Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

$37,000 Will Buy Some Hope

Get The Word Out About The UCC!

Springtime In Portland (Sort Of)

We haven't has any snow in a day or two and there was some sun this afternoon in between rain showers.  Yes, Spring is back in the Rose City.  Rejoice and be glad.  Only four or so more months until the end of the rainy season.  For me anyway these flowers in front of our house are making up for any bad feelings about Northwest weather patterns in the Global Warming Era.

 

Blogging In The Dark

We turned off most of our lights at 8pm to take part in the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour US.  Events like this are symbolic, yes, but also educational.  Most nights our house is lit-up as if we were trying to direct ships to shore.  Did turning off the lights cause us any hardship?  No.  Maybe we'll remember the lesson tomorrow night. 

Oregon Kids For Obama

Frances

Katherine

PBS Mentions Open Letter To Senator Clinton From Diverse Group of Prominent Religious Leaders

The Open Letter to Senator Clinton asking her to refrain from using "religion as a tool to divide the American people" burned up the internet this week with thousands of hits.  Website after website passed it along.  Will Senator Clinton listen and tone down her rhetoric?  We can hope.  In the meantime, the Open Letter was mentioned today on PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.  Click here for the video.

Do You Like The United Church Of Christ? Now We Need Your Help.

The United Church of Christ has been "Swift-Boated" in full force by those who are willing to even destroy churches to further political aims.  Now we need your help.

What is the UCC?  What is our progressive and unique history?  From ucc.org:

The United Church of Christ is a blend of four principal traditions—Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, and Reformed. Each of these traditions has left a mark on U.S. religious and political history.

1620: Pilgrims seek spiritual freedom

Seeking spiritual freedom, forbears of the United Church of Christ prepare to leave Europe for the New World. Later generations know them as the Pilgrims. Their pastor, John Robinson, urges them as they depart to keep their minds and hearts open to new ways. God, he says, "has yet more light and truth to break forth out of his holy Word."

1630: An early experiment in democracy

The Congregational churches founded by the Pilgrims and other spiritual reformers spread rapidly through New England. In an early experiment in democracy, each congregation is self-governing and elects its own ministers. The Congregationalists aim to create a model for a just society lived in the presence of God. Their leader, John Winthrop, prays that "we shall be as a city upon a hill ... the eyes of all people upon us."

1700: An early stand against slavery

Congregationalists are among the first Americans to take a stand against slavery. The Rev. Samuel Sewall writes the first anti-slavery pamphlet in America, "The Selling of Joseph." Sewall lays the foundation for the abolitionist movement that comes more than a century later.

1730s: The Great Awakening

The first Great Awakening sweeps through Congregational and Presbyterian churches. One of the great thinkers of the movement, Jonathan Edwards, says the church should recover the passion of a transforming faith that changes "the course of [our] lives."

1773: First act of civil disobedience

Five thousand angry colonists gather in the Old South Meeting House to demand repeal of an unjust tax on tea. Their protest inspires the first act of civil disobedience in U.S. history—the "Boston Tea Party."

1773: First published African American poet

A young member of the Old South congregation, Phillis Wheatley, becomes the first published African American author. "Poems on Various Subjects" is a sensation, and Wheatley gains her freedom from slavery soon after. Modern African American poet Alice Walker says of her: "[She] kept alive, in so many of our ancestors, the notion of song."

1777: Reformed congregation saves the Liberty Bell

The British occupy Philadelphia—seat of the rebellious Continental Congress—and plan to melt down the Liberty Bell to manufacture cannons. But the Bell has disappeared. It is safely hidden under the floorboards of Zion Reformed Church in Allentown.

1785: First ordained African American pastor

Lemuel Haynes is the first African American ordained by a Protestant denomination. He becomes a world-renowned preacher and writer.

1798: 'Christians' seek liberty of conscience

Dissident preacher James O'Kelly is one of the early founders of a religious movement called simply the "Christians." His aim is to restore the simplicity of the original Christian community. The Christians seek liberty of conscience and oppose authoritarian church government. O'Kelly writes that "any number of Christians united in love, having Christ for their head, ... constitutes a church."

1810: First foreign mission society

America's first foreign mission society, the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) is formed by Congregationalists in Massachusetts

1812: First foreign missionaries to India

ABCFM sends its first group of five missionaries to India, (including Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice).

