Prophets & Michelle Obama & Pastor Jeremiah Wright

This issue, about the President’s former pastor, won’t seem to die; so I’d like to say this about that…
by Charlie Leck

I was reading an article in the Washington Post about the first lady’s upcoming speech at the Democratic National Convention. The first comment, following the article, caught my eye; it included the following: “Mrs. Obama supposedly led her husband to worship with Rev. Wright for decades. I often wonder if this is true and if so why she never explained this choice.”

Wow, the Pastor Wright stuff won’t go away, will it? Well I sat back and thought about this comment and wanted to say to the person, “Person, have you ever read the Old Testament prophets and seen how tough they were? They were tough on so-called people of faith and on people who ignored the simple realities of life.”

Then, I wanted to say to the person, “Person, have you ever tried to put yourself in the shoes of a black family that was crated and brought here on a slave ship to endure hardships in America – worse even than one’s most horrible nightmares? Have you ever tried to soften your heart and have a little mercy and understanding for the views of such a person (you know, walk a mile in their moccasins)? Have you ever given consideration to the fact that the views of such a person might be a shade (pun intentional) different than your own?”

There is no greater calling for a pastor – a pastor of a Christian church – than to be a prophet who explores with his congregation the dangers of life as it is being lived – who explores the dangers of failing to be obedient to God’s will. The great seminaries know this and they train pastors to be more than priests and church administrators – they also train pastors to be prophets and to declare the truth to the people (and truth is often very, very difficult to hear – and more difficult to swallow).

Oh, it must have been quite interesting to hear Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Amos speaking the words of truth about people’s disobedience – about your disobedience and mine. Oh, my!

The job of the prophet, as I understand it from my own study of the Old Testament, was to call people back to God, warning them of the horrible consequences of what they were doing, and asking them (pleading with them) to repent.

Are we really so contemptibly conceited that we think America does not need to hear the voices of the prophets? Do we not, individually, need to hear God’s judgment on us? Do we not need to hear, again and again, that we are failing to feed the hungry and shelter the unsheltered, as we have been commanded to do? Oh, America, are you caring for the oppressed, the diseased, the ill-educated and the unemployed?

We are not getting into a discussion here of Republicans or Democrats! The prophets didn’t want to get into that. From all people, God demands justice and righteousness! Of an entire nation God demands compassion, mercy and tenderness – from Catholics, Jews, the Tea Party, the Libertarians and the Liberals, God wants righteousness toward all peoples.

With a strange voice that is unfamiliar, disconcerting and harsh, Pastor Wright is trumpeting God’s difficult word. As a prophet he calls us to examine ourselves as deeply and honestly as we possibly can. The stuff he says isn’t popular, I’ll grant you that. Neither was the stuff Hosea and Amos said. I am willing, however, to give a listen to people like Pastor Wright in order to see if there isn’t something of God’s message in what they say.

You think the people of the Old Testament and the lands of the Bible were comfortable with the prophets? If so, think again! The prophets were harsh and their demands caused discomfort. The people often turned away from them, condemned them and called for their removal from the streets and from the Temple – much as people do in the case of Pastor Wright.

“Who are these crazy people?”

“How dare they speak as they do?”

The prophets may have been removed, but their words lingered and the people could not avoid hearing them in their minds and wondering about them. And those who wouldn’t hear – what of them? They were the lost who would be destroyed by their own stubbornness and refusals to hear God’s word.

“The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you. I will surely repay you for your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel)

Oh, my!

“You hate the one who reproves you in court
and despise him who tells the truth.
You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts…

“Seek good, not evil,
that you may live…
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.”
                                 (Amos)

“Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that are therein… the mountains shall be molten under him, and valleys shall be cleft, as if it was before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.” (Micah)

“I will judge you – everyone according to his ways… Repent, and turn yourselves from your transgressions; so your iniquity shall not be your ruin… I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord God; therefore, turn yourselves and live!”
                                (Eekiel)

“I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them…

Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
                                    (Amos)

“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Prudent, and he shall know them?
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the just shall walk in them;
but the transgressors shall fall therein.”
                                    (Hosea)

Pastor Jeremiah Wright?
Perhaps Pastor Wright is a prophet! Oooh, that is difficult to hear! He is accused of being tough and mean and warning America of its unrighteousness. As a fellow on the radio here likes to say: “Maybe he’s on to something – or he’s on something!” I tend to think it’s the former!

I love America, but I know it is not perfect – not even close – and has a long way to go to live up to the expectations that the prophets tell us God has for us. I’m open to listening to different and distant voices. I try carefully to understand who might or might not be a prophet – or, to put it another way, who might be a true prophet rather than a false one. I think the truth of this matter would be mighty surprising if we could understand it.

