Barack Obama and
Jeremiah Wright parted ways very publicly a few months ago. To my way of
thinking, that the parting became politically necessary is a judgment on the
immaturity and cultural ignorance of opinion makers in the mainstream media and
beyond. I am also aggravated by the tendency of evangelicals on the one
hand and white mainline Protestants on the other to regard Jeremiah Wright and
his church as racist entities to be castigated and demeaned. It is surely the
case that Jeremiah Wright has said indefensible things, but that fact does not
change other and more weighty facts which should have caused both evangelicals
and mainline Protestants in the know to circle the wagons and defend TUCC and
Jeremiah Wright from the attacks of ignorant people.
The weightier facts are
these.
(1) TUCC is committed to
being “In the heart of the community, ever seeking to win the community’s
heart.” In practice, this means that TUCC will remain biblical and evangelical
in emphasis, because the pulsating center of black Christianity has always been
“stuck” on personal transformation through acceptance of God’s grace in Jesus
Christ activated by the disciplines of personal Bible reading, daily unscripted
prayer, and regular worship attendance. These disciplines are at the core of
the people’s experience of liberation. As soon as they are neglected, as
Jeremiah Wright and TUCC know instinctively, the goal of liberation is nothing
more than vain, academic prattle. There is no contradiction whatsoever between
the deeply personal praxis of liberation just outlined and other dimensions of
liberation TUCC pursues such that it has also given birth to ministries of empowerment
which include a career development ministry, a college placement office, a
credit union, a domestic violence ministry, a drug & alcohol recovery
ministry, an HIV/AIDS support ministry, a housing ministry, a health and
wellness ministry, a math tutorial, a prison ministry, a community development
corporation, and a computer learning center.
It is understandable that
evangelicals would want to distance themselves from some of the things one
encounters at TUCC, such as, during the invocation, the invitation to pray not
only to God but to one’s ancestors - not that that attempt at re-enculturation
is going anywhere at TUCC. The separation of the wheat from the chaff in the
re-enculturation process is ongoing, and in the hands, ultimately, of the rank
and file of TUCC, whose spirituality is, and always will be, profoundly
biblical in its emphases. Anyone who thinks otherwise is out of touch with
realities on the ground.
But it is not
understandable that evangelical and mainline Protestants (for the uninformed, I
should perhaps add that the two categories are far from being disjunct sets) -
not to mention informed opinion makers of other backgrounds – should fail to
realize that the ministries of Jeremiah Wright and TUCC follow the fundamental
template and reflect the ethos and theology of revivalist evangelical
Christianity in point after essential point. As an evangelical Christian
steeped in the revivalist tradition, I don’t have to agree with every detail of
TUCC’s approach. But I recognize in TUCC’s identity the outline of the things I
hold most dear as a Bible-reading Christian and human being.
(2) TUCC focuses on
Africa. It is one of the few congregations anywhere in or outside of Africa whose
weekly church bulletin overflows with attention to both the good and the bad
that occurs on that continent. In what other church bulletin can I read about “elections
in Kenya” that have “gone disastrously wrong” and “African heads of state” who “are
meowing over the situation in Zimbabwe”? In what other church bulletin can I be
informed about “enduring peace after decades of conflict in places such as
Mozambique, entrenchment of democracy [ ] in Namibia and Ghana, [and] economic
successes in Mauritius, Botswana, [and] Tunisia”? Those who criticize TUCC’s focus
on Africa reveal little more than their own foolishness and anti-intellectual bent.
Everywhere one looks Christianity is being dumbed down to some kind of lowest
common denominator. TUCC runs against this trend. It is to be praised and
emulated in this, not attacked.
(3) TUCC emphasizes
education and community outreach. The twin emphasis is precisely what is needed
in context. It is not necessary to be a believer of any kind to note that TUCC,
which puts it money and time where its mouth is in these areas, is a catalyst
of what sociologists call “priming effects,” “emotional contagion,” and “social
networking” all of which are essential to the wellbeing and self-improvement of
human beings. If this is true, anyone who demeans TUCC and dismisses its
founding pastor as some kind of kook has completely lost sight of the larger
picture.
I thank Henry Neufeld, Calvin
Park, and Nick
Norelli for highlighting this series.
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