1819: Missionaries arrive in Near East

ABCFM sends first missionaries to Near East, including Turkey and Palestine.
ABCFM sends first missionaries to Sandwich Islands.

1821: Missionary Herald first published

The Missionary Herald, ABCFM's magazine of missionary reports is established.

1839: A defining moment for abolitionist movement

Enslaved Africans break their chains and seize control of the schooner Amistad. Their freedom is short-lived, and they are held in a Connecticut jail while the ship's owners sue to have them returned as property. The case becomes a defining moment for the movement to abolish slavery. Congregationalists and other Christians organize a campaign to free the captives. The Supreme Court rules the captives are not property, and the Africans regain their freedom.

1840: First united church in U.S. history

A meeting of pastors in Missouri forms the first united church in U.S. history—the Evangelical Synod. It unites two Protestant traditions that have been separated for centuries: Lutheran and Reformed. The Evangelicals believe in the power of tradition, but also in spiritual freedom. "Rigid ceremony and strong condemnation of others are terrible things to me," one of them writes.

1845: 'Protestant Catholicism'

Theologian Philip Schaff scandalizes the Reformed churches in Pennsylvania when he argues for a "Protestant Catholicism" centered in the person of Jesus Christ. The movement founded by Schaff and his friend, John Nevin, revives sacramental worship in the Reformed church and sets the stage for the 20th-century liturgical movement.

1846: First integrated anti-slavery society

The Amistad case is a spur to the conscience of Congregationalists who believe no human being should be a slave. In 1846 Lewis Tappan, one of the Amistad organizers, organizes the American Missionary Association—the first anti-slavery society in the U.S. with multiracial leadership.

1853: First woman pastor

Antoinette Brown is the first woman since New Testament times ordained as a Christian minister, and perhaps the first woman in history elected to serve a Christian congregation as pastor. At her ordination a friend, Methodist minister Luther Lee, defends "a woman's right to preach the Gospel." He quotes the New Testament: "There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

1897: Social Gospel movement denounces economic oppression

Congregationalist Washington Gladden is one of the first leaders of the Social Gospel movement—which takes literally the commandment of Jesus to "love your neighbor as yourself." Social Gospel preachers denounce injustice and the exploitation of the poor. He writes a hymn that summarizes his creed: "Light up your Word: the fettered page from killing bondage free."

1943: The 'Serenity Prayer'

Evangelical and Reformed theologian Reinhold Niebuhr preaches a sermon that introduces the world to the now famous Serenity Prayer: "God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

1952: 'The Courage to Be'

Evangelical and Reformed theologian Paul Tillich publishes "The Courage to Be"—later named by the New York Public Library as one of the "Books of the Century." "Life demands again and again," he writes, "the courage to surrender some or even all security for the sake of full self-affirmation."

1957: Spiritual and ethnic traditions unite

The United Church of Christ is born when the Evangelical and Reformed Church unites with the Congregational Christian Churches. The new community embraces a rich variety of spiritual traditions and embraces believers of African, Asian, Pacific, Latin American, Native American and European descent.

1959: Historic ruling that airwaves are public property

Southern television stations impose a news blackout on the growing civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King Jr. asks the UCC to intervene. Everett Parker of the UCC's Office of Communication organizes churches and wins in Federal court a ruling that the airwaves are public, not private property. The decision leads to a proliferation of people of color in television studios and newsrooms.

1972: Ordination of first openly gay minister

The UCC's Golden Gate Association ordains the first openly gay person as a minister in a mainline Protestant denomination: the Rev. William R. Johnson. In the following three decades, General Synod urges equal rights for homosexual citizens and calls on congregations to welcome gay, lesbian and bisexual members.

1973: Civil rights activists freed

The Wilmington Ten—ten civil rights activists—are charged with the arson of a white-owned grocery store in Wilmington, N.C. One of them is Benjamin Chavis, a social justice worker sent by the UCC to Wilmington to help the African American community overcome racial intolerance and intimidation. Convinced that the charges are false, the UCC's General Synod and raises more than $1 million to pay for bail. Chavis spends four and a half years in prison but is freed when his conviction is overturned. The UCC recovers its bail—with interest.

1976: First African American leader of an integrated denomination

General Synod elects the Rev. Joseph H. Evans president of the United Church of Christ. He becomes the first African American leader of a racially integrated mainline church in the United States.

