I think that after reading this sermon it is easy to understand why our President has felt the need to apologize for our faults of the past.  I also ask forgiveness to the world. 

As I find JW, sermons I will post them. 

This painting is scary to me; especially today.  I don't see any: HOPE.    www.victorianweb.org/painting/watts/pain...

Excerpts from Dr. Wrights" The Audacity to Hope: "You see, the painting is entitled, "Hope" and it shows a woman sitting on top of the world, playing a harp. Now at first glance, that would be alright, for what more enviable position could one ever hope to achieve than being on top of the world with the whole world -- everything and every one -- dancing to your music? But when you look closer at the picture, the illusion of power starts to give way to the reality of pain. The world on which this woman sits, our world, a world torn by war, destroyed by hate, decimated by despair and devastated by distrust, is on the very brink of destruction. Famine ravishes millions of the inhabitants of this world in one hemisphere while feasting and gluttony are enjoyed by inhabitants of another hemisphere. The world on which she sits is a time bomb ticking, with apartheid in one hemisphere and apathy in the other hemisphere and enough nuclear warheads, scientists tell us, to wipe out all forms of life except for cockroaches. That is the world on which this woman sits -- a world which cares more about bombs for the enemy than it does about bread for the hungry, a world that is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character, a world more finicky about the texture of hair (or what's on the outside of one's head), than it is about the quality of education (or what's on the inside of one's head). That is the world on which this woman sits. You and I think of being on top of the world as being in Heaven, but when you look at the woman on Watt's painting a little closer, you discover that this woman is in Hell, and the artist dares to entitle the painting, "Hope". Then on top of that, she's sitting there in rags, tattered clothes, as if she herself had been at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Her head is bandaged and the blood is beginning to seep through the bandages, scars and cuts are visible on her face, her arms and her legs -- that's when you look closer at the picture. The instrument on which she plays, her harp, has all but one of its strings broken, torn or ripped out. Even the instrument has been damaged by what she has been through and she is more the example of quiet despair than anything else, yet the artist dares entitle the painting, "Hope." When you look closer at what is done on that canvas, the illusion of power sitting on top of the world gives way to the reality of pain.

Isn't that the way it is with so many of us? We give the illusion of being in an enviable position, being on top of the world, but when you look closer at our lives, what you begin to find many times is the reality of a pain almost too deep for the tongue to tell. Like that woman in Watt's painting, what looks like Heaven for many of us is really a quiet Hell. I've been pastoring for 17 years. I've seen too many of these cases not to know what I'm talking about. I've seen married couples where the husband has a girlfriend in addition to his wife. It is something nobody talks about anymore. You smile and pretend you don't hear the whispers and gossip and you remember that you've got the legal papers on him and he would rather try to buy Fort Knox than to try to get a divorce from you. That's a living Hell.

I've seen married couples where the wife has discovered that somebody else cares for her as a person and not just as a cook, the maid, the jitney service and the call girl service all wrapped into one. But then there's the scandal -- what folk might say -- and the scandal of the children. That's a living Hell.

I've seen divorcees whose dreams have been blown to bits, families broken up beyond repair, whose lives seem now somehow to have slipped right through their fingers. They've lost complete control. That's a living Hell.

