FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART by OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
I do not know that I need to remind you of a sermon Pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright preached in 2003, for it engendered so much controversy in the election that followed that you might prefer to forget it.
However, I see a good reason to make a note of it now because of how much it fits our contemporary situation in which we are truly “Confusing God and Government.” Furthermore, that sermon can help us frame the violence being memorialized as the January 6th Riot / Insurrection that is being analyzed by a Congregational Investigation Committee.
Yes, Pastor Jeremiah Wright’s sermon seems to me, at least, to have struck a prophetic note upon our present situation. The sermon caused the then-presidential candidate Barack Obama to denounce his pastor and resign his membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Wright, in his sermon focusing on “The Fall of Jerusalem,” picked up several themes, including “Confusing God and Government.” In that stream, he pointed out that if the American Government is complicit in any violence – since “Violence begets violence, hatred begets hatred, and terrorism begets terrorism”- then, it is to be understood that whereas we like to say, “God bless America,” we need to say also, at times, “God D-mn America.”
The opposing candidates in the election with Obama picked up the one phrase from Wright’s sermon and had “a field day” with it. As the critics continued and media gave their opinion on the contents of the sermon, Obama denounced the statements in question. In a further response, he gave a speech titled “A More Perfect Union” and sought to place Wright’s comments in a historical and sociological context.
In the speech, Obama again denounced Wright’s remarks but did not disown him as a person. The controversy began to fade but was renewed in late April of that year when Wright made a series of media appearances, including an interview on Bill Moyers Journal, a speech at the NAACP, and a speech at the National Press Club. After the last speeches, Obama spoke more forcefully against his former pastor, saying that he was “outraged” and “saddened” by his behavior. In May, he resigned his membership in the church.
The storm is over concerning Pastor Wright’s sermon and Barack Obama’s two terms as president. And maybe we can state that neither Wright nor Obama left the chaos we are now experiencing with the highlight of the January 6th insurrection. Yes, I have taken a moment to reread Pastor Wright’s sermon, and I do not know that I can convince anyone to read it carefully, but I need to state again that it was truly prophetic (if I am reading it correctly).
What was the pastor trying to say, I have asked myself. Was he predicting the resentment, revenge, rage, riot, and violence seen on January 6th? Was he commenting on the possible failure of the government as is seen in many quarters today? Did he know of the many in government that would be complicitous in the effort “to steal” an election and have a coup? Did he see the lack of capacity for the police to handle the rioters on the Capitol on January 6th? Was he speaking to the failure of the moral character of the leadership in the land, from which many who were complicitous have now written books and bragging about their behaviors without taking responsibility? What did Pastor Wright know? What was he saying?
I cannot speak to the prophetic knowledge that Pastor Wright had, and I cannot say that I agree with all of the phrasings of his sermon, but when I read the New Testament and think of the words of Jesus in His prediction about the fall of Jerusalem, I have to agree that the blessings upon a nation, and its people can be turned into a curse, as Pastor Wright sought to argue.
Or let me be direct, that our proclamation of “God bless America” can truly be “God d-mn America” if we continue to follow the path of the demons we are now serving. The fact is not that the words of Pastor Wright will bring the damnation; that is the curse. But it is any, and all of us together, that will bring the curse if we allow ourselves to be dominated by demons.
Let me be even more precise than what I stated above. As I read Proverbs 26:2, I noted that final phrase in the verse which says, “The curse shall not come without a cause.” The point I gather is that the seeds of resentment, rage, and violence that are thrown about in the way that a sparrow flies will lead to insurrections and rebellion like that of January 6, 2021.
Let me put that another way, namely that the legacy of bringing a curse on America or in our lives, is not an adventurous, fantasy, mystery, or clean romantic novel, as is claimed in The Legacy of the Curse, by author Deborah Grace White. It is not a game, as displayed in some legacy games. On the contrary, it is as deadly and serious as was declared by God when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden (cf. Genesis 3:14-17). If we listen to “the serpent” we will fall.
I will return to The Curse of the Fall, in a near reflection, but for now, what I am making clear is that if America or any one of us stands outside the laws of the divine, if we are willing to declare false freedoms so that we can do anything without restraint, the blessings we hope for will be turned into a curse. Under the pretense of freedom, we are sowing some seeds of evil today that our children are about to reap. It is significant that what we do is not only for us but also for our children. What we see as the brokenness in our American culture and families has been built over time. Some of it is called the legacy of the curse.
So let me make a final appeal. I beg that we be careful in what we are doing now because we do not want to leave a cursed legacy to generations beyond.
