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URL: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Losesq/gGBKWl/commentaryPost fromBarack the Vote SC-08:Audacity of Hope SermonByHopeful- Mar 16th, 2008 at 7:30 pm EDT
The full text of Jeremiah Wright's "Audacity To Hope" sermon in 1990
:Several years ago while I was in Richmond, the Lord allowed me to be in that city duringthe week of the annual convocation at Virginia Union University School of Theology. ThereI heard the preaching and teaching of Reverend Frederick G. Sampson of Detroit, Michigan.In one of his lectures, Dr. Sampson spoke of a painting I remembered studying in humanitiescourses back in the late '50s. In Dr. Sampson's powerful description of the picture, he spokeof it being a study in contradictions, because the title and the details on the canvas seem to be in direct opposition.The painting's title is "Hope." It shows a woman sitting on top of the world, playing a harp.What more enviable position could one ever hope to achieve than being on top of the worldwith everyone dancing to your music?As you look closer, the illusion of power gives way to the reality of pain. The world onwhich this woman sits, our world, is torn by war, destroyed by hate, decimated by despair,and devastated by distrust. The world on which she sits seems on the brink of destruction.Famine ravages millions of inhabitants in one hemisphere, while feasting and gluttony areenjoyed by inhabitants of another hemisphere. This world is a ticking time bomb, withapartheid in one hemisphere and apathy in the other. Scientists tell us there are enoughnuclear warheads to wipe out all forms of life except cockroaches. That is the world onwhich the woman sits in Watt's painting.Our world cares more about bombs for the enemy than about bread for the hungry. Thisworld is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character  —a world more finicky about what's on the outside of your head than about the quality of your education or what's inside your head. That is the world on which this woman sits.You and I think of being on top of the world as being in heaven. When you look at thewoman in Watt's painting, you discover this woman is in hell. She is wearing rags. Her tattered clothes look as if the woman herself has come through Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Her head is bandaged, and blood seeps through the bandages. Scars and cuts are visible on her face, her arms, and her legs.I. Illusion of Power vs. Reality of PainA closer look reveals all the harp strings but one are broken or ripped out. Even theinstrument has been damaged by what she has been through, and she is the classic exampleof quiet despair. Yet the artist dares to entitle the painting Hope. The illusion of power— sitting on top of the world—gives way to the reality of pain.And isn't it that way with many of us? We give the illusion of being in an enviable positionon top of the world. Look closer, and our lives reveal the reality of pain too deep for thetongue to tell. For the woman in the painting, what looks like being in heaven is actually an
 
existence in a quiet hell.I've been a pastor for seventeen years. I've seen too many of these cases not to know whatI'm talking about. I've seen married couples where the husband has a girlfriend in addition tohis wife. It's something nobody talks about. The wife smiles and pretends not to hear thewhispers and the gossip. She has the legal papers but knows he would rather try to buy FortKnox than divorce her. That's a living hell.I've seen married couples where the wife had discovered that somebody else cares for her asa person and not just as cook, maid jitney service, and call girl all wrapped into one. Butthere's the scandal: What would folks say? What about the children? That's a living hell.I've seen divorcees whose dreams have been blown to bits, families broken up beyond repair,and lives somehow slipping through their fingers. They've lost control. That's a living hell.I've seen college students who give the illusion of being on top of the world—designer clothes, all the sex that they want, all the cocaine or marijuana or drugs, all the trappings of having it all together on the outside—but empty and shallow and hurting and lonely andafraid on the inside. Many times what looks good on the outside—the illusion of being in power, of sitting on top of the world—with a closer look is actually existence in a quiet hell.That is exactly where Hannah is in 1 Samuel 1 :1-18. Hannah is top dog in this three-wayrelationship between herself, Elkanah, and Peninnah. Her husband loves Hannah more thanhe loves his other wife and their children. Elkanah tells Hannah he loves her. A lot of husbands don't do that. He shows Hannah that he loves her, and many husbands never getaround to doing that. In fact, it is his attention and devotion to Hannah that causes Peninnahto be so angry and to stay on Hannah's