Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | "The Minority Report" 6PM 03/01/26

58:49 May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy word. You may be seated in the presence of the Most High God on this day. We actually continue a theme from February, from my offer, from our Black History Month, the general heading, this idea of the genius of black people. And we continue with this idea, with this subheading, with this examination of the 13th chapter of Numbers. We want to look at this idea of a minority report or the minority report. If you could turn to your neighbor and look at your neighbor at this time, just look and smile at your neighbor. I didn't say say anything.

59:44 I just said smile at your neighbor. Y'all ready to talk and everything. And just look at your neighbor and say, Neighbor. Oh, neighbor. Caleb. Quieted the people. Now find another neighbor. Maybe the same one. And say neighbor, oh neighbor, be careful of the majority report. A minority report. And Caleb quieted the people. Caleb told the people, y'all need to hush. I have a question.

1:00:42 What type of spirit do you have? What story do you live by? Is your spirit one that is open and willing to learn? Or is your spirit closed, skeptical, guarded, and suspicious? Is your spirit geared toward gratitude? Or is your spirit framed by lack? Do you celebrate the achievement of others? or is there a pull in your heart when someone else achieves and you say, why them and not me? Do you laugh at yourself, or do you take yourself too seriously? Do you find pleasure in seeing others fail, or does your heart mourn when you see someone stumble? are you a good friend or are you just a fair weather person are you ride or die or are you just i'll ride but i ain't dying Would you want you to be on your team?

1:02:03 Are you overly critical? Do you have a negative disposition? Are you often in panic mode? Are you laid back? Are you always hyped up? Do you spend time finding faults? Are you an expert at discovering what will not work? Or do you see change as a gift? Or do you see change as a curse? What type of spirit do you have? What story do you live by? Are you the imprint and curation of trauma passed on down to you? Or have you declared, I'm writing a new chapter and I'm creating a new destiny? Most of us cannot answer the above questions because we have never had a serious session with ourselves. We have never interrogated our story, asked questions about our upbringing, deconstructed our assumptions, dared face ourselves in our own spiritual mirror.

1:03:12 What type of spirit do you have? What story do you live by? The story we live by, the story we tell ourselves, the story shared by peers, community, neighborhood, even the institution that we call the church, shapes us. But often we lean into one story, and when others are trying to pour into us, we close our spiritual ears. For example, the false belief that you are not good enough or that everyone is out to get you, that everybody is jealous of you. You have to be careful with those people. The story you have about other people says more about you than it does them.

1:04:03 What type of spirit do you have? What type of story do you live by? I share this story today, a story of two men, both working for a shoe company long ago. Both of them, two different shoe companies, they were dispatched to a tropical island to expand the footprint, literally, of the shoe company. The first man, when he arrives upon the island, calls back to his boss, tells him about the beauty of the island, but says, I'm getting on the first boat to get up out of here. We will not sell any shoes because no one on this island wears any shoes. The second man called back to his boss, talked about the beauty of the island, and said, I'm going to live on this island because we are going to have the biggest store ever on this island. Because I want you to know nobody wears any shoes.

1:05:02 This is a great opportunity for our business. He stated that he would set up the largest store. For one man saw a problem, another man saw an opportunity. Museums and galleries, did you not know that they have someone on staff? Someone who specializes of putting a frame around a piece of art. They understand something very simple yet critical in the appreciation of art. The frame will determine how you see the picture. You miss out on the details and the beauty of what has been painted by the artist. But if you have the right frame, the beauty will come forth. The details will be witnessed and greater appreciation and a greater experience. And the question for us upon our spiritual journey is what frame is around your soul? What frame is around your heart?

1:06:01 What frame is around your spirit? How do you live? What story do you live by? What story do you live by? And as we look at this scripture, the story from the Torah speaks of the people of God being directed to examine the land of promise. The Israelite people, the Hebrew community, this homeless, nomadic community that escaped from slavery because of the liberation narrative communicated to Moses by God. God, the God named Yahweh. And they were instructed to go and examine the land, get some intelligence, get some intel about this land that is supposed to be the promise that God has promised to us, that we are to etch out a small space upon this land. Men of all of the tribes of Israel are sent into this space, this promised land.

1:07:05 But what is strange about this text, it's something that when you read, it has bothered me, is that in this text, the majority of the men who return from the assignment share a majority report that speaks of the land flowing with milk and honey, but they focus on the problems and the threats. Now, let me stop here parenthetically. They say that it's flowing with milk and honey. That in order for you to get some milk, you got to do some work. In order to get some honey, you will be stung. But yet, they are focused on the problems and not the possibility. They state, even though God has called us to etch out a space, we look like grasshoppers. We saw from a distance the people who were living there.

1:08:00 We don't look like we have enough power. I don't think we can live next to them. But then there is another person, only one, a minority report. Caleb offers a different stance. He says we can find a home and live in this new space. But I must offer this, Reverend Rice. There is a complication that must be acknowledged that is not resolved. based on space and population. The Israelites should be able to live in harmony with the people who are living in this land. But this is not the case. You see, there seems to be a proclivity when people are moving into a new space to create some form of war. They could coexist, but the human impulse to be able to create war and wipe people out instead of living in harmony was occupying the heart of those in the ancient tradition as it is occupying our heart today.

