Mar 24 2008
The Anti-Wright?
Between the antics of Barack Obama’s pastor Wright and the general negativity of politics, I was determined to keep away from TV and Web news during Holy Week. However, I made sure to listen to ”Anything Is Possible”, my favorite radio show.
I’m glad I did. Jack Krasula’s guest was Pastor Harvey Carey. He grew up on the south side of Chicago and, after pursuing a business degree, became a minister in the ’80s. In 2003, he believed God was calling him to move his family to Detroit and found a church: The Citadel of Faith Covenant Church.
The interview was fascinating, but two moments especially touched me. First, when the Rev. Carey talked about how he was willing to pick up and move - even though he knew nothing about Detroit – because he knew God had given him a mission. That’s the Christian struggle right there: We embrace our share of suffering if a cross is handed us, but we balk if God asks us to go out and meet it.
The second moment came when he recommended reading different translations of the Bible, to read it in different versions in order to see it afresh. And he specifically mentioned reading the Book of Wisdom. A Protestant aquaintance recently mentioned that some of my quotes “aren’t from MY Bible”, so it was amazing to hear a Baptist minister encourage it.
The Rev. Carey also discussed the reaction of other African-American pastors when they saw that his church was multicultural. He asked them where the Bible forbids the mixing of races in a church, and was met with an acknowledgement that the Gospels teach no such thing – but they opposed it anyway.
That’s what sickens me about Christians who are bigots: They ignore that Our Lord went to the Samaritans and the other outsiders. They ignore the accounts of how Christianity became opened to the Gentiles. And when ministers are bigots, they ignore Acts 10, in which Peter’s vision reveals that God has forbidden him to call any people profane or unclean.
If you’re interested in listening to the complete interview, check out the “Anything Is Possible” website (listed under Media Matters in my blogroll). It will show up in the archives in about a week.
You may want to check out the archives, which include interviews with people ranging from doctors to politicians (including Sen. John McCain).
