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Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

MEEKS: Sound bites and the truth

Two weeks ago I had the delightful opportunity to hear the Rev. Jeremiah Wright preach a three day revival. This was possible because of the courage and commitment of the Rev. Ronald Slaughter and St. Paul AME Church.

As some of you will recall, Wright was brought to our attention in a negative light through a very misleading sound bite from a sermon preached on a Palm Sunday in his church regarding the plight of people living under the oppression of an empire.

He is a brilliant preacher who follows the tradition of old prophets from the Bible as well as those in the liberation theological tradition.

The sermon that received so much attention is actually very inspiring and filled with a very powerful analysis of political wrongs in the time of Jesus and in the present. He has the powerful voice of a prophet and the humility that comes from knowing you have been called to do something by God’s grace and not your own power.

I was so struck by that quality and saddened that so many of us were unwilling to stand up to be counted when he was being maligned and made to appear as if he is a rabid hater of the Republic.

The truth is, he understands his journey and ours with God and our journey in the Republic are not the same thing. The state is to be held accountable by people of faith. That becomes very difficult when people cannot separate themselves from the behavior of political leaders long enough to make a critique of them to see if their behaviors can stand the test of the commands that are given in their holy books regarding justice and mercy.

The idea that God is on the side of the government and that it can do what it wants is not verified by faith traditions and is not supported by the prophetic tradition. Therefore, it is not surprising that people who do not know anything about a prophetic tradition and probably don’t really care about it anyway, would take Wright’s sermon to be political instead of prophetic and rush to use it try to discredit the candidacy of Barack Obama.

I think it is unfortunate that President Obama did not handle the matter differently, but Wright reminded us, “that the end of a season does not mean that it is the end of the story.” I hope that is true with him and the president because it is very important for all of us to be clear about not allowing sound bites to determine our understanding of the truth and where our loyalties will lie.

Too many white people do not know anything about the tradition of liberation theology or the black church tradition, and their lack of knowledge helped fuel the fires of fear that were being lit. Many black folks don’t understand that tradition either, and many who do understand it choose to be silent because speaking out seems to cause more trouble than it is worth.

Slaughter was mentored by Wright and speaks about his relationship with great appreciation. I am thankful to this young man for being willing to affirm the gifts he received from this gifted teacher, prophet and fellow pilgrim, and for not allowing sound bites to determine his reality.

I am grateful to Wright for saying “yes” to the call and for staying faithful through all of these years and for his intention to continue to do the same for the rest of his days on earth.

This column by Catherine Meeks, Ph.D., appears twice monthly. E-mail her at kayma53@cox.net.