Credo

Meghan E. Murphy reported in the Times-Herald of Newburgh, NY the events in various churches on Easter. Following the mention of the United Methodist congregation she continued:

"Nearby, on Ann Street, Raymond DeWitt stood in the shadow of the gutted Our Lady of Comfort. He told the street-church worshippers how he put his life back together through faith.'Once I believed in something without seeing it; it brought me from a place of destruction to where I am today,' DeWitt said.

Led by Ecclesia Ministries, more than a dozen people spoke of resurrection in their lives. They spoke of rebuilding, like the hoped-for rebuilding of the shelter they stood before."

"Once I believed in something without seeing it; it brought me from a place of destruction to where I am now." Did Raymond Dewitt know that he had just placed himself in the Upper Room with the disciples the week after Easter? Remember when Thomas spoke so forthrightly that he would not believe that Jesus was raised till he saw for himself. When Jesus appeared and Thomas' doubts were silenced, Jesus said, "You have believed because you have seen me. Blessed are they who though they have not seen, believe."

How blessed must Raymond be to have the eyes to see with his mind's eye and spirit's aspiration! How marvelous in God's eyes must Ecclesia Ministries be for their part in supporting Raymond in moving from the place of destruction to where he is today! Steve Ruelke, pastor of Ecclesia Ministries, wrote me an email in response to my request for permission to share the newspaper article

"The photographer called me the next day to tell me how meaningful the experience was for him . . . i wish i could write about this every day. The things, the Spirit's actions here are so incredible, so breath-taking . . . The work is all the time and there's so much to do and so much that i/we cannot do because of my full-time job obligations . . . i long for the chance to do what we do all the time . . . but there's a mortgage and other such bills . . . pray for us . . . God has always provided. Always will."

(Here's the link to the actual story: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS/803240313/-1/NEWS

Talking about what our eyes see or do not see! The more I read or see or hear the reactions to and comments about Jeremiah Wright, the more distressed I become. (I'm suddenly thinking of the old Simon & Garfunkel lyrics, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.") From one of the Op-Ed cartoons included in today's Syracuse Post-Standard in which Dr. Wright is shown preaching another "whacky sermon" to one commentator after another denouncing the sound-bitten sermons as if that's all they were about. One cartoonist did acknowledge in response to the charge that Obama might be influenced by his pastor "Yes, some of Rev. Wright's words are vile...yet in 20 years of hearing them, why isn't that hate reflected in any of Obama's writing, actions, causes or speaches?"

Syndicated columnist Derrick Z. Jackson in his Op-Ed column, "Black left to hold burden of race bag," wrote of the graciousness of candidates Mike Huckabee and John McCain in the aftermath of the controversy. McCain said, "I do know Senator Obama. He does not share those views...I've had endorsements of some peole that I didn't share their views..."

Huckabee went much further,

"I grew up in a very segregated south. and I think that you have to cut some slack...I'm probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you. We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie; you have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant and you can't sit out there with everyone else; there's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office; here's where you sit on the bus. And you know what? sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder...In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my should had it been me."

I admit, I've been obsessing over this story. There is an injustice here. Dr. Wright has been vilified unjustly. Read the entire sermon. Watch the entire section of the sermon on YouTube. His whole point was that we need to live up to (or at least try to live up to) our God given ideals of liberty and justice for all, and that as we do not God does not bless, but does condemn us. And that, as he said, is from the Bible in reference to the faithlessness of God's Chosen People to God's covenant with them.

So, there is an injustice being perpetrated upon Dr. Wright. But Trinity UCC is also being treated unjustly. Not only this, but OUR church, the United Church of Christ, and every one of us in our individual congregations, is being effected by this and painted with the same brush of distortions of the truth, of our faith and lies about our beliefs.

And so, the national setting of the UCC is acting. A full page ad describing the ministry of the UCC will appear in the New York Times this Wednesday. Please click on the link to the announcement of the ad and the request for help in offsetting its cost. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dsz4hdc_288743hd43&hl=en

Others are also taking the initiative to speak up for Dr. Wright, Trinity UCC and the entire UCC. A group of UCC clergy from the Genesee Valley Association have written a letter to the editor of the Rochester newspaper. Here is the link to this letter. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dsz4hdc_23w7vk54gq&hl=en

Jane Winters, pastor at First UCC, Elmira, sent along a link to a letter and other articles from Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School on this issue. http://www.crcds.edu/news.asp?action=view&ID=29

Well, I guess that's all for now. Please pray for the UCC (that's us). Please pray also for our delegation from the New York Conference Commission on the Global Church (Deanne Bellinger, Marjorie Watrobski, Bob Welcher, Nathan Wright and Melva Victorino) to the annual meeting of Mision Cristiana in Managua Nicaragua. A delegation from the Ohio Conference is also visiting the meeting.

May God grant us the eyes to see the reality of grace and peace, justice and joy. The world is in need of such vision.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles