To this group a few times now. I will be coming back and i will be going back. When i asked them that id like to have a representative from mosaic they say unanimously reginald. Welcome. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for taking the time. What are the things before we get there, i like my audience for you to know about that history. Share a little bit about what your experiences have been. I was raised in north oakland. I lived in other places. I am a member of allen temple church. Had been there for about 40 years i was the chairman of the deacon board. I am a servant. Im a believer. I teach class lines. Maybe 35 people each sunday. Its interesting. We really try to make it become alive in our contacts. I also teach the Old Testament. I teach Old Testament one and two. This was founded by doctor gail senior. I am a seminarian graduate. And, from high school to oakland. I am married to dolores gibson. The flower of berkeley. [laughter] he will be looking at this. Yes. So, wed love up in marin county. Ive been in lawenforcement for 30 years. I started at the Police Department for 20 years and then i came over to be the deputy chief there. As i told you earlier, i didnt know that you had a Law Enforcement background. I was at the gym one day and they said that their church does a lot of work. And reginald has been that on. The liaison. They said well you the police up then i said i didnt know that. And they said yes, they have a great reputation for that. But i always believed in the matthew peacemakers. They should be called children of god. So i always wanted to be a peacemaker opposed to a peacekeeper. Anyone can keep the peace. A peacemaker has to listen and understand all factions trying to navigate and create peaceful solutions. Thats a great way to look at it. Everybody is affirmed. I like the concept and understanding. We know that theres been a lot of tension in the African American communities with police. Im sure that youve had to walk that line. Ive been one of their fiercest critics. I love cops. But i have to be honest, in this last 25 years they have walked away from their ethical provisioning. Not all of them. But, there is a percentage that has walked away from the ethical understanding of who and what they are in our societies and communities. We have woods, sto, and more. You know its just you are speaking from experience. Thats right. It makes a difference. And they are not you know they arent happy. Some of them arent happy but, the truth is, its the light. They have to get back to ethics. You know, lets say the truth sets us free. Mario woods, hundred and 20 pound homeless man with a knife. There were nine officers. They all shot him. It was terrible. We will come back from that. Glad that we had this introduction. Thank you so much for being with us. Please join us in our next segment. Brothers to brothers and some of the work that hes doing. Welcome back. We have been speaking to reginald and we have heard some of his great background and experience. Now, one of the reasons that i invited him was to talk about brothers to brothers. Tell us about this. Wow, its been going on for about 20 years. It started from a gentleman by the name of herbert laughlin. He was trying to bring African American men together and focusing on the bible study. Just navigating life. So, it started with two or Three Friends that he knew who attended church with him. It has grown to now tuesday night and the men come in there. We have course we have seven events. We have a large group of catholic. We have muslims, and we have people who are agnostic. And you have a method is now. Thats true. Then, we have you know the folks who have been very accomplished in their careers. We have the president of peralta. We have had president s of colleges former mayors you know and city council persons. Lawyers, businessmen. Developers. One of the things that i found very interesting was that you know you have your title and you have your denomination. Thats correct. So we have to leave all of that at the door. They try to go on a first name basis. They respect everyone. We have to listen. And thats what we are working hard on. Forcing ourselves and sometimes it does have to be forced to hear what your brother is saying and we use the platform of studying the scriptures we read the bible from genesis, from revelations. How many times have you gone to the bible clack ive gone through it about 10 years. And, sometimes we get maybe three or four versus and then, people you know they have a question about what its found on. Then, from that exchange, we believe that thats what needs to come out and it needs to be heard is that. I mentioned earlier that you know the scriptures Old Testament. Thats right. Well, some people would say why not the new testament or the gospel . But, some people say you know its so complex and its so difficult. But, it is in some places. It is important that we understand that we who follow jesus christ understand that jesus christ wasnt christian. He didnt read paul he was trying to reflect on the profit and the law. He was trying to say hey, i think that this is how you have been taught. I want to reveal you another way of looking at this in the context of where you are and where you are living now. This isnt to be a word from god that is exclusionary but it is inclusive. So you know i think that when we understand that and then the attributes of christ the christology of christ, then i do believe that we can understand how they lived. So what was jesus talking about when he was quoting isaiah clack what was this elijah moment when he was running away from the prophets . Do we have the same situation here . I dont think that you can really understand new testament scriptures unless you understand what they are reflecting on. What they are echoing off of what they know and what they have been taught in logic launching into a new way. Yes. So any date out with this history and heritage. Starting to sound like a rapper. [laughter] we can understand you know we shouldnt call the Old Testament. We should understand this as such. And we can understand it as such. And they understand who those people were. We should embrace the we should acquire that evolution on how the scriptures evolved to the day. I think one of the themes of the church the United Church of christ is that god is still speaking. I noticed in the two times that ive come that each individual you know you say listening, some of those skills that were developed but i didnt see anyone say well, you were wrong to say that. You know like we dont allow that and we also dont allow arguments. You know we can have an exchange. You can have a person saying hey i believe this. Then