So I was getting ready for work this morning and stumbled upon Barack Obama giving a speech in response to the controversy brought up by his good friend, spiritual mentor and former pastor of his church. It is an amazing speech, I highly recommend taking the time to listen to it or at least skim over reading it.
As I was driving to work thinking about the speech, the words of a wise man that I know resonnated in my head. He is the pastor at my forever home church and I have heard him say this several times, "My job as your pastor is to teach you how to filter everything you hear and read through the Bible. Anything that comes out the other end is good, but you need to get rid of the stuff that doesn't. That goes for everything that is here on Sunday mornings, including what I say."
I've been thinking about this all day. In his speech today, Obama states this about what his pastor said, "Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed."
I can guarantee you that I do not agree with the political points of view of my pastors (former or current) and I can tell you right now that many fellow believers give me that are you sure you're saved look after we have been discussion politics for even 30 seconds. So I absolutely love the fact that in a very graceful way, Obama was able to tell the world how, not only does he not agree with what his former pastor said but that it was wrong of him to say as a pastor, while at the same time defending his faith and his devotion to the man and the church he has attended for 20 years.
You see, that is one thing that bothers me about the "Christian Right" in America. Super conservative churches and groups have a legacy of teaching their children/youth to never question what leaders say. If they are church leaders, then God must have placed them there and they can't get it wrong. We see that so many times and then the media gets a hold of a sin in their life and run with it. The media then portrays Christians as super hypocrites, living a life of sin but trying to hide it from the world.
Instead, our Christian leaders should be open with their struggles. I'm not saying that they need to issue press releases of their every sin, but if more of the celebrity Christian leaders spoke more about their sins and issues in the lime light, then maybe the hypocrite label can be removed. In away, I see Obama trying to do that. He takes some political stances that anger the Evangelic Right, but at the same time, he completely embodies the characteristics that Christians should love to see in a political leaders.
Another quote from today's speech, "But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS."
Obama started with what he disagreed with but then closed on what good the Reverend has done in the name of Christ. If we all took the time to list all of the good things that our pastors or any spiritual mentor has done--which includes CHRIST--then when we are persecuted, as Obama has been for attending this church, we will be able to stand firm in our faith and defend the GOSPEL.
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