Pulpit Words

Pastor Page, March 26, 2008

I was listening to Paul Finebaum yesterday, and the whole show was devoted to the flap over what Barack Obama’s pastor said from the pulpit. I heard all kinds of opinions, from charitable ones—“we’re not voting on Obama’s pastor, we’re voting on Obama”—to not so charitable ones—“I wouldn’t vote for somebody who’d stay at that church after what he said”—to downright racist ones—“he threw his white grandmother under a bus, bet he wouldn’t do that if she were black.” And as I listened to all the arguments pro and con, and observed the main-stream media obsessing over it, I became increasingly sad. There has been almost no attempt to understand the context of Reverend Wright’s comments, no attempt to understand where he is coming from, no attempt to understand it at all.

One of the reasons this hits home for me, of course, is that I am a pastor as well. Every week we pastors get up in the pulpit and interpret the scripture for our congregation. And any pastor worth her salt will tailor how that interpretation is presented to meet the needs of her congregation. Furthermore, every pastor—just like every member in the pews—has well-thumbed areas of the bible, that if you look at them edge-on, will be dirt-stained with use. By the same token, every pastor—again, just like every member in the pews—has sections of their Bible that are unstained through lack of use. In other words, for a variety of reasons, we all avoid preaching on certain topics.

And the sections many in white, mainline churches avoid preaching are the Old-Testament prophets, which warn that God will bring any nation down that is not doing God’s will. Now this “not doing God’s will” business could mean a variety of things, but it usually involved idolatry—worshipping “foreign” gods—and how it treated what Jesus would call “the least of these.” I’m sorry, but it’s in the Bible—according to the Old Testament especially (but see for instance Matthew 25), God has destroyed nations because of the way they treat their citizens.

Do I take that literally? No, of course not. I do not believe that God will actively rain fire and brimstone down on countries that misbehave, and I would never preach it from the pulpit. But by the same token, I can see how African Americans might apply these texts to their own experiences in this country. It is only in the last 50 years of our 225-year existence that the laws in this country have changed so they don’t sanction segregation; economic parity is still a long ways off, as is equal treatment in our court systems. In my home state of Washington, for example, if you are black you are much more likely to be arrested for a crime; if arrested, you’re much more likely to be prosecuted; if you are prosecuted, you are much more likely to be convicted and if convicted, much more likely to serve time.

Would I say what Rev. Wright said from the pulpit? No. Do I understand where it is coming from? As much as I, a privileged middle-classed guy ever can, yes. No matter who you are “for” in this election, Democrat or Republican, white or black, I hope that this episode causes not further division, but further reflection; not further polarization, but further prayer; not further enmity, but further understanding.