1995: Singing a new song

The United Church of Christ publishes The New Century Hymnal—the only hymnal released by a Christian church that honors in equal measure both male and female images of God. Although its poetry is contemporary, its theology is traditional. "We acknowledge the limitations of our words while we confess that in Jesus Christ the Word of God became flesh and lived within history," writes Thomas Dipko, a UCC executive who played a key role in shaping the new hymnal.

In the next several days we need to raise over $100,000 to place an ad in The New York Times.  The Rev. John Thomas, our general minister and president, writes:

The vision for the ad is to speak proactively to the breadth and diversity of our denomination, while also acknowledging the hurt that many in our country have experienced in recent weeks, including the members of Trinity UCC in Chicago.

This will be an occasion to explain the uniqueness of our polity, to acknowledge the freedom of our pulpits, and to affirm the rights of our members to agree or disagree in love. The statement will speak to our oneness in Christ, who strengthens us to be agents of justice, peace and reconciliation.

Even if you are not a member of the UCC we could use your help.  After all, we started the Boston Tea party.  America owes us one.

Make a donation here.

"Diverse Group of Prominent Religious Leaders Condemn Personal Attacks"

Open Letter To Senator Clinton From Diverse  Group of Prominent Religious Leaders

Dear Senator Clinton:

We write to you as people of faith from many backgrounds who love our great country and are concerned with the present tenor of your campaign.

Today, you took a new and disquieting step when you decided that it would be to your political benefit to wade into the waters of the issues surrounding Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor.  This crosses the line and brings us full force into the zone of the politics of personal destruction.

There are those among us who support Rev. Wright and believe his comments were deeply misconstrued.  There are others among us who reject his words outright, even in context.

But across these lines, we stand together, White and Black, Protestant and Catholic, Christian and Jew.

No candidate should use religion as a tool to divide the American people, as you have done today.  By engaging in the politics of personal destruction your campaign runs the risk of turning people off from participating in the democratic process – and that hurts us all. We need this race to be about the values that are important to the American people. 

We need to end the war and promote peace around the globe.  America needs real leadership to address the housing crisis, a fighter who will help lift up our economy, and we need a leader in the White House who will tackle issues surrounding world wide climate change.

We urge you to join the debates over those issues instead of using valuable time making personal attacks that diminish both our democracy and our moral standing.

Sincerely,

Dr. T. DeWitt Smith
President
Progressive National Baptist Convention*

Dr. Michael Battle
President Interdenominational Theological Seminary

Sr. Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., Ph.D.
New Orleans, LA

The Rt. Rev. Philip R. Cousin, Sr.
Senior Bishop
African Methodist Episcopal Church

Rev. Dr. Stephen John Thurston
President
National Baptist Convention of America

The Rev. Milton Cole
West Des Moines, IA

Rabbi Moshe Weisblum, Ph.D.
Annapolis, MD

The Rev. Chuck Currie
Portland, OR

Rabbi Abie Ingber
Cincinnati, OH

Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery
Atlanta, GA

*Note: Affiliations are listed for informational purposes only.  Individuals signed this letter in their personal capacities, and not on behalf of their house of worship, denomination or organization.

*Note 2: While some signers are Obama supporters, this is an independent letter that was not authored, organized or driven by the Obama campaign.

"We Can't Just Wish For Peace"

4000 Americans Now Dead In Iraq

Related Link:  What Should Christians Do?

Related Link: NCC laments a ‘disastrous’ war, now entering its sixth year

Video Credit:  Andrew Stelzer

ABC World News Tonight Covers My Easter Sermon

This morning I delivered my Easter sermon at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ.

KATU, Portland's ABC affiliate, covered the sermon and it was the top story on their five and six o'clock broadcasts.  ABC's World News Tonight picked up on the story and aired a portion of my sermon (video link) as part of a segment they ran.  You can watch part of the KATU coverage here. 

My hope is that people will listen to my entire sermon.  Though I will say that I appreciated the quality of the KATU broadcast.

A Podcast Easter Sermon on Matthew 28:1-10: Do Not Be Afraid

This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ in Portland we celebrated Easter.  Our Scripture readings included Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24 and Matthew 28:1-10 .The translation of the Psalm came from the NRSV and we heard the Matthew passage out of Robert Funk's The Five Gospels.

My sermon focused on the words Jesus spoke after the resurrection:  Do Not Be Afraid.  KATU was there to cover the service and we expect coverage at 5 and 6 pm (Pacific) tonight. 

Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer. 

Download ParkroseEaster2008.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

Easter In Portland

Join the people of Parkrose Community United Church of Christ (http://www.parkroseucc.org) for Easter Sunday. We'll have an Easter Egg hunt for kids at 8:30 am and worship begins at 10 am.

We're located on NE 105th and Wygant (just off Sandy).

In Galatians 3.28 we are reminded that despite our differences we are all "one in Christ Jesus." Therefore, we, the people of Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, declare ourselves to be open and affirming. With God's grace, we seek to be a congregation that includes all persons, embracing differences of sexual orientation, gender, marital status, age, mental and physical ability, as well as racial, ethnic, religious, political or social-economic background. We welcome all to share in the life and leadership, ministry, and fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities and blessings of participation in our congregation. This is God's church and no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.

Click here for a map and more information.

Good Friday Meditation

Check out this Good Friday meditation from my friend The Rev. Raj Bharath Patta posted on the United Church News Blog.

Hanging Out With Barack Obama & Bill Richardson In Portland

This morning with thousands of our fellow Oregonians we had the chance to watch New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson offer his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama.  The senator is on a campaign swing through Oregon.  After Senator Obama spoke we were taken backstage to meet with the Senator and Governor where we had a few minutes to talk.  Here are some of the photos.

Senator Obama and Governor Richardson greet the crowd.

Liz and I with the senator after his speech.

Liz and the Governor.

With Governor Richardson.

Related Post:  Why I'm Joining Obama for America

Three Cheers For Protesting Portland Students!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. - Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)

From OregonLive.com:

Hundreds of Portland-area school students left their campuses and have gathered at the North Park Block to protest the war in Iraq.

"I feel like it was a good thing, and I'll take the consequences if there are any," says Kiana Hamilton, 16, a junior at Wilson High School.

Students are carrying signs calling for peace. "Stop the War." "Five too many." "Honk for Peace." They began marching to the South Park Blocks shortly before 1 p.m., chanting "Peace Now."

Ellie Schmidt, 17, a senior at St. Mary's Academy said of the war "it's based on principles I don't stand for. And it's based on alot of lies."   

The Oregonian's web site promises an update later.

Note to Miss Hamilton:  Nothing the schools can do to you will matter.  Their consequences are meaningless compared to the consequences we all face if we do nothing and fail to stop this war.  All of the students who took part deserve applause for their actions and hopefully big hugs tonight from their parents.

Related Sermon Podcast:  "We Can't Just Wish For Peace"   

Evening Prayer of Hope

On this 19th day of March, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, we pray with Christians of the Western Churches observing Holy Week:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have offered us Hope
with its power to reveal signs of your reign
already within and among us:
Reveal the way to Peace in Iraq.

We adore you O Christ and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have triumphed in Love
with its power to cast out fear
and overcome hatred:
Open the way to Peace in Iraq.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have given us Freedom
to be doers of your Word
to be workers for your Justice
to be healers of your beloved world:
Lead us in the way of Peace in Iraq.

Glory be to the One, who,
working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.

To God be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations,
for ever and ever.

Amen

Source

Related Sermon Podcast:  "We Can't Just Wish For Peace"

Barack Obama In Portland On Friday, March 21st

Stand for Change Rally with Barack Obama

Memorial Coliseum
300 North Winning Way
Portland, OR 97227

Friday, March 21, 2008
Doors open: 7:30 a.m.
Program begins: 9:30 a.m.

Click here for all the information. 

"A More Perfect Union"

Early this morning I read Senator Obama's speech on race and reconciliation.  What has struck me throughout this campaign is the difficult path both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have had to walk as the possible "first African American" or "first woman" nominee of a major party.  If any doubts that racism still exists or that sexism still exists it is because people are walking around with both eyes closed.  What Senator Obama did today was offer a vision of a "More Perfect Union" that acknowledges past grievances while insisting that we build off the generational gains that have been won through so much hardship and endurance.  From his speech today: 

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” 

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy.  Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. 

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished.  It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. 

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. 

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.  What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.  I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

Senator Obama's campaign has always been about the future and is where our attention needs to be focused.

