This content reinterprets the biblical story of Lot and his daughters in Sodom, drawing parallels to modern societal issues, particularly the exploitation and silencing of women and girls, and the concept of "collateral damage" in various contexts.
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Chapter 19:es 6-8.
Everyone knows where Genesis is,
right? If you find yourself lost in the
wilderness with the Israelites, you went
The book of Genesis chapter 19:es
6-8. I'll be reading from the message version.
Lot went out of the door to the men.
Shut the door after him and said, "I beg
you, my brothers,
do not act so wickedly.
Look, I have two daughters
who have not known a man. Let me bring
them out to you and do to them as you please.
please.
Only do nothing to these men, for they
have come under the shelter of my roof.
Look, I have two daughters
who've not known a man. Let me bring
them out to you.
Do to them as you please. Help us. Help
us. for the f moments that we have to
share tonight.
Proctor, I'd like to speak from this
thought. The girls are not up for grabs. [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause]
God, we love you.
We thank you and we glorify you.
I thank you, God, for the privilege of
standing at this sacred desk. I do not
take it
lightly. I have no delusions of
grandeur. I'm only what you make me in this
this
moment. So empty me, God, of anything
that's not like you. Fill me with your
Holy Ghost
power that as your word goes
forth, your people will be
edified and you will be glorified.
It's not in my manuscript. Put it in my mouth.
mouth.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
I just come from the poorest part.
Bright lights, city lights. I got to
make it. This is where it goes down.
I just happen to come up hard. Cuz legal
or illegal, baby, I got to make it.
If the lyrics I just recited resonated
with you, then you, like me, were
probably riveted each summer as you plop
down with your tablet, phone, or in
front of your television.
Press the button for access to your
Prime app, hit play on Stars, and
prepare yourself to watch the latest
episode of Power.
Airing for six seasons from June 2014 to
August 2019.
Power tells the story of James St.
Patrick, an intelligent, smooth, yet
ruthless drug dealer who goes by the
alias of ghost.
And having grown sick of the sacrifices
and the shenanigans of the street life,
St. Patrick aspires to leave the
criminal world to pursue legitimate
business interests as a nightclub owner.
And St. Patrick's aims to balance those
two lives while also avoiding police
capture, trying to navigate his
crumbling marriage and manage shifting
economic alliances.
Ghost, constantly under stress and
duress, finds that no matter how much he
seeks to leave the streets and go
straight, his compulsion toward criminal
activity and unavoidable complexities
charters a continuous coercion toward crooked,
crooked,
leaving calamity, confusion, and
collateral damage in its wake.
Collateral damage is any death, injury,
or other damage inflicted that is an
incidental result of an activity.
Originally coined by military operations
in times of war, it is now also used in non-military
non-military
contexts. Collateral damage isn't just a
footnote. It's a flesh and blood tragedy
happening in real time. It has a
heartbeat, a name, a home. And right now
across the globe, collateral damage is
crying out. Can I help you make
collateral damage current?
We see the collateral damage of the
shattered and silenced in Gaza.
Picture it. Six-year-old girl buried
beneath the rubble of what used to be home.
home.
She didn't pick up a weapon. She just
lived in the wrong place at the wrong time.
time.
The bomb were bombs weren't aimed at
her, but they took her anyway. Water is
scarce. Medicine is a luxury. And an
entire generation is growing up under
the weight of war that they never started.
started.
Collateral damage. We see collateral
damage in the starved and the suffering
in Sudan.
The bread basket of Africa now starves.
Farmers, teachers, mothers reduced to
scavengers. Not because the land is
barren, but because warlords turned
hunger into a weapon.
The world calls it collateral damage.
But starvation isn't an accident. It's a strategy.
[Applause]
We see collateral damage in the
displaced and desperate right here in our
our
communities. A grandmother stands on the
same street where she raised her babies,
but now she can't afford to stay. The
corner store is a cafe. The rent has
tripled and the neighbors don't look
like family anymore. She worked, she
saved, she built a life, but now her
community has been sold to the highest bidder.
bidder.
