The Great Commission

Gift of Time - The Great Commission is the normative mission statement for the church.  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20a RSV).  It is through our Missionary giving of time that we can make the Christ known to those who know Him not.

DO The Right Thing!” Pt. II

By Elder Gerald DeForest Tyler

Last week I began writing about the Pennsylvania State University child sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky as the alleged predator directly, and several other Penn State employees somewhat indirectly, including its former head football coach and president. I say former because both Coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier were fired as a result of the sex scandal over two weeks ago now. I trust that you are a regular reader of my “Pastor’s Corner” columns and that you read last week’s column for a better introduction to this conclusive piece. And if by chance you did not, by now you probably know right much about the aforementioned sex scandal that I need not attempt to recapture all of it for you. So let me just continue from where I left off, essentially.

From a public relations and image perspective, it’s a sad time during the history of this great university, Penn State, and will very likely continue to be for several decades or generations yet to come. It’s also quite sad, regrettable and unfortunate when because of one bad “snapshot moment” in life, a person’s entire body of great works can be so drastically diminished, if not completely wiped out, but occasionally it does happen. I’m afraid such is the case here with Coach Paterno. Rather than putting his arms around this matter demonstrating the most appropriate action to safeguard and protect young innocent boys, “Joe Pa” allowed this scandal to erupt into one of the biggest fiascos ever known to land on an American college campus. In other words, he “fumbled” this one away big time, and he does not have the privilege of instant replay to reverse public opinion.

Granted, Jerry Sandusky is probably the real “dirt bag” involved in this horrible sinful practice, but Paterno, et al. are not completely exempt either. There is that “moral responsibility” whereby God expects us to step up to the plate. The Holy Writ says, to whom much is given, much is required. My guess is that “Joe Pa” is already beginning to regret that he did not “Do The Right Thing!” The “good news” in all of this is that God will forgive him, Spanier, Sandusky, et al. if they go to him with earnest, sincere, and repentive hearts. Yes, God will indeed forgive!

I’ve been proclaiming for quite some time now, that collegiate revenue producing sports, as well as professional sports, have simply gone too far in America. I mean, our athletes and coaches are thought of as kings and queens seemingly; and even “dieties” in some instances. They’re paid multi-millions more than some Fortune 500 company CEOs. And they think that they’re indispensable, invincible, and untouchable when they do wrong. Well, they’re not, and somebody needs to tell them so.

I’ve heard it said that, “when truth clashes with a legend…you print the legend.” I’m here to tell you no, no! You print and you tell the truth regardless of the stature of the person, no matter what. There’s only one God! Tell the truth even when it hurts to do so. Tell the truth and be done with. Otherwise, be sure your sins will find you out, sooner or later, and your conscious will eat at you like a canker worm. While I thank God for that great teacher we call “hindsight,” let me quickly express that it’s so much better to get it right the first time around. In other words, “Do The Right Thing” coming out of the box!

Elder Gerald DeForest Tyler is an ordained minister with years of senior pastoral experience.

The Call

It does no good for preachers to rehearse Jesus' extreme demands while congregations sit in well-cushioned, air-conditioned sanctuaries. Preachers must level with our congregations. Precious few of us lay everything on the line for the Gospel, but neither can we ignore its call.

Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline

By the editors of Rethinking Schools
“Every man in my family has been locked up. Most days I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I try—that’s my fate, too.”
—11th-grade African American student, Berkeley, Calif.
This young man isn’t being cynical or melodramatic; he’s articulating a terrifying reality for many of the children and youth sitting in our classrooms—a reality that is often invisible or misunderstood. Some have seen the growing numbers of security guards and police in our schools as unfortunate but necessary responses to the behavior of children from poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods. But what if something more ominous is happening? What if many of our students—particularly our African American, Latina/o, Native American, and Southeast Asian children—are being channeled toward prison and a lifetime of second-class status?
We believe that this is the case, and there is ample evidence to support that claim. What has come to be called the “school-to-prison pipeline” is turning too many schools into pathways to incarceration rather than opportunity. This trend has extraordinary implications for teachers and education activists. It affects everything from what we teach to how we build community in our classrooms, how we deal with conflicts with and among our students, how we build coalitions, and what demands we see as central to the fight for social justice education.
What Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
The school-to-prison pipeline begins in deep social and economic inequalities, and has taken root in the historic shortcomings of schooling in this country. The civil and human rights movements of the 1960s and ’70s spurred an effort to “rethink schools” to make them responsive to the needs of all students, their families, and communities. This rethinking included collaborative learning environments, multicultural curriculum, student-centered, experiential pedagogy—we were aiming for education as liberation. The back-to-basics backlash against that struggle has been more rigid enforcement of ever more alienating curriculum.
The “zero tolerance” policies that today are the most extreme form of this punishment paradigm were originally written for the war on drugs in the early 1980s, and later applied to schools. As Annette Fuentes explains, the resulting extraordinary rates of suspension and expulsion are linked nationally to increasing police presence, checkpoints, and surveillance inside schools.
As police have set up shop in schools across the country, the definition of what is a crime as opposed to a teachable moment has changed in extraordinary ways. In one middle school we’re familiar with, a teacher routinely allowed her students to take single pieces of candy from a big container she kept on her desk. One day, several girls grabbed handfuls. The teacher promptly sent them to the police officer assigned to the school. What formerly would have been an opportunity to have a conversation about a minor transgression instead became a law enforcement issue.
Children are being branded as criminals at ever-younger ages. Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia, a recent report by Youth United for Change and the Advancement Project, offers an example:
Robert was an 11-year-old in 5th grade who, in his rush to get to school on time, put on a dirty pair of pants from the laundry basket. He did not notice that his Boy Scout pocketknife was in one of the pockets until he got to school. He also did not notice that it fell out when he was running in gym class. When the teacher found it and asked whom it belonged to, Robert volunteered that it was his, only to find himself in police custody minutes later. He was arrested, suspended, and transferred to a disciplinary school.
Early contact with police in schools often sets students on a path of alienation, suspension, expulsion, and arrests. George Galvis, an Oakland, Calif., prison activist and youth organizer, described his first experience with police at his school: “I was 11. There was a fight and I got called to the office. The cop punched me in the face. I looked at my principal and he was just standing there, not saying anything. That totally broke my trust in school as a place that was safe for me.”
Galvis added: “The more police there are in the school, walking the halls and looking at surveillance tapes, the more what constitutes a crime escalates. And what is seen as ‘how kids act’ vs. criminal behavior has a lot to do with race. I always think about the fistfights that break out between fraternities at the Cal campus, and how those fights are seen as opposed to what the police see as gang-related fights, even if the behavior is the same.”
Mass Incarceration: A Civil Rights Crisis
The growth of the school-to-prison pipeline is part of a larger crisis. Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has exploded from about 325,000 people to more than 2 million today. According to Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, this is a phenomenon that cannot be explained by crime rates or drug use. According to Human Rights Watch (Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs, 2000) although whites are more likely to violate drug laws than people of color, in some states black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates 20 to 50 times greater than those of white men. Latina/os, Native Americans, and other people of color are also imprisoned at rates far higher than their representation in the population. Once released, former prisoners are caught in a web of laws and regulations that make it difficult or impossible to secure jobs, education, housing, and public assistance—and often to vote or serve on juries. Alexander calls this permanent second-class citizenship a new form of segregation.
The impact of mass incarceration is devastating for children and youth. More than 7 million children have a family member incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. Many of these children live with enormous stress, emotional pain, and uncertainty. Luis Esparza describes the impact on his life in Project WHAT!’s Resource Guide for Teens with a Parent in Prison or Jail:

