From the Pastor
Needless to say, there has been much – perhaps too much – written and said about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ in recent weeks. Even I felt moved to comment on the issue in a recent newspaper column. Sadly, with all the words that have been written and said, not much has been said about Trinity’s ministry and the lives it has impacted all these years on the mean streets of Chicago’s South Side. Even Hillary Clinton, sounding like one of the morally outraged commentators on Fox News, dismissed Rev. Wright and Trinity UCC with a verbal wave of the hand.
So amidst all the posturing, rhetoric and hyperbole, I found these comments by Katherine Moon, a professor of political science at Wellesley, rather refreshing. Dr. Moon, a Korean American, remembered the ethnic church in which she was nurtured and the special role it played in her life. In her words, “Churches, synagogues, mosques, and prayer meetings are communities of mutual support, help, and practical guidance. They are instrumental to building and maintaining social capital. For new immigrants, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, they serve a particular purpose. Often, the immigrant or ethnic church is the one public place where a common language, food and humor particular to one’s cultural heritage can be shared. It is through the congregation that we ask for help – to look after our children or elderly parents…Often it is the people in the worship hall who help us paint our houses and visit us in hospitals…A house of worship is much more than a pastor.”
Her words remind me of a comment I once heard from Yvonne Delk, an African-American UCC minister. She said that as a young black girl, growing up in the South, for six days of the week she was told she was nobody. But, she said, “Then we would come to church on Sunday and there we would be told, ‘You are SOMEBODY!’”
I would hope that each of you could say that about The Community Church of Sebastopol. I’m sure, after all of the thousands of words that I have preached over the years, it would be possible to lift up a few less than flattering sound bytes. But so what? What most matters is the context of our church’s entire ministry. If, for you, this has been a community of mutual support, help, and guidance; a community where you have been affirmed, challenged, stretched and given direction in your journey of faith…that will have been enough.
Gene
