At 10:10 a.m. on Sunday, Cramton Auditorium seats began to quickly become occupied by the enthused, diverse Sunday crowd. Shawl covered heads entered Cramton along with the scent of mixed fragrances and wet fur. However, rain did not deter the anticipated crowd.
Freshman undecided major Jazzmin Drennon sat looking around in awe, taking in the quick chatter of greetings and the clutter of people searching for friends and seats waiting to hear a word from Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
This was her first year to witness the reoccurrence of one of Howard’s distinguished alumni that so many have witnessed over the past years. This year was Wright’s 26th year to grace the legendary pulpit at Cramton Auditorium.
This Sunday, minds were heavy with the thought of the Haitian earthquake victims which set the mood for the sermon that Wright preached.
Wright posed the question, “What does God require of us?” He spoke about how religions and dominations make up requirements, but how the answer is written in Micah 6:6-8 in which there are three requirements that God asks of us.
“The first thing that God asks of us is to do justly and to act justly,” he said. “This is a recurring theme in the word of God. Justice is what God demands and desires.”
He said that there needs to be justice for the helpless in Haiti. One can pray and send monetary assistance, but what we need to do is to get on the phone and get on Congress’ case for not giving justice.
“Any crime against humanity is a crime against God,” he said. In order to have justice and to do justly there are three things that Wright said that one must know.
The first thing to know is that “there can be no time reconciliation without justice.” He gave an example of this in Luke 19:8-10.
Secondly “without justice there could be no real peace.” A confession of guilt has to be made to have justice. He says that confessions lead to repentance and repentance leads to repayment.
Thirdly “there could be no community without justice,” Wright said, “People have to start realizing that ‘from birth to grave you are apart of a community. You have no identity without it.’”
“Without justice there is no Ubuntu,” he said.
He used the Zulu word Ubuntu to summarize his meaning for beloved community. Ubuntu is the concept of being connected through relationships and having interdependence.
Umutu Ngumunto Ngabuntu is another concept that he used to explain how an individual could only be human as a part of a community.
He stressed that we cannot be a community without God. “Every person is valued and justice is shown where everyone gets treated with respect from a Ph.D. to a third grade education,” he said.
He reminded the congregation that you cannot treat some people right and others wrong. “It is an injustice,” he said.
In dealing with a person of dislike he said, “trust in the One whose strength is made perfect in our weakness. Trust the One who can when you can’t.”
He said that we need one another and the song, “I Need You to Survive” by Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Choir which was performed by the Rankin Memorial Chapel Choir and Howard University Gospel Choir became an anthem on Sunday because of its relevance to the situation in Haiti and the sermon.
In closing of his sermon he said that “we can’t as individuals do anything besides prayer and use of the little resources that we have, but we can as a community get together and make a difference.”
The importance of unity was stressed as Wright cried out, “They need dignity besides our charity.” The choirs jointly began to sing the words “Stand with me/Agree with me/We’re all a part of God’s body.”
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