Trinity United Church Of Christ Is The Largest UCC Congregation, A Liberal Denomination That Was The First To Ordain An African American, Woman, And Gay Man. "However incongruously, Trinity became the largest congregation in The United Church of Christ, a predominantly white denomination known for its liberal politics and steepled churches in small New England towns. The UCC, or Congregational church, as it is also called, was the first mainline Protestant church to ordain an African-American (1785), a woman (1853), and an openly gay man (1972), and the first major Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage (2005)." [Christian Science Monitor, 7/16/07]
Trinity Educates New Members About the Historical Context of the Black Values System; Puts It In Context of Civil Rights Movement And Chicago's South Side. There is information on the Black Values System in the new member packet provided at Trinity, and the new member classes put the Black Values System in the historical context of the civil rights movement. "Because the community that Trinity sits in [the south side of Chicago] in faces a number of challenges, Trinity made the commitment to this values system in the hope that it will help...transform of the community. [Activities that exemplify the Black Values System include] the drug and alcohol recovery ministry...the prison ministry, the congregation's commitment to mothers who have been incarcerated, and the Rites of Passage program [youth ministry] which helps young people move into adulthood connected with their faith and [a sense of] economic justice." [Conversation with Reverend Otis Moss III, Pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, 1/30/07]
My main concern about Senator Obama was not knowing what being a Christian meant to him in the face of liberal politics. Huckabee is a different brand of Christianity that sounds good but ends up being exclusionary. Seeing the above on Obama's church and seeing his voting record for civil liberties, a woman's right to choose, gay rights, health care for everyone...okay, I am relieved.
I'm concerned for how drastically his camp is denying any connection to being Muslim, like being Muslim is bad. I mean, I get they are down playing his middle name problem (Hussein), and are trying to educate regular folks on the difference between Obama and Osama but its a bit insulting.
Back to much more immediate concerns. Max wants to write a story. Tonight's subject is pirates. I will just give you a few chapters since, story books can be long.
A story about Pirates by Max Marshall Lewis:
Once there was a captain. He told his crew to do everything. But his crew never listened to him. His friend, the ghost leprechaun listened to him. He told all the pirates to listen to the captain. They sang, "Ah haha, we will never listen to that mean old captain!"
The leprechaun said, "You are nice pirates, and he's a nice captain." But they liked gold so much that they didn't remember they were nice pirates. They sang mean things like, "Who's the jolly captain that's so mean?" But the Head Gold Present (see below) is for Grip, the Pirate. And that head thing was so nice that the captain liked it so much. The Head thing said to the pirates, "You have to be nice."
Grip wanted to change his name to Sit. He wanted his captain to sit down in the shark's mouth. But then Grip understood the captain now because he remembered that he had to be nice.
On the ship that had skull and crossbones, the skeleton had nothing. The pirates said, "Arg, arg, arg, arg!" And the captain said, "Arg, arg, arg, arg!"
Grip and his friend Nick and Bellwing and his captain understood stuff already since the captain learned since he was born. The captain's name was Rick.
This pirate, Nick, just stood like a statue and never moved. The End.
Is there a moral to this story? Is there some connection to politics? To anything? Probably not but I can't help but think that if we could all just remember that we are nice pirates, we could be nicer to one another, we just keep forgetting since we like gold so much.
What a shame.
What an awesome story! I especially love the gold head thing.
ReplyDeleteLinda