Over the last week our national media has become rather obsessed by the sermons of Jeremiah Wright, the now retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.  Dr. Wright is my colleague in ministry and while I disagree with some of the words he has used and charges he has made he is clearly a good man whose ministry has brought honor to God.  I will not join the bandwagon and kick a good man while he is down.  Today I appreciated what Senator Obama had to say on this matter:

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.  For some, nagging questions remain.  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.   

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial.  They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice.  Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. 

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough.  Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask?  Why not join another church?  And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way 

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.

No one should be judged alone by the worst moments.  If that were the case consider President Clinton's place in history after he stood by and let the genocide in Rwanda occur - a much more grievous crime than anything Dr. Wright has done.  In reality, some of the comments made by Dr. Wright were prophetic.  His role is not the role of a politican but the role of a pastor - and sometimes pastors have to provoke politicans and the political order for the world to change. 

My family owned slaves in South Carolina.  My mother and father were among the first of their generation to attend integrated schools - something my beloved grandparents did not want.  My great-grandmother, who lived to be 101, used to tell me stories about our relatives (people she knew as a child and young adult) who fought in the Confederate Army.

The wounds of our racial conflict are real and fresh.  Jeremiah Wright was born at a time when blacks didn't even have the right to vote.  But we have to find a way to move forward together or surely this country will falter.  As Senator Obama said today:

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.  And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. 

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point.  As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried.  In fact, it isn’t even past.”  We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.  But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.  That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.  And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us. 

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up.  They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.  What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.  That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future.  Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.  For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.  That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends.  But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table.  At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews.  The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.  That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.  But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community.  Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.  Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch.  They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.  They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.  So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. 

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company.  But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.  Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition.  Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends.  Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.  And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. 

This is where we are right now.  It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.  Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. 

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.  It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.  But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family.  And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons.  But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change. 

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society.  It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.  But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change.  That is true genius of this nation.  What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed.   Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.  It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper. 

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us.  Let us be our sister’s keeper.  Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well. 

For we have a choice in this country.  We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism.  We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news.  We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.  We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.
 
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction.  And then another one.  And then another one.  And nothing will change. 

That is one option.  Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”  This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.  This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem.  The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy.  Not this time.   

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. 

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.  This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. 

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.  We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned. 

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country.  This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.  And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. 

There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.   

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina.  She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. 

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer.  And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.  They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches.  Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice.  Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally.  But she didn’t.  She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign.  They all have different stories and reasons.  Many bring up a specific issue.  And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time.  And Ashley asks him why he’s there.  And he does not bring up a specific issue.  He does not say health care or the economy.  He does not say education or the war.   He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.  He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.” 

“I’m here because of Ashley.”  By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough.  It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start.  It is where our union grows stronger.  And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.   

Amen to all that.    

Holy Week Prayers

This Holy Week visit the UCC's online prayer chapel every night starting at 9pm (Eastern - that's 6pm here on the West Coast).  Click here for more information. 

A Palm Sunday Podcast Sermon On Matthew 21:1-13: Jesus, Not So Mild Or Meek

This Sunday at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ we focused our attention on Matthew 21:1-13 as part of our celebration of Palm Sunday.  The translaton used came from Robert Funk's The Five Gospels.

Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer.

Download ParkrosePalmSunday2008.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

A Word Of Respect For Jeremiah Wright

I've been asked how I feel about the controversy involving The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ.  This morning I posted my thoughts on the United Church News Blog.

A Podcast From The Portland Witness For Peace Gathering

Tonight I spoke at the Witness for Peace Gathering held at Portland’s First Congregational United Church of Christ marking the fifth year of the war in Iraq. This was an ecumenical gathering filled with song and spirit. Use the below link to download the podcast of my remarks for your iPod or personal computer.

Download FCCIraq.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Representatives from First Congregational UCC, First United Methodist Church of Portland, St. Phillip Neri, and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon also participated.  Hundreds from churches across the Portland area attended.

Protests are occuring across the nation this weekend calling for an end to the war.

 

This Friday In Portland: Witness For Peace Gathering

This Friday at 7 pm join other Portland-area Christians for a special "Witness for Peace Gathering" calling for an end to the war in Iraq.  The service will take place at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park Avenue. 

I'll be there with members from Parkrose Community United Church of Christ.  There will be music, opportunities for reflection, and the lighting of candles. This promises to be a moving and spiritual evening.  Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a co-sponsor of the gathering.

Click here for more information.

