Temptation Of The Wolverines
For the past few months I have been working on special projects for my father. One of them is a collection of his sermons and talks that will be in a repository of the works of the country’s most respected preachers.
When my father and I went through his sermons to list those that he thought would be the most meaningful to people who would want to study and learn from them, he made the decision that he would select sermons from each decade of his ministry that highlight his commitment to social justice.
Included in these is his trial sermon, delivered on September 4, 1949 at the Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio where his father, the Rev. Wade Hampton McKinney was the minister.
I am thrilled to have read this sermon; it cracked me up. It gave me an opportunity to see my father as a young, green and, frankly, rather sexist preacher. Increasingly, given that we can now record all of life on our cellphones, every child will have a record of most of their parent’s developmental milestones. My father’s early life is in old sepia-toned photos, yellowing newspapers and sermons, kept in miles of 6x8 inch manila envelopes in so many file cabinets that my mother fears that the beauty of her home sanctuary is compromised. And she has not seen the storage space.
My father is now a great and thoughtful preacher. On September 4th in 1949, he was thoughtful. He talked about how Jesus was tempted by the devil and did not succumb. He said that human beings, however, were perpetually confronted by
Temptations through physical appetites.
Temptations to seek popular applause.
Temptations to possess power over others.
And women, that fair breed, is presented on two occasions as a danger to men. Here is one:
When man’s animalistic self gains the upper hand, his mind takes second place. Woman throughout the centuries beginning with Eve down through this very moment, has used her most dangerous weapon, sex, to gain any desired end. It really takes a mighty good man with backbone and a strong determined will power not to be overcome when confronted by these innocent looking wolverines in the “New Look.” True, they must also be on guard against the wolves in the “Bold Look.” Behind the rise of every great man and the fall of every bad man, there has been some woman.
“That’s quite a statement, Daddy!,” I said when I called to tease him about this sermon. “I’m glad you got past this sexist moment. And you crossed out all kinds of crazy adjectives that could have accompanied “innocent looking wolverines.”
“Well, that was the thinking then.”
“And the sermon was…” (He cut me off)
“Well-received!”
“Not great, Daddy.”
“You’re looking at it through 21st century eyes. And female eyes. But of course it’s not great. It’s always our hope that we’ll grow and get better in everything we do.”
“You’re a wonderful preacher now, Daddy. Which people will clearly be able to see when they compare your later sermons to this!”
He grunted. “I have better things to do than have my daughter insult me.”
“And I have so few opportunities to do it. I thank you!”
We laughed and hung up.
This was a fantastic moment for me in many ways. I knew that on that 1949 moment in the church of his youth, my father’s family and his father’s congregation gave him their blessing. And his sermon, well-written and full of historical and literary references, let them know that the child that they had nurtured had returned to them as a man of whom they could be rightly proud.
And I, helping my father gather his works for posterity so that his legacy is secure, have a very different perspective. He is no longer the strong and tall man of my youth. Walking with a cane and no longer able to drive, he nonetheless maintains a remarkable memory of world history and stories that accompany the names of most people he has met. He goes twice weekly to LA Fitness to work with his trainer of what I like to refer to as his half-pack.
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked this riddle of all travelers who passed by. What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? The answer, of course, is man. Reading my father’s trial sermon helped me see the connection between his early noontime and evening. It gave me a hint into the man I could not quiz grandparents about – they died when I was in elementary school.
So this project became an unexpected gift. And lucky for my father that he married my mother and had two daughters. None of whom are innocent looking wolverines.