The airwaves have been jammed with all the comments and punditry surrounding Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, and Obama’s recent speech on race in America. It’s a fascinating time to be an American or to be interested in American politics.
But amid the din of so many voices and digital transmissions, something profound is about to happen… or not happen.
What did we see on Tuesday morning when Obama gave his speech? What did we hear? No, I mean in ourselves. What did we see and hear in ourselves?
Did we feel anything? Was it disgust, trust, anger, or pride? Were we overcome with hope or doubt? Were we led by our sinful natures or by the Spirit of God if we’re Christians?
Galatians 5 tells us the difference between the Spirit’s response and the sinful nature’s response. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious… hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy….” On the other hand, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
What did you see when Obama spoke? What have you seen in yourself since the speech?
Think carefully. Has your sinful nature or the Spirit been in control of your passions and desires, your acts and reactions?
On Tuesday March 18th, in my opinion, the most eloquent public address on race or race-related issues since the Gettysburg Address was offered the American people. (What do you see in yourself reading that statement? Is it the Spirit or the flesh?)
A moment never-before-seen in American history happened before our eyes and listening ears. An American stood poised with the attention of the entire nation and for 37 minutes discussed the complexities involved in ethnic identity and the subterranean lava pits of anger and resentment that threaten to explode every time “race” is the topic. From the country’s history with slavery to the candidates own grandmother, this thing called “race” was opened up before us that we might see ourselves and forever be different.
I’m not a romantic. I just recognize a good opportunity when I see one. I’m the kind of man that shops for a suit or a pair of shoes for 6 months to a year, even though I saw the suit or shoes I wanted the first Saturday I went to the stores. Most of my friends think I’m sober, if not downright intense at times. I’m not generally gullible. I have other faults—serious ones—but that’s not one of them.
When I watched Obama’s speech and reflected on what he said, I saw an opportunity of great importance. For the first time in the country’s history we have an opportunity to have a national public reflection and discussion of who we are without being needlessly bogged down with the old paradigms and stereotypes regarding “race.” It’s not the first time a national discussion was offered. You may remember that the Clinton administration had a presidential commission race chaired by John Hope Franklin, the respected African American historian. Or, maybe you don’t remember that commission. If you don’t, that’s likely because nothing substantially different occupied the thinking of that group. It was the same old framework, with the same old laments, leading to the same old outcome—nothing.
For most of our lives, most all of us have lived with the assumption that “race” is real… and inescapable. We have lived with the assumed corollary that the meaning and prescribed limits of “race” were intractable. On Tuesday morning, a young man significantly post-Civil Rights in time and attitude, and self-consciously post “race,” stood before flashing lights, television cameras, and a row of American flags and announced that a new day of racial understanding is possibly upon us. The fact that he could even say such a thing—defying all the orthodoxy of race—black and white—was itself tangible evidence that the country could possibly be in a new place. Possibly.
“In the most important matters a man has always been free to ruin himself if he chose” (
G. K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World, p. 118).
Chesterton may be prophetic. Again. For sure enough, in many op-eds and tv shows we’ve had the full display of man’s stellar propensity at ruining himself. Professed Christians often have been the most ruinous and the least optimistic. How is that possible given Who we love?
There has come from some quarters a quick and relentless effort following the Wright videos to say, “Aha! We knew it! The old racial paradigm does still hold!” I’m fascinated—and saddened—at the constant effort to make Barack Obama “an angry black man.” If Obama won’t give us the evidence we need, we’ll argue that his pastor is a good enough proxy, and his pastor’s association with men like Farrakhan will do just the same. Never mind that Obama himself has until Tuesday been the one man in America to participate in this election steadfastly determined not to inject “race” into the discussion.
“It’s a contradiction!” we’re told. Of course it is. When has “race” been anything but a contradiction, a confused and confusing mess? Are we really more clear-eyed than Barack Obama? Are we really so astute at playing the “race” game that we can judge Obama quickly and summarily for his contradictions? Do we really have so much integrity that we can be the first one to cast a stone at this man? I have enough of my own contradictions to work through without pretending his are more egregious. They are now more public, but I fear that for most of us they are not any more problematic and deep-seated than our own fears, questions, doubts, anger, and pride regarding “race.”