case constantly. Jealous! Jealousy will get hold of you, and you can't let it go because it won't let you go. Peninnah stayed on Hannah, like wesay, "as white on rice." She constantly picked at Hannah, making her cry, taking her appetiteaway.At first glance Hannah's position seems enviable. She had all the rights and none of theresponsibilities—no diapers to change, no beds to sit beside at night, no noses to wipe,nothing else to wipe either, no babies draining you of your milk and demanding feeding.Hannah was top dog. No baby portions to fix at meal times. Her man loved her; everybodyknew he loved her. He loved her more than anything or anybody. That's why Peninnah hatedher so much. Now, except for the second-wife bit, which was legal back then, Hannah was sitting on topof the world, until you look closer. When you look closer, what looked like being in heavenwas actually existing in a quiet hell.Hannah had the pain of a bitter woman to contend with, for verse 7 says that nonstop,Peninnah stayed with her. Hannah suffered the pain of living with a bitter woman. And shesuffered another pain—the pain of a barren womb. You will remember the story of thewidow in 2 Kings 4 who had no child. The story of a woman with no children was a story of deep pathos and despair in biblical days.Do you remember the story of Sarah and what she did in Genesis 16 because of her barren
 
womb—before the three heavenly visitors stopped by their tent? Do you remember the storyof Elizabeth and her husband in Luke I? Back in Bible days, the story of a woman with a barren womb was a story of deep pathos. And Hannah was afflicted with the pain of a bitter woman on the one hand and the pain of a barren womb on the other.Hannah's world was flawed, flaky. Her garments of respectability were tattered and torn, andher heart was bruised and bleeding from the constant attacks of a jealous woman. The scarsand scratches on her psyche are almost visible as you look at this passage, where she cries,refusing to eat anything. Just like the woman in Watt's painting, what looks like being inheaven is actually existence in a quiet hell. Now I want to share briefly with you about Hannah—the lady and the Lord. While I do so, Iwant you to be thinking about where you live and your own particular pain predicament.Think about it for a moment.Dr. Sampson said he wanted to quarrel with the artist for having the gall to name that painting Hope when all he could see in the picture was hell—a quiet desperation. But thenDr. Sampson said he noticed that he had been looking only at the horizontal dimensions andrelationships and how this woman was hooked up with that world on which she sat. He hadfailed to take into account her vertical relationships. He had not looked above her head. Andwhen he looked over her head, he found some small notes of music moving joyfully and playfully toward heaven.II. The Audacity to HopeThen, Dr. Sampson began to understand why the artist titled the painting "Hope." In spite of  being in a world torn by war, in spite of being on a world destroyed by hate and decimated by distrust, in spite of being on a world where famine and greed are uneasy bed partners, inspite of being on a world where apartheid and apathy feed the fires of racism and hatred, inspite of being on a world where nuclear nightmare draws closer with each second, in spite of  being on a ticking time bomb, with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity tomake music and praise God. The vertical dimension balanced out what was going on in thehorizontal dimension.And that is what the audacity to hope will do for you. The apostle Paul said the same thing."You have troubles? Glory in your trouble. We glory in tribulation." That's the horizontaldimension. We glory in tribulation because, he says, "Tribulation works patience. And patience works experience. And experience works hope. (That's the vertical dimension.) Andhope makes us not ashamed." The vertical dimension balances out what is going on in thehorizontal dimension. That is the real story here in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. Not thecondition of Hannah's body, but the condition of Hannah's soul—her vertical dimension. Shehad the audacity to keep on hoping and praying when there was no visible sign on thehorizontal level that what she was praying for, hoping for, and waiting for would ever beanswered in the affirmative.What Hannah wanted most out of life had been denied to her. Think about that. Yet in spiteof that, she kept on hoping. The gloating of Peninnah did not make her bitter. She kept onhoping. When the family made its pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh, she renewed her  petition there, pouring out her heart to God. She may have been barren, but that's ahorizontal dimension. She was fertile in her spirit, her vertical dimension. She prayed and she
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