'Indy Timeline' of Upcoming Events Pastor: 'Anger with oppression' preached
by Robert King, Indianapolis StarGo to many black churches around Indianapolis on any given Sunday, local pastors say, and there is a good chance you can hear some of the same critical views of America as those expressed by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
Few will curse from the pulpit and shout that God should damn America for its various injustices, as Wright has done. But they say the crux of the message that America is still fraught with racism and social injustice is a common refrain.
"In my world, I interact with a lot of individuals who have strong misgivings about America," said the Rev. Charles Ware, a pastor and president of Crossroads Bible College on the Eastside. "That anger with oppression in American society is there. It is preached."
In the wake of the controversy over his pastor's remarks, Obama delivered a lengthy address Tuesday that went far beyond Wright's comments -- which he called "not only wrong but divisive" -- to include his views on the larger issue of racial divisions in America. And Obama made the case that his home church embodies the black community in its entirety, flaws and all.
[continued at IndyStar.com]
********************
IndyChristian Commentary
by Neil Cox
Perhaps this controversy is God-sent... 'for such a time as this'. Has there ever been such a compellingly obvious case made for the need for the Church of Jesus Christ to be truly 'multicultural'?
When you go to your (not) 'local' church this Sunday on Easter, look around. Take a good look around. Look deeper than you've ever looked before. Is YOUR church a reflection of what Christ intended for His Church? And if not, does your church have a publically-stated commitment to BECOME what Jesus describes in John 17...
"that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
And btw, even if your church isn't that bold, what is YOUR personal commitment to the multicultural unity of the body of Christ? What are you doing about it? If we do the same things we've always done, we'll get the same results we see today... Sunday mornings being the most segregated time of the week. And if so, do not expect to hear Jesus say "Well done."
If you have no idea WHAT to do to make a difference, drop me line. Or read a book ("Divided By Faith") that'll open your eyes to a better way of understanding scripture.
And maybe come get to know a bunch of folks (not) like yourself... this Saturday. They'd welcome you with open arms. And pancakes.
Or join with others actively working together to make a difference. Visit TransformIndiana.org.
posted by IndyChristian @ 8:19 AM
WGNR 97.9
More Video Tags
1 Comments:
Neil, I enjoyed your commentary. You make a number of good points. they are certainly a good start, which is what you intended them to be. All of us have to start somewhere. But the heart of the problem is family and what people think of family and what it means to feel that they belong, that they have relationship. Many people, more learned and observant than I have been calling our attention to the fact that America, (and I shall stick to the country of my birth for the moment) is having a very difficult time conducting our relationships. The Barna Group has had back to back studies showing that people feel that they have even fewer friends today than they felt they had 5 years ago. This is the crux of the yearning that people have: they want relationships but 1) they don't know how to define them anymore. and 2) They don't know where to look for them. The bottom line is that people do what is familiar when they don't know what else to do. We go to church here or there, they may say, simply because it's where they live or their families have always gone there. Always some connective tissue with a past arrangement in their lives. Why? Because we need to have connection, and ongoing line of unbroken connection. Without that, there is no relationship. And without relationship, we do not know how or remember how to define ourselves except by what is transient and external, ie, jobs, performance, what is consumed. Relationship is most often sparked by (and I am going to use a long word here) propinquity or nearness in location. If we can make a start at reaching out in our own homes, we can make a better effort at reaching out beyond them. But right now, we have reversed that process, so that our children consult their friends before their parents, and spouses take surveys from their friends rather than trusting and relating solely to their mate in single vision. And above all that, the most important relationship is with our heavenly Father. What stable and complete relatinship with Him would not prepare us to enlarge the territory of our heart to include others that are different from ourselves? Rather that looking outward, the answer lies within us.
Post a Comment
<< Home