Jeremiah Wright’s good news:
God’s triumph overcomes sea of troubles

New Jersey event kicks off 21^st
annual Preaching with Power series

Jeremiah Wright preaching: "God has the last word..."

Maybe you’ve lost a job. Or you are ill or someone you care about is sick. Perhaps you once thought your pension represented a secure nest egg. You might be worried sick about a daughter or your mother-in-law’s illness. Maybe all the news about Iraq is getting you down, or you’re fearful of what the future has in store for you and the rest of the world. Sooner or later life gets you right between the eyes, and it’s painful. Where do you turn?

People of faith have the answer even when they can’t quite frame the questions. God will have the last word no matter what. But what’s the best way to celebrate that good news right now? Especially when the daily papers and newscasts profess so much bad news? Why not try a Preaching with Power evening with celebrated African American preacher Jeremiah Wright of Chicago? Or savor the message of another preacher of note who will visit Philadelphia in next week’s 21^st annual Preaching with Power series sponsored by the seminary’s Urban Theological Institute.

Curtis Haynes, the seminary's chief operating officer and a Bethany deacon, introduces Jeremiah Wright.

Maybe you were there March 10 to see and hear Wright at Bethany Baptist Church in Lindenwold, NJ. It was the first Preaching with Power event ever held in New Jersey. If so, you had company -- about 1,000 others. If you were a believer in the audience, and who wasn’t, you knew ahead of time how the message would turn out, but the journey was oh so delectable. A sermon expressively delivered with wit, intellect, passion and power. Words at times set to music. Delivered amid a momentary hush and then with unparalleled fire and exuberance. What were those troubles I came in here with anyway? What could they matter? If you couldn’t leave them at the door when you came in, you could leave them right there at the sermon’s climax, with Jesus Christ who died to take the burden off your shoulders.

Jeremiah Wright took his listeners on a journey through Exodus and the psalms. No mere piece of writing will do justice to it. But here goes.

"Listen to the songs of a people and you will feel their collective and personal story at a much deeper level," Wright said. "Facts (depicted in words) are one thing, but feelings are so much more."

Sprinkle in a few familiar tunes, such as "This Far by Faith." Wright sings with style and feeling fueled by more than 30 years’ experience serving as an African American pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, an 8,000-member congregation in Chicago. "Talking about love is one thing. Singing about love brings it to a different level."

"You don’t remember me, but I remember you…Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart over YOU." By now 1,000 voices are joining in, stirred by memories of the torchey tune by Little Anthony and the Imperials.

The Blues capture the feelings like no other music, he says. And Wright lets out with a lyric written about a man who has lost the love of his life: "If good looks was money, you’d be a millionaire…" Small wonder Wright leans on music. One of his degrees is in that concentration, and recorded music is an integral part of his Chicago ministry.

His musical backdrop set, Wright probes the evening’s scripture with intensity. In Exodus 15 the verses describe how Moses and the people "sang" to the Lord. He explores the language of psalms 42, 10, 27, 55, 137 and 103. "These songs are in the raw and they keep it real," he says at one point. "Listen to the songs of a people and you will feel their story at a much deeper level…They are not sugarcoated."

He plunges into Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul…" Enter in our own story as individuals and people "our mistakes, sins, iniquities, and God’s mercy," he said. "Ours is a story of grief and grace, dried fears and tears," stories of "struggles and stress and God’s strength." On to Psalm 46 where God is "our refuge and strength, our present help in trouble." Wright is building the message of Godly reassurance. "God has the last word…The Lord of Hosts is with us…The last word is triumph, not trouble."

Back to Exodus 15. With its message of liberation of how God set captives free from the Pharoah. "Whatever holds you captive, God sets the captive free. God is a warrior. God has the last word…"

Leading into the most fiery part of his message he said, "Everyone here…has lived long enough to know a ‘Nobody but you God’ story. Nobody but you God could have done this…or that."

When the song ends in Exodus 15: 19, "the story doesn’t end," he said. In verse 19, the Lord brings back the waters of the sea on Pharoah with his chariots and horsemen while the people of Israel "walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea." Noting that the people of Israel had to walk on their own after God’s intervention, Wright said that "after God has done what only God can do, YOU have to do what only YOU can do! That takes determination. You have to get up and get going."

He spoke movingly of his father, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr., and how determination had made it possible for him to get through school, studying for a semester and then working for a semester. He challenged his listeners to forge their own journeys in Christ through determination.

Memories of Wright’s father were foremost during the evening. During a dinner at Bethany prior to the worship service, Wright expressed gratitude not only that a chair in African American Studies is being established in his father’s name, but also that the chair represents so clearly an enduring commitment to emphasizing African American studies on the part of LTSP. He also expressed appreciation for the chair’s focus on African American Studies, saying that such a label makes it possible for scholars from a variety of disciplines to hold the chair over the many decades ahead. The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr. served Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia’s Germantown for some 62 years. Grace is a host congregation for the Preaching with Power series. Jeremiah Wright, Sr. was among the first African Americans to receive a degree from LTSP. He was awarded a master of sacred theology in 1949. A scholarship fund aiding African American seminarians in the Urban Theological Institute bears the name of J.Q. Jackson, an African American colleague who also received an advanced LTSP degree in 1949. The New Jersey event raised more than $3,000 toward the Wright Chair.

As the service ended, Bishop David Evans, Bethany’s host pastor, brought members of the seminary community forward for a moving prayer.

Then Wright welcomed visitors to a workshop, answering questions for more than 30 minutes for those who stayed behind. In responding to questions he said he had once intended to be a seminary teacher but found it frustrating to get across satisfying instruction during courses that lasted only a quarter. He said he’s had occasions to teach white scholars "some of whom have never had interactions" with African Americans. He told of an occasion where such scholars asked if they would be given a test during the course. He said his only "test" would be for them to go home with a challenge, to take what they learned and use their new-found knowledge about African Americans to dispel stereotypes when they come up in conversations. "You’ll be in places where I never will be invited," he said. He also encouraged a pastor in the audience to focus not only on dissatisfied people who "leave the congregation" to join another church but also on the many who join the parish. "Some pastors think they are the shepherds," he said. "But God does that. God is the one in charge." He said the important thing is that people find a place where they can belong.

The 2003 edition of Preaching with Power involves two firsts. Not only was the Bethany kick-off event the first to be held in New Jersey, but it also features eight events for the first time.