A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

January 25th, Wednesday... For the record, I am not a Bible thumper. I cannot recite chapter and verse off the top of my head. I do believe in God so I am not all bad! I try to live right. You know, respect others, respect myself... That sort of thing. I do go to church and I enjoy it. When not in church, I sometimes watch and listen to THE WORD Ministries that come on during the week. All of that being said, I cannot listen to every pastor or bishop or apostle that gets up there and goes through the process of teaching. I say that because I have problems with the presentation and delivery of the WORD by some.
There is one pastor, I won't mention his name, who wrangles my nerves! He is a good preacher, in my opinion, but he always manages to talk about his house, his possessions, his riches... He talks about how much he tithes and how it measures up with how much other pastors tithes... He's like watching religious train wreck performance art! (I can't turn away!)
Maybe I should not be critical of a religious man but am I wrong for feeling this way? I mean, if I visited his home that is set up like a museum and be comfortable in it when I cannot touch anything, when there are no signs posted that says "DO NOT TOUCH!" Not that I would want to touch anything. My fear is that the alarm would go off and security would physically remove me from the premises and, yet, I should be comfortable while visiting. Maybe I don't get it? Maybe I should just submit to a passive-aggressive, masochist who seems to get pleasure out of beating my brains out under the disguise of Christianity! Lord Have Mercy!

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

January 16th, Monday... I attend a Black church and I did go to it yesterday. It was a good sermon. Pastor talked about being in position to receive GOD's grace and blessing. I left feeling good about myself. I felt like I have a long way to go but I've come a long way also. I got in my car and pulled out of the parking lot... And then it hit me like a shot! Hey, it's Dr. Martin Luther King Day! (Yes, the pun is intended!) My (Black) pastor said nothing about Martin Luther King! Nothing, zilch, nada...
Last time I checked, Dr. Martin Luther King was the pre-eminent pastor of the civil rights movement. He may be, arguably, the single most reason why Black pastors can exist. It was his voice that opened up the wound to help expose the injustices against Blacks that was taken into consideration by the powers that be in America! Sure there were preachers and pastors before him but he had his hand on the pulse of racial injustice that we all owe a debt to.
Quiet is kept, I have not heard much about this holiday in the media or by word of mouth. I live near DC and not too far from the new Dr. Martin Luther King monument and I have heard nothing about (another) march on Washington D.C.
So what am I to think? Am I living in Arizona East? Should I confront my pastor or should I just act like everybody else does? It's just another holiday... There will be no normal bus service, garbage collection, post office service and the banks and schools will be closed. It is too cold to have a MLK cookout and I need the rest to get ready for work tomorrow. Thanks Martin for putting your life on the line for me to be able to hear NOTHING about you on the day that took legislators forever to decide to have in the first place! "I have a nightmare..."