The Rev. Otis Moss III: The talk show host?!?!?!?

I didn't know our new senior pastor used to host a program Day 1 Diner.

According to their website http://www.day1.net :

Day1 is the voice of the mainline Protestant church, presenting outstanding preachers from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and other denominations. Our website features an extensive library of lectionary-based sermons in text and audio, and other helpful information for lay persons and pastors.

I knew Pastor Moss was talented, but didn't know he could work the camera so well outside of the pulpit!

The Right Wing Media is not through attacking us

It seems that once again the far right wing media outlets have sought to assault black religious leaders and their preaching styles. This time the target is Rev. Otis Moss III.

Sean Hannity of Fox News’ Hannity's America, a weekly American talk show on the Fox News Channel, will air snippets of some of Rev. Moss' sermons on th is Sunday evening, May 11 and attempt to classify them as controversial and offensive because Moss dares to use biblical parables to explain and shed light on modern day circumstances, using the vernacular of today's youth.

The disingenuous assaults, aimed at attacking the voice and religious styles of traditional preaching, have attempted to distort the ministry and witness of Rev. Otis Moss III.

I wonder is this all they can dig up on a presidential candidate??


In any case, you can view Pastor Mosses sermons in context for yourself Here

The Reverand Otis Moss III: A Preacher for a new generation

Taking the helm of Trinity United Church of Christ, Shaker native Otis Moss III reaches youth with an energized message and hip-hop-infused sermons

Brought up in a family of faith

Moss' path to this high-profile Chicago pulpit completes a circle, of sorts.

Moss grew up in Shaker Heights, the youngest son of three children in Cleveland's "First Family of Faith," known for mixing God and politics in a way that made many white people uneasy. His parents, Edwina and Otis Moss Jr., pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, met when she worked for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Moss Jr. was a board member of an organization headed by the civil rights leader. The younger Moss recalls having breakfast with King's father when he was 8.

Growing up, he also recalls conversations around the dinner table that centered on connecting faith to political issues.

"My dad always asked, 'How is your faith connected to transforming your community?' and 'How do you deal with issues of poverty, race and class?' " Moss said. Olivet was known as much for feeding the poor as it was for registering blacks to vote and holding rallies to protest racial inequality by City Hall or the police.

Like his father, Moss is a proponent of "black liberation theology," which interprets the Bible as a story about the struggles of black people, who, because of their oppression, are better able to understand Scripture than those who have suffered less.

"The pre-eminent ethic of Jesus Christ, his inaugural sermon is 'the Spirit of the Lord is upon you to preach the good news to the poor, to set up liberty, to set the captives free, to allow the mind to see,' " the younger Moss said. "I believe that is the mission of the church."

"You are not just preaching the Gospel," the elder Moss said. "You are dealing with social conflict. That's what Jesus was doing every day.

"The church has to be the conscience, the voice for the hopeless, the marginalized, the disinherited," the elder Moss continued. "Dr. King used to say that the church has to be the headlight, not the taillight."

The conservative movement that is moving through the church community - both black and white - is silencing that role, he said.

"The flag has become a substitute for the cross, and patriotism is defined as the refusal to criticize the government, which is a dangerous attitude for a democratic society."

While father and son's theological, social and political views mirror each other, the men's mannerisms and preaching styles do not. The elder Moss speaks methodically, his diction formal, the use of contractions unusual. The younger Moss is stretched tight, like a membrane of a drum, exuding a tense energy. Listening to him preach is like hearing a recording of his father, the tape stuck on fast-forward.

Moss said growing up in Cleveland was "a blessing" but not perfect. When he and his friends rode their bikes on Shaker Boulevard, they would make bets about how many whites would lock their car doors as they zipped by.

"We would hear click, click, click of people's door locks all the way down the street," Moss said.

As a 12-year-old, Moss said, he was called the N-word by opponents and sometimes their parents when playing hockey in North Olmsted, Oberlin and "anytime we were in a place without people of color."