They call it
revitalization. But let's be real, it's
Cuz the news won't show the families
forced out, the culture erased, or the
history paved over for profit. But tell
me, when did home become collateral?
Collateral damage is not a statistic. It
is the breaking of families, the eraser
of futures, the merciless toll of
battles waged in boardrooms and bomb
shelters alike. It is never incidental
and it is never
acceptable. Now,
interestingly, current culture provides
a parallel to pop culture when we
consider the collateral damage of James
St. Patrick as he continues to engage in
war. The war within himself as he
straddles the line between the streets and
and
self-righteousness makes his public
school paramore Angela collateral damage.
damage.
The war in the streets and his position
as a permanent target always puts his
tough talking wife Tasha in the trenches
obligated to either take the bag or take
the heat. Collateral damage. H the war
he has with law enforcement and the need
to protect his son sees two sisters from
home go from home girls to homicide.
When Kesha is killed in her brand new
crib, that's collateral
damage. The war with his enemies and the
rules of the game finds his daughter Rea
rendered as a sacrificial lamb in
defense of her twin brother Reek, giving
a new meaning to the phrase from the
womb to the tomb. It's collateral damage.
damage.
Hold on y'all. I I see a pattern here
that flows like a DMX bop Angela, Tasha,
Kesha, and Raina. Uh you see,
when we consider the wars waged by James
St. Patrick, it's clear that the wounded
are all women. [Applause]
In her peace, sins of the father, sins
of the son, on power and the perpetual
sacrifice of black girls and women.
Kahendai Thurman pens these words. She
says, "Power is full of men, full of men
and a boy making the wrong decisions and
full of black women paying for them."
Kesha Rain Tasha, power is full of
sacrificial black girls and women. Folks
often talk about the sins of the father
visiting upon the sons, but rarely do we
talk about those sins visiting upon the daughters.
But Raina knows.
Tasha knows. And here in the text, Lot's
daughters know.
While this star series storyline is
chilling, nothing is more haunting than
how this ghost story so intimately
imitates life. As we come to the reality
that in our country and current context,
our girls too are collateral damage. Can
I prove it to you? Black women across
the nation are murdered at a rate nearly
three times of that of their white
counterparts. Black women and girls aged
15 to 34. Homicide was the second
leading cause of death. And in 2020,
almost 300,000 women were reported
missing. According to the National Crime
Information Center, Proctor, our girls
are collateral damage.
And as we tiptoe through the terror of
this text, We find a man named Lot who
did so little to save his girls.
In fact, when the street came a knocking
at his door in the big rich town of
Sodom and Gomorrah, it was his girls who
were up for grabs. But let me pause here
parathetically to address what else is
up for grabs. The often problematic
position of this paricopy that has been
mislabeled by myth and misnomer by many.
Can I teach for a second?
You see, this text is often used to
condemn and criticize same gender loving people.
people.
But I caution you, Christian, not to
take this text out of
context. Help us here, Dr. Ory
Hendricks. Even the most cursory reading
of this text reveals that it neither
states nor implies that the men in the
offending crowd were anything other than heterosexuals.
heterosexuals.
We are simply told that they sought to
humiliate and gang rape Lot's guests.
Yet from this, somehow it has been
derived that the crowd was comprised of
homosexual men and that homosexuality
was rampant in Sodom. This has resulted
in the wrongheaded conclusion now widely
accepted as biblical truth that Sodom
was destroyed as punishment for the sin
of homosexuality. [Applause]
[Applause]
an interpretation that doesn't actually
seem to have actually entered Christian
discourse until medieval times, a full
millennium after the final form of the
Bible was canonized.
