Visit us at: 30 Good Minutes.org

         

Reflection: Unexpected blessings - PG# 5311 (2009/20010)
by Otis Moss

I would encourage any student of history to take a look at Taylor Branch’s book, “Parting the Waters,” There is chapter in there entitled “The Forerunner,” that talks about an amazing and incredible preacher by the name of Vernon Johns. Vernon Johns pastored in Montgomery, Alabama, an incredibly prophetic figure. He would place outside of the church the name of the upcoming sermon. One sermon, if you can imagine the 1940s, was, “Is it OK to Lynch Negroes in Alabama?” Another one was, “Is Heaven Segregated?”

The local police force would drive around the church, always trying to figure out what is Vernon Johns going to preach. He would stand in the pulpit every week and give a statement about how God did not intend people to live in segregation. He was brought down to the police force one time and told that specifically he needed to let them know what he was preaching.  He said, “Well, I’ll tell you, first after I take an offering!”

And then it seemed something really unique happened, as a result of his unique preaching. They put him out of the church. They said, “You’re too controversial. We need to find someone who is not as controversial as you.” So Vernon Johns was put out and the deacon ministry decided they were going to call a young man from Boston, who had just received his PhD, that they could control. That young man was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s very interesting how God works. Find out about Vernon Johns and you’ll see how God is working constantly in our lives.

 

Reflection: The Path of Hate - PG# 5301 (2009/20010)
by Otis Moss

Otis Moss: I heard an interesting story not too long ago about the colonial period in Kenya, when a unique, revolutionary group entitled the Mau Mau was attempting to get the British to leave Kenya.

There was one particular British officer that could not stand not only the Mau Mau, but did not like Kenyans. And so there was a captured Mau Mau soldier they placed in prison. He was told specifically that he should not spend time around this prisoner. But this British soldier, who had a lot of hatred in him, ended up going every day just to be mean to this particular soldier. If he ordered water, he would pour the water upon the floor. If there was food, he would kick the bowl and allow the food to be spread all across the prison floor. He was cruel and he was mean. He did not like the Mau Mau soldier.

Eventually the Mau Mau soldier died. And, of course, the soldier was not remorseful and did not think anything of it, until there was a medical alert on this particular compound where all the British soldiers lived. They said there is an outbreak of TB in the area and every soldier had to be inoculated or had to be tested. And so, as a result, this soldier found out that he had tuberculosis. But he could not figure out: how did he get tuberculosis? He was not in the area that had tuberculosis. But come to find out, he had spent time in that prison with that Mau Mau soldier. And interestingly enough, this soldier ended up dying with the disease of his enemy.

That is the problem with hate. Anytime we hate someone else, sometimes we end up dying with the disease of the person that we dislike. And so it’s important that love is at the forefront of our spirit. God bless.

 

Reflection: Jazz Music and Faith - PG# 5306 (2009/20010)
by Otis Moss

The greatest gift America has given to the world, I believe, is jazz music, created in New Orleans, or New Or-LEENS, depending upon where you’re from. It was created in the Congo Square as a result of Africans being brought from West Africa. They were sold in an area called the Congo Square in New Orleans. And in that area they heard the rhythms of not only French chamber music, but also the sounds of Native Americans, and created a Creole music entitled jazz.

I believe jazz speaks to us in a very unique way of what democracy is about and about how we are to engage each other theologically. You see, jazz music is the only music where the instruments should not be played together. The piano, which is classical, and the saxophone, which is for a marching band, the drums that are used for the street, and also the bass, which actually should played with a bow but instead is played with the fingers. But what is powerful about jazz music is that each person is allowed to solo. Even though they all know the same theme, they can all bring their own unique element to the table.

And what is so powerful is you will never hear a piano trying to oppress a saxophone, a saxophone trying to oppress the drum, or the drum trying to oppress the bass. Each person is given the right to solo. And I believe in American and American democracy, if we take a cue from jazz music, maybe we can solo together and maybe we will create our own love supreme.

 

Reflection: Joy - PG# 5204 (2008/20009)
by Otis Moss

I once heard a minister by the name of Frederick Haynes say that happiness is what is happening around you, but joy is something on the inside that transforms things on the outside. There was a story of a young preacher, fresh out of seminary, who was preaching at a country church in western Georgia.

The windows are up in the church and a breeze blows through and allows all of his papers to go all over the church. He has no sermon. But there was one woman who keeps shouting, saying, “Preach it! Tell it! Amen!” And after the sermon he knew that he had a terrible sermon, but he went to this older woman, this seasoned saint, and asked the question, “You know that my sermon was absolutely awful.”  She said, “Oh yes, it was terrible!” “Why was it that you were shouting so much?” And the woman says back, “Well, just because you didn’t do your job, doesn’t mean I’m not going to do mine!” When you have joy in your heart, it does not matter what someone else is doing, you are allowing the spirit of God to come through in any circumstance.

 

Reflection: Love - PG# 5209 (2008/20009)
by Otis Moss

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. There is an amazing story told by Rev. C. L. Franklin, the father of Aretha Franklin, of a son who was condemned to death. As a result, the judge says, “When the clock strikes twelve, you will die. We will hang you and all of those around in the community will see you die. The only way you will live is if there is some type of divine intervention and there is no sound from the bell tower.” Twelve o’clock comes around and there is no sound!

The people are wondering what is going on, when suddenly they realize that there is a body that falls from the bell tower. The son’s mother was holding on to the clapper so that the bell would not ring. And this is the kind of love that God has for us, that God literally holds the bell clapper so that we would not be condemned but we would have an opportunity for one more day.

 

Reflection: Patience - PG# 5214 (2008/20009)
by Otis Moss

One of the most influential theologians in America but the least known is a gentleman by the name of Howard Thurman, a teacher of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King would take his book, “Jesus and the Disinherited,” just about everywhere he would go. And it is Howard Thurman who tells a story when he was a small child that he witnessed a gentleman planting pecan (or pee-can) trees, depending upon what part of the country you are from. And as a child he indicated to this seasoned saint, “Why are you planting these trees? You will never be able to live long enough to actually take from the fruit that is coming from these trees.” And so the seasoned saint says back to Howard Thurmond, “I’m not planting these trees for myself. I am planting them for another generation.” That we are called to plant for another generation, we will never see the end of the race but we just pass it on. And so that is really what spiritual patience is all about: pass it on to someone else and there will be fruit.

 

Reflection: Peace - PG# 5215 (2008/20009)
by Otis Moss

The kind of peace that God demands God’s people to demonstrate is peace that surpasses all understanding. This idea is made lucidly clear in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was experiencing the pressure and the stress of leading the freedom movement, the Civil Rights movement. His family had been threatened, his house had been bombed, and he was at his kitchen table one day. It was late in the night and he was praying.

Praying, raising the question, “Why me? I have the weight of an entire country upon my shoulders.” It is in this moment that he literally felt the spirit of God rest upon him and he felt that, literally, everything was going to be all right. With the pressure of death threats, people attempting to destroy his family and the movement, he felt peace that surpassed all understanding. When we have this kind of connection to God, God will rest God’s hand upon us and we will have peace.

Home | Schedule |This Week |PG Archives| Interfaith Resources | Short Video | About| Links|Donation