Greenport pastor defends Rev. Wright
Talks about tradition of 'nerve and audacity' in preaching
By Michelle Myers
The theme was what he called "nerve and audacity in preaching" and the Rev. Malcolm Byrd had the audience mesmerized. At a celebration of black history held at Peconic Landing last week, more than 100 attendees listened as the 24-year-old pastor of Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church in Greenport used the recent furor over presidential candidate Barack Obama's association with controversial preacher the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a starting point for a wide-ranging discussion of truth-telling in preaching.
"I have to deal with the Wright issue," he said. Smiling at his audience, Mr. Byrd confessed he likes TV evangelist the Rev. Joel Osteen. "No matter what he talks about, you feel good about life. But most black preachers don't have the luxury to preach sunshine sermons all the time and so the message must speak to the world in which blacks live."
Mr. Byrd observed that Wright comes from a long line of black preachers, beginning with the Rev. Lemuel Haynes. In 1786, Haynes became the first black man to minister to a white congregation and had "the nerve and the audacity to tell the truth even though it meant being pulled out of the pulpit by the deacons because they couldn't understand his story," Mr. Byrd said
Suffolk Times photo by Randee Daddona The Rev. Malcolm Byrd, center, leads a song at last week's celebration of black history at Peconic Landing.
This tradition of addressing difficult issues head-on is a cornerstone of black preaching, Mr. Byrd contended. He said that, as a result, though he might not approve of everything Wright said, it needed to be said nonetheless.
Young tough he may be, but as far as preaching is concerned, Mr. Byrd knows whereof he speaks. "My family had moved to North Carolina and it was then I learned I had the gift of the gab. I got my first lay preacher's license at 14."
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was established in 1796. Throughout its history it has always permitted lay people to become what is known as an "exhorter" and preach to the community, which is precisely what Mr. Byrd did. "We are old-line Methodists and theologically we haven't changed since we were founded, so there was always that lay preacher tradition," he said.
Mr. Byrd attended Livingstone College in North Carolina, a school that he says turned him into an orator and a preacher. After his ordination, he spent some time pastoring in Massachusetts and was subsequently assigned to serve the Greenport congregation, whose church is located on Third Street. The first Sunday in July 2007 marked his maiden appearance in the pulpit, and since that time his own reputation for nerve and audacity in preaching has spread throughout the community.
As an example of nerve and audacity, Mr. Byrd says in his next sermon he plans to address the controversial decision in the Sean Bell shooting in New York City, and that he will pull no punches. "There are things that need to be said. My whole family has always been involved in the movement for black equality," he observes. "So I was born into that fiery oratory, if you will."
Accompanying Mr. Byrd to Peconic Landing last week was his fiancée, Dominique Jackson, whom he met at an event he hadn't really wanted to attend "but she was there with some of her friends. I looked over, and the rest is history." The couple will marry on October 4 in Harlem. "A kind of Harlem Renaissance wedding is what we have planned," he said.
The black history event also featured Shani Martin, who sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" as well as "His Eye is on the Sparrow." Shannon Rene recited poetry and LaShawna Ford and Peanut Edmund performed a spirited medley of "Amazing Grace" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" on piano and drums respectively. Finally, mistress of ceremonies Josephine Watkins Johnson asked everyone to join hands and sing "We Shall Overcome."
After the last song, Mr. Byrd was surrounded by people who wanted to congratulate him, including one man who found himself out of luck when he asked for a transcript of the presentation. "I never use notes," said Mr. Byrd.