Who is preaching at whitneys funeral

Yeshua was a simple man with a simple message of love. If you understood scripture you would have a better understanding of why Black churches lift their voices with such passion and praise God as aggressively as they do. It is a unique experience in that sense. This is something white churches will never understand…. As for our condition as a people, I take an entirely different view. It has only been 50 years since our parents and grandparents received full rights as citizens in the south.

Then again, blacks have been praising a spiritual creator long before Christianity as given by europeans arrived on the scene. YOU take that last sentence any way you like. I do know the devil is LIAR and represents death, greed, selfishness, hate, deceit, and most important confusion. What righteous person would we want to live in this??? No, the children of God have no need for any of this.

To God be the Glory!! Well I am left to wonder if the Houston family will ever support Marvin Winans again — buy his music, listen to another one of his sermons or even ask him to pray for them.

After listening to his sermon, I thought maybe that I had missed something and asked my brother who is much more knowledgable of the bible than myself to give me his feedback on what Winans could have meant.

The Pastor never said anything about Whitney in his eulogy — his only reference to her was when he had his entire family come up — strange! He never offered any condolence to the family Cissy, Bobbi Kris, her brothers. I was confused. Could this have been what Cissy wanted…. My brother explained that it was a negative sermon and he wondered if Marvin understood the bible. He was shocked that he would preach about the B-attitutdes at a time of unexpected grief and loss of a well known world singer, daughter, mother and friend as well as millions of fans.

It appears that some hate was possibly spewing from this man! Maybe he should have taken a lesson from Bishop T. Jakes and just spoke about Death vs Love. JLL I believe that your critique and analysis is accurate.

Thank you for your honesty and willingness to hold pastors to a higher level of excellence. I am concerned that there are so many people who actually defend and applaud this sermon which would not have gotten a passing grade in any seminary in America. I am a product of the Black church experience and from Sandy Ray, Samuel DeWitt Proctor, Gardner C Taylor, Susan Johnson Cook, Cynthia Lynette Hale to our current pulpiteers, pastors and preachers the challenge to prophetically deliver a eulogy that celebrates the life of deceased, brings comfort to the family and addressed the role of God in the lives of those who are grieving.

Pastor Winans failed miserably at each task. I live in Detroit. I have heard Marvin Winans preach many sermons. Let me say, he is a dynamic singer. I wonder if the Reverend Winans is humble enough to read a book of homiletics. His preaching is heavy of theatrics and light of substance. Concerning the eulogy for Whitney Houston, he confirmed that he is absolutely and utterly clueless when it comes to having the basic skills of a Minister.

The term is not deployed to disrespect the family or, for that matter, the role of the Black church within the Black community. One of the commentators mentioned preachers like Sandy Ray, Gardner C. Taylor, and Susan Johnson Cooke and others.

Gardner C. Taylor, arguably one of the greatest living preachers in America, could say with depth in five minutes what it would take most preachers to say in one hour. Pastors like Winans are obviously, as one of my colleagues remarked, are not even familiar with basic church protocol.

And yet there was R. Kelly front and center at the rostrum. This is the problem with most of the churches that Black patch folk attend: performance preaching hooping, etc. One need only look at the larger socio-economic conditions of the neighborhoods most Black churches are located in. The Black church and Black-owned funeral parlors are the best examples of prime real estate and architecture. How does one square the so-called life giving message of the Black church with the breathtaking poverty surrounding churches literally on every corner?

These churches, led by their largely male making-it-up-as-they-go-along pastors, are now part of a central layer of economic parasitism within many of Black communities. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I did not realize that he was a member of the famous Winans family. It was completely disjointed. Samuel D. I totally agree with you. Or what God thought? Because Gods opinion is all that counts! Pastor Winans preached with the love of God on his heart.

I doesnt matter if he spoke of the entire book of revelations or went back and forth between the torah and new testament it was the word of God.

Before he began preaching he made it clear that he is not giving a speech he is about to preach!! Shame on all those that throw stones at a God fearing man. He did indeed, not give a speech. Whats interesting about your reply is that your not convinced God was glorified. He wasnt trying to convince you God was being glorified he was trying to convince God. Pastor Winans had a message and he was preaching the word of God and i understand that alot of people wanted him to talk about Whitney but in my opinion i think he focused more on getting a message across to the millions of viewers watching….

But, when you are on the world stage with millions of people watching you on television, you have to bring your A-game. Unfortunately, he was not the right pastor to deliver the eulogy and, furthemore, in doing so, he just exposed some of the faultilines in the contemporary Black church: one of them is egomania among the pastoral class.

