OneNabi Consulting, Inc.

I have spent the better part of my life in the Black church. Missionary Baptist, Pentecostal, Nondenominational and most recently as a lay person and then pastor within the predominately African American church context of the predominately white United Methodist Church. The Black church, for better and - at times - for worse, has nurtured me and helped shaped me into the Christian scholar I am today. The beautifully black context of my upbringing taught me the power of solidarity against oppression, the richness of loving one’s self, and the need to know and respect our vast history. I have loved it.

To be sure, the Black church is no paragon of virtue. Like any other context, it has its weaknesses. Obsequious parishioners, divisive and disrespectful parishioners, dishonest and mudslinging preachers who use their power and the “bully pulpit” to hurl one insult after another on Sunday morning at grown men and women. The homophobia, the sexism, the power and control of the Black church remain moral cacophonies against an otherwise beautiful gathering of the progeny of a proud and brilliant ancient people. I have been angered by it. (more…)

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By now you’ve probably seen it. The video made by a group of girl bullies as they beat up on one helpless little girl. Disgustingly recorded to broadcast as a type of “reality entertainment” on YouTube. I saw the hideous crime on the news one night before going to bed.

As my life sometimes goes, the next morning, I saw another similar news piece about a young boy named Andrew Johnston. Andrew lives in Britain’s council estates (what we call public housing or projects). The object of bullying, he too appeared on television, but thankfully not totally under the same circumstances.

Andrew was auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent (the show that gave birth to so many of the Idol series). When asked how he deals with bullying he responded, “I just keep on singing.” And so he did. As I stood in front of the television, Andrew sang an exquisite requiem, the likes of which reminded me of my late brother Darrell’s love of classical music and his dynamic fight to be accepted as a classical musician. (more…)

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“A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.”       John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

I think of these words often lately as I look at the state of the housing industry and listen to the haughty statements of the profiteers who point to the failures of their clients to properly ensure “they were getting a home they could reasonably afford.”  Talk about blaming the victim.  Greed is one matter, justifying one’s greed with a mean-spirited arrogance is another.  And so our days have become anything but dull lately. (more…)

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Perhaps it’s just me.  I think not.  I believe that there may be many more listeners of the current presidential campaign who - along with me - understand now more than ever just what is meant by the oft heard and used phrase, “…gettin’ on my nerves.”

I have often laughed as I would remember the elders of my childhood who in the heat of an argument or an unpleasant encounter would throw up both hands and in sheer disgust declare they had come to the point that either something or someone had so troubled them as to be able to “get on” their “nerve.”  I wondered: How do you “get on a nerve?”  “Just where is that ‘last’ nerve, by the way?”

But the beauty and value of time and maturity is the education received through life experience.  While I have certainly come to appreciate and use this “nerve” phrase in my adult years, there has been no other point in my lifetime when I have embraced it more than during the last six months of this current process to determine which candidates will be the presidential nominees for their political party. (more…)

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