Here is a link to a sermon by Jeremiah Wright, Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, and the church that Barack Obama attended for a large portion of his life. I thought it was very compelling and apparently the inspiration for Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. I encourage you to check it out.
http://preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/audacityofhope.html?start=1
Rev. Wright has been one of Obama's controversial acquaintances for I believe some radical remarks. I was never overly bothered by it because it seemed to me that such things are more common in that context and sound shocking to the more established people in our country. This is not to excuse objectionable comments, just to put them in perspective of a particular cultural context. Also, to be honest, I don't even know the details of the controversy and the comments of Rev. Wright that were objectionable. Obama has clearly distanced himself from him. In addition, I haven't read Obama's book and don't really plan too. Regardless, this is a good sermon and very interesting in light of its influence on Barack Obama.
Monday, October 27, 2008
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3 comments:
Maybe I am overly critical of sermons that I hear or, in this case, read, however, I would consider this sermon to have fallen short since Wright never gets to the gospel. This sermon could be preached in any non-Christian religious setting and it would fly just fine. The closest he gets to Christ is the "vertical dimension" that gives hope that transcends this broken and fallen world. He does a good job of relating to the life experience of his audience, and what he says is good as far as it goes. But I think it comes up short as Christian preaching.
I don't think every sermon has to have an overt reference to Jesus Christ and the 1 Cor. 15 gospel that Paul defines to be considered Christian. Indeed, one thing Old Testament scholars harp on often is how evangelicals tend to force Jesus on the text in a way that might not be faithful to the whole counsel of God (Wright's sermon is out of 1 Sam). This is particularly true in the reformed tradition. The gospel is the "jewel" of the faith but it rests on foundational truths of the nature or God, creation, humanity, and their relationship to each other. If you neglect the latter, the gospel becomes too narrow. Ultimately, that is a theological issue. I think there is always a redemptive element in a passage, but I don't know if Jesus can be inserted into every passage.
As for this sermon, unfortunately, Wright does not clearly address what he means by hope. It is a little disconnected. It could have been connected more strongly to God's character and actions in the world, chiefly demonstrated by Jesus. All he essentially does is say we ought to not give up hope. One could read into it "healthy and wealth" tendencies of "word of faith," that is "if I believe hard enough" God will do something. I guess I expected the sermon to be more radical than it is, and I don't think it is much different than what I would hear in a average evangelical sermon any week. It is reflects the artistry that good preaching can have. I admire its structure, and its powerful encouragement, even if I feel its message comes up short too.
In the end, considering all the controversy surrounding Barack Obama and his "associates", I thought this sermon was more intriguing for the personalities connected to it than its content. I believe it illustrates the unfortunate reality that the media, by nature, does not give us the whole story. Wright may be a nutjob and Obama a slick politician, but there is more to the story than we are often led on to believe.
I just want to God to help me see the truth more clearly, about myself, about others, and about Him.
You're right. The sermon is not extraordinary or inflammatory. Even the so-called "God Damn America" sermon that generated all the media frenzy was not that bad. That particular famous phrase was perhaps poorly chosen, but at least his overall message was to trust in God rather than in government to redress the injustices of our day. The MSM simply does not seem to have the desire or even perhaps the capability to pursue the substantial rather than the sensational.
As to finding and preaching the connection of the text to the gospel, I am aware that there is somewhat of a controversy around that issue, and I am mostly ignorant of it. It seems to me that if the gospel is the warp and woof of revelation, then any text will have at least some redemptive principle in it and will fit within redemptive history. Even if there is just a subtle hint of the gospel there, I think it is helpful to explore that and draw out the glorious truth toward which that hint is pointing. As Christ becomes more and more the light by which we see the world (and the word), then I think those connections will become more and more natural (an instinct, as Sinclair Ferguson describes it).
My principle influences in how I think about this are Tim Keller's talk on Gospel-Centered Ministry at the Gospel Coalition 2007 Conference and Bryan Chapell's last four lectures from his class on Christ-Centered Preaching. Maybe we can go to a pub sometime and discuss the theology of preaching.... :)
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