The Master Stepped In

Not long ago, I heard a story about a five–year–old boy who loved the piano. Any time he got the chance, he would sit down and fiddle around on the keys. He never had lessons or formal training because he was told that he was too small or too young to play the piano. But in spite of those comments, he continued to practice and practice the only song he knew how to play, "Chopsticks."
One day, the boy's father surprised him with tickets to go to the symphony and hear a world–renowned Italian pianist. This man was one of the greatest pianists that had ever lived. The night of the concert arrived and as they walked to their seats, the little boy saw the beautiful grand piano on stage behind the curtain.
When no one was looking, he snuck over and sat down on the piano bench and began to play his elementary version of chopsticks. About that time, the curtain began to rise and the audience was prepared to see the world–famous, master pianist. Instead, they saw the little boy hunched over the keys playing "Chopsticks." The boy was so caught up in his world that he didn't even know anyone was watching. When he suddenly realized what was happening, he was petrified.
Just as he was about to get up and run for his life, two big arms reached around him and placed two big hands on the piano keys. It was the master pianist. He whispered in the little boy's ear, "Keep playing." As the little boy continued to play his simple rendition of "Chopsticks", this world–renown pianist began to play a Beethoven Symphony piece scored in the same cadence and key. Under the direction of the master, the rest of the orchestra came in.
First, he brought in the woodwinds, then the brass, then the percussion. The boy's father sat there with tears coming down his cheeks. He couldn't believe what he was experiencing. He never dreamed that simple tune he heard in his living room each day would become a beautifully orchestrated Beethoven symphony.
What was the difference? The master stepped in.
Sometimes in life, you may not feel like you have the talent, the wisdom, or the "know how." People may not see your desire or ability, but the good news is: God does. When you use what you have, the Master will step in. He'll put His hands on top of your hands. He'll take what you think is average–average gifts, average talent, average ability–and He'll turn your life into a masterpiece.

Black Men Who Pray

by Dr. Michelle Johnson
Great black fathers and husbands do exist. Some of them write for this website, while others you will never know. I grew up with a great father who adopted me and my brothers when we were just infants. He didn’t let the fact that we were not “blood” keep him for loving, providing for, and praying for us.My husband plays a similar role in my immediate family today. In particular, I love it when he prays for our daughter, when he lays his hands on her asthmatic chest and speaks healing into her body. I love it when he walks into her bedroom at night just to make sure she is sleeping peacefully. Or, when he drops her at school and repeats the same blessing day after day: “May God bless you.” For me, there is nothing more enduring or attractive about my husband than his faith in God and his fervent prayers for his family. I know in my heart that God hears him and that he hears from God.My husband is not unique. There are millions of black men who are praying husbands and fathers, one of which is Craig Varnado, a fellow church member and Facebook friend. About a week ago, Craig posted a happy birthday message to his daughter. But this wasn’t the “traditional” Facebook birthday greeting. It was a prayer. Check it out:
Happy Birthday to my daughter Christen who just turned 1 year-old. Here is my prayer for her:Lord, thank you for bringing this little girl into our lives. Thank you for one year of life. There are many babies that didn’t make it one day, one week, or one month, but we are blessed that she has been here for one year in perfect health. I pray that she continues to grow and flourish in everything that she does with her life. Please remove anything that is negative from her life in the present and in the future. Any negative stereotypes that might affect her I ask that you get rid of them RIGHT NOW. Let her know that she is Beautiful, Intelligent, and Smart, and that she doesn’t need the pressure from society to feel that way. Allow her to go about this life with her Head Up and feeling good about herself. With her brother and all her boy cousins, she has a ZONE defense to protect her, but I know you will be playing PREVENT defense and protecting her. Let her know that she “can do all things thru Christ who strengthens her.” I ask that you continue to guide her life, and whatever it is that she wants to do with her life, she seeks You first for guidance. I ask all of this in Your name……AMEN!!!!P.S. PLEASE KEEP HER OFF THE POLE!!!!!Don’t you love it when black men pray, and pray in their own way? They don’t have to use a lot of religious words or sound preachy; all they have to do is speak from the heart, be real, and believe.