I've seen college students who give the illusion of being on top of the world -- designer clothes, all the sex they want, all the cocaine or marijuana or drugs, all the trappings of having it all together on the outside -- and empty and shallow and hurting and lonely and afraid on the inside. Many times what looks good on the outside -- the illusion of being in power, the illusion of sitting on top of the world -- when you get closer, is actually existing in a quiet Hell.
And that is exactly where Hannah is in I Samuel 1:1-18. Hannah is top dog in this three-way relationship between herself, Elkanah and Peninnah. Her husband loves her more than he loves his other wife and their children. He tells her that he loves her, and a lot of husbands don't do that. He shows her that he loves her, and many husbands never get around to doing that. In fact, it is his attention to her and devotion that cause Peninnah to be so angry and to stay on her case so constantly -- jealous. Jealousy will get a hold on you and you can't let it go because it won't let you go. Peninnah stayed on her, like we say, "as white on rice". Stayed on her constantly, At first glance, Hannah's position seems enviable, she had all the rights and none of the responsibilities -- no diapers to change, no beds to sit up beside at night, no noses to wipe, no nothing elses to wipe either, no babies draining you of your milk and demanding feedings. Hannah had it all -- top dog. Her man loved her -- everybody knew he loved her -- he loved her more than anything or anybody and that's why Peninnah hated her so much. Except for this second wife bit -- which was legal back then and some of you all are trying to make it legal now -- except for this second wife thing, Hannah was sitting on top of the world, until you look closer. When you look closer what looked like being in Heaven was actually existing in a quiet Hell. She not only had the pain of a bitter woman to contend with, but verse 7 says Peninnah stayed on her non-stop. She not only had the pain of a bitter woman, she also had another pain -- the pain of a barren womb. You will remember the story of the widow in II Kings 4 who had no child? The story of a woman in Biblical days with no children was a story of deep pathos and despair. You do remember the story of Sarah and what she did in Genesis 16 because of her barren womb before the three Heavenly visitors stopped by their tent. You do remember the story of Elizabeth and her husband in Luke 1 back in Bible days. The story of a woman with a barren womb was the story of deep pathos.

Hannah was afflicted with the pain of a bitter woman on the one hand and the pain of a barren womb on the other. Her world was flawed, flaky, her garments of respectability were tattered and torn and her heart was bruised and bleeding by the constant attacks of a jealous woman. The scars and scratches on her psyche are almost visible as you look at this passage, as she cries and refuses to eat anything. Just like the woman in Watt's painting, what looked like being in Heaven was actually existing in a quiet Hell.

Now I want to share briefly with you about Hannah and the Lord. But while I do so I want you to be thinking about where it is you live and the particular pain predicament that is yours. Think about it for a moment. Come back with what Dr. Sampson was saying as I said in my introductory remarks at Virginia Union. Dr. Sampson said he wanted to quarrel with the artist for having the gall to name that painting "Hope," when all he could see on the picture was Hell -- a quiet desperation. But then, Dr. Sampson said he noticed that he had only been looking at the horizontal relationships -- how this woman was hooked up with that world on which she lived, the world on which she sat. Her horizontal dimension, her horizontal relationships. He had failed to take into account her vertical relationships. He said he had not looked above her head and when he looked over her head, he found some small notes of music moving joyfully, playfully towards Heaven.

That's when he began to understand why the artist entitled the painting "Hope." Because in spite of being on a world torn by war, in spite of being on a world destroyed by hate, decimated by distrust; in spite of being on a world where famine and greed are uneasy bed-partners; in spite of being on a world where apartheid and apathy feed the fires of racism and hatred; in spite of being on a world where nuclear nightmare draws closer with each second; in spite of being on a ticking time bomb, with her clothes in rags, her body scarred, bruised and bleeding, and her harp all but destroyed with that one string she had left, Hannah had the audacity to make music and praise God. The vertical dimension balanced out what was going on on the horizontal dimension. That is what the audacity to hope will do for you.

The Apostle Paul said the same thing. Paul said, "Do you have troubles? Glory in your troubles." We glory in tribulation, that's the horizontal dimension. We glory in tribulation because he says tribulation works patience. Patience works experience and experience works hope, that's the vertical dimension. Hope maketh not ashamed. The vertical dimension balances out what is going on on the horizontal dimension and that is the real story of what is going on here in I Samuel, the first chapter -- not the condition of Hannah's body, but the condition of Hannah's soul, the vertical dimension.

Hannah had the audacity to keep on hoping and to keep on praying -- to keep on praying when there was no visible sign on the horizontal level that what she was praying for, waiting for and hoping for would ever be answered in the affirmative. That which she wanted most out of life had been denied to her. Think about that. Yet in spite of it she kept on hoping. The gloating of Peninnah did not make her bitter, she kept on hoping. When the family made it's pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh, she renewed her petition there, pouring out her heart to God. She may have been barren in her womb, that's the horizontal dimension, but she was fertile in her spirit, her vertical dimension. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed and she kept on praying year after year -- no answer -- and she kept on praying. She prayed so fervently that Eli thought she had to be drunk. There was no visible sign on the horizontal level to say to Hannah that that for which she was praying would ever be answered, yet she kept on praying.

