Rev. Dr. Wright, retirement from Christian ministry after over 30 years on the front lines should not be like this. They’ve taken your words and twisted them, tugged thoughts and points from many of your sermons and strung them together so they can pull down the bright, rising star of Senator Barack Obama. Oh, how your thoughts must have gone back to your initial meetings with Obama as you’ve heard about this controversy. When Senator Obama was just a young, unmarried community organizer on the south side of Chicago, there were moments when he doubted himself and his convictions. In his book, Dreams From My Father, the senator spoke of trying to make inroads with Christian ministers on the south side of Chicago. He remembered one the ministers letting him know how important it was for him to be a stakeholder, a member of a church or congregation. When he came to you, he had been beaten down by some disappointments in his community organizing work. His spirit may have even been low. Yet, in the midst of Trinity’s marvelous mix of folks from all classes, and yes even different races and cultural backgrounds, the senator found his spiritual strength again. You helped bring him to Jesus, Dr. Wright.
Reporters now want to know if he first heard the language of American dissent or American dissatisfaction from you. Brother Obama had a key ally named Rafiq al-Shabazz on Chicago’s south side. In his book, Brother Obama said he formed an “uneasy alliance” with al-Shabazz. It was Shabazz that kept giving Obama the reality check he needed to do his community organizing work and do it well. It was Shabazz who told Obama, “I tell you one thing I admire about white folks,” he continued. “They know who they are. Look at the Italians. They didn’t care about the American flag and all that when they got here. First thing they did is put together the Mafia to make sure their interests were met. The Irish—they took over the city hall and found their boys jobs. The Jews, same thing….you telling me they care more about some Black kid in the South Side than they do ‘bout they relatives in Israel? Expletive! It’s about blood, Barack, and looking after your own. Period. Black people the only ones stupid enough to worry about their enemies.” (p. 197 Dreams From My Father)
It’s in a mix of various perspectives that our own convictions are born, tested and held more deeply. I’m glad, Rev. Dr. Wright that our brother, Senator Obama, could speak of his appreciation for your relationship with him under the pressure and glare of this national democratic primary. I can imagine that you must have been a key helper to him, a key spiritual guide, a key supporter of both he and his family. I want the world to know that this denomination we share, the United Church of Christ has roots that go back to colonial times in America. I want folks to know that ordained pastors in our denomination have freedom of the pulpit in a country that says we also have freedom of speech. I want the world to know that the love of Jesus Christ is at the core of your ministry and mine. I’ve come to Denver to serve the United Church of Montbello, a congregation that is multi racial, and multi-cultural, a congregation that has historically ministered to those patriots of our country who have served in the U.S. military and retired honorably, and a congregation that has served folks from different heritages over our 40-year history. Our responsibility is not to let our folks go home from church without giving them something to think about, something to celebrate and something to cherish in their Christian faith.
I have every hope that the conservative critics that have risen up in recent weeks will get to know something more about you than the endless loop they’ve created of sermon excerpts they have condemned. I hope you will be able to enjoy retirement and rest. You’ve done the hard work of raising up a successor to pastor Trinity United Church of Christ. You’ve given comfort to the grieving, supported countless families in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care and in their homes. You’ve written widely, perhaps as many as thousands of sermons by now. You’ve sent countless students for ministry to seminary. I know that because I shared classes at Chicago Theological Seminary with many of the student ministers from Trinity United Church of Christ while I was finishing my own master’s degree. You’ve started new ministries and called other pastors to higher standards of ethics and spirituality in ministry. You deserve the rest that comes in retirement. You deserve the chance to be able to look back, reflect and be glad. And if you’re still doing revivals in retirement, I truly hope you’ll consider coming to Denver!
Dr. Wright, let’s both continue doing all we can behind the scenes now to elect Senator Barack Obama as president of these United States of America!
In Christ, Your Brother in Denver,
Rev. Dr. James Ellis Fouther, Jr.
Senior Pastor & Teacher, The United Church of Montbello
Editor’s note: Dr. Fouther is an African-American pastor ordained in the United Church of Christ.
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