Obama’s Pastor Problems
Apr 30th, 2008 by ljkim
Jeremiah Wright must have been an only child. I don’t know if he really is, but I’m an only child and I notice a similar tendency… His main fault is not that he has controversial opinions. I think his opinions are worth listening to – even if I don’t agree with everything, or agree with the tone in which they are presented. I think the problem is not so much in what he is saying (as a public intellectual in the black community he has a right to voice his opinion). The problem is that he thinks all this media attention is about him.
By the way LOTS of church pastors do that. I’ve met a lot of humble-seeming pastors in pastors-only settings and they act like rock stars sometimes (which is the nicest way of putting it). And if our church ever becomes “successful” in people’s eyes – I’ll probably do the same thing. Doh! But pastors aren’t the only people who act like rock stars. The truth is that this isn’t a pastor problem, and this isn’t just an only child problem, this is a problem of the human condition. We tend to think that everything is about “me.” Some things are about me. Most aren’t. The prophet John (the baptist) realized that the point of his ministry was that “HE must become greater, I must become less.” He was talking about Jesus, but this is a good way to think about everything we do… As servants our role is to lift-up other people, and do so in a way that resembles Jesus (and as a result elevates God). Incidentally, by doing so we will inadvertently elevate ourselves by resembling Jesus.
The thought that hadn’t entered into Jeremiah Wright’s mind – the thought that he possibly could not bear is that his entire career was for the purpose of lifting up this one “junior member” of his church, to instill the right kind of wisdom that he would make a good public servant (as a Presidential candidate or Senator or whatever)…
The thought that probably never entered into your mind is that where you live, where you work – you may have been placed there for the sake of one seemingly insignificant person, to point the way or lend a hand or somehow or other be God’s representative… What if it’s not all about you?
[About the photo: I just didn't want to put up a picture that implied anything political - but this is one of the birds that sat outside the window of a crabhouse on a pier in California. There were signs all over the place that said, "Do not feed the birds". I was a little worried he would rush in and steal things off the plate like my old cat used to do.]
Related posts:
I agree. I think he suffers from a common condition of not thinking before he speaks. He lost me in his praise of Farrakhan.
Haha – not what I meant, but thanks for the props! – Leo