Despite his occupation today, Moss said people still look at him as a threat or a problem just because he is a black male. "That is something African-American young men experience whether they come from a middle-class home or the inner city," he said.

'God had other plans'

After watching his son preach at Olivet when he was 15, the elder Moss said, he hoped that one day his son would take over Olivet's pulpit. "I knew then he had the touch, I would say, theologically, the anointing of a minister," said Otis Moss Jr., 72.

But at the time, the younger Moss had no interest in full-time ministry.

He lettered in football, basketball and track at Shaker Heights High School. After he graduated in 1988, he competed in track (100-meter dash, 200, 4x100, 4x400, and high and long jumps) and studied mass communications at Morehouse College in Atlanta, his heart set on becoming a filmmaker like his idol, Spike Lee.

His college track coach encouraged him to try out for the Olympics and he began training in the long jump.

"But God had other plans," Moss said. He became ill with the chicken pox. He lost 15 pounds and was out for two weeks. Afterward, as he struggled to regain his former strength and speed, he said he heard God's voice telling him, "Stop running in circles."

Moss changed his major to religion and philosophy. He knew he was being called to full-time ministry, but he hoped God didn't want him to work in a church.

"It's a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job, and I didn't think I would be cut out for it," he said.

His first job after graduating from Morehouse and receiving a divinity degree from Yale University was working with a group of former gang members and drug dealers in Connecticut. When Moss talked about "Amazing Grace," one man asked, "Who is she?" Moss realized that trying to use "Christian-speak" to reach the disconnected and disenfranchised who didn't grow up going to church was a waste of time.

"I believe it is the mission of the church to reach out to groups like that," he said.

Moss found using hip-hop lyrics was the perfect middle ground, and a ministry was born.

From New Haven, he became the pastor of a Baptist church in Augusta, Ga., which grew from 125 to 2,100 members during his nine years there. He had no intention of leaving. Georgia was home. He and his Morehouse sweetheart, Monica, married, had two children and set down roots.

If he left, it would be to step into his dad's pulpit in Cleveland, he said.

In 2005, Wright of Trinity invited Moss to come to Chicago to guest preach. While Moss was there, Wright asked him to consider taking over. Moss thought he was kidding. After a year of prayer in Georgia, Moss and his wife packed their bags for Chicago. The predominantly black Trinity boasts more than 10,000 members and is the largest church within the traditionally white United Church of Christ denomination.

"The more I began to reflect on it, the more I realized that I would be going to Cleveland to support my father because I am his son not because God was saying, 'Go to Cleveland,' " Moss said.

He has never looked back.

Race and Politics at Trinity United Church of Christ

I keep hearing people insist that Rev. Wright is a darker skinned version of the infamous former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke. I must admit, I don't understand the rational for that comparison at all given the fact that Rev. Wright has NEVER 1. been a member of any violent anti-white organizations, 2. not supported or promoted discrimination based on race,sex,gender, or religion 3. Actively engages WITH WHITE PEOPLE and all people! Agree with him or disagree with him he is no racist.

Furthermore, like far right Christian conservative church's, many politicians have blessed Trinity UCC with their presence. Unlike far right Christian conservative church's those politicians haven't always been ideologically in sync with the majority of community that Trinity Serves. I wonder if David Duke would give a Black Democrat running for ANY office a platform to speak to his constituents?!?!?!?

Rev. Wrights has always stressed political literacy to his congregates. And has given politicians OF ALL RACES AND PARTY AFFILIATIONS, opportunities to share their messages with his congregates.

Whether it be Republican Tony Peraica or Democrat Larry Suffredin
Trinity has taken EVERY opportunity to demonstrate not only racial diversity but also political diversity.

Click here to see news coverage of a candidates forum held at Trinity UCC

I Stand with My Pastor! Here is why....

