"A COLONIZED PEOPLE"

would you bow on a prayer God we thank you for the privilege of being in your presence we thank you the way that you have ministered to us already this morning not only in waking us up and allowing us to be found in the house of prayer but by ministering to us within using and speaking to us of the song demonstrating through the dance ministry our gospel is timeless from generation to generation and allowing us to share in love with our visitors and church family members now Arthur preaching moment we ask for you to bless again speak for someone needs a word from you do it and we'll give you all the glory honor and praise and the people of God together will say so our beloved host passed a buoy to his partner marriage ministry life labor and low as they enjoy their vacation to doctor Clara Reid revenue bond o tie angle Hermann Sharon Larkin Minister LeBron James by the park front will be representing - my name is awesome aggregation of musicians and the men who have blessed us all service long the officers and members of st. Luke United Methodist Church we have several Trinity United Church of Christ family members worshiping with us and friendship West family members worshiping with us also including my step white those of you were older members of st. Luke Noda Freddie Haynes is my son so his mother is my step white sister Loretta I love her worshiping with us also gizelle Marcus and her mother Beverly Marcus Vanessa Turner Gibson I saw earlier in the Service Commission John Wiley price thank you so much for your hospitality and your kind I was sharing with Commissioner price earlier this morning since I was with friendship quest and since Denise Johnson Stovall's funeral when I was with you saying look I have several physical challenges and I ask for your prayers as I attempt to preach through my physical challenges when I got out of commission Oh crisis car this morning the securities at all his car was so cold your glasses fogged up that's a patch I can't see I have ocular neuropathy and diplopia so I need your prayers as I try to preach if you have your scriptures with you I think it's going to be on the screen if you don't have your scriptures or your smartphones I invite your attention to John the Gospel according to st. John the 19th chapter the first 15 verses from the New Revised Standard translation then let's read together then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged and the soldiers whoa a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they dressed him in a purple robe they kept coming up to him saying hail King of the Jews and striking him on the face Pilate went out again and said to them look I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe Pilate said to them here is the man when the chief priests and the police saw him they shouted crucify him crucify him Pyrus said to them take him yourselves and crucify him I find no case against him the Jews answered him we have alone and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God now when Pilate heard this he was more afraid than ever he entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus where are you from but Jesus gave him no answer Pilate therefore said to him do you refuse to speak to me do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you jesus answered him you would have no power over me unless it had been given you from therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a graters and from then on Pilate tried to release him but the Jews cried out if you release this man you are no friend of the Emperor everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the Emperor when when Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus up and sat on the judges bench at a place called the stone pavement or in Hebrew gabbatha now it was the day of preparation for the Passover and it was about noon he said to the Jews here is your king they cried out away with him away with him crucify him we have no king but the Emperor we have no king but the Emperor as you have your seats in the presence of the Lord I ask your prayerful consideration of the theme our colonized people we have no king with the Emperor Emperor Empire the notion the notion of Empire and imperialism is a dangerous and a sick notion the notion of one country being in power and taking over other countries and making those countries colonies of the superpower is a devious and destructive notion it is a warlike notion based on a warrior mentality of conquerors and conquered superior and inferior the victors and the victims the powerful and the power less the total disregard for other people's countries other people's cultures are the people's customs other people's ways of life it is sick it is dangerous it is devious and it is destructive yet it is an old old way of thinking that is still with us in the 21st century some of us see the United States as the righteous Empire Empire imperialism colonies and the colonized either you are on our side or you are on the side of evil this is a war of good versus evil and of course our side is the good side our track record to the contrary notwithstanding this is a war of right versus wrong with our side being right including our extermination of the Indians our enslavement of the Africans our training of assassins are unqualified support for Zionism our complete disregard of both the Palestinians and the United Nations resolution supporting the Palestinians our suppression of third world peoples are ignoring the need for affordable medicine in the fight against hiv/aids and our disregard for the world's opinion about racism and our refusal to discuss reparation for blacks and the victims of the West African chattel slaves trade note our absolute arrogance and refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing in the slavery we won't even say I am sorry and it's probably because we ain't sorry like I have said for years if we repent we just might have to repay and we ain't about to repay we can repay the Jews we can repay the Japanese but we ain't about to repay the Africans cuz this is america united we stand and in god we trust' that's what you got on your money but then ain't hardly what you got on your mind well we trust in is the almighty dollar our money and our military we are a righteous Empire Empire imperialism colonies and the colonized and you