Winans is living proof of that. He should stick to singing gospel music. I believe Marvin Winans was very capable of preaching the eulogy only if he would have been God led and not by people and self. I have been reading the articles on the Uppity Negro Network for awhile; but, I never posted a comment until a day or so.

It is a very interesting blog—one of the best that I read. I read widely. He was star basketball player in high school and college. He was also drafted by the NBA. I saw him twice during the televised funeral on CNN. Whitney was not famous then; so, I never knew until recently that she was his sister. The Washington Post recently published about 50 photographs of the family. The venue merely put his unchecked ego into overdrive. There are really only a handful of great Black preachers to begin with, living or dead, and I doubt if he is on that list.

The eulogy was a time for deep and sober reflection—an ecclesiastical teachable moment if you will. And why? The Black church is also a place where deep pain and emotional issues of its congregants are circumvented by feel-good sermons. Most of these preachers including Rev.

They are not educated. Sometimes prayer and faith are just not enough. Reverend Winans, to put it in the parlance of the street, showed his natural Black behind. Paraded it. Flaunted it. He looked ridiculous in that Catholic preist robe. Faith is important. Prayer is important. But, there comes a time when we have to seek professional help to deal with your demons. As a nation, we need to understand drug addiction and substance abuse as a hard struggle and not relegate its alleviation, especially within the Black community, to rites of prayer and faith.

The same can be said of inter-generational emotional issues and dysfunctionalities passed down from one generation to another crippling Black family and community life.

These maladies cannot be solved by just thinking about and praying to Jesus. Sister Whitney touched a lot of souls. As for Reverend Winans, I hope a representative of the Vatican was watching the service.

Maybe they will make him a cardinal. I have never replied to this or any post, but I had to now. Thank you for your courage to speak truth, which may be uncomfortable for some. In fact, let me go on record to say that I am a pastor. In nearly every Black community, there is a church on every corner. In our most depressed communities, while there may be shortages of economic, social, and political opportunity, there are no shortages of churches.

Our people can no longer afford to just sing and shout our way to heaven — awaiting eternal life while our earthly life the only one verifiable is in utter despair. Hey Thinker…. I believe this blog has placed your ego into overdrive or there may some deeper issues you may need to pray, believe, and seek Christian counseling from professionals.

Carefully read your blog…. You sound like someone who is fighting demons themselves…. I felt like it was more of a celebration than a homegoing. However, Tyler did preach in that church. Preaching may not be his calling, but he is spreading the Word through his plays. They showed love to Whitney because they knew Whitney sang their music. He acknowledged that in his remarks. The Pastor of the Church was not required to wear a robe because he was not preaching the word. I did not see a show.

I see alot of criticism which is merely an opinion. So WE are not tearing down Pastor Winans. I enjoyed the sermon Pastor Winans preached. Who are you to judge? Thank you for posting minister. I also enjoyed his sermon. These are the people that make Christianity a turn off. I am a lifelong member of the Black community.

I am not a member nor do I ever intend to be of the Black church. I should seek Christian counseling? You mean the kind that Eddie Long should seek or, in fact, gives to gullible young Black boys? Because I expressed a series of opinions about Rev. What demons? If you are Black in America demons and evil have to be quantified within the living social order and body politic.

He took his education in the realm of theology and philosophy and applied it to real problems in American life. King was the absolute master of speaking to regular folks; but, his sermons have such depth and substance that he was always speaking on the world stage. The contemporary Black preacher class, as a whole, represents spiritual and theological anti-intellectualism.

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By using sojo. Subscribe Magazine Preaching the Word Newsletters. Feb 16, Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback! Leave this field blank. Rolled up his sleeves and they fought all over Jerusalem and wrestled all through the cross and the fight went down to the grave and death said, see, I did to you just like I did all the rest of them.

Death started having a party on Friday night. It was one of those weekend parties. Lasted all the way through Friday night and all Saturday, looked like death had won. But early Sunday morning, love rolled up his sleeves and said wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Snatched great death and took the sting out of death and the victory out the grave. I want you to understand in a very practical and pragmatic way that death has not won. Your tears may flow.

Your pain may come. The flowers will wither. The cards will all be filed away. The phone will stop ringing. Cakes and pies all stop coming. You will learn what all of us know who have lost people that we love.

And you will find that people that you really love, they may leave you outwardly, but they never leave you inwardly.