The Practicing Progressive

June 5, 2008

Barack and Michelle are church shopping.

The straw that sent them looking came via Father Michael Phleger’s recent pyrotechnic preaching display at Trinity United Church of Christ, the Obama’s now former church home. Phleger, a Roman Catholic priest and social activist, parodied Hillary Clinton during his homily causing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to tender his resignation in the congregation that has been his church home for twenty years.

I don’t suspect either of the Obamas will have a lot of time in the coming few months to visit many congregations in their search for a new permanent place of worship, so I thought it might be helpful if I offered a few suggestions and help pare down the plethora of congregational options that stretch out before them. Having spent a good part of my life in congregations both large and small, both as leader and leadered, I have a pretty good idea of what to look for and what to assiduously avoid.

First, I sure hope the potentially presidential couple hasn’t become too wary of aligning themselves with another provocative preacher. No question that their former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, occasionally stretched both credulity and credibility with his preaching but Wright’s passion for social justice and his commitment to his community were bound to make many folk mighty uncomfortable. It would be a great mistake, though, for the Obamas to limit their search for a congregational home to one whose pastor is unwilling to provoke the powers that be. In nearly all the religious traditions I’m familiar with, the religious leaders were expected to speak out against perceived injustices against the poor and oppressed. It is certainly not uncommon for the biblical prophets to rail against the secular authorities for their lack of compassion and justice. Wright’s damning of America, shocking as it was to many, was completely in character with his religion’s ancient traditions. It was only when religion began to assume power within secular society that preachers began to temper their provocative pronouncements. The reason Billy Graham kept getting re-invited to the White House had more to do with his silence over racial injustice and immoral wars and less to do with his oratorical skills or Baptist theology.

Second, although every church sign in America proclaims: “All are welcome!” precious few folk really are. I hope the Obamas look for a church that celebrates diversity rather than fears it. In the Christian tradition, Jesus is honored for associating with his society’s outcasts and rejects, so it is more than a little ironic that most of his current collaborators do precisely the opposite. Nearly every major religious organization puts restrictions on who is really welcome and who is really not. The scandal of many churches refusing to honor homosexual and lesbian relationships flies in the face of the life and teachings of Jesus. That women are still relegated to second-class status within Christianity defies both 21^st century realities and the 1^st century intentions of a rabbi from Nazareth.

Third, there is an old saying around churches that should serve as a guide for the Obamas’ search: “Our mission is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” A congregation on the south side of Chicago or the Katrina-ravaged bottomland of New Orleans may very appropriately spend much of its time offering solace and sanctuary to its members but a congregation within walking distance of the White House had better be spending its time stirring up a pot or two. I sure hope the Obamas have the courage to attend a church that isn’t afraid to make its members squirm on an occasional Sunday.

(There is a great story about an encounter between the late pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, Bill Coffin, and then Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. They happened to be attending the same soiree and Coffin cornered Kissinger to tell him in no uncertain terms his displeasure with the war in Vietnam and demanding that the Nixon administration bring the troops home. Finally, Kissinger had had enough and interrupted the preacher by retorting, “OK. How would you get the boys out of Vietnam?” Whereupon Coffin replied by quoting the prophet Amos, “"Mr. Kissinger, my job is to proclaim that 'justice must roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.' Your job is to work out the details of the irrigation system!")

Finally, I would hope the Obamas would remember what it was that attracted them to Trinity United Church of Christ in the first place. From all accounts, that congregation has been instrumental in assisting thousands of people in the Chicago area and beyond in nurturing their spirituality while compelling their humanitarian actions, two elements that would serve any president well…and all the rest of us, for that matter.