Paul said something about that too. No visible sign? Hope, the vertical dimension, hope is what saves us, for we are saved by hope, he says. "But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not [no visible sign] then do we with patience wait for it." Almost an echo of what the prophet Isaiah said, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on on the horizontal dimension.

In your life there may not be any visible sign of a change in your individual situation, whatever your private Hell is. But that's just the horizontal level. Keep the vertical level intact like Hannah and you may be able to sing like the African slaves:

                         "Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         There must be a God somewhere."

Keep the vertical dimension intact like Hannah. Have the audacity to hope for that child of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that home of yours. Have the audacity to hope for the church of yours. For whatever it is that you've been praying, keep on praying and you may, like my grandmother, sing, "There's a bright side somewhere." There is a bright side somewhere, don't you rest until you find it for there is a bright side somewhere.

The real lesson that Hannah gives us from this chapter, the most important word God would have us hear, is how to hope when the Love of God is not plainly evident. Now it's easy to hope when there are evidences all around you of how good God is. But to have the audacity to hope when that love is not evident and you don't know where that somewhere is that my grandmother sang about, or if there will ever be that brighter day, that is the true test of a Hannah-type faith -- to take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope, to make music and praise God on and with whatever it is you've got left even though you can't see what God is going to do. That's the real word God would have us hear from this passage and from this painting.

There's a true life illustration that demonstrates the principles portrayed so powerfully in this pericope and I close with it. My mom and dad used to sing a song that I have not been able to find in any of the published hymnals. It's an old song out of the Black Religious tradition called, "Thank You Jesus". It's a very simple song, some of you have heard it. It simply goes:

                         "Thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Lord."

To me, they would always sing that song at what seemed like the strangest times. When the money got low in our home, when the food was running out, or when I was getting in trouble, they would start singing that song. I never understood it because as a child it seemed to me as if they were thanking God that we didn't have any money or thanking God that we had no food or thanking God that I was in trouble or making a fool out of myself as a kid. But I was only looking at the horizontal level. I did not understand, nor could I see back then the vertical hook-up that my mother and father had. I did not know then that they were thanking Him in advance for all that they had dared to hope for that He would do one day to their son, in their son and through their son. That's why they prayed, that's why they hoped, that's why they kept on praying even though there was no visible sign on the horizon. I thank God that I had praying parents because now, some 35 years later, when I look at what God has done in my life I understand clearly why Hannah had the audacity to hope, why my parents had the audacity to hope, and that's why I say to you, "Hope is what saves us. Keep on hoping, keep on praying. God does hear and answer prayers."

Shall we bow our heads. Eternal God we come to you thankful for the hope that saves us for our hope is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We ask Thy blessings upon these Thy children that that hope might inspire them and lift them. Through Jesus Christ we pray, Amen."

Pray for the people of Japan and the citizens of Libya (who only want peace).  God Bless America!

The Audacity to Hope sermon. 

(Sorry! I accidently deleted it from post number 4.)

by Dr. Jeremiah Wright

"The Audacity to Hope"
For those of you who have your scriptures at home, I'd like for you to turn with me to the first chapter of I Samuel where together we'll be looking at the first 18 verses. I'll be reading from Today's English Version which translates the passage as follows:

"There was a man named Elkanah from the tribe of Ephraim who lived in the town of Rama in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu and belonged to the family of Tohu, a part of the clan of Zuph. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

Every year, Elkanah went from Rama to worship and offer sacrifices to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children and even though he loved Hannah very much, he would only give her one share, because the Lord had kept her from having children. Peninnah, her rival, would torment and humiliate her because the Lord had kept her childless.

"This went on year after year, whenever they went to the House of the Lord. Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would cry and refuse to eat anything. Her husband, Elkanah would ask her, 'Hannah, why are you crying? Why won't you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don't I mean more to you than 10 sons?' One time, after they had finished eating after their meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door.

"Hannah made a solemn promise, 'Lord Almighty, look at me your servant and see my trouble and remember me, don't forget me. If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life.' Hannah continued to pray silently to the Lord for a long time and Eli watched her lips.

Her lips were moving but she made no sound.

"So Eli thought that she was drunk and he said to her, 'Stop drinking. Stop making a drunken show of yourself. Stop your drinking and sober up.'

