Posted on 12/07/2008 3:51:17 PM PST by abb
For the first time since his retirement last spring, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ this morning with two goals: glorifying God and vilifying the media.
In honor of Trinity's 47th anniversary, Wright preached Sunday worship services in place of Rev. Otis Moss III, who was attending his father's farewell from the pulpit of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland. Citing the revelation to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God, Wright said Mary's disbelief was similar to the doubts some faithful shared about the future of Trinity after Wright's retirement and the possibility of a black man being elected president.
"Our legitimate questions tend to be asked from the vantage point of limited horizons," said Wright during the 7:30 a.m. service. "Mary had a limited horizon. She couldn't see how it was possible."
"In almost every instance where I have encountered this phenomenon, what I have discovered is that the limited horizons are caused by the tendency to look for a person to provide you with answers for your legitimate questions," Wright continued. "I really should say our legitimate questions, not your legitimate questions, because God knows I've got some questions myself."
Wright, Trinity's former pastor, gained prominence when President-elect Barack Obama in his memoirs cited the pastor's inspirational sermons.
But shortly after Wright's final appearance in the pulpit at Trinity last February, he became the center of controversy when segments of past sermons surfaced on the Internet and replayed on cable news programs. Pundits questioned his patriotism based on sound bites, including one where he shouted "God damn America!"
The resulting media onslaught fueled tension around an already sensitive transition and prompted Moss, Wright's hand-picked successor, to implement strict guidelines for the media, banning cameras and recording devices and instructing members not to grant interviews.
On Sunday, church officials turned reporters away from the worship service. But services were streamed live on the Internet, and audio and video recordings were sold in the church bookstore.
Wright said no amount of media coverage could dampen Trinity spirit.
"Jesus said upon this rock I will build--listen to the promise--my church," he said. "And the gates of Hell--listen to the promise--the gates of Hell--neither ABC nor CNN--the gates of Hell--neither Hannity nor O'Reilly--the gates of Hell--neither Time, Time magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune ... the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Nothing will be impossible with God."
At the 11 a.m. service, Wright belittled "baby milk believers," who, he said, suffer a delusion that politics don't belong in the pulpit. He pointed out that "Luke the evangelist, not Wright the radical" lambasted the oppressive policies of the Roman government in the Gospel story that recounts Jesus' life.
"Any preacher who dares to point out the simple ugly facts found in every field imaginable is demonized as volatile, controversial, incendiary, inflammatory, anti-American and radical," Wright said, taking time out to note the thousands of Japanese civilians who died 67 years to the day when American warplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. (Actually, Dec. 7 marks the day when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.)
He implied that his previous use of derogatory language to describe Italians in a past sermon referred to the Roman oppression Luke condemned.
"Emperor Augustus in Rome--that's in Italy, dizzy blond on the View," Wright said, presumably referring to conservative television personality Elisabeth Hasselback, who has railed about Wright on the ABC daytime talk show.
Wright also thanked an employee at Fox News--"a saint in Caesar's household"--who advised him to cancel his October speaking engagements because the network had an advance copy of his schedule.
Wright, who has delivered two sermons at Trinity so far today, is scheduled to give a third sermon at 6 p.m.
I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked.
Noble goal. I can't and won't speak for Him, but somehow I doubt that He was glorified.
if I’d know all this... I’d picked my own.
This guys is a clown. Mary had no disbelief. She believed what the angel revealed to her. What she didn’t understand was HOW she was going to get pregnant. That’s why the angel cleared that up for her and explained that God would overshadow her in the Holy Spirit. Earlier, Zachary had, in fact, disbelieved God (His angel that is) and was struck mute for it. If Mary (in the same chapter no less) had done what Zachary did, she TOO would have been struck mute.
Not only is this moron a hater of America, he is clearly no scholar of the Bible!
I’m so glad Obama brought Rev. Wright into all of our lives. Thanks Barack.
I thought the media said he’d retired. I guess he was just laying low, huh?
And they’ll never shut him up.
Interesting.
Gives yet more credence to the theory that FOX News has turned.
Has this clown fathered a bastard yet? Isn’t that what all the civil-rights reverends from Chicago do?
Has this clown fathered a bastard yet? Isn’t that what all the civil-rights reverends from Chicago do?
True, there is a difference between amazement and disbelief.
She surrendered her will to the will of God, and everyone on planet earth knows who the Virgin Mary is.
You’ve got that right. The Scripture “on this rock I will build my church” was the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Rock of the Faith. It was Peter who revealed that answer when Jesus asked “who do YOU say that I am?” Simon Peter answered “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. Mathew 16:13-18 When Jesus replied that Peter was right, and on that “rock” he would build his church...it was the REVELATION OF WHO JESUS CHRIST WAS discerned by Peter, that was the “rock” of our salvation. It has never been a building (church) or group of people...amazing how twisted the scriptures are in the minds of some people...like Wright.
The media is full of liberals at all levels.
Fox has its share of Ivy League types, although not as many as the other.
Tim Russert actually tried to recruit people into NBC who went to schools other than those.
Jesus was a revolutionary. Heck, Charles Manson had that poster that said so.
I used to listen to Radio Havana when I was a teenager and Fidel said something about the “teachings of the carpenter.”
Does this Reverend Wright theology come under turning God’s house into a “den of thieves?”
Socialists do want to steal from some people so they can give to others.
Wright is a lot closer to Jim Jones than Jesus Christ.
Jesus was a revolutionary. Heck, Charles Manson had that poster that said so.
I used to listen to Radio Havana when I was a teenager and Fidel said something about the “teachings of the carpenter.”
Does this Reverend Wright theology come under turning God’s house into a “den of thieves?”
Socialists do want to steal from some people so they can give to others.
Wright is a lot closer to Jim Jones than Jesus Christ.
The middle of September was about the time the financial $hit$torm hit and sucked all the air out of any other story.
I’ll never believe it was coincidence
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