So whereas the sole argument on the sin
Previous chapters in the book of Genesis
elucidate and provide considerable
evidence that the sin of Sodom was not
specifically sexual in the suggested manner,
manner,
but a general disorder of a society
In other words, one ought not concern
themselves with the nature of their
sexuality without also criticizing the
nastiness of their immorality. Can I say
it again? One ought not concern
themselves with the nature of their
sexuality without also criticizing the
nastiness of their immorality. Don't
believe me? Just watch. Here in Genesis
chapter 18, the Lord said the outcry
against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great
and their sin so grievous. I'm going to
go down and see what that what they have
done is as bad as the outcry that
reached me. If not, I will know. God
heard the outcry, the overall
obstruction of justice and power. Jump
in here, Jeremiah. Jeremiah references
their social immorality. They commit
adultery and live a lie. Uh-oh. They
strengthen the hands of evildoers so
that not one of them turns from their
wickedness. They're all like Sodom to
me. The people of Jerusalem are like
Gomorrah. Enlighten us, Ezekiel. He
references their sexual immorality. Now,
this was the sin of your sister Sodom.
She and her daughters were arrogant,
overfed, and unconcerned. They did not
help the poor and the needy. Illuminated
Isaiah. He speaks to their s systemic
immorality. Wash and make yourselves
clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
sight. Stop doing wrong. Learn to do
right. Seek
justice. Seek justice. Defend the
oppressed. Take up the cause of the
fatherless. Plead the case of the widow.
[Applause]
And I wonder
if the girls ever cried out, [Music]
[Music]
did they have the courage to cry?
Did God hear their cry?
We'll never know
because the text renders them voiceless.
Even Mama Lot is voiceless,
a mere shadow of Sodom. All we know of
her is silence and salt.
Why are the voiceless always victims of
such violence?
Does God still hear the cry? Cuz for
centuries we've been crying. Does God
hear the cries of our community? Does
God hear the cries of our culture? Steal
away. Ain't I a woman? We shall
overcome. Does God still hear the cry?
No justice, no peace, power to the
people. I am a man. Does God hear the
cry? I am a revolutionary, a mind. We
who believe in freedom shall not rest.
Does God still hear the cry? I can't
breathe. Hands up. Don't shoot. All
black lives matter. Does God still hear
the cry? Me too, mama. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Does God
still hear the cry? [Applause]
[Applause]
And will God answer?
For if there is a sinful behavior to be
singled out, it is the sin of the father
Lot. when he offers up his daughters as
an acceptable sacrifice to satiate the
salacious appetite of the
sodomites. I find it interesting
that a text that's so often used to
vilify what is considered gay completely
glosses over the groomer. [Applause]
[Applause]
For truly
Lot is fixed as the father of familial trafficking.
trafficking.
Often when we hear the term trafficking,
we think of human trafficking, which
involves the use of force, fraud, or
corrosion to obtain some type of labor.
We only consider those who are missing,
runaways, or those kidnapped and
condemned to a fate worse than death.
But according to the National Crime Information
Information
Center, 90,000 black women and girls of
all ages are missing persons. And yet I wonder
wonder
how many of our girls are right in our
I see Lot's daughters here missing.
Sure, they're referenced in the text but
never seen or heard from. Missing.
What about the children standing right
in front of us and they're still missing?
missing?
Missing out on their childhood because
circumstances have forced them into
early adulthood.
Missing meals because they live in a
food desert. Missing school to take care
of family. Missing a loved one because
of mass incarceration. Missing a quality
education because they live in an
underserved community. Our girls are
standing right here, y'all. And they're
still missing. But it's our job,
Proctor, to find them, affirm them, and
give them voice before they're lost
forever. But what happens when one is
trafficked in their own home?
The girls are gridlocked by familial
trafficking. Familiar trafficking does
not just include a parent selling their
children, but there are documented cases
of grandparents trafficking
grandchildren, aunts and uncles
trafficking their nieces and nephews,
cousins selling cousins, siblings
selling siblings, which means that
familiar trafficking does not fit into
one mold.
Familiar trafficking is the hidden
process of exchanging a family member
for goods,
substances, rent, services, money, or status
status
within the community.