I like many have watched nervously while Rev. Wright made his appearances with the media this weekend. Feeling both joy and just a bit of pain. I'm not one to make snap judgments and try my best to think rational about all issues, especially ones that tend to drive us to highly emotional responses. Having said that, allow me to review the facts.....

1. Rev. Wright did not ask to be in this position
1. Never before in history has the mainstream media given so much scrutiny to ANY presidential candidates Pastor OR Church OR secret society memberships. I mean Hillary's association with 'The Family' was mentioned on blogs but never covered in depth by the mainstream media! And what religion is John McCain anyways? He didn't even seem know
   
2. If Rev. Wright had not attempted to defend himself, HE WOULD STILL BE AN ISSUE IN THIS POLITICAL SEASON
1. The North Carolina republicans were set to air 'Willie Horton' style attack ads featuring Rev. Wright against the wishes of the presumed Republican Nominee
   
3. Rev. Wright is NOT a politician. and saying that I feel that it shouldn't be surprising that he wouldn't use political posturing during a press conference........
1. It could be argued that no ones pastor really needs to be in front of the National Press Club. One should really be asking why he was invited
   

I won't stand by and allow my pastor to be scapegoated as a political liability without asking some critical questions of his attackers? And as I mention my points, I invite you to examine with me why we are/ are not witnessing BLATANT RACIAL DOUBLE STANDARDS..... shall we :) okay

1. Why is it so much of a political deal breaker for Obama that one of his supporters, and former pastor Rev. Wright to say that Minister Farrakhan is someone respected by Black America and that he's not such a Bad Guy at all??? I mean event Clinton Supporter PA Governor Ed Rendell while he was MAYOR said the same thing. That didn't seem to be such a political liability for him. I guess the good Governor gave up trying to end racism given that he stated a week before the "Wright Controversy" started, that WORKING CLASS WHITE VOTERS WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A BLACK MAN! But that day he was really kissing Farrakhans ass wouldn't you agree???
2. I'll reserve another bullet point for now far right democrat Joe Lieberman who also took a turn at getting to know Farrakhan the man and kissing his ass............... OBVIOUS QUESTION FROM ME IS .. HOW WAS HE ABLE TO HOLD HIS SENATE SEAT.. HE OBVIOUSLY HATES WHITE PEOPLE RIGHT????
3. Okay ... Maybe throwing up an Omega signal was over the top for Rev. to do. I'll give you that.. But again he's not running for office. Whats more outrageous, Rev. Wright throwing up an Omega sign at a press conference orJohn McCain trying to WHIP SOMEBODY'S ASS on the Senate floor.. WHICH IS WORSE? Do we not swift boat McCain when he's accused of calling his wife a trollip and a c*nt??? Or how about dropping the F bomb on the senate floor? Is that not a sign of arrogance?
   
4. Our favorite President George Bush has even told all of us the MIDDLE FINGER.... and acted an ass on many business occasions
   Did he just disrespect a world leader by giving her a massage???? He got away with that huh......
5. The perceived causes for 9/11... John McCain doesn't get any flack for courting right wing preachers nominations who have blamed 9/11 on gays but the 'other' candidate doesn't So is the message here that the American people feel that it is more legitimate to blame 9/11 on gays, feminist, and abortionist.. and that blaming it on American foreign policy is totally illegitimate?? Is that what I should take away from this. Please engage me on this because I'm trying to be Post Racial and understand really!
   

The fact that we have to deal with these obvious double standards proves that the notion of POST RACIALISM is impossible in the U.S. Rev. Wright is being held to a standard WE NEVER EVEN HOLD OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TOO... this is real.......

You what I'd like to see discussed in the media right now......