A Christmas Hope-By: Cleon Ross

 

As I made my rounds during my last minute shopping for our
food baskets that our church gives out during the Christmas season, along with
gifts for the children of those families who have less than we do, I was struck
by many happy greetings that I received at each business that I entered: merry
Christmas, happy holidays, have a blessed Christmas, seasons greetings to you,
and happy Christmas.
It was just great to see people truly happy and sharing it
with others. That’s what the birth of our Savior is supposed to be. Why can’t
people of God be this joyful everyday of the year, not just at Christmas?
As I was driving home after doing my errands, I began to think
about all those people who will be sad during these holy days of Christmas.
Those people are all around us — those who are away from loved ones, service
members and their families, those who are struggling with life-threatening
illness, those who have no funds to buy gifts for those whom they love or even
those who have nothing to eat, no job or worse, no hope of finding work.
No, there is no end to the list of those who will not have a
merry Christmas.
OK, OK, I know you are saying to yourself: why, is he trying
to be such a “wet blanket” during this happy season?
I’m not at all. What I am trying to point out is Christ did
not come to earth to end suffering and pain, but to give it meaning.
Those who seek to be Christ-like listen to his words and
respond to those words. That response must include prayer and action. That
action can include calling those who we know will be alone during Christmas,
sending a card to someone who is serving in the military, sending a note to
someone who has lost a family member this past year and visiting those who are
struggling with illness. Also, giving to those who have little or nothing during
this holy time.
There are lots of ways to do that: angel trees, food baskets
and many others. Find someone who has no work and hire them to do lawn work or
paint the back steps, giving them not only a small amount of money, but hope.
When you have made the effort to make a difference in someone’s life, you will
have made those words of two thousand years ago come alive in this 2011
Christmas season. “When you have done it unto the least of mine, you have done
it unto me.”
As each of us celebrates the true meaning of Christmas, the
birth of Christ, it is my prayer that each of us will pray for hearts to turn to
the prince of peace, joy on earth, peace and goodwill. May this be our lot this
coming year. Merry Christmas and may God bless you the whole year
through!

The Psychology of Santa

A microscope. A new puppy. A mother. And absolutely, positively NO CLOTHES.
From the humorous to the heart-wrenching, children's wish lists to Santa
reveal that children aren't as toy-centric as parents think — and that they're
not as polite as perhaps they should be.
Carole
Slotterback, a
psychology professor at the University
of Scranton, analyzed nearly 1,200 letters sent between 1998 and 2003 to the
central post office in Scranton,
a struggling former coal city in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The missives were scrawled or painstakingly
handwritten on every type of paper and in every shade of ink. Many were
decorated with drawings, stickers or glitter; some children gave Santa not only
their addresses but their phone numbers, parents' cell
phone numbers and their school pictures — just to make sure the Big Guy knew
how to find them on Christmas.
Slotterback,
who describes her findings in the book "The Psychology of Santa," said the
letters "touched me in so many different ways."
"Some are just absolutely a stitch, and others are some of the saddest things
I've ever read," she said.
One kid asked to be an elf. Another made a list that included Pokemon cards,
a camera and a microscope. But about every third item, the child wrote: "NO
clothes."
And then there was the one written in careful cursive on bright pink paper,
in which Santa was asked for perhaps the greatest gift of all: a mom.
"Not just for me but my daddy, brother and granny ... my daddy works so hard
and then he comes home to cook and clean and it should be easier," the letter
read.
The child drew a 5-cent
"stamp" on the envelope before dropping it in the mailbox.
The U.S.
Postal Service receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa each year,
with increases during tough economic times, said spokeswoman
Sue
Brennan.
None of them make it to the North Pole. But some
do get responses through Operation Santa; about 500,000 letters in New York
City alone were answered last year by individuals, companies and postal
employees, Brennan
said.
Some are funny — one asked Santa to check the appropriate box: Real or not
real? — but many more are not, she said.
"I've never gone 5 or 10 minutes without getting
teary," said Brennan.
"It's very emotional."
Children who sent letters instead of lists were
generally more polite and chatty, for instance asking about Mrs.
Claus, Slotterback
said.
Except for the death threat. One child wrote:
"Dear Santa, I am going to kill you and steal the toys from your workshop." Slotterback
reported it to the postmaster, who agreed to contact people at the return
address, which she believes was a juvenile facility.
The letters also show kids are sensitive to
current events. In 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
children's letters were very patriotic, Slotterback
said. Kids drew pictures of Santa's sleigh with American flags hanging off the
back, and of St. Nick putting flags in stockings; they also asked for fewer toys
that year, she found.
And there was no indication that children feared the terrorists would get
Santa, she said.
"Terrorists can do all kinds of things to our
world, and they can hurt us in many ways, but one thing they can't do is touch
Santa," said Slotterback.
"And that was nice to see."
Overall, between 3 percent and 6 percent of
letters had what Slotterback
called "family requests," such as for a sick grandmother to get better or for Mom and
Dad to stop fighting.
She suggested parents ask to see their kids' wish
lists, because they might be surprised at what is — and what's not — on it.
Requests are often "simpler kids of things than you might think," Slotterback
said.
But she noted a surprising lack of social niceties in the correspondence,
unless the child was asking for a pet. A boy who asked for a golden retriever
used "please" 16 times, she said. The next-highest use came from a girl who
wanted a horse.
Slotterback
cited other research that found people who expect their requests to be fulfilled
— like a boss asking an employee to do something — are less likely to say
please. Perhaps likewise, she said, kids expect Santa to come through.
Still, she said, "you'd think if you were asking for a lot of presents, you
would throw in a 'please' or a 'thank you.'"