And while invisible to us, Jewish
midrash suggests that Lot's daughters
had names,
Paliff and
Tamar. Two beautiful girls. We never
know their names. Tamar, her name means
palm tree. Right. Standing strong. Yet
here she's forced to weather the storm alone.
alone.
Palip, her name means deliverance, yet
no one delivered her.
How interesting that they're both named
after what they needed the most.
deliverance and safety.
Lot had daughters, but did he truly see
them? Did he know their worth? Did he
know their weight? Did he know they were
more than pawns in his desperate game of
survival? Because when the men of Sodom
came knocking raid, reckless, and
ravaging, Lot didn't say, "Over my dead
body." He didn't have that thing on them
and wish somebody would. He didn't say,
"These are my daughters you can walk
over, but you going to lent back." He
said none of that. No. Instead, he
offered them up like scraps to wolves,
like they were nothing. Like their
bodies were currency to buy his own
peace. But y'all, the girls are not up for
for [Applause]
[Applause]
grabs. Palith needed deliverance and yet
none came for
her. She needed more than what her
father was giving her. The midrash also
goes on to say that she was burned alive
for daring to show kindness for feeding
a starving man in a city where mercy was
outlawed. She cried for justice and Lot
nothing. The father who should have
fought for her failed her. The city that
should have protected its own devoured her.
her.
They say this is a big rich town.
I just come from the smallest part. And
Tamar, the palm tree in a wasteland,
left standing when everything around her
was burned. But when the fire cleared,
she had no protection, no covering, no
father to shield her because she heard
her own daddy tell a mob they could have
her. She watched the one who should have
been defending her bargain with her
body. And when the flames of Sodom
settled into ash, she found herself
alone in a cave. Believing that the
world had ended, believing she had no
options. Believing that if she wanted to
survive, she would have to make a way
herself. Tamar needed protection, but
she had to become her own. Palith needed
deliverance, but she was forsaken. The
names tell the story. The names revealed
the wound. The names whisper to us even
now. How many daughters today are crying
out for deliverance and no one
comes? How many Tamars are standing tall
but suffering alone? How many palletists
are waiting for someone to fight for
them before it's too late? Because when
men get desperate, when power is on the
line, when reputation is at stake, too
often they reach for the woman first.
They sacrifice them for their own
safety. They silence them for to
preserve their own peace. They offer
them up to systems and structures, to
predators and politicians, to mobs and
men who do not see them as whole. But
not on our watch. Why? Because the girls
are not up for
grabs. Not our daughters, not our
sisters, not our mothers, not our names,
not our bodies, not our futures. We are
not up for grabs. Palis should have been
saved. Tamar should have been shielded.
And every woman standing in their shadow
should know that God still delivers and
God still
protects. So let this be the last time a
father stays silent. Let this be the
last time a city swallows its own. Let
this be the last time the girls are seen
as bargains instead of blessings.
Because the girls are not up for grabs.
Watch the text. The two angels arrive at
Sodom. Lot is sitting at the city gate
posted up like symbolic status.
He sees them, welcomes them. Please, my
friends, come to my house and stay the
night. Wash up. You can get on your way
early. Be refreshed. No, no, thank you.
We'll sleep in the street. But he
wouldn't take no for an answer. Lot
fixed them a hot meal and they ate. And
before they could go to bed, men from
all over Sodom, young and old, descended
on the house from all sides and boxed
them in. Then they yelled to light,
"Where are the men who are staying with
you for the night? bring them out so we
can have sport with them. Pay very close
attention to what Lot does next. Verse
six, Lot went out of the door to the
men, shut the door after him, and said,
"I beg you, my brothers, do not act so
wickedly." Look here, I got two
daughters. Neither one of them has known
a man. Let me bring them out to you and
you can do with them as you please. But
just don't bother my guests. They're
under my protection in the shelter of my roof.
roof.
Lot suggests his two girls as substitute
for the two guests. I see this as both
poisonous patriarchy and toxic politics.