1. What do these candidates feel about the Patriot Act, Real Id, and the continuing decline of the dollar. You know the dollar is not that much in value compared to the damn Peso anymore.. Why isn't McCain Hillary and Obama addressing that. Why is the media focusing on my PASTOR and not the POLITICIANS AND THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS AND SOLUTIONS.....
2. Out of these three candidates WHO IS BENEFITING FINANCIALLY FROM INVESTMENTS RELATED TO THE IRAQ WAR AND THE DECREASING DOLLAR??? Does McCain have stock in Black Water??? Does Hillary or her husband or ,since we're there, HER PASTOR have stock in the Defense industry?????? (Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who voted for Bush’s war, had stock in defense companies, such as Honeywell, Boeing and Raytheon, but sold the stock in May 2007. How fake is that!)
3. When will the candidates address the Global Food Shortage issue and why is Costco rationing rice for God's sake....
   

Will the media ever address these issues??? No they won't because they know that elections aren't based on reason.. they're based on fears and irrational emotions.

Pastor Wright You taught me to be unapologetic... I am. You did the best you could in a no win situation and I am PRAYING FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY and our church.

Please stay encouraged.

NOW BLOGOSPHERE BRING IT ON............................................

Trinity United Church of Christ : The importance of Culture with Dr. Asa Hilliard

Many people ask, why does Trinity United Church of Christ insist on expressing African culture? Because of the norm in western society, when African Americans in particular, express pride in their African culture, they are seen to be anti-American radical black supremest (which is totally ridiculous)! Now I'm not sure if the same rule is applied to Irish Americans, who although they may be many generations removed from Ireland, practice and celebrate their culture. Or Greek Americans who do the same. I think that as stated in the documentary below many Americans believe that all of the 'African' in American Blacks has been stripped away during slavery. But studies reveal otherwise. Take some time and watch a few segments of the documentary African - American Culture: A Second Look. Produced by Dr. Asa Hilliard with appearances by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, John Henrick Clark, and Dr Randall Skelton and many others!

Trinity United Church of Christ Press Conference

Let's Discuss

Rev. Dr. John Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ

Rev. Otis Moss III Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ

Rev. Michael Kinnaman, General Secretary, National Council of Churches

Media Q&A

Trinity United Church of Christ celebrates diversity. One man shares his experiences with Rev. Wright

Rev. Wright in a different light
By William A. Von Hoene Jr. **click to read the entire article**
March 26, 2008

I have been a member of Trinity, a church with an almost entirely African-American congregation, for more than 25 years. I am, however, a white male. From a decidedly different perspective than most Trinitarians, I have heard Wright preach about racial inequality many times, in unvarnished and passionate terms.

In Obama's recent speech in Philadelphia on racial issues confronting our nation, the senator eloquently observed that Rev. Wright's sermons reflect the difficult experiences and frustrations of a generation.

It is important that we understand the dynamic Obama spoke about.

It also is important that we not let media coverage and political gamesmanship isolate selected remarks by Wright to the exclusion of anything else that might define him more accurately and completely.

I find it very troubling that we have distilled Wright's 35-year ministry to a few phrases; no context whatsoever has been offered or explored.

I do have a bit of personal context. About 26 years ago, I became engaged to my wife, an African-American. She was at that time and remains a member of Trinity. Somewhere between the ring and the altar, my wife had second thoughts and broke off the engagement. Her decision was grounded in race: So committed to black causes, the daughter of parents subjected to unthinkable prejudice over the years, an "up-and-coming" leader in the young black community, how could she marry a white man?

Rev. Wright, whom I had met only in passing at the time and who was equally if not more outspoken about "black" issues than he is today, somehow found out about my wife's decision. He called and asked her to "drop everything" and meet with him at Trinity. He spent four hours explaining his reaction to her decision. Racial divisions were unacceptable, he said, no matter how great or prolonged the pain that caused them. God would not want us to assess or make decisions about people based on race. The world could make progress on issues of race only if people were prepared to break down barriers that were much easier to let stand.

