trinity united church of christ streamed its easter sermon live. i wanted to see for myself what a sermon was like and it in no way was like those loops endlessly played by the media.
rev. james forbes preached and it was the first time i've listened to an easter sermon in a long time. here's some of what he had to say.
he talked about "night" in the metaphoric sense, the same way that author thomas moore wrote about night in "dark nights of the soul," night like elie wiesel's book, "night."
we are in a period of night, which can be an awakening, he said. 9-11 ushered in night for america.
9-11 has weighed on america as "night." we could have reckoned with 9-11 with justice peace and compassion, but war took hold and we went in another direction and are in another, deeper night.
we all have suffered post traumatic stress disorder. night is when our leaders can't say can't say the 'r' word, while a major financial institution goes belly up. night is when tornadoes touch down in atlanta.
u.s. needs healing. we are in deep trouble in this nation.
if night lasts too long, we could be in great peril.
easter says that nighttime is primetime for the grace of god.
night is a reality. it is life. night is facing racism, sexism, economism, environmental degradation, imperialism.
none of us want to face anything that will find us guilty.
it was a perfect sermon.
yet the bigots were out in full force. i had always been aware there were plenty of hateful people out there. i guess i never realized how many.
on a positive note, obama's talk inspired other easter sermons.
