Something Original (That's Not Too Abysmal)

Did you know that Obama's Trinity United Church has video archives available online?

I signed up and dialed in Friday night and was fascinated.  The archives go back fourteen sermons (check your pop-up blocker to get at them), so I rolled the video from Feb 10, 2008 titled "Where is God When I'm Catching Hell?".

Now, it is helpful to have a fast-forward feature working - the service is long, with lots of singing and was actually quite uplifting.  Wright finally delivers the sermon at the 1:21 mark (yes, that is 81 minutes into it.)  The topic was the oppression of the Hebrews in Egypt by the Pharaoh, and, probably unsurprisingly, Wright makes an extended analogy between the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt and the enslavement of blacks in America.

Cherry-pickers will single out this bit: Wright was explaining that Moses had killed a man and gone into hiding, and now Pharaoh was plotting genocide against the Hebrew boys.  What kind of genocide?  My rough transcription:

The rulers created a subtle plan of genocide against the Hebrew boys.  What kind of system?  May have been the criminal justice system; may have been the miseducation system; may have been the inadequate health care system; may have been the 3 strikes and you're out system, or the midwife system, but it was a system designed to end the lives of young boys before they had a chance to live... while preserving the young girls for future reference and future pleasure."

This seems to be inconsistent with the message of striving for racial unity and harmony that Barack is currently presenting.  Just my opinion.  That said, it is not as if these sentiments aren't routinely expressed at various left-wing outlets.

And to be fair, the rest of the sermon was, in its won way, uplifting.  His theme was that God was with you even if everyone else was against you, and Wright did note that "everyone" has, in Wright's experience, included other black leaders.

Now, this message would probably be particularly inspirational to paranoid, angry kooks (I know I liked it!)  One might have hoped that a different minister on a different day would have assured the congregation that God has touched many people's hearts, and made the point that on your worst day you can always count on God, but on plenty of other days you can count on plenty of other people - a "we see God's love all around us" message.

Well, I am not a minister, and it might have been hard to weave the genocidal theme into a message of hope about one's fellow man.  In any case, Wright's intelligence and charisma are obvious.

Points to ponder - Wright's replacement, Otis B. Moss, is also on tape.  Is there a special reason to think Wright picked his temperamental opposite as a replacement?

[FOLLOW-UP:  Moss is on the video for Jan 6, 208, "We Have Nothing To Lose"; sermon starts at about 1:40.  If you can't like this guy, you have a heart of stone. Let me hear a witness to that!

However... his text covers lepers entering the enemy's camp and being blessed by the enemy's possessions.  Moss emphasizes that leper had a "skin condition" that led to their oppression, but triumph over their enemies was possible with God's help.  Hmm, I am the enemy?  Now I am feeling excluded.

FWIW, he opens with an analogy about elephants and their smaller, weaker trainers who rule them by fear and deprivation.  Not subtle here, either.  But let's mention that he talked about the importance of education and the great value of being married, so there you go.]

MAINSTREAM KOOKERY:  As an aside, our Episcopal church in Connecticut had a visit from a church bishop about a month after 9/11.  Six guys from our town, including one from our church, had died in the WTC, so when the bishop informed us that 9/11 may have been God's wake-up call to America urging us to do more to relieve third world poverty, there was a near-riot.  An Episcopal riot, of course - the receiving line after church barely moved as one parishioner after another delivered their most forceful soundbites to the bishop (who, to his credit, stood and took it).

I did not walk out when the bishop offered his insight; I told myself I was going to sit patiently, listen attentively, and give him the good news about what I thought afterwards.  Which I did, after about a 30 minute wait during which I did not cool down.  Within my church that sermon was talked about for some time thereafter, and I recall our own minister delivering a mild rebuttal sometime later.

So, two points - In my opinion, for Wright to have said that 9/11 was America's chicken's coming home to roost was not out of the mainstream of kooky left-wing religious thought.  But for Barack Obama to pretend that he was unaware of those comments suggests either that stuff like that was unremarkable and said all the time, or that Barack is lying.  Tough call.

Comments

[Jane]

Is the pertinent question whether or not you would have maintained your membership in that church if the Bishop preached some form of that message every week for 20 years?

[SteveMG]

Episcopalian riot.

Love it.

Clearing of throats and similar mayhem.

[clarice]

HEH! I'd like to see TM visiting his Anglican brethren across the pond..just to see how long he'd keep his cool.

[hit and run]

TM:
an aside, our Episcopal church in Conecticut

In my church bulletin this morning, the words from the song "Glory to God":

----------
Here is the One we've been waiting for,
Here is repdemption and life.
Grace for the weak, hope for the broken,
Here with a promise of peace
Praise! Praise the One who came.
Sing! Sing this song of praise.
----------

TM:
I did not walk out when the bishop offered his insight; I told myself I was going to sit patiently, listen attentively, and give him the good news about what I thought afterwards.