Here’s why it’s all contradictory. And here’s why Obama’s speech was one idea short of perfect. “Race” does not exist. We’re engaged in a collective delusion. We are like men in the woods of Alabama sitting in a tree waiting to shoot the next unicorn that comes along (no offense to Alabamians). We’re certifiable. The only thing that keeps us out of the institution is that we’ve agreed, contrary to God’s word (Acts 17:26), that we like this strong delusion called “race.” We think it’s useful. And we may be on the verge of agreeing that we’d rather sleep with the devil we know (“race” and all its entailments) than hazard a new world where this most basic assumption about ourselves is brought into the light, questioned, re-examined, and re-defined.
Here is precisely where Christians should be of the most help to this discussion. We're the ones who are supposed to know that all men are descended from Adam, made in God's image, may be re-made in the image through faith in and union with Christ, and in Christ are free of the old creation boundaries of the flesh. We should be rushing in to provide the theological discernment and ballast that Obama's speech (as good as it was) lacked.
But finding out you’re not who you thought you were is a very scary thing. We’re scared.
Part of the brilliance of Obama’s speech is that he dared put his finger on the fact that black and white, Hispanic and Asian, we’re all afraid… and resentful. One outrageous pundit wants to know: "How long must we all marinate in the angry resentment of black people?" Contrary to what we tell ourselves, our sinful anger and resentment and lack of forgiveness and grace are cut from the same tattered cloth. Despite our protests that Obama’s grandmother (the Lord bless her) is not like Jeremiah Wright, she most certainly is. The same root system of depravity that sprung up in the flower of her stereotypical views of Blacks is the same root system that produced the poisonous vines of Wright’s comments. Have we forgotten that the “innocent” or “mild” discomfort of white women historically has led to the brutal beatings and murders of black men? Remember Emmett Till? And sometimes those “innocent” little attitudes have led to massacres of entire towns. Remember Rosewood?
We’re an angry and afraid people--Americans, that is. And we need the collective call to repentance and forgiveness that Obama’s speech opens the door for.
As I’ve written before, I am a delivered racist. I know how racism works in its black and white varieties. What most of us have not yet recognized is that racism is only possible where “race” is admitted. The difference between holding to a view that “race” exists and being a “racist” is a matter of degree, not kind. Most of us just haven’t gone as far as Wright or Farrakhan or Duke or Thurmond. But in holding onto the unbiblical and unreal notion of race, we have everything we need in our depraved hearts to get there.
A while back, I suggested that Obama’s association with Trinity would hurt him (
here). Honestly, I didn’t think he would be to respond as admirably as he did. Also, I didn’t anticipate that in God’s providence Obama’s response would become a yardstick for measuring how far all the rest of us have come (or not) on “race.” But it has. And we have an opportunity. Something major could happen… or not.
What did you see and think when watching Obama’s speech? Do you need to re-view and re-think the speech? It might be good if we all prayed and watched again, asking the Lord to grant us grace and victory in these difficult issues and sins.
Part 1: Introduction
Read more about Redmond 
I'd be interested in your thoughts about the sermon, not just the reactions already circulating around the media, but your technical critiques as a preacher or a consumer of preaching. All are welcome.
Why sincere? A couple of reasons come to mind.
"My own struggles in this area have been utterly humbling. When believers come and entreat me to talk with their pastors about the lack of excitement in their preaching, I remember well how crushed I felt when a brother said to me, 'I'm sorry, but your preaching doesn't edify me.' Those are the words a member of New Life spoke to me about four years ago. But God made this comment into a great blessing. I asked the brother to pray for me. He later came and said, 'Your preaching has really helped me.' God used his words to shock me awake, to cause me to simplify my messages, to recruit people to pray for me, and to make my preaching more Christ-centered.
