A balanced perspective on a hot topic

Today I went to Sunday worship at the First Parish Church of Newbury.

The Rev. Nancy Haverington, about whom I wrote here, told her congregation that she had abandoned her planned sermon about Ascension and decided instead to address an issue about which she is being frequently questioned: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

He is the pastor of a UCC (United Church of Christ) church, as is she. The church, she noted, is standing behind Rev. Wright.

I can't go into it all here, but I did ask Nancy if I could get a copy of her sermon so if anyone wants to read it, I can send along a copy. She is a very intelligent and articulate woman and I admire her greatly.

The gist of the sermon was to impart where the Rev. Wright was right (theologically and politically) and where she thinks he was wrong (being divisive with his message rather than inclusive, for one; I think it's more ego vs. humility myself). Nancy pointed out that there is a fine line between theology, especially Black Liberation Theology, and politics (since most oppression is born of politics).

She also spoke extensively about the history of Black Liberation Theology (for more information/history on this, click here to go to an article called "A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology" on the NPR website).

Most of all, she said what was great about this country is that, sure, there were mistakes made; but once the 'evil' things the government was doing (Tuskegee Syphilis Study, experiments on soldiers and Native Americans, etc., cited by Rev. Wright) were made public, the result was change and in some cases, legislation.

In China, for instance, she noted, not only would the 'whistle blowers' have been silenced but the 'evil doing' would have continued.

I was moved in sum by the basic delivery of her message - fair and balanced. Rev. Wright, also an intelligent and articulate pastor, could stand to take a page from Nancy's book.

No use in asking the 24-hour cable news networks to do the same.