"'I'm not drunk, sir,' she answered, 'I haven't been drinking. I am desperate. And I have been praying, pouring out my troubles to the Lord. Don't think I'm a worthless woman. I have been praying like this because I am so miserable.'"

Several years ago, while down in Richmond, Virginia, the Lord blessed my life by allowing me to be in that city during the same week that the annual convocation was being held at the Virginia Union University School of Theology. It was at that convocation that I was privileged and blessed to hear the preaching and teaching of Reverend Frederick G. Sampson of Detroit, Michigan. In one of his lectures, Dr. Sampson spoke about a painting that I had studied in a humanities course at that same school -- Virginia Union -- back in the late '50's. Dr. Sampson talked about the painting so beautifully and so powerfully that memories were brought back to me from those college days in the '50's. He talked about the painting as being a study in contradictions.

You see, the painting is entitled, "Hope" and it shows a woman sitting on top of the world, playing a harp. Now at first glance, that would be alright, for what more enviable position could one ever hope to achieve than being on top of the world with the whole world -- everything and every one -- dancing to your music? But when you look closer at the picture, the illusion of power starts to give way to the reality of pain. The world on which this woman sits, our world, a world torn by war, destroyed by hate, decimated by despair and devastated by distrust, is on the very brink of destruction. Famine ravishes millions of the inhabitants of this world in one hemisphere while feasting and gluttony are enjoyed by inhabitants of another hemisphere. The world on which she sits is a time bomb ticking, with apartheid in one hemisphere and apathy in the other hemisphere and enough nuclear warheads, scientists tell us, to wipe out all forms of life except for cockroaches. That is the world on which this woman sits -- a world which cares more about bombs for the enemy than it does about bread for the hungry, a world that is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character, a world more finicky about the texture of hair (or what's on the outside of one's head), than it is about the quality of education (or what's on the inside of one's head). That is the world on which this woman sits. You and I think of being on top of the world as being in Heaven, but when you look at the woman on Watt's painting a little closer, you discover that this woman is in Hell, and the artist dares to entitle the painting, "Hope". Then on top of that, she's sitting there in rags, tattered clothes, as if she herself had been at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Her head is bandaged and the blood is beginning to seep through the bandages, scars and cuts are visible on her face, her arms and her legs -- that's when you look closer at the picture. The instrument on which she plays, her harp, has all but one of its strings broken, torn or ripped out. Even the instrument has been damaged by what she has been through and she is more the example of quiet despair than anything else, yet the artist dares entitle the painting, "Hope." When you look closer at what is done on that canvas, the illusion of power sitting on top of the world gives way to the reality of pain.

Isn't that the way it is with so many of us? We give the illusion of being in an enviable position, being on top of the world, but when you look closer at our lives, what you begin to find many times is the reality of a pain almost too deep for the tongue to tell. Like that woman in Watt's painting, what looks like Heaven for many of us is really a quiet Hell. I've been pastoring for 17 years. I've seen too many of these cases not to know what I'm talking about. I've seen married couples where the husband has a girlfriend in addition to his wife. It is something nobody talks about anymore. You smile and pretend you don't hear the whispers and gossip and you remember that you've got the legal papers on him and he would rather try to buy Fort Knox than to try to get a divorce from you. That's a living Hell.

I've seen married couples where the wife has discovered that somebody else cares for her as a person and not just as a cook, the maid, the jitney service and the call girl service all wrapped into one. But then there's the scandal -- what folk might say -- and the scandal of the children. That's a living Hell.

I've seen divorcees whose dreams have been blown to bits, families broken up beyond repair, whose lives seem now somehow to have slipped right through their fingers. They've lost complete control. That's a living Hell.

