Oh, Heck. My Family Didn't Win...

Upon hearing that one winner of this humongous MegaMillions lottery was someone in Georgia and then getting a constant busy signal at my mother's phone in Conyers, Ga., I just let myself imagine that she'd won and that the line was busy with congratulation calls. Of course, I was thinking that in her generosity, if she had won, she'd kick a million or so my way!

Oh, well...

Someone had left the phone off the hook.

Congratulations to whoever won. And please be smart and generous in handling all that cash. Remember Luke 12:48:

"For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask more."

Farrakhan Leaves the Stage

Now that Louis Farrakhan is reducing his role in the Nation of Islam – because of age and bad health – it is time for that organization to rethink its place in the Muslim world and to consider becoming aligned with orthodox Islam.

The Black Muslim movement, begun in Detroit in the 1930s, is rather passé. Malcolm X had turned in the orthodox direction after his expulsion from the NOI and his spiritual journey to Mecca; W. D. Mohammed, a son of the NOI’s founder, and his followers pursue a truer path of Islam than the NOI. Some of Mohammed’s followers consider Farrakhan’s to be members of a cult.

I consider Farrakhan to be a hatemongering, but charming, fanatic. The former entertainer managed to charm his way into some semblance of respectability through such events as the Million Man March. At his two-hour valedictory speech, he was joined on the podium, according to The Chicago Sun-Times, by the singer Anita Baker, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, US Rep. John Conyers and leaders of organizations involved in reviving New Orleans post-Katrina.

Vibert White, a former NOI minister who is a professor of public history at the University of Central Florida, told The Christian Science Monitor: "His tone has changed because of a changing society. But his history has been one of hostile language, inflammatory language, elements of separation and segregation and 'America is the whore of the planet Earth' - he's not going to change those views overnight."

And, in The New York Times, a spokesman for W. D. Mohammed said of the NOI after Farrakhan: ''In the final analysis, they have no option but to move in the direction we are or to just dissipate or disappear. This community is going to reconcile itself to pure Islam and reconcile itself to being American citizens who are part of a multicultural society.''

I’ve been no great fan of Farrakhan, but I do recognize that this changing of the guard is historical. "My time is up," he said in Detroit. Good. But in the Christian tradition I wish Farrakhan peace and blessings.

Has the Black church world come to this?

Black churches, apparently affected by bling-bling, materialism and the decline in music education in our public schools, are finding it difficult to attract musicians who are also into the spiritual side of the church. Check out this article that appeared over the weekend in The New York Times by Samuel Freedman: "Black Churches Hungering for Musical Talent".

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/us/13religion.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=5b2fd5781a068214&ex=1169442000


Here's an excerpt:

"Mr. [Eli] Wilson started playing piano at age 6 in the church his father pastored in New Orleans. Now, at 58, he embodies a breed that is rapidly vanishing.

'When I was coming up, the emphasis was on using music to develop and grow people, spiritually,' he said. 'Right now, it’s all about the tightness of the band and spotlighting the best voices. So instead of looking for people who have a heart for ministry, you look for the best musicians. And for them, it’s just another gig.'"