For 8 years, I've watched you be the better man

By babylonsister

Emerging Christian pastor to President Obama: For 8 years, I've watched you be the better man
By Leslie Salzillo
Wednesday Dec 28, 2016 · 2:21 PM EST

In this open letter to President Obama, John Pavlovitz writes about how history will secure the President’s grand legacy and body of wor. After watching President Obama for eight years, Pavlovitz shares his observations. Here are some excerpts from his June piece.

• I’ve watched the way you’ve absorbed a billion body blows from your critics; brutal words that run far deeper than policy or platform, words composed within poisoned hearts long before you served a single day in office.

• I’ve watched you bombarded with a daily Molotov cocktail of white privilege and hidden or overt racism disguised as objective opposition.

• I’ve watched your wife and children attacked with a ferocity and malevolence that defy any sense of decency and that have no precedence.

• I’ve watched your birthplace called into question, your personal faith ridiculed, your very humanity discounted.

• I’ve watched you endure the incessant, bitter venom of those for whom the color of your skin was always going to be a problem.

• And through all of it, I’ve watched you be the better man.

Pavlovitz tells President Obama that “In the face of a sustained, spitting, violent, raw-throated hatred, you’ve never responded in kind.” He writes that Obama never allowed himself to be defined by bigotry and never disrespected his critics — by becoming them. This, Pavlovitz says, will be President Obama’s greatest legacy.

The truth is, many of us understand that the Evangelical Right, the NRA, FoxNews, and far too many ordinary folks living here were simply never going to be okay with a man of color leading them and succeeding—and yet you have done both.

Eight years later, those same people still strain to bait you into reciprocating bitterness and in fulfilling their toxic prophecies of you, while you simply continue to do what you do with nobility, compassion, good humor, and steadfast, unapologetic conviction.

John Pavlovitz tells President Obama, “You live the grace so many Christians invoke but rarely model.” The pastor adds, as a father, he realizes his children are always watching him, taking cues from the way he treats people and how he responds to adversity. He knows his children watch how he cares for those in pain, how he handles mistreatment and that his words will always be secondary to his conduct. “This is where I find my deepest gratitude for you in these days.” He tells the President, “For eight years you have worked for those who have been marginalized, even while so many have sought to marginalize you. “

Pavlovitz writes that he and so many others are trying to live passionately yet with integrity and are committed to standing upon principles and never upon people. He says, “We are seeing the way you’ve done it and are moved to move similarly together.”

So you’ll forgive me if I speak informally right now, and if I use words used often brandished by your critics to undermine the work you’ve done and the life you’ve lived and the character you’ve shown.

Without a trace of irony or sarcasm, let me simply say:

Thanks, Obama.

This. Once again, John Pavlovitz proves there are Christians out there who actually follow the words of Christ, who actually care deeply about others, and who are not afraid to speak out against religious hypocrisy. More, please — and thank you, Pastor Pavlovitz.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/28/1614975/-True-Christian-pastor-to-President-Obama-For-8-years-I-ve-watched-you-be-the-better-man?detail=facebook