I've seen college students who give the illusion of being on top of the world -- designer clothes, all the sex they want, all the cocaine or marijuana or drugs, all the trappings of having it all together on the outside -- and empty and shallow and hurting and lonely and afraid on the inside. Many times what looks good on the outside -- the illusion of being in power, the illusion of sitting on top of the world -- when you get closer, is actually existing in a quiet Hell.
And that is exactly where Hannah is in I Samuel 1:1-18. Hannah is top dog in this three-way relationship between herself, Elkanah and Peninnah. Her husband loves her more than he loves his other wife and their children. He tells her that he loves her, and a lot of husbands don't do that. He shows her that he loves her, and many husbands never get around to doing that. In fact, it is his attention to her and devotion that cause Peninnah to be so angry and to stay on her case so constantly -- jealous. Jealousy will get a hold on you and you can't let it go because it won't let you go. Peninnah stayed on her, like we say, "as white on rice". Stayed on her constantly, At first glance, Hannah's position seems enviable, she had all the rights and none of the responsibilities -- no diapers to change, no beds to sit up beside at night, no noses to wipe, no nothing elses to wipe either, no babies draining you of your milk and demanding feedings. Hannah had it all -- top dog. Her man loved her -- everybody knew he loved her -- he loved her more than anything or anybody and that's why Peninnah hated her so much. Except for this second wife bit -- which was legal back then and some of you all are trying to make it legal now -- except for this second wife thing, Hannah was sitting on top of the world, until you look closer. When you look closer what looked like being in Heaven was actually existing in a quiet Hell. She not only had the pain of a bitter woman to contend with, but verse 7 says Peninnah stayed on her non-stop. She not only had the pain of a bitter woman, she also had another pain -- the pain of a barren womb. You will remember the story of the widow in II Kings 4 who had no child? The story of a woman in Biblical days with no children was a story of deep pathos and despair. You do remember the story of Sarah and what she did in Genesis 16 because of her barren womb before the three Heavenly visitors stopped by their tent. You do remember the story of Elizabeth and her husband in Luke 1 back in Bible days. The story of a woman with a barren womb was the story of deep pathos.

Hannah was afflicted with the pain of a bitter woman on the one hand and the pain of a barren womb on the other. Her world was flawed, flaky, her garments of respectability were tattered and torn and her heart was bruised and bleeding by the constant attacks of a jealous woman. The scars and scratches on her psyche are almost visible as you look at this passage, as she cries and refuses to eat anything. Just like the woman in Watt's painting, what looked like being in Heaven was actually existing in a quiet Hell.

Now I want to share briefly with you about Hannah and the Lord. But while I do so I want you to be thinking about where it is you live and the particular pain predicament that is yours. Think about it for a moment. Come back with what Dr. Sampson was saying as I said in my introductory remarks at Virginia Union. Dr. Sampson said he wanted to quarrel with the artist for having the gall to name that painting "Hope," when all he could see on the picture was Hell -- a quiet desperation. But then, Dr. Sampson said he noticed that he had only been looking at the horizontal relationships -- how this woman was hooked up with that world on which she lived, the world on which she sat. Her horizontal dimension, her horizontal relationships. He had failed to take into account her vertical relationships. He said he had not looked above her head and when he looked over her head, he found some small notes of music moving joyfully, playfully towards Heaven.

That's when he began to understand why the artist entitled the painting "Hope." Because in spite of being on a world torn by war, in spite of being on a world destroyed by hate, decimated by distrust; in spite of being on a world where famine and greed are uneasy bed-partners; in spite of being on a world where apartheid and apathy feed the fires of racism and hatred; in spite of being on a world where nuclear nightmare draws closer with each second; in spite of being on a ticking time bomb, with her clothes in rags, her body scarred, bruised and bleeding, and her harp all but destroyed with that one string she had left, Hannah had the audacity to make music and praise God. The vertical dimension balanced out what was going on on the horizontal dimension. That is what the audacity to hope will do for you.

The Apostle Paul said the same thing. Paul said, "Do you have troubles? Glory in your troubles." We glory in tribulation, that's the horizontal dimension. We glory in tribulation because he says tribulation works patience. Patience works experience and experience works hope, that's the vertical dimension. Hope maketh not ashamed. The vertical dimension balances out what is going on on the horizontal dimension and that is the real story of what is going on here in I Samuel, the first chapter -- not the condition of Hannah's body, but the condition of Hannah's soul, the vertical dimension.

Hannah had the audacity to keep on hoping and to keep on praying -- to keep on praying when there was no visible sign on the horizontal level that what she was praying for, waiting for and hoping for would ever be answered in the affirmative. That which she wanted most out of life had been denied to her. Think about that. Yet in spite of it she kept on hoping. The gloating of Peninnah did not make her bitter, she kept on hoping. When the family made it's pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh, she renewed her petition there, pouring out her heart to God. She may have been barren in her womb, that's the horizontal dimension, but she was fertile in her spirit, her vertical dimension. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed and she kept on praying year after year -- no answer -- and she kept on praying. She prayed so fervently that Eli thought she had to be drunk. There was no visible sign on the horizontal level to say to Hannah that that for which she was praying would ever be answered, yet she kept on praying.