Can I help you? Lot contemplates this
conundrum. Much like we cast our votes,
I'll just go with the lesser of the two
evils. Cuz legal or illegal, baby, I got
to make it. According to the Neareastern
law of hospitality, a host must allow no
harm to come upon his guests while they
are under his roof. Hospitality towards
strangers was generally considered a
moral imperative in ancient the ancient
near east. In a patriarchal culture,
daughters would have been looked upon as
lesser than Lot's male guests. In other
words, they were expendable and subject
to eraser. His guests are held in higher
regard than his girls. These men are
protected under the shelter of his roof
with no regard for the shared abuse of
his daughters under the same said roof.
Where is the protection? History proves
to us there is no protection for women
used as political pawns. for using women
as a means of to curtail crime, lust,
and power has been occurring throughout
history. I know we're coming up on
women's history month, but right now
this is women's history. From the slave
quarters of the south to the seauite of
the city, assault has always been at the
heart of women's history. From the
colonial exploitation of Sarah Bartman
as a sideshow attraction to the
groundbreaking Supreme Court testimony
of Anita Hill on sexual harassment,
misconduct has always been at the heart
of women's history. From the slave nar
narratives and Harriet Tubman to hotels
and Jasmine Sull of justification has
always been a part of women's history.
Unless I pose the position of one
particular politician, just because this
part of our history isn't positive
Watch the text. Lot went out of the door
to the men, shut the door after him,
and said, "I give you my two girls."
Now, here's a question that'll bake your
noodle. How could he be so confident
that the girls would comply to such a command,
command, y'all?
y'all?
Because one might look at this scripture
and summize that when Lot went out and
closed the door, he did so to keep the
mob out. However, I submit that the sad
and sobering reality is that he closed
When Lot closes the door,
He becomes the personification of that
age-old African-American proverb. What
happens in this house stays in this
house. Now truly, we've all had that
awkward adolescent moment where we
engage in sharing a little bit too much
about the activities of the adults in
our homes. And depending on the severity
of the tea you spilled, it either got
But have you ever really deliberated on
that? The danger of that statement.
Chenika Bigalow posits this rule is
problematic because holding on to this
rule is the reason many people in
African-American communities suffer in
silence. We're dealing with health
issues, marriage problems, neglect,
incest, molestation, sexual assault,
everything of that manner, and we're
never talking about it.
You see, we have no problem sharing the
prosperity of the house. But God forbid
we ever share the pains produced by the house.
house.
And I don't care if your house is in the
projects or the parsonage. We need to be
You know, whenever I lost something as a
child, my eldest brother would say,
"Well, where did you last see it? Did
you go outside with it?" and I'd say,
"No, the last place I had it was in the
house." And he would say, "Well, if it's
in the house, it's not lost." Now, that
made sense in the context of my
12-year-old mind. But as a grown woman,
I've come to find out that depending on
the home, home is where one stands to
lose the most.
Just ask a child who's robbed of their
innocence at the hands of a perceived
loved one. Home is where one stands to
lose the most. Ask a victim of domestic
violence who's lost motor skills after
sustaining blows. Home is where one
stands to lose the most. Ask the only
one in three Q plus youth who found
their home to be affirming. Home is
often where one stands to lose the most.
And ask a person who's trapped by the
trauma of their past because of what
happens in this house stays in this
house. You'll come to find out that home
is where one stands to lose the most. I
want you to think for one moment about
what's staying in your house, staining
you, stressing you, stifling you,
striking you, stalking you, stealing
from you. Y'all, it's time to clean house.
house.
And here's why. Because what happens in
this house doesn't only stay in the
house. What happens in the house stays
in you.
What happens in the house stays in your
body and becomes trauma. What happens in
the house stays in your mind and becomes
mental illness. What happens in the
house stays in your heart and becomes
depression. What happens in the house
stays in your nervous system and becomes
a nervous breakdown. It's not always
what's in the house. It's what's
happening inside of you.
