Jeremiah Wright: Let’s Explore This Wound
Perhaps you were as moved by Barack Obama’s speech on race as I was, and as intrigued with the responses as well. Last year, at Professional Days before the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, we heard Rev. Jeremiah Wright as our keynote presenter. He was impressive—learned, provocative, inspirational.
Our tradition of preaching is quite different from most Black preaching; our theology does not grow out of liberation theology, though we might use it. Rev. Wright has built a strong and important liberal church on Chicago’s Southside, and has been an important figure in recent American religious history.
The Lutheran theologian from the University of Chicago, Martin Marty, often attends Trinity Church and counts Wright as a friend. Marty is white and mainstream, and a senior spokesman for mainline Christianity. Wright is no racist, and his sermons are certainly in the tradition of the Biblical prophets, the Puritan divines, the preachers of the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings in the US, the best of Unitarian Universalist preaching, and a liberal version of much of Christian fundamentalist preaching. Remember Falwell and Robertson claiming that 9-11 was God’s judgment on America—and Katrina, too!
Part of prea
ching is to call the powers that be into question. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dali Lama, Ghandi—they all held their countries up to a higher standard and damned the evil of their world. We need more Jeremiah Wrights, not fewer. And we need more courage to face race in our country. Jefferson said he trembled because if God were just, he could only condemn the US because of slavery. We have all been wounded by racism—all of us. It is the stain in our country’s soul.
I want to talk about this during my sermon on April 13. Obama called for a national conversation on race. Let us have one at Neighborhood Church. If we can’t do it, why should we expect anyone else to? I know that there are divides between our members of color and our white members, and I know there is a great deal in common as well. The bonds are there, so let’s use them to explore this wound, and be a part of a healing process.
Rev. Dr. Jim Nelson
Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church
Pasadena, California
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Do you mind if I attend your church on the 13th., as I am sure my church can spare me for one Sunday?
Let this Sunday morning hour be a little less segregated than usual.
David
David: We’d love to see you there. We attend the 11:30 service. — Dick & Sharon
I live in Pasadena. Is this the Unitarian Church on North Orange Grove or Troop Unitarian Universalist Church on Los Robles?
Sue
Sue: It’s the one on North Orange Grove. — Dick
Thank you Jim for speaking out in support of Rev. Wright’s obligation to preach against what he sees as injustices. I believe it was not so much what Rev. Wright said, which few would disagree with, but how he said it. Outspoken Black men in this country are evidently still to be feared and will continued to be labeled scary and bad regardless of the message of their words. Rev. Wright need not fear for he is in the good company of other men of color, King, Ghandi and the Dali Lama.
Alyce
I do not hold Jeremiah Wright’s comments against Obama, as I do not hold the former President’s comments against Clinton. We need real, fundamental press reform; the media is far more interested in playing “gothca” than in educating the public. I find I am no longer able to watch any of the talking heads — these days Sesame Street is on my TV while I get ready for work!
I am troubled and saddened that the pervasive sexism is (apparently) accepted by so many. I guess we haven’t come “such a long way, Baby.”
– Diana Peterson-More