I too did not walk out after being forced to sing this obvious hymn to Obama. And I too told myself to sit patiently, etc, which I did.

Since the song was written by our worship director -- I suggested to him afterward to modify "promise of peace" to "promise of change".

[GMax]

TM

Was your bishop vieing for position in case the Archbishop of Canterbury post became vacant? The stanzas are a bit different but it seems like the same refrain to me...

[Anon]

Episcopalian riot?

Tsk, tsk...

OK get this-

Lived on a military base and I'm a back row oh hell my Jewish friend calls me a Christmas Catholic-

Anyways there I was-on Christmas and the Chaplain had been sent to Iraq-the visiting priest proceeded to tell the children their absent fathers and mothers what a bunch of warmongers their missing parents were.

On base, right after 9/11.

There I am sitting in the pew with my Clinton Gore lovin' and visitin' relations..
with gleeming smiles on their faces as they spent most of the sermon watching me.

Joy!

Well umm so I did the Catholic riot thing-left right during communion-had to or else I'd a lit that guy's vespers or somethin'.

[Anon]

btw-

Note to Soylent Red-

Don't get married it'll make this shit a hell of a lot easier.

Just sayin'.

I'm off to hit the hot tub, or the sauce or jog.

Jeebus I'm still pissed.

[Anon]

Wait crap make that Afghanistan-hell I don't really know where they sent the Chaplain-can't remember just that he was gone.

[Lesley]

TM: "Which I did, after about a 30 minute wait during which I did not cool down."

As a 7th generation Episcopalian, I started to simmer in the early 90's and have been at full boil for the last ten years. Jane's point is a valid one for me. I can no longer sit in that pew.

I thought Griswold was bad. Schori is a disaster. Midwest Conservative Journal Strictly inside baseball for TM.

[SteveMG]

Strictly inside baseball for TM.

Yeah, like the rest of us aren't interested in internal doctrinal Episcopalian disputes.

I'm insulted.

[Lesley]

SteveMG HA!

BTW: How are your brother and his family doing post Katrina? As I recall, they were living in Metarie. Never seen an update from you.

[Soylent Red]

Clearing of throats and similar mayhem.

Heh. Being of Lutheran persuasion that would have been mayhem. A Lutheran riot consists of a deepening of the already omnipresent scowls, followed by 350 years of rehashing over Jell-O salad and weak coffee.

Don't get married it'll make this shit a hell of a lot easier.

I am currently in no danger in that respect. But when I was, stoic Northern European reproachfulness was a prime bullet point on the resumes of prospective Mrs. Soylents.

[SteveMG]

How are your brother and his family doing post Katrina? As I recall, they were living in Metarie. Never seen an update from you.

Wow, great memory.

I visited them just yesterday for a St. Patrick's memorial service for my grandparents.

They're doing fantastic; they actually flew to Paris this summer for a month!!

The city/N.O. itself - as far as I could tell from the interstate - is slowly, slowly getting back on its feet. Houses located on both sides as you enter the state (from the east) that were abandoned are starting to get residents.

Part - a major part - of the problem is that there's simply no housing for workers who want to either get jobs or start a life.

They're getting there.

Thanks for asking.

Best,

Steve

[SteveMG]

for a St. Patrick's memorial service

It was St. Joseph's Day not Patrick.

And the Altar.

[SteveMG]

One more afterword.

We visited my father's grave at the Biloxi National Cemetery.

For the past three years or so, we would notice new gravesites around the area of young men in their 20s with "Iraq" on the tombstone. It's very jarring (to say the least) to see a number of graves with 70-80 year old men and then a 19-year old or 22-year old mixed in.

The visit yesterday showed no new tombstones of young men.

None.

It was a good day.

[Yehudit]

"...Wright makes an extended analogy between the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt and the enslavement of blacks in America...."

So have every other civil rights leader back to Harriet Tubman. Also all the Puritans who came to America and the Huguenots who fled to the Swiss mountains and also came here.

The rest of the sermon, not so much.

[Elroy Jetson]

TM,
It sounds like these sermons are a series of segues from one story from the Bible to another sprinkled with the occasional blast of social injustices or conspiracy theories. The passage you cite above raises the possibility that the reverend feels a lack of universal health care is a subtle plan of genocide on the part of the government. Interesting.

[Lesley]

SteveMG

Appreciate the update on your family and the detail about your lives. It was extremely touching. I was so crabby (earlier) today and your family story reminded of the tragedy followed by the rebirth we celebrate in Holy Week. Your comments, on several levels, turned out to be my Sunday sermon and for that, I thank you.

[Joan of Argghh!]

Seems we can know more about Otis Moss III and his father, they both were contributors in a book along with J. Wright which can be found here.

[Ralph L]

I'd like Something Visual, that's not too abysmal.
Say, an old Steve Reeves movie.

[Tom Maguire]

I'd like Something Visual...

Yeah, that's what I wanted, too, but I have a hard time with visual; more of a Hot Air thing.