Someone asked me recently why this wasn't an interfaith gathering.  Interfaith events are important - critical, really, in our pluralistic society - and all of us involved with the gathering this Friday are committed to interfaith dialog and worship opportunities.  But on this one occasion we felt it was important to demonstrate the Christian community's nearly unanimous opposition to the war in Iraq and to provide Christians with a chance to gather ecumenically with one another in a show of inter-denominational solidarity. 

We welcome, however, those of other faiths who wish to attend to show their support for our efforts and we lift up in prayer those of all faiths who are working for peace across the globe.

Related Link:  Statement On Iraq From The National Council Of Churches 

Why I'm Voting For Steve Novick

Today I want to announce my support for Steve Novick’s candidacy for the United States Senate. My endorsement is a personal one and in no way reflects any endorsement by my denomination or church or their views on the race. I offer this support for Steve Novick simply out of the virtue of being an Oregonian concerned about the future of our national community.

This campaign is about who can best protect our environment, who can best end the war, who can best help ensure that all Americans have health care, who can best get the economy moving again, and who can best address the rising tide of poverty that grips our communities. Steve Novick is that candidate.

He has offered specific plans but more than that in his lifetime of experience in public policy he has demonstrated a willingness to fight for the common good. Steve Novick is a politician in the tradition of Tom McCall, Wayne Morse and Paul Wellstone.

I am particularly impressed that Steve Novick is the only candidate to take seriously the issue of poverty and to offer detailed plans for legislative action that will help Oregon address the issue.

The incumbent in this race has helped to create many of the challenges we now face: he voted for the war and voted for economic policies that have increased deficits and thrown our economy into crisis mode.

Steve Novick’s unique ability to draw people together in common cause will help turn America around and that is why I will vote for him in this election.

Use the below link to download the podcast of this statement for your iPod or personal computer.

Download Novick.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

Related Link:  Steve Novick Endorsed by Rev. Chuck Currie

Related Link:  Chuck Currie endorses Steve Novick

Tuesday Is Endorsement Day

I'll be making a personal endorsement tomorrow.  Come back at 10 am to see who for. 

A Podcast Sermon On John 11:1-57: Come Out Of Your Tomb!

This morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our readings included Psalm 130 and John 11:1-57.  We used Eugene Peterson's translation of Psalm 130 and Robert Funk's transition of the John passage from The Five Gospels.  John told the story of Lazarus.

Use the below link to download the podcast of the sermon for your iPod or personal computer.

Download ParkroseLazarus.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Now On ITunes

You can now subscribe to my podcasts on ITunes. Just open the ITunes application and use the search function to find

"Chuck Currie"

then click on the "Subscribe" button.

Oregon On The Menu

Back in the late fall we held an auction at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ to raise funds for our ministry. We had all kinds of great items to bid on: weekend get-a-ways at beach homes, golf outings, and hand quilted blankets (just to name a few). Liz and I offered to cook an all-Oregon meal for someone as one of the items to bid on and believe it or not but someone did. Tonight the Martin family came over for salmon, fresh pesto over fresh pasta, locally grown asparagus, bread baked just this morning from a local bakery, hazelnut salad, and Oregon wines and juices. For desert: an apple pie with apples grown right here in the Willamette Valley and ice cream made on the Oregon coast. The best part, however, was the fellowship with Erica, Travis, Tanner, and Russell as they kept chasing the girls around the house (who ran around in pure joy before collapsing in bed) and engaging us with tales of family, pets, and first dates. A perfect Oregon night. If you’re wondering, the entire auction brought in a few thousand dollars. It was a great success and we’ll be having another one this fall as well.

Related Link: Easter In Portland

I've Always Loved Wyoming

Very smart people live there.

Ronald Reagan's Political Director Is Attacking...Me

Life just doesn't get any stranger.

But there's more:  check out his comments in this post.

What's The Matter With Maryland?

I don't know...maybe one of you can figure it out.

Witness For Peace Gathering Set For March 14th In Portland

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to invite you to join me at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Portland (www.uccportland.org) for a special worship service marking five bloody years of war in Iraq. The service will be held Friday, March 14th from 7-8 pm. The church is located at 1126 SW Park Avenue.

Over 4,000 American soldiers have died since the start of the war and human rights groups have estimated that so far nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a direct result of the conflict (with perhaps as many as 600,000 dying from direct and indirect causes). U.S. military forces do not count civilian deaths.

