Liberating Love

Though I preach the sacred value of human life, if I sit on my hands and watch the oppression of my people, I am a hypocrite

Though I approve of the goals of human liberation and profess love for freedom, if I do not act on this love, it is worthless.

Though I think I can tell which way the wind is blowing, if I let the moment to act pass me by, I betray the imperative to love

The people have suffered long: charity serves barely to keep them alive. Charity by itself defuses the will of the people to act.

Love is not defined from reading a book or a tradition-it does not rest in its own abstract goodness, it is shaped by the concrete needs of the people. True love despises evil: it rejoices in the struggle for the good. On the path to triumph love can bear all things, will hope all things; I will not surrender.

Our need for justice and human dignity is ass dear as life itself: if there are political slogans they shall fade away; if there are exploitative economic systems they shall crumble and be changed. for mankind cannot live by slogans alone.

Mans right to freedom and dignity is a gift from God, thus when people together demand liberation, that which oppresses shall give away.

for before i knew what it meant to have dignity, I would neither see clearly nor love freely. but when I began to struggle, i discovered the true meaning of love.

When we were slaves, we spoke as slaves, we understood as slaves, we thought as slaves but as we became free, we castoff all the chains of servitude.

So faith, love and hope must abide, these three; but without freedom and dignity they remain hallow shadows.

Hungry, Lonely and Cold

When I was lonely,
You left me alone

When I was homeless,
You preached to me about the shelter of God's love.

When I was hungry,
You formed a club and discussed my hunger.

When I was naked,
You debated about the morality of my nakedness.

When I was in prison,
You hid in the cellar and prayed for my release.

When I was sick,
You fell on your knees and thanked God "for your health".

You seem to be so Holy and so close to God,
But I'm still hungry, lonely and cold.

10 Dimensions (life rules, thoughts, attitudes) to freedom

God is love, power and justice, the living force of freedom from moral and physical captivity.

* We shall not bow down or serve any human institution, technology or riches, but let our worship be actualized in the service of many people in all their poverty and degradation.

* We shall not define others according to our own preconceptions; but recognize our creative presence in all people struggling for human redemption.

* We shall not be wasteful of any day, but remember “to keep all days holy is to live creatively”.

* We shall remember the soul and devotion of the extended family, to keep it intact; that isolation and conflict be banished from the land forever.

* We shall not deny our brother or sister their dignity, because to despise a man or woman is to murder them.

* We shall not sell our integrity for personal gain, but invest our life in the cause of humanity.

* We shall not live by the exploitation of others; but shall strive for the sharing of prosperity

* We shall not classify or humiliate our neighbor, for the culture and language of racism and other "ism" perverts your soul.

* We shall not be jealous of the achievements of our friends, but rejoice in them always.

Reverend Alan L. Joplin

posted by alj/voices of the tribe ministries @ 12:01 AM 0 Comments
Sunday, June 1, 2008
A Revalutionary Thought

God spoke at creation "let there be light" the Hebrew for light means spoken into exsistance. God spoke and it was done. Our bible is the written story of the spoken words and actual events that happened between God and God's people over a specified period of time.

Not that we preach the bible but we preach the God/the Christ of the Bible

* We preach the power of God when we encounter it .
* We preach the power behine the bible.
* We preach the voice we here from God

The aim of preaching is to bring the written story to life. The oral transmission of God's word is:


From: God who spoke
To: Gods people who heard it
From: God's people who wrote it
To: the bible, the written word
From: the bible, the written word
To: the preacher who reads
From: the preacher, who speaks/proclaims
To: Gods people who hears it. Hear and do the word of God

Shakespear in Startford-on-Avon Stated "The book became real. A play is never a play until its done on stage-spoken. The word is not the word until its heard.

In this post modern world preaching has to be adapted. As cultural/enviorments change way of communicating must change. Audiences learn to listen differently which means speakers "learn " to speak differently. Paul had to speak differently in Athens then in Antioch Acts17:16

So through the centuries preaching has been adapted. Question: Can I adapt my preaching without damaging the integrity of the gospel. By the power of the Holy Sprit, the preacher through the sermon restores the written word of God to it's orginal oral form


posted by alj/voices of the tribe ministries @ 12:01 AM 0 Comments