either on our side or you on the wrong side the notion of empire the notion of emperors we have no king but the Emperor it's a dangerous and sick notion some of you can remember yours hold enough to remember and for the Millennials let me remind you you can google it in recent years the British Empire has had to give up some of its power and give back some of the land a colony that Britain just took over Hong Kong was one of those Kong Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire and the Britons shed tears as the British turned Hong Kong back over to his citizen look at a map when you get a chance Britons over here next to France Germany Switzerland way over here halfway around the world where Japan Korea mainland China Taiwan but Hong Kong was a part of the British Empire it was a colony and I remember watching television I got so ticklish the British flag came down in Hong Kong y'all the British soldiers saluted the symbol of oppression the symbol of tyranny the symbol of colonisation domination and as their national anthem played me bagpipe me the tears were shed I seent it y'all i seated and a few years before that all the way down at the bottom of Argentina in South America there's a tiny little piece of real estate about the size of the book a country that the natives call las malvinas in Argentina Sudamericana sellers and all last Malvinas they decided the citizens they didn't want to be a part of the British colony British Empire anymore they don't want to be a British colony colony colonized colonization they decided that they were going to be free they declared their independence so the British who refused to call this little dirty blossom of Venus they call it in their arrogance they renamed it the Falklands the British has the entire British Navy from England down to the Falklands to preserve the integrity of the British Empire what an enormous waste of money and manpower to preserve an anachronistic idea whose time has been dead and gone I am telling you the notion of empire imperialism the notion of one country being in power taking over other countries and making them colonies of the superpower that is a sick dangerous devious and destructive notion in my lifetime I've seen Kwame Nkrumah lead his people in Ghana to break free of the British Empire why do you think they speak British English in Ghana in Nigeria in Sierra Leone in Jamaica and Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas and Trinidad Tobago and in Dallas Texas because they were a part of the British Empire they were once crown colonies like Hong Kong and the focus why do you think they speak French in Cote d'Ivoire Senegal Guinea Bissau my techniques and my time Burkina Faso and Haiti because they were once apart they were colonies of the French Empire why do you think they speak Spanish in Cuba Puerto Rico Andorra's Nicaragua Paraguay Uruguay Costa Rica and goal of the Philippines are handy because they were colonies of the Spanish in but why do you think they speak Dutch in Saint Croix it was a colony of the Dutch Empire why do you think a town in your Bible Northeast Africa it's called Caesarea Philippi named after Caesar Philip after the Kaiser Philip after the Emperor Philip because Palestine was once a colony of the Roman Empire why do you think in this text this morning Pontius Pilate is the Roman procurator living in a palace in Jerusalem with Roman soldiers the Roman legion stationed there to keep the natives in line because Jerusalem Jerusalem and Palestine was a colony of the Roman Empire and the citizens of Jerusalem and Judea were a colonized people when they tried to trap Jesus on the paying of taxes question remember what Jesus asked him whose picture whose image is on the money Caesars image the kaisers picture the Emperor's face the people in our text are a colonized people they are a colony of Rome and a colonized people are a prime example a number one exhibit a of why the notion of empire the notion of emperors the notion of imperialism domination subjugation superior inferior is such a devious dangerous and destructive notion colonized people are given colonized information in my field teaching seminary they call it colonized education you all know something about colonized education and colonized education you learned that in the British colonies and the Massachusetts Bay Colony the Thanksgiving holiday was a day to commemorate the grateful colonists sitting down to a meal with the Native Americans they made it through a terrible winter because the kind Indians had showed the colonized was how to survive that's colonized education no that's what Carnegie wasn't called this education that is a lie that colonizers tell just like they lie about bringing civilization to America taking civilization to Africa the truth is that the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Saudis a colony the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 declared the first Thanksgiving to give thanks for the massacre of hundreds of Indians by the British settlers my last a fact colonized information and colonized education is the fiction and the same is true in South Africa when the British and the boards took over the country of the Zulu and the Bantu like the British took over the country of the Seminole the Iroquois the Apache right here the British and the boys the Afrikaans started teaching their lives teaching their fiction as history and education laughter while black folk are tired of the fiction tired of the lives mis-education think about thing about this thing about this kids in Tokyo Japan go to school to learn Japanese history kids in Beijing China go to school learn Chinese history kids in Seoul Korea go to school to learn Korean history in England kids go to school to learn English history and kids in the English colonies go to school learn English history african-americans in Dallas go to school to learn English history colonized kids learn colonized history their education is colonized it is miss education it colonized people are miss educated economize people are confused those who swallow the lives of the colonizers we're the colonizers or the conquerors and the other conquered they get confused with the colonizers of superior they're inferior we're the colonizers are beautiful and they are ugly we're the colonizers are powerful and they are powerless see missing somebody