Lot makes the exchange. They say, "Get
lost. You come from here nowhere and you
going to tell us how to run our lives.
We'll treat you worse than them."
And they charge past Lot to break down
the door. And here's where Lot gets
schooled. See, Lot is an outsider whom
the native inhabitants do not consider
equal legal or ethnic status.
He can't appeal to them on the basis of
kinship. In other words, li you know the
street, but we know Sodom. Don't think
because we because we gave you a little
power, you have any real influence.
And here we see his political plot to
position the girls plummet. You see, Lot
had been in Sodom too long. So long that
he started to think like Sodom and move
like Sodom and compromise like Sodom.
Peep the progression. At first, he's
just a visitor. Then he became a
resident. And before long, he was the
product of the very place he should have
resisted. So when the mob comes to his
door demanding his guests, Lot don't
fight them. He doesn't rebuke them. He
tries to bargain with brokenness,
offering up his daughters to keep the
peace. Because when you live in Sodom
too long, you start thinking some things
acceptable. You start prioritizing your
reputation over your responsibility. You
start valuing your image over your
integrity. You start choosing
self-preservation over protecting the
vulnerable. Lot had absorbed its ways.
He had internalized its values. And when
the moment of decision came, he failed
his daughters because he had forgotten
their worth. The problem wasn't just
Sodom's sin. The problem was that Lot
And before you side eye Lot,
I invite you to self assess. Could it be
When you drape the cross in an American
flag to strangle our faith, and shrink
Christ into a mere mascot of political
tribalism, guess what? You've been in
Sodom too
long. When you use the Bible to justify
bigotry, baptizing hate and holy water,
you've been in Sodom too long. When you
worship guns more than God, tricking the
second amendment like the second coming,
baby, you've been in Sodom too long.
When you silence the oppressed, keep the
to keep the peace, calling in justice
order, you have been in Sodom too long.
When you begin to see mercy as
offensive, and empathy as sinful, and
diversity, equity, and inclusion as a
threat, you have been in Sodom too
long. When the pull of proximity to [Applause]
[Applause]
whiteness makes you crave their
acceptance more than your
authenticity, you prioritize
assimilation over your roots and trade
your vote for their Trump. Guess what?
You've been in Sodom too long. Somebody
ought to get out of Sodom. You've been
in Sodom too long. I just came here
tonight to say, be careful what you
excuse. Be careful what you tolerate.
Because the more you accept what is
unacceptable, the more you risk losing
your very ability to resist it. Get out
of Sodom. Somebody tell your neighbor,
"It's time to get out of Sodom." We've
You see, Lot wasn't as wicked as Sodom,
but he wasn't strong enough to stand
against it either. And that's a word for
somebody. You think because you're not
doing what they're doing, you are okay.
But let me ask you, have you started
Have you exchanged that church
renovation for a little? Let me mind my
business. But but maybe you've been in
Sodom too
long. Have you started tolerating what
you once rebuked? Have you started going
along to get along? You may have been in
Sodom too long. Because when the moment
of crisis comes, what you have absorbed
will be what you act on. Can I say it
one more time? When the moment of crisis
comes, what you have absorbed will be
what you act on.
And Lot, he acted like Sodom.
But I can hear the spirit saying, you
don't have to be a product of the place
you've been in.
You can live in Sodom and still have a
standard. You can be surrounded by
compromise and still stand firm. I'm
coming to my close. The two men reached
out, pulled Lot inside the house, locked
the door, and then they were struck
blind by the men who the men who were
trying to break down the door. Both
leaders and followers, leaving them
groping in the dark. I love this part.
They are blinded physically to match the
blindness of their immorality.
Ah, church, we've been blind to this
text and blind to the torture of the
times. But no longer can we pretend not
to see. And I shed light on this tonight
because we're so good at pretending not
to see.
