A Visit to Obama's Chicago ChurchTime Magazine
The Trinity United Church of Christ vibrated with cheers throughout the four-hour Good Friday service. When the last of seven guest preachers, Rev. Rudolph McKissick, Jr. unleashed his anger against the recent media storm that catapulted Trinity to global notoriety, the crowd rose to their feet. McKissick thundered: "Fox News, CNN, ABC ... they're so stupid that they don't even know the word damn is not a profanity but a Hebraic proclivity, meaning God's curse will fall on all those who defy his love. They know not with whom they are messing. Jeremiah Wright might have retired in body, but just like Jesus, he's coming back more powerful than ever! Damn you! Damn anyone who messes with the anointed." At that, a TUCC member leaned over and said to TIME with a sigh, "Well, I guess that one's on the record."
Pastors and congregation members alike had reason to think that. Media outlets had brought cameras, flashbulbs and crass questions to Trinity's doors for days and shocked the congregation with commentary that branded Rev. Wright Jr. a leader of a "black supremacist cult." The day's overwhelming message: This church will continue its ministry work — no matter who's watching or what they say. And it brought shouts and tears from the pews.
The sermons focused primarily on healing wounds inflicted during the past few weeks. "It doesn't matter how anyone portrays you, Trinity," Rev. McKissick continued. "You know who you are. No one can take away your power to write your own destiny." Preachers called out numerous institutions — not just TV networks. African American rappers that glamorize violence and sexist barbs in the name of "keeping it real" were the subject of vitriolic tirades, too. "Why they're no better than prosperity-pimping preachers!" shouted Father Michael Pfleger, a popular white Catholic priest, whose messages have raised eyebrows among his own Church's leaders.
With outreach programs and ministries, Trinity succeeds in providing more for the South Side than any other church, government or private institution. Rev. Luke Watson, another Good Friday speaker, credited Wright for guiding him away from life of crime, which started early with an absent father and a mother addicted to crack. "I was like that thug, the criminal next to Jesus," Rev. Watson said. "I thought what's that guy doing here? He ain't done nothing. I'm the real sinner." Wright had taught him that God loves sinners, too. "I learned that I wasn't born bad," and then he spoke on the passage in Mark, when Jesus turns to the thief next to him on the cross and says, "Verily ... though shalt be with me." Good Friday marks the holiest day of the year for many African American Christians, according to Dwight Hopkins, a theologian at University of Chicago's Divinity School. The "strange fruit" that swung from Southern trees bears striking resemblance to Roman crucifixion.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1724976,00.html
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