America: A tribute to Bishop Larry McGriff

Friday, February 19, 2010

A tribute to Bishop Larry McGriff

My friend Bishop Larry McGriff passed away yesterday, Thursday, February 18, 2010.

I mourn his loss; he was a friend and a true interfaith leader. I have known him for about six years and have attended his church, the Church of Living God in Oak Cliff several times. Larry asked me to do the Pluralism greetings every time I have been to his church; in short they are religious greetings from Bahai to Zoroastrian traditions and every one in between.

I will miss his graceful presence at our events; he attended every one of the Unity day USA programs, the Holocaust and Genocide event, the Thanksgiving Celebrations event and the commemoration event to pay tribute to my late wife’s life of exemplary service. He sang ”the Change is coming, hold on" song, and indeed it was uplifting.

Right after one of the Unity Day events, Dallas Morning News captured him on the camera and published his picture, which he had framed and made a point to show it to me every time I visited his church.

On December 27, 2009 he married Dr. Karen Hollie, another interfaith leader; as a groom on the stage, he sung the song "change is coming, hold on" again. Their wedding was the interfaith wedding of the year, where several religious leaders blessed the couple.

Together the couple has served their community well through their programs "walk to the destiny" where they served the children with new shoes, clothing and school bags in collaboration with the interfaith network service of Memnosyne Foundation.

Bishop Larry McGriff’s and I have been associated through the Universal Peace Federation, where he was bestowed upon the recognition as an Ambassadors of Peace; he has been a part of my organizations the Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim Congress; and we have collaborated service projects through Memnosyne's center for interfaith.

Selected Pictures, slide show:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157623470524140/show/

Facebook: Wedding pictures http://www.facebook.com/MikeGhouse?ref=profile#!/album.php?aid=368523&id=851280248&op=6

Walk to destiny pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275095&id=851280248

Selected pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=395475&id=851280248&l=669b563b7b

Meanwhile, I found another song to honor him, he uplifted interfaith in his community as the following song "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke traces the African-American history, from the struggle of black Americans from the early days up to the present.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkWZjTPlQhc&feature=player_embedded

Link to this tribute:

http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2010/02/tribute-to-bishop-larry-mcgriff.html

Mike Ghouse
http://www.mikeghouse.net/

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Bishop Larry McGriff, a fixture in southern Dallas church and politics, is dead at 58
04:57 PM CST on Thursday, February 18, 2010

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/021810dnmetbishopmcg.12e5088ea.html

By SAM HODGES and RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News

samhodges@dallasnews.com rbush@dallasnews.com

Bishop Larry McGriff, a well-known clergyman from East Oak Cliff, died this morning at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.

McGriff, 58, was pastor of the Church of the Living God on Overton Road near Lancaster Road. He was active in local politics and interfaith work and was known for helping the poor.

Dallas pastors marry in interfaith ceremony
Get Oak Cliff news and resources
Blog: Oak Cliff

“He had a heart not only for his congregation but for the entire community,” said Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, a friend of McGriff's. The mayor said he admired McGriff's charitable work, particularly a program to provide Christmas toys for needy children.

Dallas City Council member Tennell Atkins, another friend, said the pastor suffered an aneurysm Wednesday night and was rushed to the hospital. He died about 11:30 a.m. today
"He gave people food, clothes. Every day he was helping people," Atkins said.
"I could call him at four in the morning. He wouldn't ask why. He'd just show up."

McGriff's wedding last December to Karen Hollie, pastor of Lifeway Church in the Red Bird area, drew various dignitaries, including Leppert. The pastor's interfaith commitment was demonstrated by having a rabbi and an imam participate in the service.

~~~~

1 comment:

UnknownAugust 3, 2010 at 4:15 PM
My deepest sympathy to all. I know My father touched many lives.HE WAS A GREAT LEADER OF FAITH.He will be missed.
Sara McGriff-Call
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Committment

Personally, I am committed to promoting goodwill amongst people, I believe knowledge leads to understanding, and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of a different point of view.

If we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Ray Bradbury "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy... Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.… Whatever you can do or dream that you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

and this "If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."

Dr. Abdul Hamid Abusulayman "There is a clear distinction between doubts and problems. Doubts provoke obstruction, frustration and discouragement, where as problems inspire motivation, action and diligence

Mike Ghouse " Whatever you do in life, do it wholeheartedly, there is joy in it for every one around including ourselves"

Taking a principled stand

Please be aware that I will do my best to take a principled stand on Justice. Which simply means no matter who, what or where there is injustice, I will speak out.

Most of our policies are based on short sightedness, What is our gain? Who can we please and how can we remain in our power positions? Be it our President, Congressman, Senator or a public officer, I will speak out.

When it comes to other nations, if they are non-inclusive and mistreat any segment of their population, I will speak out.

I will defend the goodness of every religion, religion is the reason we have relative peace in the world, without which it will be chaotic. For the crimes of mankind, let's find the culprit and laser bark at him, and not his family, his race, his ethnicity or his religion.

I am a moderate Republican, and my first loyalty is to democracy before the blinding loyalty to my party.

Obama is the right man in our history for our nation at this time and I have supported him all the way, the more I know about him, the more I feel he is the right man for the job.

My thought process is similar to Obama's. In fact he has used the same words in his speeches that I wrote on my blog a week ahead of him.

ISRAEL & PALESTINE

Thank God, I have no barriers between me and another human being.

Time permitting I want to see all points of view with an open mind, ultimately it is me or you, who is going to feel right or wrong about things and the pangs I will endure for realizing that I believed in the wrong thing.

No Imam, Rabbi, Pundit or Pastor is responsible for my actions and finding the truth is my own responsibility. Watching a Hamas movie does not make me a Hamas supporter or a Zionist movie would make me a Zionist supporter. We need to raise about such petty pegs.

My loyalty is to justice; and not to Israel or Palestine, which means support is based on issues and items and not wholesale blind support or un-support.

We do not have peace in Middleeast because of our loyalties to entities and not Justice. Every one wants peace, but they are not going about the right way.

Speaker and Writer

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer and a Moderator.

He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India, Multiculturism, Terrorism, Peace, Politics and Civic issues. He co-chairs the center for interfaith inquiry of the Memnosyne Foundation and presides the Foundation for Pluralism. He is the president of World Muslim Congress a think tank with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world and vice-Versa.

His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Web sites and Blogs listed at his personal web site www.MikeGhouse.net . He has authored over 600 articles on Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India and peace.

His life mission is to open people’s hearts and minds towards fellow beings by mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. He is a peace maker and an educator with two Master degrees and working on his doctorate in Psychology. He has two books on the horizon ; Basic Islam- everything you want to know about Islam and Pluralism, a text book on Pluralism 101.

Mike is a Neighborhood Commissioner at the City of Carrollton, and a Board Member of Dallas Peace Center. He is an Ambassador for Peace for the Universal Peace Federation and a member of the International leadership council. He has initiated the annual events like the Annual Thanksgiving Celebrations in its 12th year, Unity Day USA in its 5th year, Holocaust and Genocides, event just finished its 2nd Annual event. Mike Ghouse Cricket Gold cup and several other initiatives were taken. He was Past President of Indian Creek HOA and North Texas Cricket Association and has been a member of several Boards.

Mike is a Dallasite for three decades and Carrollton is his home town.

For a full still to be updated bio: http://www.mikeghouse.net/ProfileMikeGhouse.asp