Black people are the one people in this society who have not been unpatriotic. We have never attacked the government with guns or anything like that. We have been so committed to this country. …
We are super-American because no matter what this nation has done to us, we still love America. We still are committed. We are the last people to do anything to bring this country down. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not upset about what the country has done to you. But yet, in spite of that, we are still very patriotic.
- Dr. James H. Cone, Father of Black Theology
The best way to crucify someone in this day and age is to make them look like a fool. And if said someone is a black man, it seems that making him look like an angry fool is a bonus.
I have listened to more than a handful of Jeremiah Wright’s speeches and sermons, and have found them to be some of the most loving - and yes, at times convicting and uncomfortable - pieces of oratory that I have ever heard. Yet it is amazing how we can rip a man apart for asking us to confront our sins.
To those that are saying Rev. Jeremiah Wright is “show boating” and “does not represent the mainstream of the African-American Church”, I say:
To be sure, there are difference within the historic African-American Church that are being highlighted. This, in my mind is the best thing to come of this whole trajectory. When the culture in power wakes up to realize that those not in power are not monolithic, then we’re making some headway. “Black” has a very specific meaning in this discussion, and what I dare say we are witnessing is the rub between the “I Have a Dream” tradition and the “Fight the Man” tradition of the A-A Church.
But to say that Wright and his views don’t represent the mainstream of the A-A Church proves his major thesis: “Different does not mean Deficient.” It is acceptable - nay, beneficial - to have differences. To conflate them or try to unify them is to kill them.
The Wright/Obama thing is indicative of something far larger: there are those that want us to move past our sin of racism and those that want us to actually confess them and deal with them first. As my mentor says, “I don’t believe in racial reconciliation. We haven’t even had racial conciliation yet!”
I, myself, am happy to see this political train wreck take place, for it is exposing something of grave importance. Either by his own choosing, or someone else’s, Barack Obama has been forced to take the politically expedient route. Until this moment, I didn’t believe that dirty politics would eat a true good guy.
As my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Robb, would say: “I stand corrected.”
i was a teenage fundamentalist, pt 4 - here comes santa clause
Published April 25th, 2008 in confession and of saviors and superheroes. 0 Comments
photo by tmoeller
You see, when you’re a little kid prayer kind of functions like the Bat symbol. Things get rough, you shine a light into the sky, and - voila! – your superhero comes in to the rescue. It’s a quite narcissistic thing when you think about it, but I that’s the way kids are so why would their prayer life be any different? But what is it teaching kids when we raise them in churches that treat God like a vending machine. Pop the quarter in and get your prize. Even though it’s been said before, it’s kind of like sitting on Santa’s lap.
(I’ve gotta tell you, I’m am sick to death of hearing God compared to Santa Clause. I really don’t even want to tell this story. Truly I don’t. I’m sure that you can find other “God is like Santa Clause” stories in your collection of fine Christian literature that will be much more interesting. But, this is the best way I know to get across the point I’m trying to get across.
There. You’ve been warned.)
One Christmas that I was quite keen on getting a Star Wars action figure – I can’t remember which one it was, but I was keen on it. We did the usual standing line at the mall routine, and I sat on Santa’s lap and told him that I wanted this particular action figure. He asked if I had been a good boy (did he want a confession of sin?), and I told him yes. We both smiled, and the poor woman in the elf costume took our picture and it was done.
Then it began happening – I started having buyer’s remorse. This is hell on children. For some reason a good many of us are worried that we will make the wrong choice. What if we ask for the wrong thing? What if we get it and we don’t like it? And it’s not just kiddos either. I’m a 30 year old husband and father of three with a Master’s degree and a full time job as a pastor, and I worry every day that I’ve not made the right choice. But I’m able to take the long view. I’ve lived a (small) bit of life, enough to know that if I just calm down and breathe, everything will be okay. Or at least tolerable. I find that I come to an understanding that, whatever it is, I can handle it. As long as my wife helps me.
I try to impart this wisdom on my son Ian on a regular basis, but I’m afraid that it’s just something you’ve got to learn on your own. At least the poor kid is starting small. Every morning after his mother or I wake him up for school, he comes down and stands in the pantry for at least five minutes trying to figure out what cereal he wants to eat that day. I wish I could be privy to the thoughts inside his head, because I bet that the synapses are going like gang busters. Sometime there are tears, but, for the most part, the guy has learned to calmly and methodically make a choice. He’s learned to cope with his anxiety about cereal.
And isn’t that what it’s about, really? Just learning to cope? Realizing that you can’t figure it all out right this second, so you have to devise a plan to just cope? A plan that will, somehow, someway, get you through from one crisis to the next?
But at 6 years old, I couldn’t take the long view. My only experience employing the long view was that I managed to figure out that when my stomach hurt it was time to go poop in the big boy potty. At this juncture I was not able to take the long view and see down the road to the myriad of Star Wars action figure that would one day clutter the hallway and get stepped on by my parents in the middle of the night. All I could see was this one action figure.
So I was mopey. I was mopey because I didn’t know what to do. Finally my mom asked me why I was being such a sourpuss and I told her.
“I wish that I had asked Santa for Chewbacca instead.”
“That is rough.”
“How many days until Christmas?” I had that look in my eye. She knew what was coming.
“Three.”
“Can we go back to the mall?” I asked her.
“Probably not,” she replied. “I think Santa’s packed up and gone home to finish up all the toys that all the girls and boys have asked for. It’s a big job, you know? But I’m sure that everything will be all right.”
Over the course of the next few days, something began to change. Maybe it was because I didn’t have any options, but I began to not be so upset that I was not going to be getting Chewy for Christmas. Somehow that began to seem all right with me. And by the time Christmas morning rolled around I was back to being genuinely excited about the receiving the originally request action figure. But I kept it op myself. I wanted to act like a big boy.
So on December 25th I sauntered out of my room ready to comb through the holiday pickings, anxious to receive said action figure. Instead, the torn wrapping paper revealed a brand spanking new Chewbacca. And a note from Santa.
I heard that after you came to see me you decided that you wanted Chewbacca instead. I had an extra so I made the switch for you.
Merry Christmas,
Santa
I stood there in disbelief. How could this be the case? I stood and stared at the note. I looked at my mom who was grinning like nothing else.
“Isn’t it great, baby? Santa got you what you wanted.”
I just stared at her. Too shocked to say anything. The note was in her handwriting.
We are going through a series in worship right now. It is centered on the “Elements of Worship.”
I flubbed getting the first week recorded, but here are weeks 2 & 3:
- Confession, Assurance, and the Passing of the Peace: Grace & Peace (080413)
(h/t to Rob Bell, on whom I have a serious man-crush, for the “reading from the beginnings of Paul’s letters” idea) - The Word of the Lord: The Word (080420)