Pass The Ball...

Santa’s delivery method,

Santa uses modern technology for Christmas Eve flight

BE STILL...

pass-the_ball

Often when I pray the words, "Be still..." come to my mind. The ending might be different. It could be just "be still" or maybe "be still and know," or "be still and know that I am God." And sometimes, "be still and know that I love you."Be still.My younger son cannot be still. I don't mean still as in motionless; I mean still as in quiet. He doesn't talk all the time, but he is always making some kind of noise. He fills the still air with tiny noises. Be still.Do you have a compulsion to fill the air -- to fill the stillness? Do you find comfort in quiet? Or is it empty? Sometimes, when I pray, and I hear the words "be still," I don't want to obey. I want to get on with it. I'm probably praying because I have something to say, to ask, to tell. I don't want to be still. And yet, I try to obey. I try to stop talking and let the empty quiet exist. To know. To listen. To just be in the stillness.

Be still and know...

http://www.baystatebanner.com/Roving-Camera60-2010-12-23

YOUR SON

From The Executive Director

During times of adversity and hardship, when the grey, thick clouds of political strife and international crises loom over us, it is natural to want to draw the curtains closed and barricade ourselves from the ugliness outside our doors. When we wonder if we will have enough money to keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables, it might be difficult to imagine that we can offer anything of value to God. Yet, it is in these seasons of spiritual winter; in these times of vulnerability and uncertainty that we offer to God the gifts he desires most.
Although our hands may be empty of resources, if our hearts are full of praise and thankfulness to Him and love expressed in generosity to His people, He is blessed beyond measure. As he found much pleasure in the poor widow's offering of a few pennies at the temple, so he finds much pleasure in our sacrificial giving of ourselves during times of hardship.
No matter what season you are experiencing in your life, as you present your heart to the Lord, may you feel the warmth of His light shine upon you and through you. May that light be a beacon to those in the darkness and may you truly be a messenger of God's greatest gift to the world, His son, Jesus Christ.
God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas, which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ.

From all of us at Pass-The_Ball
Rev. M.D. Rogers-Executive Director

Christmas Prayer:

Father, We thank Thee for this day.
Bless all we do and all we say.
May we each enjoy Thy blessings great
As Jesus' Birth we celebrate.
And may the love that we share here
Remain throughout the coming year.
Amen!