Rev. Wright was pretty persuasive; he presided over our wedding a few months later. In the years since, I have watched in utter awe as Wright has overseen and constructed a support system for thousands in need on the South Side that is far more impressive and effective than any governmental program possibly could approach. And never in my life have I been welcomed more warmly and sincerely than at Trinity. Never.

I hope that as a nation, we take advantage of the opportunity the recent focus on Rev. Wright presents—to advance our dialogue on race in a meaningful and unprecedented way. To do so, however, we need to appreciate that passion born of difficulty does not always manifest itself in the kind of words with which we are most comfortable. We also need to recognize that the basic goodness of people like Jeremiah Wright is not always packaged conventionally.

Wisdom Regarding Rev. Wrights Continued Attacks from the "Corporate Media"

By Des52

Years ago,in 1969 Dr. Martin Marty issued a challenge to his students at the University of Chicago Divinity school saying:

"Most church bulletins, church news letters and publications are in no way related to reality. When is the last time you picked up a church bulletin, church newsletter or a church publication and saw something remotely related to the real world in which the worshipers lived? You do not pick up those kinds of publications in a church. Church bulletins talk about their pastors anniversary, the choir concerts, car washes hosted by the youth and the bake sale hosted by the ladies. Church newsletters talk about church conferences, church business, fundraising and capital stewardship campaigns. People come into those sanctuaries, week after week from a world where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been assassinated, where Malcolm X was murdered, a world full of racism, discrimination . . .war and insanity. The church publications however, say absolutely nothing about those realties that the members have to face and the realities with which the worshipers have to live immediately following the benediction."

As you can see from today's news Trinity strove to be relevant and followed that challange. But in myopic media fashion what Trinity talks about in the bulletin is predictably distorted. The media did not report Trinity's concern about Darfur, or Keke Palmer, or HIV Aids, no, they wanted to again paint Trinity as some left wing crazed church, not like "us."

Well, if blowing the trumpet about black women dying of AIDs means we are not like one of you, OK. If making a noise about corportions pressuring young black artists to do negative lyrics rather than positive age appropriate lyrics means we are not like you, OK. If pointing out the genocide in Darfur makes us not like one of you, so be it.

Thousands of years later the biblical lament is still true, "My people die for lack of knowledge" But not Trinity.

The media is upset again because Obama weathered the storm of the so called "Wright scandal." They are scratching their heads. Their arms are too short to box with God. So now here comes another trickle of charges, "look what he said in the bulletin."

As Dr. Marty notes, we do not have to agree with all of Rev. Wrights decisions, his choice of words, but thank God Dr. Wright challenged us to see, to look, to consider. We are all better for it.

When folks are mistreated, that is an ugly set of facts. Dr. Wright was not a bystander. The psychology of bystanders is focused on one of the following:

1. If I speak up they may come after me.

2. Nobody else is speaking up

3. Maybe the victim brought it on themself

4.It is not so bad

This happened in NY when neighbors watched a young women get raped. It happened in Germany when folks did not get involved while Jews were tortured. It happened on the Middle passage, through the years of slavery and through Jim Crow. Dr. Wright however, decided to look at the ugly set of facts that faces our world and do something. He is as imperfect as Oscar Schindler was. But like Schindler, he chose to see things he did not want to see, hear things he did not want to hear and spent his life and money to set folks free.

God bless him. And to those who are throwing him under the bus, I only have imprecatory thoughts about your actions.

Rev. Wrights Teacher and Friend Martin E. Marty : Prophet and Pastor

Through the decades, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has called me teacher, reminding me of the years when he earned a master's degree in theology and ministry at the University of Chicago — and friend. My wife and I and our guests have worshiped at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where he recently completed a 36-year ministry.

Images of Wright's strident sermons, and his anger at the treatment of black people in the United States, appear constantly on the Internet and cable television, part of the latest controversy in our political-campaign season. His critics call Wright anti-American. Critics of his critics charge that the clips we hear and see have been taken out of context. But it is not the context of particular sermons that the public needs, as that of Trinity church, and, above all, its pastor.