We have the power to end this conflict.

The rational for invading Iraqi was that the United States needed to stop a dangerous leader who had weapons of mass destruction. This turned out to be a fabrication. In fact, the result of the invasion has been a further destabilization of the region and human rights scandals involving American forces.

At the service on March 14th there will be music, opportunities for reflection, and the lighting of candles. This promises to be a moving and spiritual evening.  Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a co-sponsor of the gathering.

Religious leaders spoke out against the invasion. The Vatican and the World Council of Churches were two of the most vocal opponents. Here in the United States the National Council of Churches in Christ USA along with almost every single Christian denomination (with the notable exception of the Southern Baptists) said the U.S. should not invade.

The national offices of the United Church of Christ have joined with others in calling for an end to this war. Recently, over 64,000 members of our denomination joined with our National Officers, Conference Ministers and Seminary Presidents in signing a letter to the President and Congress that said in part:

Today we call for an end to this war, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war. Today we call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and we cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing. Today we call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war, thereby, we pray, beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world. Today we call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others.

In the name of the Peace of Peace, I ask you to come and to add your voice with a chorus of others calling for peace and justice throughout the world. Some American political leaders have said this war will last another 100 years but we must insist that the violence and the chaos end now. My hope is that all faithful people will join us but I especially hope that those who have not taken a public stand against the war come and do so now. Please also bring your children and other young people. Doing so will be a witness to them as to how you want the world to be.

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. Chuck Currie

NPR Interview Now Online

My interview with NPR's Day-to-Day program is now available online.  You'll hear my personal reasons for supporting Barack Obama and more on how evangelicals will vote this year.  As I reminded the reporter (in a section not aired), my endorsement of Senator Obama is a personal one and does not reflect any position take by my denomination or local church.

Talking About Barack Obama On NPR's Day-to-Day

Tomorrow (Thursday) I'm scheduled to appear on NPR's "Day to Day" news magazine talking about my personal support for United States Senator Barack Obama.

Since its 2003 launch, Day to Day with hosts Alex Chadwick and Madeleine Brand has redefined the newsmagazine concept to become NPR's fastest-growing new program. Day to Day, produced at NPR West studios in Culver City, California, has nearly two million listeners on 200 stations around the country.

My interview - which also deals with religion and politics in general - was recorded this morning.

"Day to Day" can be heard on the stations of Oregon Public Broadcasting at 1 pm.  Visit their website for programming schedules in other cities and for the online audio archive.   

What the Frak is Going On?

This might surprise my loyal readers - hold steady dear friends - but I'm a little bit of a sci-fi geek.  Yes, I still want to stand up and, I don't know, salute or something every time Capt. Picard comes on the television.  But in seminary I discovered "the best show on television."  And it wasn't on PBS.  It was, in fact, Battlestar Galactica.  For those who've never watched the show it is a little like The West Wing meets Star Trek.  Finally, after an entire year the show is returning.  Thank God (or Gods, whatever).  In this eight minute video you can catch up with three seasons of episodes and ready yourself for the April 4th season premiere. 

I swore to myself, by the way, never to mention this show on this blog but some things are just too good not to share.

Jonathan Alter: Clinton Can't Win Nomination

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter writes:

Hillary Clinton may be poised for a big night tonight, with wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Clinton aides say this will be the beginning of her comeback against Barack Obama. There's only one problem with this analysis: they can't count.

I'm no good at math either, but with the help of Slate’s Delegate Calculator I've scoped out the rest of the primaries, and even if you assume huge Hillary wins from here on out, the numbers don't look good for Clinton. In order to show how deep a hole she's in, I've given her the benefit of the doubt every week for the rest of the primaries.

Click here to see how the New York senator just can't do anything at this point to win.

Note To The Northwest Examiner

If you cannot even spell my name correctly (I’m not a spiced Indian dish) don’t bother trying to interpret my theological arguments about crime and punishment. The facts of your story are incomplete because (how do I say this gently?) you don’t seem to have the intellectual skills needed to write real news. I’d link to the article in question but you also don’t apparently have the skills needed to run a website.

Related Link:  All God’s Children: How Rene Denfeld Distorts The Truth About Homeless Youth

New Information On UCC Battle With IRS

Top DC Law Firm Will Represent UCC Before IRS

Who Filed IRS Complaint?

Note: Cartoon used by permission from Bob Englehart