another person can say, i have heard this. But we do not have the director back and forth argument or debate. Why is that . Peoples feelings are getting hurt. Were not wanting to trample on anyones feelings. We are there to open up minds. We believe in the renewing of the minds. Ive heard often times folks would say, ive never heard it like that before. And thats fine. As you well know, learning can be a struggle. It takes courage. You have to lunch out on things that you dont know and you know we prayed for the presence of the holy spirit. We believe that the holy spirit is an entity and an agent and that he is here with us. So, i see that you also pray for others. We want to come back to another segment because it is so inspiring. We need to take a break. Please join us again. Brother to brother. Very good. As reginald mentioned earlier, brothers from all backgrounds. One of the persons whose come here, is an author. He happens to have his book. So i think that it would be good to lift him up into tell us who he is. His name is ronald cole. Its actually reverend ronald cole. His book is called paying attention. He is a dear friend. We met when we were in third grade or fourth grade. He was a phenomenal minister of god and in service of god. Of course we both served under jacqueline townsend. We love her dearly. But, this is a very great book. Its a great read for men to see how god is used and, this gentleman is a very uncommon man but he writes for the common. Now, why brothers . Why men . Why that emphasis . Well, thats one of those struggles. The issues of our growth. I have heard folks say, well we need time when we can be alone and to talk. I hope that we can evolve into having men and women. At this point, this is where it is. We, and we have our retreats, every year we have brought in doctor jacqueline presenting in front of us. And then, you know we have the reverend doctor pope. He has presented. They did a section together. I dont see it as sexist. I see it that men need certain things to address, women have certain groups. I think that youre probably right. But i think that we need to have time when we come together. We will see what happens. We will follow the holy spirit. As a mentioned earlier, in the introduction the contemporary introductions this is the ultimate. If the bible was written by women it would be a lot differently. Thats right. A lot of things would not be in there. All of that language. And be silent in church. I was in the seminarian i heard a story about how they were reading scripture to his grandmother no formal education and got to the point where it said what should they decide in church and she said dont read that part. Also, the part about you know this. Was my grandmother said no, i dont want to hear that. Which is a way of controlling that. And, i think its liberating. I believe in the liberation theology. Thats the context of which i come. So, thats what i tried to promulgate. And interesting discussion was that we talked about the text in the context of peoples lives. Some people wanted to talk more about the context of peoples lives. We had a very long discussion about that. Some say no, we are here for the text. What are your thoughts on that . I think it has to be a combination. I dont think that literalist studying the tax without context without making some applications this text will not serve us. The bible is not merely a history lesson. And when it is looked at like that, that allows us to not think that we have to act out what the bible is asking us to act. It is almost apart from us. Which outside of us. But the word of god is going to be within us. And we are supposed to plan our lives and actions based on the truth and the heroes within the bible. Now, if a hero does something that is not godlike. You know, we are not to replicate that just because its in the bible. The text has to be challenged. It has to be within the confines of where we are living. Exactly. I dont believe that god would come to me and speak to me in a mandarin language. I dont understand that. He will speak to me in a language in the context of which i understand and then use me for what he would want me to do. I think that we are alive because 3000 years ago it spoke to us. Thats what makes this so dynamic. And i think that god does speak to those folks who speak mandarin. We have one more segment. Thank you all so much for everything that youve shared. Please join us in our last segment. We will speak about scripture and how important it is within our lives. We are so grateful for reginald who is been speaking about the bible and the scripture. Everyone speaking the last few minutes, how does this speak to us . We are living in very difficult times. And we have a person in the white house to is antithetical and meanspirited. Hes causing a lot of pain. So the scriptures will educate us on folks like him. And, it will tell us not to give up hope or faith that god is still in the blessing business. And, that there are better times on the horizon. So, what about those who are considered evangelical who support the president . I dont know how you can support somebody who lies and has this horrible moral lifestyle this one, i pray for my evangelical brothers. Because, they are not supposed to follow that type of leadership. I think that thats pretty provocative. I dont censor anyone who comes to my show. I want everyone to hear what you said. And, i really appreciate your thoughts. If you follow somebody who can separate babies from their mothers, something is wrong with your application of jesus christ. How would you apply this in terms of seeing the scripture in light of this . You quote the scripture quite well but what are some of the scriptures that you would say to that that kind of injustice against the injustice. First of all, you know whats good. Old man. Do justice to mercy before your god. You know, he is doing justice. He is in oligarch. He is meanspirited. He is causing more pain than most. What do you think that they suggest that humility and love . People can love lots of things. Gambling, drugs, money. But, justice is the foundation in which the house of love is constructed upon. If no justice exists then, you cannot love a person. That is why i understand whats love got to do with it. I dont know how anyone could disagree with you on that. I understand why people asked you to be the spokesperson of brothers to brothers. Thank you so much. Come early. We can have a meal. Thank you so much for being with us. We will see you next month. So youre a small business, or a big one. You were thriving, but then. Oh. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. 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