1:09:04 I cannot fully explore this, but it must be acknowledged that there were people already living in the land. And as a result of the people already living in the land, based upon population, based upon what we know about the ancient tradition, They could have lived together in harmony, but there are those who feel that we can't live in harmony. If I can't have it all, then let me stop right there.

1:09:37 Caleb says we can occupy the land and overcome the difficulties. The question is, why does Caleb offer this minority report of possibility when the majority offer a report of negativity? In other words, they all see the same thing, but they come to different conclusions. The reason many of us cannot live in our purpose is because we're living under the wrong report. The majority voted and leaned into the negativity driven by fear that we can't live with these people. The majority voted and saw nothing but problems. The majority voted and could not imagine living in a nation with diverse people as their neighbors. The majority voted for some reason they fixated upon the differences of people and voted for a policy where they would not engage this diverse community.

1:10:38 Those who did not speak Hebrew. They would rather stay in the wilderness. But in actuality, if you read in Numbers, the reason that the majority report votes the way they vote is they actually want to go back. They would rather go back to where they were than move into a new future that is uncertain but yet is possible. Be careful about the majority report because majority does not always equate with morality. As black people, we know the pain of the majority report without a moral compass. The Dred Scott decision was a majority report that said specifically that there is no right that a black person has that a white person is bound to respect. That was the majority report.

1:11:36 The majority report said Plessy versus Ferguson, that there should be separate and equal. They believed in the separation and segregation. The majority report spoke of Jim Crow and Jim Crow laws. There are always decisions by the majority not rooted in moral witness because they fear the idea of living together with people who are different. But Caleb gives a different report. And the question is, why, Caleb? Why do you, among all of the other tribes, give a different report? Well, I believe that what is happening is because of Caleb. Caleb has a practice and is operating under a story. Let me say it again.

1:12:29 You see, he had a Jewish practice, a Hebrew practice, a Jewish story. In other words, it was the responsibility of every, every pious Jew to begin your day in prayer. That when the sun peaks across the horizon, before you make your way out of your house, that you have to pause before you do anything, before you make your cup of coffee, Before you put on your clothes, you need to sit on the edge of the bed, place your feet firmly upon the ground, and give thanks to the God who woke you up. Because while you were asleep, there were over one million invisible organisms that wanted to take you out. And the fact that you can open up your eyes one more time, you ought to say, Lord, I thank you. I don't have to be here right now, but I thank you.

1:13:27 Many of my friends did not make it. I thank you. My family did not make it, but I thank you. I know the valleys that I've been through. I've been through hell and the high water, but I made it one more day. Wait a minute. Let me speak to somebody here today. Maybe there is someone in this house. You know that you should not be here. As you examine where you have been, it has only been the grace of God that got you to where you currently are. And if that is the case, if God's grace held you in one hand and God's mercy held you in the other hand, then somebody ought to have enough sense to open up their mouth and give the Lord praise. Because the Lord is worthy to be praised. Somebody doesn't hear me. I'm going to give you about three seconds to give the Lord praise because the Lord is worthy to be praised. I'm going to do a countdown and somebody ought to make some noise.

1:14:25 One, two, three. God has been too good. It is the responsibility of every single pious Jew to make sure that when they wake up in the morning that they give thanks unto God. But you don't just pray one time and go on about your day. You then have to pray a second time. That is at noonday. Because when you get to the noonday, you have to pause wherever you are and look back and say, Lord, I didn't have to make it to this moment. I'm so glad that I made it to this noonday. And then you get to look over from the time you opened your eyes to the noonday to see how God's grace has been moving in and out of your situation. And that's at noonday. You have to pause and say thank you. But you don't stop at noonday.

1:15:19 Before the sun goes down, you've got to pray one more time before you put your head upon your pillow. You have to say, Lord, I made it through another day. I know it wasn't because of me. I know it was because of your grace and your mercy. And I don't know if there's anyone in here today that you made it to church and every enemy and demon tried to keep you from making it here today, but you made it here anyhow. Is there anyone in here that can just thank God for a moment? Matter of fact, it's 7 after 12. Somebody ought to stop and give the Lord praise right now. is the role and the responsibility of every pious Jew in order to pray at least three times a day. That there must be gratitude in those prayers, but also there must be acts of justice and charity.

1:16:20 Acts of justice and charity. It's not enough just to thank God if you are not embodying the kind of message that God has placed in one spirit. So it means that wherever you see injustice, you have to be a voice and a witness to ensure that justice will take place. That is part of the role and responsibility of one who is a pious Hebrew. It is even how you eat and the scripture that you study. You spend time, but also, you also know the story. You know that you are part of a longer, larger story. This is your practice. And the question is, what is your practice? Is your practice a once a week practice of just coming to church and checking off the box? Do you have a daily practice where you ground yourself and deepen your relationship with God?

