From Pastor Bernice

 Righteous indignation ...

... is not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s what Nehemiah felt when he learned that those who had returned to Jerusalem to try to re-build the sacred city were being charged exorbitant taxes so much so that they were having to mortgage their fields and their children in order to eat.  Righteous indignation is what the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah felt when they looked around and saw their people only paying lip service to the requirements of God to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.  Righteous indignation is what Jesus felt on the day he walked into the temple and turned over the tables of the moneychangers. 
 
Righteous indignation was what Martin Luther King, Jr felt and Archbishop Desmond Tutu felt.  It’s what Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel felt and those faith leaders from across the nation felt when they went to Selma and marched a half a century ago.
 
And it’s what I felt standing in the Tampa City Council this morning.  Righteous indignation.  After a year of many of us coming back and forth to their meetings, taking time off work for some, paying for parking, catching rides, listening to hours of conversation about property issues in the city, the city attorney once again delayed any action on our request for an amendment to an ordinance that the City passed a year ago.  And the request for the delay came 24 hours before she was due to report to the City Council with some wording for such an ordinance.  And the proposed delay was three months – after this City Council has completed its term and new members join.  Rigtheous indignation.
 
We had 42 people attending the meeting, including six or eight who spoke. Our own Lois Price gave a powerful personal testimony.  Carol Barker spoke and some others from First United were prepared to do so. Even some of the people who had come to speak to the Council on other issues added a word of support for our amendment.  Some of the members of the City Council were not pleased with the delay tactics and began to see behind the smokescreen of excuses that the city attorney has used in the past. 
 
So, the City Council did not agree to a three month delay.  They have requested that the city attorney come on February 19 and speak to this issue.  We need more people to come that day to show that this is an issue that demands their support.  So, mark your calendars and join us at the City Council on Thursday, February 19.  If you need a ride, let Lois or Robert or me know.  Dr. King wrote from the Birmingham jail, “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

In Love, Justice and Peace,

Pastor Bernice                                                                  
 
revbpjackson@ucctampabay.org