In the early 1960s, at a time when many young people were being radicalized by the Vietnam War, Wright left college and volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps. After three years as a marine, he chose to serve three more as a naval medical technician, during which time he received several White House commendations. He came to Chicago to study not long after Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder in 1968, the U.S. bombing campaign in Cambodia in 1969, and the shooting of students at Kent State University in 1970.

Wright, like the gifted cohort of his fellow black students, was not content to blend into the academic woodwork. Then the associate dean of the Divinity School, I was informally delegated to talk to the black caucus. We learned that what Wright and his peers wanted was the intense academic and practical preparation for vocations that would make a difference, whether they chose to pursue a Ph.D. or the pastorate. Chicago's Divinity School focuses on what it calls "public ministry," which includes both conventional pastoral roles and carrying the message and work of the church to the public arena. Wright has since picked up numerous honorary doctorates, and served as an adjunct faculty member at several seminaries. But after divinity school, he accepted a call to serve then-struggling Trinity.

Trinity focuses on biblical teaching and preaching. It is a church where music stuns and uplifts, a church given to hospitality and promoting physical and spiritual healing, devoted to education, active in Chicago life, and one that keeps the world church in mind, with a special accent on African Christianity. The four S's charged against Wright — segregation, separatism, sectarianism, and superiority — don't stand up, as countless visitors can attest. I wish those whose vision has been distorted by sermon clips could have experienced what we and our white guests did when we worshiped there: feeling instantly at home.

Yes, while Trinity is "unapologetically Christian," as the second clause in its motto affirms, it is also, as the other clause announces, "unashamedly black." From its beginning, the church has made strenuous efforts to help black Christians overcome the shame they had so long been conditioned to experience. That its members and pastor are, in their own term, "Africentric" should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be "Judeocentric" or that Chicago's Irish parishes be "Celtic-centric." Wright and colleagues insist that no hierarchy of races is involved. People do not leave Trinity ready to beat up on white people; they are charged to make peace.

To the 10,000 members of Trinity, Jeremiah Wright was, until just a few months ago, "Pastor Wright." Metaphorically, pastor means shepherd. Like members of all congregations, the Trinity flock welcomes strong leadership for organization, prayer, and preaching. One-on-one ministry is not easy with thousands in the flock and when the pastor has national responsibilities, but the forms of worship make each participant feel recognized. Responding to the pastoral call to stand and be honored on Mother's Day, for instance, grandmothers, single mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, gay-and-lesbian couples, all mothers stood when we visited. Wright asked how many believed that they were alive because of the church's health fairs. The members of the large pastoral staff know many hundreds of names, while hundreds of lay people share the ministry.

Now, for the hard business: the sermons, which have been mercilessly chipped into for wearying television clips. While Wright's sermons were pastoral — my wife and I have always been awed to hear the Christian Gospel parsed for our personal lives — they were also prophetic. At the university, we used to remark, half lightheartedly, that this Jeremiah was trying to live up to his namesake, the seventh-century B.C. prophet. Though Jeremiah of old did not "curse" his people of Israel, Wright, as a biblical scholar, could point out that the prophets Hosea and Micah did. But the Book of Jeremiah, written by numbers of authors, is so full of blasts and quasi curses — what biblical scholars call "imprecatory topoi" — that New England preachers invented a sermonic form called "the jeremiad," a style revived in some Wrightian shouts.

In the end, however, Jeremiah was the prophet of hope, and that note of hope is what attracts the multiclass membership at Trinity and significant television audiences. Both Jeremiahs gave the people work to do: to advance the missions of social justice and mercy that improve the lot of the suffering. For a sample, read Jeremiah 29, where the prophet's letter to the exiles in Babylon exhorts them to settle down and "seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile." Or listen to many a Jeremiah Wright sermon.

