What Rev. Wright did wrong
LORNA DUECK
May 6, 2008
The American phenomenon of religious theatre that rocked Barack Obama's
campaign will go down as shame -- Rev. Jeremiah Wright's example of how
to do it wrong.
A powerhouse of a preacher, activist, social engineer and author, Mr.
Wright ran afoul of Jesus's directive to his disciples to be "wise as a
serpent, harmless as a dove." Instead he went off like a bomb, and as
The New York Times and NBC News charged, Mr. Wright immediately made
the presidential campaign about himself.
Clergy are in the profession of being a messenger for an infallible God
-- a tough occupation to inject into the error-prone world of politics
and media. Clergy struggle on a professional path where divergent
battles of prideful thinking and low self-esteem lurk. It's a job where
it's remarkably easy to get out of touch with reality, and where people
become frightened to correct you. Mr. Wright lived in that world, added
his own private demons to the mix, and finds himself far from any
relationship with a battle-scarred political candidate who once trusted
him like family.
Mr. Obama now describes his old pastor as "divisive and destructive,
giving comfort to those who prey on hate" and is "saddened by the
spectacle" Mr. Wright has become.
In many minds, Mr. Wright's credibility, forged in years of hammering
out the tough truths of black liberation theology, launching more than
70 programs into bettering the social needs of his people, is gone with
a poof because pride eclipsed his calling as a servant of God.
We have no current parallels in Canada of how this debacle may look in
our political annals, but we do have a hero who has advised clergy on
their needed and valid role in public life. Rev. Henri Nouwen, a
Catholic priest and former professor at Yale, Harvard and Notre Dame,
wrote of this and the clergy's temptations when he was pastor for
Daybreak, a L'Arche community for developmentally disabled people
outside Toronto. In his book, In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on
Christian Leadership, Father Nouwen told clergy they will face the same
battle the Gospels describe between the devil and Jesus. Father Nouwen
sums up Satan's three temptations of Jesus as being the desire to be
relevant, the desire to be spectacular, and the desire to be powerful.
Who would want to be anything less, Father Nouwen asks? But the
preferable alternative, he advises, is to avoid the glitter of success
and to reach, rather, into people's despair and to serve as the conduit
of God's hope.
Since Senator Obama actually titled his book on a sermon Mr. Wright
preached on hope, you know these men have got to have done some work
together on that private battle. In that sermon, given in 1990, Mr.
Wright preached that the condition of your soul is what keeps you
going. It's also what stops you.
We talk a lot in Canada about wanting politicians who will serve with
vision and integrity but we never explore what it takes to equip the
inner person to take on that challenge.
In Ottawa, there are at least four groups that busy themselves with
spiritual care to our 305 Members of Parliament. The highest profile is
the weekly gathering of MPs who form the annual National Prayer
Breakfast. Next week they'll gather 800 people together, but not
announce a speaker or put any public sparkle around the event because
the Canadian way is to quietly wrestle out the mysteries of faith
rather than grandstand with any experts.
Jack Murta, a former minister from the Mulroney era who directs the
event, said parliamentarians behind the movement believe the forum is
about putting people into relationships with each other, because "it
will make for better government, less rancour, more trust,"
relationships, he says, are guided through the person of Jesus Christ.
As boring and benign as that is to the public and press, politicians
here must sigh with relief at the approach, and they will continue on
in accessing soul care in the privacy of their own pursuits. The
Canadian way seems to understand that the gospel, by its own admission,
is an intrinsically offensive idea; it doesn't need any help from us to
establish that in the public mind.
Lorna
Dueck
is the Executive Producer of Listen Up TV www.listenuptv.com
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On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