Paul said something about that too. No visible sign? Hope, the vertical dimension, hope is what saves us, for we are saved by hope, he says. "But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not [no visible sign] then do we with patience wait for it." Almost an echo of what the prophet Isaiah said, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on on the horizontal dimension.

In your life there may not be any visible sign of a change in your individual situation, whatever your private Hell is. But that's just the horizontal level. Keep the vertical level intact like Hannah and you may be able to sing like the African slaves:

                         "Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         Over my head I hear music in the air,
                         There must be a God somewhere."

Keep the vertical dimension intact like Hannah. Have the audacity to hope for that child of yours. Have the audacity to hope for that home of yours. Have the audacity to hope for the church of yours. For whatever it is that you've been praying, keep on praying and you may, like my grandmother, sing, "There's a bright side somewhere." There is a bright side somewhere, don't you rest until you find it for there is a bright side somewhere.

The real lesson that Hannah gives us from this chapter, the most important word God would have us hear, is how to hope when the Love of God is not plainly evident. Now it's easy to hope when there are evidences all around you of how good God is. But to have the audacity to hope when that love is not evident and you don't know where that somewhere is that my grandmother sang about, or if there will ever be that brighter day, that is the true test of a Hannah-type faith -- to take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope, to make music and praise God on and with whatever it is you've got left even though you can't see what God is going to do. That's the real word God would have us hear from this passage and from this painting.

There's a true life illustration that demonstrates the principles portrayed so powerfully in this pericope and I close with it. My mom and dad used to sing a song that I have not been able to find in any of the published hymnals. It's an old song out of the Black Religious tradition called, "Thank You Jesus". It's a very simple song, some of you have heard it. It simply goes:

                         "Thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Jesus
                         I thank you Lord."

To me, they would always sing that song at what seemed like the strangest times. When the money got low in our home, when the food was running out, or when I was getting in trouble, they would start singing that song. I never understood it because as a child it seemed to me as if they were thanking God that we didn't have any money or thanking God that we had no food or thanking God that I was in trouble or making a fool out of myself as a kid. But I was only looking at the horizontal level. I did not understand, nor could I see back then the vertical hook-up that my mother and father had. I did not know then that they were thanking Him in advance for all that they had dared to hope for that He would do one day to their son, in their son and through their son. That's why they prayed, that's why they hoped, that's why they kept on praying even though there was no visible sign on the horizon. I thank God that I had praying parents because now, some 35 years later, when I look at what God has done in my life I understand clearly why Hannah had the audacity to hope, why my parents had the audacity to hope, and that's why I say to you, "Hope is what saves us. Keep on hoping, keep on praying. God does hear and answer prayers."

Shall we bow our heads. Eternal God we come to you thankful for the hope that saves us for our hope is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We ask Thy blessings upon these Thy children that that hope might inspire them and lift them. Through Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

Interview with Jeremiah Wright
Interviewed by Gunther Knoedler

Gunther Knoedler: Today we talk a lot about ethics and values and we speak about them from the Board Rooms to the Universities. Everyone is talking about ethics. In what way is our Christian faith important to the moral values of our culture today?

Jeremiah Wright: I think it is extremely important. It is what helps shape ethics and gives persons values, it gives persons the background and foundation from which to make decisions -- political decisions, civic decisions. And when rightly done, not to the extreme, it becomes sort of the unwritten, undergirding foundation of a society's moral fiber.

Knoedler: What's happened? Where has our influence gone now as our ethics seem to be breaking down, and how do we renew an appreciation of our Judeo-Christian heritage and that vertical dimension you were talking about?

