The Church is the only long-standing, viable institution that Afrikans in North America possess. It is the only option we have that is stable and strong enough to aid Afrikans in reconstructing the social network (families, neighborhoods, and schools) establishing and supporting Black owned businesses, and reconnecting brothers and sisters recently released jails and prisons to loving families and safe communities.

For all of my people who are critiquing and criticizing the Black Church, my only question is what viable alternative are you offering? The critics of the Black church may just want to put up or shut up! I’d rather that they put up.

The church is not the preacher (and I know there are a lot of unprincipled preachers out there)...

Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon was the focus of this week’s sermon. The letter is found in Jeremiah 29:4-9. In it the prophet exhorts his people to seek and pray for the peace of the city and asserts that the welfare of the exiles is directly linked to the peace and prosperity of the city where they reside.

The notion that exiles, or the oppressed of any description, should seek to be of benefit to those responsible for their oppression is troublesome on several levels. The prophet Jeremiah skirted the troublesome implications of collaborating with one’s oppressor by first, theologizing his consul to the exiles. The letter open’s with the words “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says . . ...