Reverend Oliver White: A True Man of God
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Reverend Oliver White is afraid. Reverend White is not afraid of damnation or hell, he is afraid of his own community. Before President Obama and Julian Bond and the NAACP evolved, Reverend Oliver White supported marriage equality. And that act of Christianity has alienated his congregation, emptied his church and garnered him hate mail and threats of violence.
Reverend White’s church, Grace Community United Church of Christ is a predominately African-American church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Grace Community Church owes $175,000 to an investor in Seattle, Washington; the mortgage on the property. Reverend White and I spoke Tuesday about the financial plight in which his church finds itself, and the repercussions of coming out in favor of marriage equality.
In his sermons, Reverend White speaks to his congregation about God, but not God as a man, or even a woman. Reverend White believes it is impossible to put a border on anything infinite, and he preaches his faith and his true love of God every Sunday. According to the books of Grace Community Church, there are 320 people in his congregation; he estimates that since vocally coming out in favor of marriage equality, 200 members of his church have disappeared from the pews.
As any good pastor would, when Reverend White noticed that week after week less and less people were attending services, he began visiting his congregation. They all told him the same thing: they don’t feel it’s right to say what he did about LGBT. LGBT after all are an abomination and should be punished, and unless Reverend White recants his statement and support, they aren’t coming back. Members of the community are calling Grace Community Church a “gay church” and telling others Reverend White himself is gay. Reverend White was outside one day, changing the sign board, and a group of teenagers walked by. He heard them say “Isn’t that the minister who’s gay?”
Reverend White believes the basic teaching of Jesus Christ is love each other as we love ourselves. He understands that folks interpret the Bible in many ways, but he has never forgotten the message of Christ. Reverend White told me he loves his community, even the people who now insult and threaten him. I didn’t ask if he loves whoever shot at his church, but my guess is, the answer would be yes. He shared something quite profound with me, about his own personal reasons for supporting marriage equality. Reverend White says people shouldn’t criticize him for marrying a woman, so why would they criticize someone for marrying the person they love? He asks are we going to round up left-handed people and pray over them? How can we choose who to put in a separate corner?
Grace Community Church is a loving church, Reverend White said, it’s his heart and his life. He does not want to lose his dream come true, and he may, if he cannot raise the money to pay off the mortgage. Reverend White wants to be in Seattle, Washington on June 9th, the deadline for payment, and hand that investor a check, in effect taking back the key to Grace Community Church. He wants to continue doing the work which he, and his church, were called to do. Reverend White is thankful he is being used as a lightning rod, although he did not ask to be, to bring attention to the issue of marriage equality, Christianity, the message of Jesus and the financial crisis surrounding his church.
Reverend White reaches out to the unreachable, he loves the unlovable and he strives to serve those who have the least. He is not interested in glory or fame, his church is not gilded with gold leaf, he does not live in a mansion on a hill. Reverend White is an African-American pastor, in an African-American community, trying his best to make those who feel last feel first. He is a good man, who by preaching the word of Christ, has been ostracized, punished and made to fear for his own life. Reverend White made it clear, however, that he will not allow his fear to distract him nor dissuade him from preaching and helping the people in his community.
Please visit Grace Community United Church of Christ’s website, and if you can help financially, please do so. Reverend White is a true man of God, and he deserves a church where he can continue to do the work he was called to do.
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I eschew religion, and for you Teabaggers that means I avoid it, hate it and think it sucks, but in this case I find a good man among a sea of haters. Men like this make a difference to men like me.
He’s a good man.