Wright: Well, one of the things that has happened is the medium we are on. So many of us were raised -- your age group and mine -- with Church School or Sunday School, and family devotions. Television has replaced a lot of that. So many of our young persons now do not go to Church School. They are left at home -- television raises them. They have not been taught or nurtured in the vertical dimension. They have no prayer life, personally, there's no family prayer life, there is no daily scripture reading as you used to have in Sunday School -- memorization of scripture. All of this has gone now with this generation. And I think the way to rekindle that is to really take seriously the word "personal" in terms of our Christian faith. "Do you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?" If it is your personal Savior then you need to develop a personal relationship daily with the Lord and I think that kind of nurturing will rekindle that vertical dimension in our society.

Knoedler: You are an expert in the Black Religious experience and you know a lot of the history of it. Would you react to a quotation that I have here from Will Herzfeld, a pastor of one of the most important inner-city churches in Oakland, California. You may know of him, he's a former Bishop in the Lutheran Church. He has said that the "Melting Pot" theory in America is really a myth and that rather than try to assimilate, we should celebrate the differences and honor each other for them. Does that apply to churches also?

Wright: I think it applies to churches and I think when one starts in the New Testament, the church's infancy, one can see how it does apply. The church in Corinth never tried to make the church at Ephesus or in Jerusalem assimilate or become like it. Those churches were very different churches, they were very different places, yet their oneness -- their unity -- was in Christ and that remained the central focus. Unfortunately, Will is right. I would say that for many of us, we have never learned that different does not mean deficient, therefore we have never been able to accept each other's differences -- "If you don't sing like I sing, if you don't preach like I preach then something's wrong -- you're deficient" -- That kind of making others over into our own image, rather than accepting the differences and celebrating them tears at the fabric of the unity of Christ.

Knoedler: You're a very busy man. You are a pastor, you do lots of lecturing. How do you stay close to God on a personal level?

Wright: I think going back to what you asked me about values becomes crucial. I take time out daily, for not just to read the scripture looking for a sermon, or to read a theological journal, but to read the scripture just to stay close to God. Without the daily prayer and meditation part of the great Catholic tradition in terms of the Spiritual disciplines where we consciously guard and block out times for ourselves with the Lord life becomes so draining and so pointless that one can very easily loose focus in terms of ministry and in terms of what our calling is of Christ Jesus.

Knoedler: You see this as a discipline in your life.

Wright: It has to be. From which we get the word "disciple."

Knoedler: How would you encourage a business person to set aside this time?

Wright: I would ask them to prioritize first of all. How can you nurture a relationship with your spouse if you have no time for him or her? You have a relationship with the Lord. How much time daily in terms of actually sitting down am I going to spend with the Lord? How about 15 minutes a day -- 5 minutes of prayer, 5 minutes of scripture, 5 minutes of meditation -- and be faithful to that discipline. We spend at least an hour watching the news and not half an hour with the Lord!

Knoedler: Tell me. Your career choice was to become a minister and I expect that was some sort of call. How did you choose that path and how did that happen?

Wright: Well I had no intention of ever being a parish minister. I thought from my early teens I would be a professor in seminary and I disliked the parish, the local church. But the Lord laid it on my heart so terribly in the '60's that the parish is where "the rubber met the road" in terms of mission and ministry. I ended up literally, my mom says, kicking and screaming going into the parish ministry because I did not want to be in a parish in a local church. Churches tend to "major in minors." I wanted to do something much more substantive with my life. But I thank God for His leading and for His prompting and for His steering me into the local church.

Ok, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, has proven to be petty (if I can believe my own ears).  FoxFakeNews played a video of him disrespecting the President and Israel in favor of Iran.  I'll have to research this tomorrow.  Maybe his words were taken out of context (I hope so).  We'll see. 

IMO, I think that Dr. Wright is so hurt that he had to be pushed under the bus that he is not thinking clearly...that happens to the best of us.     

Aug 29, 2011 -- 3:57PM, fodaoson wrote:

Voice crying, thank you for seeing the truth in Rev Wright’s words.  What passes for Bibilcal teaching today is prosperity  gospel, All is Okay and  Forgiveness is total.   The God of the Bible God forgives persons but corporations, Governments , rulers are not  I judged a individual  individuals.   Israel was a chosen people of God and yet the country and rulers were destroyed and the  people carried into captivity   

“If God is just, I tremble for my country” Thomas Jefferson

n

 

 

Thanks Fodaoson. 

I'm just glad that Jesus is our justification. 
And I'm glad that God has not forgotten His chosen people; they are still the apple of His eye.