When soundbites of Jeremiah Wright's sermons first hit the national airwaves my first thought was that I was glad that nobody from Community Presbyterian was running for president. Enough soundbites from enough sermons could make any pastor seem to say anything.
I then realized that we in the white church were getting rare exposure to an aspect of our Christian tradition of which we are largely ignorant. We know no more about what goes on inside the churches of our African-American brothers and sisters than we know about what goes on in our local mosque. We also know little about what it is like to read the Bible from the bottom up, to see our struggles in the political struggles of the Exodus or in the persecution of both the Jewish and Christian communities by the Romans.
So while much of what Pastor Wright says is inflamatory to my ears, I have found that when I dig beneath the sound bites and read the entire transcripts of his sermons, I am forced to think, to see scripture from a different point of view and listen to voices far from my own. Underneath the soundbites is a sound, well thought out, theology - one different from my own and foreign to my way of thinking - but one that is a worthy of a respectful listen.
A good place to start is the transcript of Rev. Wright's recent National Press Club speech.
For more on Rev. Wright and his ministry, go to his church - Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
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I saw the interview of Rev. Wright done by Bill Moyers last Friday night. Rev. Wright got the chance to speak for himself beyond the sound bites. Yes, he is controversial, but he is not a lunatic! He referenced Psalm 137 which speaks of revenge. I read it and realized that Psalm 137 does emphasize that revenge only brings more violence against the inno- the babies. 9/11 was perpetrated by those who are filled with hatred and were exacting their revenge. Listen to the whole sermon before judging.
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