Hmm... I see I managed to post my last entry twice. I am technologically challenged sometimes.

Well, my denomination is in the news again. The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the recently retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is getting a lot of unfavorable coverage in the press.

I don't know Dr. Wright personally. My friends who do know him speak of him as an intelligent, faithful and compassionate man of high character. The sound bytes that sound so bizarre are taken out of context.

Preachers are easy to do this to. We like to make dramatic statements and our sermons are peppered with phrases that can easily be misrepresented. We exaggerate for dramatic effect, we use irony (and sometimes outright sarcasm), we indulge in metaphors and similes and all manner of similar techniques to communicate the point we are trying to make.

I don't know what all the particulars are in this case. I suspect there's a lot of spin going on to create a sensational news story where there really isn't one. I can say that you can't fairly judge what a preacher (or anyone) is trying to say based on a few sound bytes. It's best to see the whole sermon to know what the intent was.

There's some more information here:
http://www.ucc.org/news/chicagos-trinity-ucc-is.html
and here...
http://www.ocucc.org/StaffPages/Art%20Cribbs%20Letter.doc

Hmm... If one of my parishioners ever decided to run for office, I wonder what they could turn up on me. LOL!