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This Presidential Campaign

Can I be pastoral for a moment?

I’ve been watching this presidential campaign unfold and I have been, at turns, amused, mystified, and mortified by the regularity with which folks (on both sides of the aisle and representing all candidates) continually reference Candidates’ A, B, C, X, Y, Z decisions, actions, or inactions of 20, 30, 40, 1001 years ago … and use that as a factor in whether they will vote for that candidate today.

This is all problematic because it implies that people can’t grow, change, think differently, or do better. And it holds people to one place in time and one moment in their lives.

Sure I’d like to be aware of what their past decisions were. But it’s more important to me to know what they think NOW. And if they made bad decisions, I’d like to know that they recognize this, that they’ve apologized, and that they are ready to make amends. Frankly, I’m not interested in ANYBODY, candidate or friend, who has not experienced any change or growth in their lifetime. They are stagnant. And nothing of value grows in stagnant water.

Now for the pastoral moment. May I ask about the decisions YOU made 10, 20, 30, 1001 years ago? Shall I judge you and base our friendship on those decisions alone — and give no weight to your evolution, to who you are TODAY and what you think TODAY?

And what if God did that? What if God held us to who we were and what we thought and what we did before we came to know and love Him. How would you like that? Where would we be?

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Jigsaw Puzzles & A Swear Jar: Democratic Convention Chief Prepares For Philly

Who would you turn to to build a temporary city that will come to life for four days, then disappear? That’s what planning and managing a national political convention amounts to, and the Democrats have turned to a Pentecostal minister and jigsaw puzzle master with a gift for organization and politics.

The Rev. Leah Daughtry was CEO of the 2008 convention, remembered for Barack Obama’s speech in Denver’s football stadium. Now the party has turned to her to handle the one in Philadelphia next summer.

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Apropos of #BlackLivesMatter and @HillaryClinton

I’m talking about the video of the conversation that is making its way around the internet. Consider this the beginning of a rant …

  1. If you have not watched the entire video … THE ENTIRE VIDEO … from start to finish, unedited, you are unqualified to comment.
  2. If what you know about the conversation is what you learned from twitter, Facebook, Medium, the (insert city) Times or Post, CNN, NBC, ABC, other networks, or –lawdhammercy – FOX, you are not qualified to comment.
  3. If you have spent any time at all complaining about the MSM and its “biased” viewpoint, then don’t use the MSM as the basis or the confirmation of your opinion. How you gonna declare that the MSM is a tool of the government, the Republicans, the Democrats, the oppressor, or whoever else is allegedly holding us  back, down, or under, and then believe everything MSM says about everything?
  4. If you are posting commentary and reaching conclusions based on a redacted statement or ONE LINE or ONE PART of the conversation, your commentary, conclusions, and analysis cannot be trusted. Any one statement considered outside of its full context is a soundbite, and not useful for either critique or praise. Remember what “they” did to Jeremiah Wright or Adam Clayton Powell or INSERT PUBLIC FIGURE’S NAME based on one snippet of one moment in time.
  5. Where we are in the political cycle and in the life of the Movement deserves more than fly-by analysis and unthoughtful (and unhelpful) commentary. The advance of the Movement is at stake. The future of the country is at stake.
  6. And God’s sake, stop posting vapid, uninformed, one-sided, unconfirmed accounts of stuff with the disclaimer “I’m just gonna leave this right here.” You are helping no one and are potentially contributing to the intellectual deficiency of way too many people. No, don’t just leave it here; take it with you.  Or better yet, keep it to yourself.

Done … for now …

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#BringBackOurGirls

A Litany for the Stolen, Enslaved, and Raped Daughters of Nigeria
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
Sunday, May 11, 2014

Weep for the Daughters of Zion, oh people! We weep for them and for the stolen daughters and sisters of Nigeria! Cry for all the daughters and sisters stolen, enslaved, and raped across the ages! We cry for you, daughters of Africa and daughters of God! We pray to the God of heaven for justice!

We speak your names!

We mourn and cry loud because of the vicious attacks that claim lives and human dignity. Mourn, people!  You are OUR daughters! You are ALL our daughters! We say, SHAME on any who have harmed you and harm you still. We pray for justice! We demand it! Of the militant slavers who kidnapped you and who harm your spirits! We demand it of governments who can help!

We speak your names! We call you sacred! We say you’re blessed. We will NOT stop looking for you! We will continue to pray for you! We will be a part of your healing as you return, daughters!  For you are OUR daughters and sisters! You are ALL our daughters and sisters!

We speak your names! We call you sacred! We call you blessed and holy! We pray to the God of love to wrap you in tender mercies and to protect your soul in your captivity, daughters! We pray for your safe return! We will NOT stop praying!

We will NOT stop looking for you! For you are our daughters and sisters! You are ALL our daughters and sisters!

Weep, oh people! And work for justice! Cry loud and do not cease to worry heaven and earth until our daughters are saved! Work, oh people! And do not stop until our daughter’s lives are redeemed from the slavers, from the kidnappers!

We pray for the kidnappers that their hearts will not harden and that they will be convicted to do what is just and moral. We pray for justice! We pray they will be merciful! We pray they will repent! We pray they will be stopped! Daughters, we will not stop praying and working!

We speak your names! You are sacred, our daughters and sisters! Daughters of Nigeria and the entire world! We will pray for justice! We will live for justice! We will work for it! For you are OUR daughters!  You are ALL our daughters!

We speak your names! We call you sacred! We call you precious! You are OUR daughters! You are ALL our daughters! Amen! Ase! And it is so!
A Litany for the Stolen, Enslaved, and Raped Daughters of Nigeria
© Valerie Bridgeman