He has led this congregation of 6000 members for 36 years now, and during those years it has grown so large that it had to move from its original church to a building that used to be a covered football stadium. Each weekend that stadium is filled several times with worshippers.
Trinity Church is located in the heart of Chicago's impoverished Southside, and has developed, under Pastor Wright's leadership, a vast array of ministries including career development and college placement, tutorial and computer services, health care and support groups, domestic violence programs, pastoral care and counseling, bereavement services, drug and alcohol recovery programs, a prison ministry, financial counseling and a credit union, housing and economic development, dozens of choral, instrumental and dance groups, and diverse programming for all ages, including youth and senior citizens.
The south side of Chicago is a huge area of deep poverty, where people are afflicted by tremendous despair and the habits of despair: violence, drug use, and depression. Jeremiah Wright emphasizes self-respect in his ministry, replacing shame and degradation with self-worth, in race, heritage, and ability. The very things black people have been taught to think of as the root of their misery, Jeremiah Wright teaches them are their God-given assets. Jesus also taught this, to the afflicted, the rejected and despised.
Because of its accomplishments and Wright's preaching, many middle class people of color have chosen Trinity Church as their faith home, in order to be part of the healing that Jeremiah Wright is about among the poor. And one of those middle class black members is Barack Obama, who met Rev. Wright when they worked together on some community development projects in Chicago. Obama chose to become a Christian more than 20 years ago, in that congregation.
Wright's congregation is about 90% non-white, but white people are welcomed there, too.Rev. John Thomas, the President of the UCC, who has worshipped at Trinity on many occasions, says, “While the worship is always inspiring, the welcome extravagant, and the preaching biblically based and challenging, I have been especially moved by the way Trinity ministers to its young people, nurturing them to claim their Christian faith, to celebrate their African-American heritage, and to pursue higher education to prepare themselves for leadership in church and society.”
The Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory UCC in Stone Mountain, Ga., says he is impressed that Trinity UCC “promotes spirituality and piety while also being emphatic about social justice.” Samuel's 5,300-member church is the UCC's second largest. Founded in 1987, it joined the UCC in 2004. “Trinity was really the church that inspired me to want to affiliate with the United Church of Christ,” Samuel said. “My church was originally National Baptist and Southern Baptist, but it was the critical-thinking that [Trinity] brought to this work that helped me to want to become a part of the denomination. I have no regrets about that. There have been two major sins in the Black church that many Black churches will not address – homophobia is one and sexism is another,” Samuel says, “and Jeremiah Wright has been one of the articulate, courageous voices that has not been afraid to address these critical issues. That he can do that and still maintain his close connection to the Black community, and stay grounded in the Black ethos, that's what has inspired me.”
I don't know Jeremiah Wright personally, but I do know that all who preach can be misrepresented by a five-second video clip. All of us know that these clips are being aired to detract from the candidacy of Barack Obama. I wonder who gathered these clips? Who arranged to put them on the web? Who called the news media about them? Who stands to gain the most if Obama is knocked out of the race for the Presidency? Who wants it badly enough to defame a congregation of poor people in order to win? Who wants it badly enough to humiliate a man who has spent 36 years building up one church, who retired a few months ago, and who is not well? In my opinion, the person who did this is pretty dangerous for our nation.
Blessings,
Nancy
I will put things more strongly than Rev. Nancy. Rev. Wright's has made some kooky statements (US Gov't created HIV, responsibility for 9/11, etc.), amid a lot of defensible ones, in my mind.
But let's just grow up a little bit, shall we? The American experience isn't all Yankee Doodle Johnny Jingo if you're black, living in many neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. That's true even if, say, you're an ex-Marine, as Wright is.
And throughout this election season, we will be reminded that Obama is actually black, and therefore can't possibly share in our real, pure, mainstream brand of patriotism. And he'll be made, again and again, to protest that yes, he really really does love America naively and uncritically enough to be President.
It's a nauseating charade. Obama has done plenty to articulate his own views versus those of his pastor.
He's also done plenty to prove his patriotism, which he's demonstrated in a lifetime of real public service.
And I dare say that in his military service, and in his service to his neighborhood, Jeremiah Wright has done much the same.