One may properly ask whether or how Jeremiah Wright — or anyone else — experiences a prophetic call. Back when American radicals wanted to be called prophets, I heard Saul Bellow say (and, I think, later saw it in writing): "Being a prophet is nice work if you can get it, but sooner or later you have to mention God." Wright mentioned God sooner. My wife and I recall but a single overtly political pitch. Wright wanted 2,000 letters of protest sent to the Chicago mayor's office about a public-library policy. Of course, if we had gone more often, in times of profound tumult, we would have heard much more. The United Church of Christ is a denomination that has taken raps for being liberal — for example for its 50th anniversary "God is still speaking" campaign and its pledge to be open and affirming to all, including gay people. In its lineage are Jonathan Edwards and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, America's three most-noted theologians; the Rev. King was much at home there.

Friendship develops through many gestures and shared delights (in the Marty case, stops for sinfully rich barbecue after evening services), and people across the economic spectrum can attest to the generosity of the Wright family.

It would be unfair to Wright to gloss over his abrasive — to say the least — edges, so, in the "Nobody's Perfect" column, I'll register some criticisms. To me, Trinity's honoring of Minister Louis Farrakhan was abhorrent and indefensible, and Wright's fantasies about the U.S. government's role in spreading AIDS distracting and harmful. He, himself, is also aware of the now-standard charge by some African-American clergy who say he is a victim of cultural lag, overinfluenced by the terrible racial situation when he was formed.

Having said that, and reserving the right to offer more criticisms, I've been too impressed by the way Wright preaches the Christian Gospel to break with him. Those who were part of his ministry for years — school superintendents, nurses, legislators, teachers, laborers, the unemployed, the previously shunned and shamed, the anxious — are not going to turn their backs on their pastor and prophet.

Martin E. Marty is a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a panelist for On Faith, of Washingtonpost.com. His most recent book is The Christian World: A Global History (Modern Library, 2008).

Find out more about Martin E. Marty HERE

My Pastor Has Represented Us Well

Friday September 11, 1998 in honor of Religious Leaders.....

He's always been such the statesmen!
Pastor Wright was invited to the White House TWICE! This man is a true patriot and a powerful minister of the gospel.

Rev Jane Fisler Hoffman

I never really could figure out where the whole racist thing came in .....

Black Liberation Theology 101

Let's clear up the misconceptions surrounding Black Liberation Theology!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88552254&sc=emaf

A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

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All Things Considered, March 18, 2008 · Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defended his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Tuesday, even as he repudiated some of the pastor's inflammatory sermons. But Wright's comments likely come as no surprise to those familiar with black liberation theology, a religious philosophy that emerged during the 1960s.

Black liberation theology originated on July 31, 1966, when 51 black pastors bought a full page ad in the New York Times and demanded a more aggressive approach to eradicating racism. They echoed the demands of the black power movement, but the new crusade found its source of inspiration in the Bible.

"God's presence in the world is best depicted through God's involvement in the struggle for justice," says Anthony Pinn, who teaches philosophy and religion at Rice University in Houston. "God is so intimately connected to the community that suffers, that God becomes a part of that community."

Freedom and Liberation

Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, says black liberation theology often portrays Jesus as a brown-skinned revolutionary. He cites the words of Mary in the Magnificat — also known as the "Song of Mary" — in which she says God intends to bring down the mighty and raise the lowly. Hopkins also notes that in the book of Matthew, Jesus says the path to heaven is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. And the central text for black liberation theology can be found in Chapter 4 of Luke's gospel, where Jesus outlines the purpose of his ministry.

"Jesus says my mission is to eradicate poverty and to bring about freedom and liberation for the oppressed," Hopkins says. "And most Christian pastors in America skip over that part of the book."

Hopkins attends Trinity United Church of Christ, where Rev. Wright just retired as pastor. In the now-famous sermon from 2003, Wright said black people's troubles are a result of racism that still exists in America, crying out, "No, no, no, not God bless America! God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people."

