Like thieves who steal a car and cut it up in order to sell the parts, the radical right is now chopping up the sermons of Rev. Otis Moss, III, incoming Senior Pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, and trying to peddle the parts to generate new controversy.
First, Newsmax.com's staff ridiculed a Moss sermon, objecting to ways in which the young pastor was plainly trying to make his message appeal to the younger generation and their cultural images. Then other right-wing pundits like Sean Hannity used those same spare parts this past weekend to attempt a further political spin.
Yet, the weekend before these new attacks began, what were the topics of Rev. Moss’ sermons? Love.
On May 4, 2008, he preached, in succession, “Three Sonnets on Love: Sonnet 1: Wider Than Any Ocean, Sonnet 2: Search Me O God, Sonnet 3: Homemade Love.” Moss told The Chicago Tribune that the prior week he had spent most of his time searching for a scripture that would speak to that difficult time. He said he found the answer in the First Epistle of John and the answer “was simply one word: love.” Did any of these right-wing media outlets report that? Of course not.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us, “But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28) I am assuming this teaching also includes right-wing pundits, but I can tell you I personally am finding this teaching mighty hard when good, solid preaching is chopped up in order to try to make it sound like something shameful.
Moss has been hired because Trinity, like the majority of mainline churches, needs to reach out more to young people and the way you do that is to preach the gospel in a way they can hear it and understand it. The right wing chop shop focused on the fact that Moss quoted the late rapper Tupac Shakur and Shakur’s song “Thugz Mansion.”
In this sermon, Moss is using the word “thug” as a synonym for “sinner” and showing how in the great love of God through Christ, even sinners can be part of God’s plan for salvation. There you have it, the sum total of this so-called controversy.
I know Rev. Moss personally and he is a wonderful and caring pastor; he is also studying at Chicago Theological Seminary in our Doctor of Ministry Program. He has invited me to preach at Trinity United Church of Christ on May 25, 2008 as part of our United Church of Christ launch of a “Sacred Conversation on Race.”
I certainly expect that the right wing Sermon Chop Shop will be open for business that morning. Thus, I will be sure to post the full text of my sermon at Trinity on the On Faith website here. I would hate to have our sacred conversation on race in the United Church of Christ become just that many more spare parts peddled out of the chop shop to generate false controversy.
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