? I'm glad that Sen. McCain has requested that this video not be used, and I hope that the GOP chooses to leave this issue alone.

What I would like to see if for the people of this country to demand that the press of this country play an entire speech so that we can make up our own mind as to what a person has said. I have heard what he was saying prior to what the press and the political pundits have talked about. It's sad that they don't think that we are smart enough to be able to figure things out for ourselves. The press thinks that we are stupid. I think that at some point I will do a blog on my views of the press.

In Peace

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Freedom of Speech

 Not to long ago, clips from a sermon that Barack Obama's pastor gave a number of years ago, and it has been used to try and divide the nation racially. It's sad that the press and the people who are putting the pastor and Obama down haven't listened to the entire sermon, and are clueless about Black Liberation Theology. If you listen what the pastor was saying prior to what has been broadcast, and think about what he was saying, then you will realize that he was talking about things that had happened in history with other empires, and trying to get people to understand that at some point the USA could go into the same direction. Another way of looking at his sermon is to call it “The Rise and Fall of the United States”.

 But I wonder if all of this hoopla would exist if the pastor had been John McCain's pastor? Would McCain have been associated with his pastor in the way that Obama has been? What if was Hillary's pastor? Would the GOP in North Carolina be using what that her pastor said in commercials?

 People talk about how wrong he was ,and have threaten him with death threats, but don't we have the freedom of speech in this country? It's amazing how some people can't handle the truth.

 After listening to Obama's pastor on a PBS interview, and some of the things that he has said, I realized again how little credit that we Blacks in this country get for things, and how things are just taken from us. Jazz, Blues, Rock, Rap, Hip-Hop, and so much more. I sat in a conference a few years ago where someone said that Blondie invented rap. Pat Boone's biggest hit was a piece of Black Music (his version sucks in my opinion.) A large amount of the Rock music in the 50s and 60s was rerecorded by Euros who made a fortune from it without giving credit to the Black performers and writers of the music.

  I was sitting a meeting a couple of years ago were we where planning an event. I was the only Black in the group, and it was decided that each culture would bring something into the event. I had to sit back and think as to what the Black Culture could “bring to the table”.

 Everything was put together, but I couldn't figure out what we Blacks could input into this event. Then it hit me, we didn't have any music in the program. I mentioned that this is what we had to offer, and the rest of the group thought that this was a good idea. I was asked about the use of one song, and I said that the song wasn't what had come to my mind, and named it. They thought that it was a good one to use, then suddenly they started inserting songs from other cultures. I started to say something to the fact that the music to be used would come from the Black Community, as that is what we had to offer, but I quickly realized that all that I would hear would be excuses as to why we needed to use this other music. Come the day of the event, the person criticized the use of the one Black song that I was able to have added. None of the other songs from the other cultures where criticized for being use, just the one from the Black Community was.

 But that's not the only time that I have had that type of experience in this diocese. In the congregation that I am in, I asked that we sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” each Sunday during Black History Month. I was told that it didn't fit in with any of the lessons during that month. I explained that at the congregation that I was at previously, we used it. Another excuse then came. A few years later I asked again. This time I was told this time that we could sing it after service was done. In other words, we as a congregation could not sing it together during a service, as the pastor knew that this would be played after everyone had left. I have found it interesting that when I have talked with others from other congregations, they sing it. I wanted to laugh this year when I was told that it was important that I play the national anthem of another country which some of our members are from because it was that nations Independence day.

 What is it that we as Blacks need to do not to have our culture taken away from us? We are told that we speak “bad English”, but yet they take our language and use it. Soul Food is a Black thing, but others have taken it away from us.

 In a way I also blame the press for this thing with Barack's pastor. I think that PBS is the only one not to take full blame, as they did give him the opportunity to explain himself, and they looked at more of his ministry than any of the other would of. With the program that they did, I saw a human being that is trying to make a huge difference in the world. He came into a congregation of about 87 people and turned it into a place with over 6,000 members. How many of the people who speak bad about him have done that? With the way things are in the Anglican Communion, we aren't doing a thing to try and raise how congregations to that level. The conservatives are spending their time talking about how bad the Episcopal Church is, but yet aren't doing a thing to grow their congregations. Oh they may claim that they are, but if they really were, don't you think that the rest of the Episcopal Churches would be following suit? A couple of years ago, my Bishop was arrested in an act of Civil Disobedience. I think that with his act he managed to bring more people into the Episcopal Church than all fo the conservatives combined.