1:17:21 Do you have moments through the day where you are willing to pause and say, no matter what's going on, I've got to stop for a moment and ground myself again in my relationship with God? How do you start your morning? Do you pause during the day? Are you intentional with your meals before you take a drink, before you bite into your chicken? you give God praise, that you thank God that you didn't make the chicken, you did not create the greens, though you cooked the greens, you didn't create the greens, you have to thank God for the food on your plate before you even eat. There is a practice that I believe that Caleb was a part of, And when you are part of this practice, it will shift your gaze.

1:18:18 You will have a different frame to look at the world. And so Caleb had a particular frame that he was operating under. But here is the other thing. Oh, I love this. I love this. I love this. I borrow a little bit from Julian de Chagier, but I love this. I know, I believe, I believe, I know why Caleb had a minority report. and everybody else just voted like the majority. You missed what I said.

1:18:48 Caleb had a minority report, and everybody else voted like the majority. See, Caleb knew how to tap in to AI. Y'all looking at me like I'm crazy? Said Moss, makes sense? Yes. Caleb knew how to tap in to AI. Borrowed from Julian Assange, knew how to tap into AI. He tapped into ancestral intelligence.

1:19:21 Knew that it was not just about me. That he comes from a long line. and ancestral intelligence means that the promise was not given to Caleb. The promise was not given to Moses. The promise was not given to Joseph. The promise was not given to Isaac. The promise was given to Abraham. In other words, there was somebody before me who made a way for me. And because they made a way for me, it's my responsibility to tap into their genius and their intelligence. The power of ancestral intelligence. Do you not know that we are here because we stand on the shoulders of somebody else? Stop trying to act like you so cute and holy today.

1:20:20 we are the amalgamation of prayers and the manifestation of work from somebody else you're here because of big mama you're here because of your grandmother you're here because of your father and your uncle you're here because people who had intelligence your ancestral So intelligence allows you to be here this day. We stand on the shoulders of someone else. And this week, we say goodbye to Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. We must be able to clearly say, I'm only in this pulpit because of Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. I'm only in this pulpit because of Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. And we must recognize those ancestors and elders who made a way for us.

1:21:23 And I believe when the record is written, somebody gets elected and they are a person of African descent. They've got to know that they come out of the house of Jesse. They've got to know that they come out of the house of Harold Washington. They've got to know they come out of the house of Barbara Jordan. They've got to know they come out of the house of Shirley Chisholm. They've got to know they come out of the house of Fannie Lou Hamer. They've got to know they come out of the house of Martin Luther King Jr. They've got to know they come out of the house of Malcolm X. They've got to know they come out of the house of Fred Hampton. They've got to know they come out of the house of W.E.B. Du Bois. They've got to know that they come out of the house of Ida B. Wells. They've got to know they come out the house of Sojourner Truth. They've got to know they come out of the house of Harriet Tubman.

1:22:19 They've got to know they come out the house of Frederick Douglass. Do not act like some bougie Negro like you did it all by yourself. You come out of somebody. Tap in to your ancestral intelligence. Well, I must bid you good day. On this first Sunday during this Lenten season, It is Caleb who had practices and brings forth a minority report. It is Caleb who taps into his ancestral intelligence and says that we can go into this space. But I say this, that even though Caleb says that we can go into this land, that there is a promise that God has given us, it will not be easy.

1:23:28 And in the words of James Baldwin, our responsibility is to bear witness. We have been called, but we will have some difficult days ahead of us. When we look at what is happening in this nation right now, there are wars and there are rumors of wars. There is ice and rumors of more ice. But I stopped by here to let you know, I found out that salt always melts ice.

1:24:04 I stopped by here to let you know that we will walk through some valleys. We will have to climb some mountains. We will have to do the work. But we are here to bear witness. I was in Kansas City the other day, and I was giving a presentation to a Presbyterian church. Didn't look like folk here. Trinity United Church of Christ. They invited me to speak. I said, I'm going to say what I'm going to say. When they introduced me, they said, he says he's unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian. I said, right on. And as they were interviewing me, somebody was asking the question. There was a gentleman from NPR interviewing me. The question came up, and it says, how do you keep hope? How do you hold on to hope? We've never seen what's happening in America before.

1:25:00 When he said we've never seen it, I gave him a side eye. I said black folk have seen this before. We've been down this road before. We've seen that you may not have seen this, but we have seen this. I said, how do I keep hope? I keep hope because I'm black, unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian. He said, say more about that. He said, because of my ancestral intelligence, I know what my forebearers did. I know they had to go through valleys. and climb up mountains. They've been through hell and high water. They were told what they could not be. They were considered to be two-thirds of a human being. You see, I can't hang my head because when I hear the voice of Harriet Tubman say to me, boy, I had less than you have right now.

1:26:01 How can you give up right now? I did work not for myself. I did work for a generation that is not yet born. And I'm here to let you know, as long as I got breath in my body, I'm going to keep hope alive. As long as I've got breath in my body, I'm going to fight the good fight. As long as I've got breath in my body, I'm going to give God all of the glory. As long as I've got breath in my body, I will resist. We will fight. We will. We shall. We will. We shall. We shall.