No Thirty Second Theology!

March 24, 2008 By Development

By President Susan B. Thistlethwaite

I don’t know about you, but I have just about had it with people who think that thirty seconds is adequate to understand what a sermon is about. Steve Chapman’s column on the commentary page of the Chicago Tribune yesterday is just typical. “Wright [Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright] apparently sees this nation as defective and divided beyond repair.” Really? Not based on the full-text of the sermons of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, examples of which are appended below. This is what passes for journalism today—you can see a thirty-second clip on YouTube and you’re good to go as a journalist. No research necessary beyond that.

Well, I don’t need to tell you all about the standards for the media these days, but I do need to tell you, in no uncertain terms, that thirty seconds does not get it done for interpreting a sermon, interpreting the bible, interpreting where we as human beings stand in the light of God’s revelation in this time or in any time.

The first sermon in the links below is by Rev. Dr. Wright and it is the one that has generated the most controversy. It may surprise you to learn, especially if you have only been listening to the geniuses in the media, that this sermon is all about God. “Governments change,” says Rev. Wright, “but God does not change.” Rev. Wright is quoting Malachi 3:6 in the King James Version, “I am the LORD and I do not change.” Governments change, sometimes for better, Rev. Wright argues, and sometimes for the worse. Whether his examples of better and worse are examples with which you agree or examples that make your blood boil, the theological point is the same. God does not change. Governments change. And when they change for the worse, both in Malachi’s view and that of Rev. Wright’s interpretation of the text, there is judgment on those who, as he and the prophet Malachi note, would make themselves God in the place of God.

The judgment of God on the nations is a big theme in the prophets. The biblical prophet Jeremiah gets thrown in jail by the King for preaching such cheery messages as “Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I am bringing such evil upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.’” Rulers hate prophets who preach like that. They much prefer the prophets who “prophesy falsely.” “[M]y people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” And what will YOU do if you only have thirty second YouTube clips to rely upon for interpreting the bible?

More and more, people seem to want the thirty second theology. Most Americans today, both those who would espouse a “biblical literalism” and those who consider themselves more liberal, are, as Steven Prothero has demonstrated in his wonderful book Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-and Doesn’t, virtually ignorant of what most of the bible actually says.

Increasingly, Americans are shopping for churches where they never have to hear a word from the pulpit with which they might disagree. As the recently released current Pew study demonstrates, in faith as well as in other aspects of life, Americans love to shop. People are moving away from the faiths and communions of their birth and shopping around to find one they agree with.

At the end of the day, this migration toward the message that will not challenge us right down to our very souls is a migration away from the Otherness of God. You don’t need to agree with Karl Barth that God is “wholly other” to humans, to recognize that it is the word that you do not expect, the word that shakes you up, even the word with which you may continue to disagree, where you are most likely to encounter the God who is transcendent.

The shopping trip Americans are on to find a church where they always agree with the message is ultimately a flight from faith; it is certainly a flight from the biblical message, not only of the prophets and their language of judgment on the nations, but even from the words of Jesus. “You brood of vipers!” “You hypocrites!” thunders Jesus. It’s not all the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospels.

I make it a point to listen to a lot of preachers. I listen to Rick Warren, I listen to T.D. Jakes, I listen to John Buchanan and I listen to Jeremiah Wright among many others. This takes a lot longer than thirty seconds and I believe my faith is the stronger for it.

What about you? Are you on a shopping trip in the Great American Mall of Faith, or are you a person of faith seeking greater understanding of the wonderous I AM? “Who do you say that I am?”

You can see Rev. Wright’s sermons through the links below:

Tell the Whole Story FOX! Barack Obama’s pastor Wright

FOX Lies!! Irresponsible Media! Barack Obama Pastor Wright

Obama Pastor Wright on God’s unwavering love

Obama Pastor Wright Speaks on Real Power

Wright, Obama Pastor Speaks Truth to Power

Barack Obama Pastor Wright on Men and Worship

Obama Wright on the truth about women in the Bible

Obama’s pastor believes in God and America. Men and Worship

There are even more here.

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Posted in UCC, Theology, Social Justice, Culture