 I really hope that you all will be willing to take a look at Barack Obama's  pastors interview on PBS (look for the show Journal on there website and you should find it,) and look at it with an open mind. But also remember the saying of Jesus our Lord and Saviour, “Let ye without sin cast the first stone.”

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A Hoax?

I was watching the news this morning, and it was being reported that apparently the call that go the police to go to the ranch in Texas was a hoax. Now things are getting interesting.

The reports are saying that it was actually a black female in another state that had made the call, and that she had a record of making hoax calls. True or not, The fact that they removed all of the children and are in the process of removing them from there mothers now is sad. The more that I hear them say how their actions are for the good of the children, I still think that they are acting no better than the Nazi Party. I wonder how these people would feel if a call was made about them, which turned out to be a hoax and their children were not returned to them.

Now the state of Texas is forcing them to do DNA testing, with the results taking a month to come through. I wonder how taking DNA from all of them is going to resolve in this case? Think about it, not even the television cop shows could seriously  do and episode where they solve a case where they could find a person who committed a crime of this type by taking DNA.

I am still wondering where all of the protesters are in this case of terrorism. Yes it is a case of terrorism being committed to the State of Texas. I am sure that I am the only one who thinks what is going on is wrong. I am positive that if these folks had made a trip to Mexico and the Mexican government was doing this, we would see people up in arms, but where are they now?

One thing that I am wondering is if one of these kids commits a crime as an adult, and says that he is the way that he is because of the actions by the state in this incident, what will the state say and do?

Now don't get me wrong, as I am not trying to defend this Mormon Sect, and trying to say that they are practicing in a Christan way, for I really don't know how they really do things in their ranch. The press has put out stories about the groups ways, but I know that they are not complete in all of the facts as to what has gone on, for the press can only report what has been reported to them.

You may think and feel that I am wrong, but what if that was you and your family? Wouldn't you want someone to speak up for you even if you didn't know the person?

Peace

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The True Order of the Church

The more that I have gotten involved in things in this diocese, the more that I realize that we in the Lay Order really don't realize that in the pyramid of the church, we are really the top of it. From what I have seen, it seems as though most of us think that we are at the bottom of the pyramid, and it seems that the clergy realizes it. Let me tell you why this topic is on my mind.

At the 2007 Good Friday service at my congregation, we did the Stations of the Cross after the service. Now the service was bilingual, which I had no problem with, but for the Stations the pastor proceeded to do the entire opening in Spanish. At the first station he has one of the Spanish to read the station. We get to the next station and he asks one of the English speakers to read, and as we go through station to station we alternate between the languages. As we go through each station, he calls upon a different person to read it. Then we get to the final station and all of the other English speakers except for me. He then asks if someone would like to volunteer to read this station. He start to raise my hand and he picks someone else.

That Sunday I ask during Coffee Hour if I will be permitted to read one of the stations since I wasn't given a chance to. I was told how wrong I was and that it was all my fault and the one to blame. I kept trying to explain that I had raised my hand, but I was told that I hadn't, and without using the word, I was told that I was lying.

At no time through this whole thing was I told that I could do one of the stations, and I took it as him saying “NO”. Since the whole thing was my fault according to him, I decided that I was going to go to another church the next Good Friday.

Since I do the Stations throughout the year at the church, I decided one day that I wanted to have a copy of it at home. I typed “Stations of the Cross” into Google, and was amazed at the number of hits I got. So I decided to tighten the search even more by added “pdf” into the search. I was amazed at the number that it found. As I looked, I noticed that there were a number of different ones, with some using themes related to other topics such as AIDS, War, and others. I printed out one and read through it.

