Innercity Concert H-town

Innercity Concert H-town
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

Innercity Concert Houston - IHM Church

Innercity H-town concert.

This past weekend I had the blessing to do a show at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church down off Canal Street in Houston. Now although I've lived in Houston for almost 2 years now - I've never been down anywhere near this place. And pulling up in the parking lot of this really cool hipanic parish with loads of people hanging out - I realize how weird it is that most of us are happy staying tucked in out little corner of the world or city or neighborhood. The reality is most of the times we don't leave our small parochial boundaries and experience the church outside the same pew we sit in every Sunday.
So I was able to bring my family to this show being that it was local. This is always really fun and really chaotic at the same time. The church was serving nachos to everyone before the show and so needless to say within 5 minutes my 3 kids were convered in processed cheese and attempting to rub some on anyone they could. My kids' behavior normally either irrates people or ammuses them. Thankfully lots of people laughed.
The show itself was really fun being in this little parish hall with an old fashioned stage. The only problem was that there was stuff all over the stage for the parish auction which gave me about 10inches to walk around and dance in front of the curtain. It's a good thing I have the dexterity of a ninja. Besides the normal hooting and hollering during the concert - the one thing that impressed me was these guys' sense of humor. This one big ol guy with a killer afro (featured above in the picture) - started tearing it up during the freestyle battles. Man, and I thought Lil Jon was crazy - this kid made the East Side Boys look calm! Anyway - God is so good. And I am so blessed to see the different faces of the church. After the show - I had a chance to share my testimony with the open hearts in that place but all in all - I felt ministered to by a family of welcoming brothers and sisters with hearts full of love and latin rythm.

More proof that Jesus was black...

black jesus
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

check out the Pope's address to the church in Africa below:

Christianity relevant to Africa

"By respecting, persevering and fostering the particular values and
riches of your peoples cultural heritage, you will be in a position to lead
them to a better understanding of the mystery of Christ, which is able to be
lived in the noble, concrete and daily experiences of African life. There is no
question of adulterating the Word of God, or of emptying the Cross of
its power (cf. I Cor 1:17), but rather of bringing Christ into the very
center of African life and of lifting up all African life to Christ. Thus not
only is Christianity relevant to Africa, but Christ in the members of His
Body,is Himself African."
Pope John Paul, Eccleasia in Africa #127

A friend sent this article to me recently (probably because I'm black and he thought I'd enjoy it). I thought this statement by the Pope was really cool - especially the last line refrencing Christ in his body is...African. I love the fact that the Jesus Christ in the church embodies and embraces culture. I believe this is how we need to bring Christ to the world - bringing Christ into "the very center of peoples culture" not replacing their culture. Too often I think we perceive Christ as an American and we have a hard time seperating his person from western culture. Christ is bigger than that.