Reverend Jeremiah Wright @ MindSay

As things begin to awaken for a new season I have been so very grateful that I can still find ways to share what new and interesting things are unfolding in the garden here at MindSay and elsewhere on the net, while sadly, my website is still down. (fingers crossed - not for much longer!) I feel compelled to share despite some wrinkles in my venues for doing so and hope that friends and those who stumble across my work can still find and enjoy the vignettes and anecdotes I continue to collect!

These are trying times for many souls to the south of where I live, in the US. As well there are ever more severe times approaching those who live in poorer countries and contend with economic crises and the pressures for fuel and food. This is taking place in the midst of world wide awareness of the fragility of earth's environment, at the understanding that we have an impact on our world and must learn to be more aware of the nature of the world we live in.

Last night I watched the speech I'm sure many will be speaking of today, the Reverend Jeramiah Wright - speaking to the Detroit chapter of the NAACP and addressing the theme "There is a Change Coming" and I was heartened, just as I felt comfort hearing Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader suggest "Peace is the only solution" back in November. I believe it's true that when people begin to understand that "different" does not imply "deficient" and we become committed to seeing people as simply different and we are committed to treating each other with respect for our differences, with acceptance that we are all citizens of this world - we will see a vast change. It is a change that I welcome and it is a change that may cause discomfort to those who are less willing to bend, to grow and step forward in this new millennium of human kind!  I don't see the change coming without turmoil or conflict unfortunately, but I am confident the turmoil can be calmed through efforts like my own and others who attempt to help others see the underlying beauty of these changes in perspective!

Like our garden, we can bravely face the unknown and move forward to bloom in a new season! The future can be promising and can bring abundance for many.

On that note I share with you a new view from the garden, the birds will love them and the bees have already found the new young fruit trees we planted this weekend! In memory of my late brother Will - I vowed last April to plant these this spring but had to wait a few extra weeks for the snow to clear! Now they're in and appear right at home... our new little orchard by the barn!

There's nothing like planting trees! It is an exhilarating thing, and especially so when the trees will eventually provide food, (in a year or two for one tree species!) and will do so repeatedly for many, many years to come. Not to mention their beauty, their fragrance and the added benefit of having deep roots to withstand drought and wet weather extremes that have begun to plague our area. Like the grape vines and everbearing strawberries that have become well established and compared to less hardy vegetables that must be planted each year we're confident this investment will be a real bonus for our family, our garden companions and the garden itself! Our Enchanted Garden, Our World, now graced with a few more cherry trees, one red and one black, both sweet cherries, and the cutest little baby gold peach tree with gorgeous pink blooms!

Our contribution, for April at least, to reducing that carbon foot print, one that will continue to give for a lifetime!
;)

There's been a lot of talk about Reverend Wright recently, and there's been a lot of mudslinging back and forth on both sides.  I think, however, something has been missed, here.  We've all assumed that the media's perception of Wright's sermons and Wright himself have been correct, that he is some sort of militant black supremacist.  We've all assumed this based on absolutely nothing.  No one has actually quoted the man, and I doubt we've all seen or read his controversial words in context.

Hillary Clinton's pastor, the Reverend Dean Snyder, knows Reverend Wright personally, and had this to say about him:

"The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times. He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism, and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream.

"To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church, which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence. Dr. Wright, a member of an integrated denomination, has been an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear.

"Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize. This is a critical time in America's history as we seek to repent of our racism. No matter which candidates prevail, let us use this time to listen again to one another and not to distort one another's truth."

I think it's interesting to point out that Trinity Church of Christ is an integrated church.  Though mostly black, there are white congregation members.  Does it seem reasonable to think that white people would go to a church where the black pastor was overtly racist?  If Reverend Wright is just as racist as a preacher who is a KKK member, why would the targets of his alleged attacks sit there and take it every Sunday?  To believe that would mean that we should find black people in white supremacist churches!

Keep in mind too that the media wasn't up-in-arms about racism.  It was his seemingly anti-american sentiments that caused all the trouble.  That too is up to debate, as this site has posted larger portions of his sermons containing the "offending" language.

What about things that Revered Wright himself has said?

"The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history."

Let's compare that statement to a sermon excerpt:

"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness."

Those are all facts, not racism.  Notice he never once uses the word "white."  On the contrary to what some people are saying, those that are calling Wright racist are victims of white guilt.  Nowhere does he accuse white people of causing these social ills, but the government.  White guilt is what adds that assumption, even though it clearly isn't there.  Moving right along to the actual controversial quote...

The government gives them drugs [referring to the Iran-Contra Affair], built bigger prisons, passes a three strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America. No, no, no, not God bless America, God damn America, that's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

Again, not a single mention of white people.  He puts the blame solely on the government where it belongs.  Nothing he says is factually incorrect.  Here were are calling a man racist merely for pointing out the (factual) instances of governmental oppression against blacks.  We're so overly-sensitive that we fill in the blanks, saying that when Wright refers to the government, he really means white people.  Balderdash! 

The claims that Reverend Wright is a racist is a lie, a fabrication cooked up by the media and their slicing-and-dicing of his words.  That's what Obama was trying to tell us.  Obama didn't overlook Wright's racism for 20 years, he recognized that there wasn't any racism there to begin with.

            Is Barack Obama’s former pastor a hate-filled man?  Is his preaching really hate-speech?  Or are the things he’s said excusable because of the things he has suffered as a black man in the U.S.?  Will Obama’s association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright damage his run for the presidency?

 

            I don’t know.  African-Americans have been dealt a lousy hand in this country.  I can understand the anger of someone who has been treated unjustly.  But, as a Christian, and as one who has endeavored to present the life of Jesus Christ to people both here and abroad, there is one thing I do know: what Reverend Wright is saying isn’t going to bring anyone into a relationship with Jesus—particularly anyone who isn’t an African-American.  Why?  Because instead of preaching the gospel, he’s talking about things that divide people.  He has made politics and the suffering of his race in the United States more important than the gospel and the love of and for God.

 

            That’s what’s wrong with what Pastor Wright has said, from a biblical point of new.

 

            I believe—and the people I have hung with for thirty-six years or so believe—and, more significantly, the New Testament teaches—that there is nothing more important than the presentation of the love of Jesus Christ to believers and unbelievers alike.  Paul was a Jewish convert to Jesus and was violently persecuted.  However, if you read his letters, you won’t find any condemnation of the Roman government or of the Jews who were trying to kill him.  The same is true of the teaching of Jesus, who taught us to bless and to pray for those who persecute us.  We are instructed in Paul’s letters to pray for our government and to obey the authorities that are in place.  We are taught to endure suffering as servants of Jesus Christ—and there are no exceptions—none.  

 

What does this mean for Christians today?  It means that the sharing of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is more important than our position on abortion.  That means it is more important than our position politically.  It is more important than our race.  It is more important than our suffering, whatever the cause.