Well, I pray an amazing grace anointing
on your life tonight. I hope you came in
here blind, but the time you walk out,
you will see. You can no longer pretend
not to see the patriarchy that takes
place in the pullpit. You can no longer
pretend not to see the disparity in
salary between men versus women. You can
no longer pretend to see the
susceptibility of our children to
predators or the responsibility we have
to that niece or nephew who recoils when
a specific relative walks in the room.
But I thank God for the angels.
The angels that see something and say
something cuz lot up until this point
considered the men ordinary until he
witnessed them do the extraordinary. The
text says when the mob was motivated to
break down the door, the men inside
reached out their hands and brought Lot
back into the house with them and shut
the door. These were no ordinary men.
They were angels, messengers of God
dispatched to fulfill a divine purpose.
Could it be that when the angels reached
beyond the closed door to rescue Lot,
they also rescued Lot's girls? What are
you saying, Pastor Tish? I'm saying we
ought to thank God and celebrate the
angels in our midst who when evil tries
to break down the door for access to our
bodies, they're not afraid to snatch us
back and move beyond the doors to save us.
us.
And they're here in our midst, modest
and unassuming, but also bold and brave.
Often presenting themselves as ordinary
and unassuming, when in reality, they're angels.
angels.
Divine dignitaries dispatched to save us
by doing the extraordinary and the
unbelievable. And Proctor, I dare say
we're attending angels unaware right
here in our communities.
Angelic advocates abound like the deafly
mothering Dr. Iva Kurthers
whose motivations move mountains and
make them bow too. Angels like Dr.
Jeremiah Wright whose truthful
pronouncements pierce power angels like
Dr. Haynes who can give them hell and
inspire. Hallelujah. All with a hip-hop
beat. Angels like Dr. Gina Stewart who
emboldens compassionate care for the
nameless and the faceless like Claudia.
Angels like Tama Mallerie whose
encouragement empowers faithful feet to
stand firm against wicked wayward
politics. Angels like Dr. Tracy Blackman
whose reminders resonate that girls and
boys are beyond bartering.
Angels, one theologian says it this way.
Though God's power be sufficient to
govern us, yet for man's infirmity,
God's appointed angels to watch over us.
Why? Because the girls are not up for
grabs. And so to the groomer that prays
on the innocent and the frailty of their
familiar position, the girls are not up
for grabs. To the gangs who galvanize
them toward a life of criminality, the
girls are not up for grabs. To the
government that puts policies in place
to police their bodies, the girls are
not up for grabs. To the gossips who
speak ill of them and don't do a thing
to pour into them, the girls are not up
to grabs. And to the grown women who
project onto them your insecurities
rather than affirm their abilities, the
girls are not up for grabs. And just in
case you got it twisted, it's not just
our girls who are not up for grabs. Our
guys are not up for grabs either. You
can try if you want to. Our gifts are
not up for grabs. Our grit is not up for
grabs. Our goals are not up for grabs
because we ain't bargaining with a world
that did not set our destiny in motion.
Our greatness is not up for grabs
because we were born to break chains,
not bow under them. Our growth is not up
for grabs because every setback is just
a setup for a comeback that they'll
never see coming. Our glory is not up
for grabs because what God anoints, no
system, no scheme, and no stronghold can
appoint or unknow. Our grind is not up
for grabs because we don't wait for
doors to open. We build our own and kick
them down if we have to. Our gospel is
not up for grabs because truth don't
tremble. Righteousness don't negotiate.
And justice does not back down. Our
grace is not up for grabs because what
God freely gave no devil in hell can
snatch away. Our generations are not up
for grabs because we're rising. We're
bringing up warriors and not wanderers.
Leaders, not leftovers. Our governance
is not up for grabs because we don't
serve Pharaoh. We don't serve presidents
or policies. We serve the one and only
living and true God. Oh, I wish I had
somebody. And most of all, our God is
not up for grabs. We ain't getting with
a white Jesus because divinity don't run
for office. It doesn't look for approval
and it's not stepping off the throne.
God is still reigning. God is still
ruling. God is still undefeated. God is
we got a job to do. [Applause]
[Applause]
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