missing this tell your neighbor you missing this let me put it another way those who swallowed the lives of the colonizers where white is pretty and black is ugly where white folks got good hair and black folk got bad hair where the when white folk worship is intelligent and the way black forward worship is ignant where if you white your right if you yellow your mellow if you tan you my man if you're brown stick around but if you're black those who swallow the lives of the colonizers I'm not only this educated they end up confused they hate themselves they hate their own mamas they hate their own women they hate their own men they hate their own color they hate their own culture they can out Roman the Romans they can out French the French they can out British the British and as they say in Chicago in the hood we can out white white folk they are confused I was teaching a class of I won't call the name of the seminary one of our seminaries and intensive an urban ministry urban ministry in the 21st century and there was a PhD in my class from Dominica Dominica is a Caribbean colony an island he said to me dr. Wright our people have been brainwashed by colonialism to such an extent that they will not allow any gospel music and their worship services they are so Anglican like many United Methodist Church their English these are black folk Dominica British confused I'm telling you we we had a search committee in one of our churches in Chicago asked one of the candidates for their pulpit Douro you don't plan on turning our church into another Trinity do you with all that loud music and folks shouting and carry on and the candidate said no he was hired on the spot I told the candidate you should have said then no no no I plan on helping y'all digest as you are cold color then confused they colonized people are miss educated the colonized people are confused and a colonized people are programmed for failure the colonizers will never accept you as equal nor see you as capable of being on their level they are superior so you are programmed for failure failure any people of any color who have a hierarchical view of life or some people are superior and others are inferior where some people are more equal than others where some people are born to be up by virtue of their color and others are destined to be down because they're white God has said it is so those people will never espouse or embrace a philosophy of equal opportunity for all because to them all aren't equal some therefore a scene from Jump Street as expendable not worth the time not worth the energy not worth the money tracked in the first grade for no access to college and easy access to prison they are programmed for failure and the programming is so subtle so thorough so slick that you will end up with the colonized people thinking just like the colonizers thinking just like they have been programmed to think look in the text look in the tech we have no king but Caesar we have no king but the Emperor you still missing this do you know what it means when a colonized people get so confused they give si 90% approval rate we have no king but Caesar we have no king but the Emperor we have no king but George W we have no option but war we have no eternal alternative but murder military tribunals these are the same people in the text in this text saying we have no king but these are the same people whose faith said that they had another king let me refresh your memory their faith taught lift up your heads o ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors and the wood King of glory shall come in who is this King of God the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads or you who is this King of glory the Lord of Hosts he is the king of glory they had another King but they let their human condition rob them of their divine position they led in other words what man had done to them blinded them to the possibilities of what God could do for them they let a temporary reality Caesar make them lose sight of the eternal destiny the Savior they they traded an eternal King for one who would only be king for a little while we have no king but Caesar we are thinking like we have been programmed to think and if you think that black folk given Caesar 90 percent approval rate consider this do you not know that there are some black folk not in Dallas but in Chicago in our day and age who still think that there is no black person qualified to be the mayor of Chicago or colonized people see themselves as subservient they see themselves as inferior the programming is so subtle so thorough and so slick that you end up with colonized people thinking just like the colonizers thinking just like they have been programmed to think a colonized people are Mis educated they're given colonized information they're given a colonized education a colonized people are confused they really think other folks are better than their own folks and a colonized people are programmed for failure and then this text says something else this text teaches us some other things about colonized people look at the text with you number one a colonized people look to the government for deliverance and not to God they look to the government for answers and not to God and they look to the government for direction and not to God Jesus came to deliver the people Peter said to him thou art the Christ son of the Living God the Christ that's God's anointed one the Messiah the deliverer Jesus said if the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed Jesus Christ was a deliverer Jesus Christ was the answer for whatever the question and Jesus Christ was the one to turn to for Direction what did Jesus himself say I am the way the truth and the life but they colonized people look to the government and not to God they turned to the Roman government instead of turning to a righteous God and just in case you did not notice please read verse six again these are the religious leaders these are the national preachers these are the mega church leaders the chief priests folk like creflo said Trump is the answer VV these ain't no obscure storefront fly-by-night Zak legs even the national preachers these are the national leaders turning to the Roman government rather than turning to a righteous God and then look how they back Pontius Pilate into a corner down in verse twelve this is the religious right