Jeremiah Wright Is Not The Problem

Why is it that in America we always look for the easy and the convenient. We always want everything to fit into a nice neat box. That’s right, no contemplative thought, no analyzing, just give it to me in a form that will not require a lot of work or thought on my part. It is a simple task to chalk up the Reverend Jeremiah Wright as some angry black lunatic who is going to single handedly destroy the Obamania tour. It is amazing to me how so many people blogging will write all these prose and essays extolling the virtues of the American electorate and how badly they want policy white papers and how hungry they are for detailed plans. When the truth of the matter, as the fall-out from Reverend Wright has once again displayed, is that the majority of voters could care less about timetables and figures. Not when there is some juicy story floating around about some crazy black man and his relationship to the leading Democratic Presidential contender.

For those who prefer to accept the Cliffs notes version of events I would suggest you not read any further, because that is not what I will provide. What I will provide is a provocative analysis of the real underlying problem as to why we are having this dust up about a relatively small-time pastor. You see the real problem has nothing to do with Jeremiah Wright. The real problem was exposed 40 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King in an interview he gave at Western Michigan University. In the interview Dr. King stated that the most segregated hour in America is Sunday morning. You see the problem is that because we do not interact not only Monday through Friday, but also on Sunday we have no concept as to what each other are thinking. We, as blacks are given a better glimpse into white society because we are bombarded with its images on a constant basis. Whites on the other hand have little or no conception of what is going on in the black community aside from the caricatures from television and movies.

The Church in America as a whole has done little to reconcile and heal the wounds of the past. The modern Church instead of preaching the Gospel has instead chose to preach the world. Just the fact that we have a black Church and a white Church should be alarming to anyone who professes to be a Christian. Many whites have asked how could Barack Obama have remained a member of his church when the minister was making the statements he was making. Those of you who are not prejudice how could you have remained in families where racial slurs and prejudice where present? I have known countless whites who have confessed that they have parents, brothers, or sisters have often times used racial slurs and had racial biases. Or that they have attended social events and parties where there were no minorities present and the racial jokes and the N-word were being cast around like lures at a bass fishing tournament. My point is that there is enough blame to go around and if we all just look into our own lives honestly we will see it.

The question I have is this. If you are attending a church and you look around and everyone in that church looks like you and acts like you, then why are you there? I present this question to both black and white. Newsflash – If you call yourself a Christian and everyone at your church looks just like you then you are in the wrong church. How can we expect to worship the same God when we can’t even come together and worship him here and now. It is no wonder so many people have such bad opinions of Christians. We preach togetherness and one Church, one Lord, and one God, but where is that unity on Sunday? We each run off to our safe little church communities and talk about all of these virtues and once the sermon is over we climb right back into our cars and go right back to our segregated worlds. The problem is not this one preacher, no my friends the problem is the Church as a whole in America. If we are ever to overcome the many obstacles that divide us we must begin with the One who unites us.

Martin Luther King Jr. said America’s most segregated major institution is the church.

“At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation,” King said in 1963. “This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this.”

Only 7 percent of America’s churches are racially mixed. On June 29, Biggers is planning a nationwide Mission Sunday. He hopes to organize 1,000 churches across the United States to visit churches that “look different from one another.”[1]

How can this be? We talk about love, honesty, and fairness yet we don’t have a clue how to worship God together. The problem is hypocrisy in the Church. Jesus had His harshest criticisms against hypocrites[2] because of their damaging effect on the Church. Hypocrites destroy the Church from inside as well as outside. They destroy it from the inside by undermining the faith of others. How can I trust the preacher when he is running around with the deacon’s wife? They destroy it from the outside by preventing those who want to join the Church from doing so. Why should I join the Church when they are doing the exact same things that the world is doing? I beseech anyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ to look back at what He did. He went out into the world, he didn’t just stay in “His” community. Can we not also do the same? I would ask all true Christians and non-Christians alike to step out of your comfort zone and reach out to those who appear different from you. You may be surprised how much they may be like you.

[1] http://blog.newsok.com/newsroom/2008/01/21/the-most-segregated-hour/
[2] Matthew 23:13-36

Read more!

Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

As an Orthodox Christian, I have read and listened to non-Christians who have read the letters of Mother Theresa and have come to the conclusion that they somehow demonstrate that God does not exist. For those looking for reasons not to believe these letters provide a convenient place to hang their hats, only because the Christian faith is so foreign to them. The non-believer approaches God and faith by logic, if it doesn’t make sense then it must not be real. Rather than being created in God’s image, they have created God in their image.

Anyone familiar with the life of Christ and His teachings recognizes the suffering that he endured and predicted that those who followed Him would also endure. In an effort to fill the pews of the modern Church, the true message of Christ has been replaced by this “easy Gospel”. The true nature of Christianity is replaced with this sanitized version of happy days. According to the Gospel of Jesus, it is written, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”[1] This doesn’t sound easy to me. Why God would require suffering from those whom He loves is beyond my comprehension. I know this though, when I surrender my life to God, I gave up my why. I no longer get to ask God why me, why this, and why now.

What the average person, the non-believer, and those who are accustomed to the easy gospel doesn’t understand is that despite all of her doubts and feelings of abandonment she continued to serve and to seek God. At no time did she reveal a desire to stop seeking the One who had called her; she remained faithful in her service to the end. If being a saint was easy, we’d all be one. It’s amazing how modern man can be loyal to a team, a job, or another man, but speak of loyalty to God and the room clears. We will be loyal to our beliefs about God, but not to God.

The thing I have found in the letters that I have read is a profound sense of desperation to know God, not to know about Him but to know Him personally. It was in that desperation that God used her to provide for those that no one else cared for, the forgotten, the untouchables. It has always amazed me when studying the Church saints how so many of them never realized the work God was doing in their lives. To them it was just everyday common things and that’s how God works. He doesn’t use the majestic; He uses the simplest of people and things.

So many times the Christian wants to obey God in the mighty works, but not in the common things of life. Will I continue to obey in the common things of the day? Will I continue to obey when everyone and everything has deserted me even you my God? These are the questions that we as Christians must ask ourselves. I never try to prove anything to anyone, especially non-believers because to them it is foolishness, but to us it is the power of God.

There will always be those seeking after signs and there will be none given. If you need a sign you will never believe, because you will always require a larger and larger sign. It is like going to the movies, we always want to see more. I remember when the first Star Wars came out; I thought those were the best special effects ever. You look at them today and they appear amateurish in comparison. I guess it’s just human nature to want more. Those who believe will never need a sign because that’s not why they believe. We believe because, just as Mother Theresa knew deep inside, that He is there despite all evidence to the contrary. God has used the simple things of this world to confound the wise. The simplicity of a poor peasant girl to pour out rivers of life to the weak and the suffering, only God could have made that happen.

The beautiful thing about God is that even the non-believers are blessed by His work and they don’t even know it or recognize it. The little bit of love and goodness in this world would be gone without God. Could you imagine how bad this world would really be without those like Mother Theresa, who despite her doubts continued to serve? I know for me it is simple. I would rather believe in a dream (that God exists) than what I know is a lie (that I am God). Remember, faith the size of a mustard seed is all that is required to move mountains. So, the next time someone talks to you about the pain of Mother Theresa, you talk about her truth and her obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

[1] Matthew 16:24

Read more!