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1500

This is post 1,500. I guess it should be something special – something incredibly important – something rocking – something elegant!
by Charlie Leck

“A nation that will not care for the least of its children is doomed to fold in upon
itself and it will be trampled into the earth.”

Can you believe it? This is blog #1500. It nearly takes my breath away. What shall I say? Who shall I berate? What shall I praise? Of whom can I make fun?

I am disquieted! I wonder why readers have come here – again and again – to read what I have to say. I hope it is because I have been consistent. Even in my rage, I hope I have been consistent.

I am just an old man!
As a couple of my readers have said, in response to my rather scathing comments about Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, “You are nothing but an old man and a fool!”

I know they got it half right –correct! I hope they are not correct on both counts; but that I leave to my readers to determine. There are several dozen of you out there who communicate with me regularly about my blogs. Boy, do I appreciate you. If I could whisper it (so no one else will hear), “I also love you a great, great deal!”

From the so called writer’s block I have never suffered.

And yet, here – now – I am flailing around for the all the best things to say.

I have struggled for hours over this blog #1500. I deleted it twice and each time went to the computer’s trash container and restored it. Some of you are going to think it is a religious, or scriptural, or biblical, or even a Christian blog. It is not. Rather I have used the concepts of Christian and Judeo/Christian scripture to combat the rising, harsh voice of the right-wing, fundamentalist Christian movement in this country that is so critical of government services to the poor and disadvantaged. Try to read the blog as if it were secular and only uses the language of faith and the prophets.

Why am I so often driven back to the ancient prophets of scripture when I am stuck? Their messages about governance, corruption and national conduct often stir me. Am I naïve to think nations have responsibilities for their citizens and obligations to care for those who cannot care for themselves – to ensure that its entire people are secure, safe, sheltered and fed? Or, is it an old fashioned idea that can only, in reality, be associated with socialism or communism – or idle dreamers?

Social Justice
I’ve looked back over hundreds of blogs to see if I can find a common thread or theme; and I see it there. With scattered blogs about baseball or golf thrown in, a good recipe here and there, a few notes about personal travels and a book review or two, I go back again and again to the responsibilities of those who govern.

And, I wonder! How can there be justice when some of us can have multiple homes, yachts, sports cars, personal chefs, valets and unlimited resources, while others live without shelter and with too little nutritious food to eat? How can we spend so much on our own personal comfort and indulgences while the earth suffers from our abuse of it?

For instance, can we, in good conscience, build sports stadia that cost billions of dollars while there is such rampant homelessness? I do not argue that we cannot do the former, but I do persist in urging that we can do both.

How can America have so much accumulated wealth and such staggering poverty at the same time? Reputable reports indicate that twenty percent of our population is poor. A large number are completely destitute.

We slip lower each year in the ranks of those nations providing the highest quality education for our citizens.

Politicians claim we cannot afford to spend more; yet we now have more billionaires than we ever dreamed we would have.

It seems to be true that one (1) percent of the population now controls nearly fifty (50) percent of the nation’s wealth. I do not begrudge them their wealth, but I do persist in arguing that this group has a greater – much greater – responsibility to care for the bottommost percentage of the population that lives in utter poverty. To neglect that lowest part of the general population is to turn one’s eyes from the loving gaze of God. It is to refuse the wisdom of the prophets and what they have been telling us for a hundred generations.

I am not impressed by lapel-pin American flags! I am not impressed by those who profess to be super-religious or discoverers of salvation. Those with dozens of religious rules are not admired by me. The blindly religious are marked by God’s disdain; for they have not heard Him calling out to them about his neglected children.

I admire those who hear the words of the prophets of old – and understand!

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream!” [Amos 5:24]

America losing its grip
America once had this dream about the poor and “the huddled masses that yearned to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…”

Now a whole, massive party of people turn away from America’s great and solemn dream; and they claim it is not a nation’s job to care – to care – to care.

“Leave the poor to care for the poor; and let the diseased care for the ill. We shall build higher fences and mightier gates to separate ourselves from the stench of the oppressed. And God be damned! We shall hide from His will!”

Justice appears now to be for those who can afford it! Yet, we beat our paths to expensive churches, mosques and synagogues to pray to a God who will not hear us because we have ignored his constant message to us.

I hate, I despise your feasts
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream!”
                                                               [Amos 5:24]

The message of the prophets is clear – even today: A nation that will not care for the least of its children is doomed to fold in upon itself and it will be trampled into the earth.

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Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season) – made into an enormous, international hit in 1965 by The Byrds.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant
                                                                     a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together,
                                             a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

                                                                             [Ecclesiastes 3]

You can hear The Byrds singing the famous hit song at this You Tube address.

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Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.