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Update: More on the tradition and context in which Wright does his work here. Again, it is absolutely critical to understand (or at least acknowledge) the circumstances out of which such sentiments arise. If you don't, it's still a black thing to you, and you don't understand.
other UCC ministers putting Wright’s sermons into context! However, Charley, since you provide no link, can I assume that that letter is being circulated via email but not via the press? I do hope that the press follows up on this angle. I also hope that people are still listening (reminiscent of the UCC motto…)
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p>i must say that when this whole thing started, i went to the trinity website and was blown away by the HUGE list under the “ministries” tab. sadly, actions don’t speak as loud as words when you’re not privy to those actions. in other words, sound bites bite.
nt
So it looks like many UCC ministers are forwarding this on to their members.
There are two articles on the UCC website relative to this matter. The first link praises the contributions of Trinity UCC to the wider church. The second is a defense of Rev. Wright by General Minister and President Rev. John Thomas.
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p>http://www.ucc.org/news/chicag…
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p>http://www.ucc.org/news/respon…
Very well put, Charley, and a needed reminder of what the whole flap is actually about.
if one good thing has come out of all this . . . the more we discuss his links to this reverand wright, the less we hear of that crazy theory that obama is actually muslim. hopefully, the dust will settle from all of this and the one thing people will remember is that obama is actually an active member of a ucc congregation in chicago.
In my opinion are a PAC masquerading as a denomination.
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p>They are currently being investigated by the IRS challenging them on their tax exempt status after Barak Obama gave the keynote speech at their annual synod last summer in Hartford CT.
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p>I personally experienced a “Rev Wright” at a North Shore UCC church from September 12 2001 through March 2004 when I left.
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p>From the sermons comparing 9/11 to the great flood
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p>to the Thanksgiving day sermon on the original WMD’s (measle infected blankets given to Native Americans by the colonists)
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p>and weekly sermons denouncing President Bush and the Wwar in Iraq
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p>to the “Still Speaking” campaign that disparaged our Catholic and Methodist friends down the street for not being inclusive. (They actually created commercials showing bouncers standing outside a cathedral not allowing a 7 or 8 year old black girl or a gay couple inside. These ads were banned by the major networks and were an embarassment to most Congregational Churches)
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p>Before 9/11 this church was politically diverse with both left and right and few in any political comments coming from the pulpit.
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p>Eventually, I reacted and challenged the minister and others on their “agenda” and was further alienated and ultimately left the church.
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p>This whole Wright scenario painfully brings back those memories of losing good friends and a church that I was active in both singing in the choir and teaching Sunday school.
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p>Please leave the politics out of church
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p>and please leave the church out of politics
you’ve had a very painful experience with that parish. You have my sympathy and compassion, and I sincerely hope you have found another church to participate in.
and from what I hear, it is happening at many UCC churches all over the country.
But so do other people.
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p>Those commercials that you decry were a beacon of hope to many people. I can hear the comments of friends in bi-racial families talking about how they were excluded from other churches, and let’s face it, the only mainline Christian denomination that doesn’t have rules that demean & discriminate against gay people is the UCC.
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p>Those commercials told lots of folks that there was a church option for them — a place where they, too, could grow in their faith and be accepted just as they are. No discrimination, no special rules targeting them, but they were fine just as they are…..much like Jesus would have done.
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p>So if you cannot worship in an environment that doesn’t do those things, I hope you found what you need.
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p>Jesus didn’t shy away from “politics” either. He had plenty to say about the Roman Empire and the elite of Judaism of his time. I wonder if you would have also attacked Martin Luther King for being “political.” Churches don’t live in a vacuum. They exist in the same culture that surrounds everyone. And, the prophets of both testaments never shied away from speaking up in areas that you might call “politics.” In addition to Jesus, perhaps a look at Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, and some others might be a wise idea.
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p>God bless & good luck to you.
and as far as I know, no one ever checked anyone’s sexuality or political beliefs when they came through the front doors of the church.
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p>And furthermore, I know plenty of gays who have attended both Catholic and Protestant churches without incident and without disruption.
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p>Accepting is one thing, affirming is another. Our children were being taught in Sunday school that the USA was to blame for 9/11. (I taught high school students and was told after 9/11 to be “careful” about what I said in regards to the incident) We also had letters sent out that children as young as 6 would be taught that same sex marriage is affirmed by God because of the ruling)
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p>The idea that Jesus would have pitted one race or gender or sexual preference against the other is ludicrous.
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p>Inclusive means all, not just some. So you see the paradox here. Both sides have an argument, although I would argue that, in the case of gay marriage, a small vocal minority wanted to upend the entire congregation.
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p>As I have said before, none of this was an issue before 9/11 or before the 2004 election or before the gay marriage debate.
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p>Politics are destroying churches.
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p>Jesus would not approve.