back in Pilate into the corner if you release this man you are no friend of the Emperor no friend of the Emperor no friend of the Emperor yes they got him scared now you here on the Emperor's payroll you better act right and then Pilate says I have the power to release you I am the power to crucify Jesus did not bat an eye or back down an inch when you are secure in yourself when you know who you are and when you know whose you are you are not impressed or intimidated by the titles that humans give to each other jesus answered him you wouldn't have any power so ever unless God gave it to you and as it came from above in other words you are not in control God is in control God is not impressed with your credentials and the Son of God is not in awe of who you think you are these church folk who turned to the government official national preachers the nation's chief priests they forgot that the man they sent in two pilots palace is the same man who healed a man born blind they forgot what God could do he's the same man who fed 5000 with a few fish and some barley bread they forgot what God could do he's the same man who passed by the pool near the Sheep gate and healed a man who had been sick for 38 years they forgot what God could do he's the same man somebody say same man he's the same man who over in Bethany just a stone's throw away from where they're standing in this text had gone by the grave which had held Lazarus for four days and had demonstrated how theology could reverse the laws of biology if God willed it to be so they forgot what God could do they sent in to Pontius Pilate palace the same man who spoke out on a stormy sea and the wind and the waves obeyed his will they forgot what God could do he was the same man of whom John said in his prologue in the beginning was the word Saint man and the Word was with God same man and the Word was God same man the same was in the beginning with God same man all things were made by him the Sun Moon stars were made by him saying man the earth and all the other planets were made by him saying man the cattle on a Thousand Hills were made by him saying man the earth and the fullness thereof were made by him saying man even Pontius Pilate was made by him saying man this is the same man of whom John says in John 1:14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us that is who is up in Paula's palace they forgot what God could do or colonize people miss educated and confused program for failure they look to the government and not to God and they also tend to forget what God can do God can take what man meant for evil and turn it around in the good ass children God can get an alliance den and turn hungry lines into soft pillows for a sleepy prophet asked Daniel God can get in a Barren womb and bring new life into some dead situations as Sarah as Hannah asked Elizabeth God can get into a fiery furnace and cool the flames so they will not burn as Shadrach we Shack past the ventricle God can do anything but fail but then this text also teaches me that are colonized people not only forget what God can do or colonize people too often miss what God is doing and when you keep on reading both in this text and in our lives in this sacred story and in the story of our people what you will find I submit unto you that number one God is working behind the scenes while they were working on condemnation shouting crucify him God was working on soul salvation his blood would take away the sins of the world God was working behind the scenes while they were planning a crucifixion God was getting ready for resurrection God was working behind the scenes while they were looking forward to a bloody Friday God already was putting in place a blessed Sunday God was working behind the scenes when you keep on reading in this story and in the story of our people God is working behind the scenes that's number one number two God is working it out even when you can't figure it out God's ways are not always God's thoughts are not our thoughts as high as the heaven is above the earth so far are God's thoughts from our thoughts and God's ways from our ways but even though you and I cannot figure it out please rest assured that God is working it out somebody going through something right now this morning at Saint Luke you need to know that God tell your neighbor God is working it out for you turn on the other side tell them God is working it out for you don't you let the cares of a colonised existence make you miss what God is doing what is that doing God is working behind the scenes God is working it out and God is still working mirror in my life and in your life God is a miracle worker God is still God God is still in control God is the Alpha and the Omega God is the Ancient of Days God is the answer to our problems not Trump God is the burden bearer and a balm in Gilead God is a company keeping a caretaker God is older than colonization stronger than capitalism and mightier than militarism God is the one who was here before the Roman Empire and the one who is still here long after the Roman Empire ain't nothing but a memory God is the one who was here before the British Empire and the wonders go still be here when the British give up their foolish dream of being superior to other people God is the one who was here before George W he was here before Bill Clinton he was here before bin Laden he was here before Afghanistan he was here before Barack he was here before there was the United States dark is the one who will be here long after all the current emperors and empires are dead and gone God is the joy and the strength of my life God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble God is the one who loves you unconditionally and the one who loves all other people just as much as God loves you God is the same God who sent God's son into this world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saying God is the same today that God was on yesterday God is the one who promised to keep me never to leave me and God has never never never never ever come short of God's Word to your head back and say God is

Channel: StLukeCommunityUMC

Views: 35,226

Keywords: august, jeremiah wright, colonized people, the book of john, trinity united, st luke community, black methodist, dr. michael bowie, dallas church

Id: xhWRMscAeNo

Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 30 2016