Now the congregation that I am in does not do the Stations during Lent except for Good Friday, but I had been going to another congregation that did. The more of these Stations that I looked at, the more that I realized this could be something interesting to do in my own congregation. I sat and wrote a letter to the pastor asking that I could lead a series of Stations for the 5 Fridays prior to Good Friday and that these would be done in English. He read it and proceeded to tell me that doing this the 5 Fridays before was a Spanish thing. I then explained that it wasn't just a Spanish thing to do, and that I had been going to one at another congregation. He then said that the one that we had was bilingual, so that it could be in both languages. I then showed him a couple of the ones that I was planning on using, and unless someone was going to translate them that this was going to be only in English. I had to ask again in a few weeks if he had a problem with it and if it was OK to do. He said OK.

As I looked at more and more the different Stations that have been done, I began to think that it would be interesting to write one of my own that surrounded some them. I thought about doing it based around Racism, and some other topics came to mind, but I knew that their was some topic that I could write it one.

I am involved in a subcommittee of a subcommittee in the diocese that is dealing with trying to find some ways to deal with Reconciliation because of things that have happened in the diocese. One of the other people involved in this happens to be my pastor. One night he mentioned the idea of a Stations based on reconciliation. Within a couple of hours after getting home, I have written the first draft. Over the next few days, I proceeded to do redrafts as ideas came to mind on how to do it. That Sunday I handed him a copy. He was real surprised.

Emails passed between him and the others involved with this group, and someone had a problem with the idea of doing something like this. I explained what we had just done in the church and the purpose of this, and he seemed OK with it.

As time went on, I kept doing redrafts, and I feel that I have come up with something that I am almost happy with. Come the night of the meeting of the larger group, I had made some copies and as my pastor mentioned the idea of stations, I reached into my bag and threw the copies that I had made onto the table. They grabbed a copy and proceeded to look through it. Someone had mentioned using a liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer, but as he and others proceeded to look through what I had done, they seemed to become happier and happier.

Then something hit me. I suddenly realized that I was in a room where of the 10 people in it, I was the only one who wasn't or wasn't thinking about becoming a clergy person. I quickly added it that the idea that I had in mind was to put something together that doesn't require a clergy person to be involved. This was something that could be used not only by a congregation, or diocese, but something that could be used by a family where each setting could remove the included stories and insert their own.

I have a feeling that the end result will be something that will require a clergy person to be involved. I think that if I see it going into that direction, I will ask if the curtain that Jesus tore down was being put back up by them. I hope that I am wrong.

Over the last few days I have been sitting and thinking about the curtain, and the more that I think about it, the more that I realized that the church has put part of the curtain back up. I'm not talking just about the Episcopal/Anglican Church, but most churches and society in general. We look and think about the clergy as being higher than the rest of us in a way. Think about it. Have you ever found yourself being careful about the words that you use or what you say when you are around someone in clergy gear? Have you ever asked a clergy person to Bless you or something? Do you find yourself talking about the things in the Bible only when a clergy person is around? Think about it. Jesus basically got rid of the “middle man”, and said for us to deal directly with God.

Now don't get me wrong, as I feel that we need to have the clergy as a reminder and as a teacher to us about the Good News that the Holy Trinity has for us. We need our clergy to be our spiritual guides. We need our Priest to give the Good News in our congregations, and for our Deacons to take the Good News into the streets and elsewhere.

The thing that most of us in the Lay Order forget is that the other Orders within the church can not survive without us. For the other Orders to have buildings, get paid, etc., it take the Lay Order to sit in the pews and make financial offerings. What purpose would Grace Cathedral and the National Cathedral serve if the Lay Order isn't around? Think about it. Do you really think that you won't get into Heaven if you Baptized someone, performed communion, or blessed someone and that person then decided to dedicate their life to the Holy Trinity?

I hope that if a Stations of Reconciliation is done, that the final product is something that doesn't demand that someone from the clergy be involved, and that it is led by someone from the Lay Order. Now don't get me wrong, as I love our clergy, but I think that it's time for us in the Lay Order to do some work.

I know, I know, I have posted several things not to far apart in days after not posting anything here in months, but some things have been on my mind lately.

In Peace

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