According to Hopkins, that was theological wordplay — because the word "damn" is straight out of the Bible and has a specific meaning in the original Hebrew.

"It means a sacred condemnation by God to a wayward nation who has strayed from issues of justice, strayed from issues of peace, strayed from issues of reconciliation," Hopkins says.

A Loud, Passionate, Physical Affair

Anthony Pinn of Rice University acknowledges that black liberation preaching often sounds angry. But he says the anger does not advocate violence but is instead channeled into constructive routes. Trinity UCC, he notes, has 70 ministries that help the poor, the unemployed, those with AIDS or those in prison. Pinn says the words can be jarring to the untrained ear, but they're still valid.

"Folks, including myself, may be taken aback by the inflammatory nature of the rhetoric, but I don't think very many of us would deny that there is a fundamental truth: Racism is a problem in the United States," Pinn says.

Black liberation preaching can be a loud, passionate, physical affair. Linda Thomas, who teaches at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, says the whole point of it is to challenge the powerful and to raise questions for society to think about. Thomas says if white people are surprised by the rhetoric, it's because most have never visited a black church.

"I think that many black people would know what white worship is like," Thomas says. "Why is it that white people don't know what black worship is about? And I think that is because there is this centrality with white culture that says we don't have to know about that."

Obama presents himself as uniquely situated to bridge those two cultures because of his biracial heritage. In his speech on race Tuesday, the presidential hopeful said he could no more disown his controversial pastor than he could disown his white grandmother.

"These people are a part of me. And they are part of America, this country that I love," Obama said.

He denounced the harshness of Wright's words — not because they were false, he said, but because they did not acknowledge the strides that the U.S. has made in the fight against racism. Obama said his own candidacy shows how far the country has come.

Why I chose Trinity

You know it's hard to watch yourself become entangled in a media frenzy. Being that this is an election season, I've found myself really relating to others who've experienced this type of scrutiny, like the workers at Terry Shiavo's hospice, and the many gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who found themselves on t.v. and turned into a political issue.

I consider myself a media savvy person, so I understand how sound bites have been used to ruin peoples credibility. But first and foremost I'd like to share what brought me to Trinity UCC and why I won't leave.

Every human being, at some point and time, embarks on a search for 'self'. I began my search in high school where I came across new world views and philosophies. I was exposed to KRS One, Malcolm X, and Nelson Mandela just to name a few. When I asked my Sunday school teacher about Mandela he told me "Nelson Mandela is a communist and that's why he was put in prison". I vividly remember asking him if Moses were black, the whole youth group laughed, as if what i was asking was preposterous. I believed that I was being lied to! I believed that the Christian community embraced 'white supremacy' so I listened even closer to KRS One and Public Enemy. It wasn't hard to convince me that Christianity was 'The White Man's Religion' or that 'We were Muslims" when we were brought to America as slaves. Christianity to me, started to represent white men in sheets and subdued black people praying for a better after life. So I began to reject Christ.. FOR MANY YEARS!

I visited Trinity at the invitation of my Aunt, whom I admire. She's one of those radical revolutionary sisters that I would read about in my studies in college. A true product of the 60's, educated and world traveled. At one point in her life, she found herself accepting the teachings of the Black Hebrews. I was shocked when i found out THIS woman was now "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian"?!?!?!? So to service I went. What I found still shakes me to the core. This man, Jeremiah Wright, who I'd never heard speak before, showed me who I really am.. THROUGH SCRIPTURE!

Black .. Yes.
Flawed .. Yes.
Bruised... Yes.
Redeemed by Jesus... YES!

All these years of searching.. It was Jeremiah Wright who showed me that Jesus had already set the example for me and my life and could relate to everything I was going through as a Black woman to the teachings of Christ! The man is no lunatic!

I'm proud to say that I'm Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian. This statement is not racist. It's merely an affirmation of what God has made me!