Celebrating the Life and Legacy of The Late Rev. William H. Gray, III

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of The Late Rev. William H. Gray, III

Pastor Emeritus of Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA

and

Former Majority Whip of the U. S. House of Representatives

Vividly, I recall my first trip to Bright Hope Baptist Church and my first time entering the sanctuary.  I college classmate who has become a lifelong friend and spent his formative years in this church invited me to worship with his family over a Thanksgiving weekend.  As we approached the parking lot, I noticed the external side of a large stain-glassed window which adorned the sanctuary and held a rather prominent place in the edifice as it was discernible to everyone within and outside the building.  At time, I had discovered recently writings of relating to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements particularly pieces detailing the distinguishing characteristics of Black Religion in America.  Excoriating the prevalence of the blond hair, blue eyes Jesus who had sanctioned chattel slavery in the American South and the insidiously violent century of segregation inclusive of nearly four thousand lynchings permeates these pieces.  Accordingly, I held my breath as I hoped against hope that this historic, traditional and socially progressive African American Baptist congregation would not have committed the sin of self-hatred by displaying an image of a god who does not reflect their divinity.  As I inched around the corner from a rear entrance into the sanctuary, to my great surprise and almost tearful exuberance, I beheld for the first time the largest replica of the Black Christ in North America.

In his venerable Autobiography, Malcolm X posits that one of the greatest crimes that the United States of America perpetrated upon people of African descent is teaching us to serve a divine being who does not look like us.  My initial glance of the Black Christ at Bright Hope Baptist Church on the chilly fall Sunday morning immediately reminded of Malcolm X’s spiritual maxim.  It would introduce me to a Black Baptist clergyperson and pastor who personified in his daily and practical ministry the supreme moral, ethical and biblical tenets of Black Theology.  The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does not sanction social, economic and political ideas, traditions, policies and systems that impede anyone’s rights and just opportunities to actualize his divine gifts of life and talents and actualize his natural endowments.  Although he would become a Member of Congress and ascend to the fourth highest leadership post of Majority Whip and serve as Chairperson of the Budget Committee and subsequently raise billions of dollars as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The United Negro College Fund, primarily Reverend William H. Gray, III was a Pastor.  As a seminarian and later as a duly installed Minister of Word and Sacrament, I observed in Pastor Gray a bold and prophetic clergyperson who challenged and expanded society’s assumptions of the gospel of Christ.  Beyond attending self-satisfying and blissful worship services, establishing mutually beneficial relationships within the fellowship of local churches and gleaning methods for strengthening personal piety, Christians are called by our Lord to create a more just and equitable society.  More especially, Christians of the African Diaspora cannot comply uncritically with the manipulation of the gospel in furthering systemic injustice and inequities.  As African Americans must serve a god who reflects their holistic “Blackness,” they equally must demand that the country, in which they live to which they have been exceedingly loyal and patriotic notwithstanding its victimization of them, also celebrate and respect their divinity and “Blackness.”

In many ways, as I reflect upon and celebrate Pastor Gray’s ministry and legacy, I view him as stalwart “Old Testament Christian” who preached and exemplified the teachings relating to the combination of social justice and righteousness as equal components of a relationship with Almighty God.  He believed disciples had an obligation to speak for those persons who cannot speak for themselves and advocate removal of all barriers to their dignity as fellow human beings and citizens as well as children of God.  In the teachings of Christ, Pastor Gray concentrated upon society’s debt to care for “the least of these,” the most vulnerable persons who reside amongst us.  As the Chairperson of the U. S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, Pastor Gray understood the critical spiritual maxim that budgets are moral documents which reflect a society’s genuine religious principles and ethical practices.  What we believe is most clearly reflected in our treatment of our fellow citizens who do not possess financial, educational, cultural and other social privileges.  I remember his fierce and enduring advocacy for preserving programs to assist and empower the neediest persons amongst us.  Most regrettably, he is no longer in the Congress to fight continually for these fellow citizens who live on the margins of life.  In addition, Pastor Gray contributed significantly in organizing one of the most effective political coalitions in Philadelphia.  Whereas this group became a direct means of accomplishing his personal political ambitions, it also emerged as one of several instruments in which he fulfilled the foregoing grand aims of the Hebrews prophets; “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God.”     

At the height of his political career, Rev. Gray arguably was the most powerful African American public servant as he attained the position of Majority Whip in the Democratic controlled U. S. House of Representatives.  His achievement enabled many of us to harbor the idea of an African American obtaining the Presidency of the United States as Pastor Gray stood within an arm’s reach of the position.  Certainly, his successes paved the road for President Obama.  Additionally, I highly respected Pastor Gray’s formidable stance in opposing apartheid and calling for sanctions against the South African government.  That was one of the seminal moral issues during my collegiate years.  As I write, I recall a broadcast of The McNeil-Lehrer News Hour in which Pastor Gray characterized President Reagan’s comments about tribal conflicts amongst Black South Africans as asinine.  Then, U S. Undersecretary of State, Chester Crocker, was stunned into complete silence as he could not offer a reasonable rebuttal.  Still, I appreciate Pastor Gray’s force of tone and character as he straightforwardly condemned the treatment of Black South Africans by their own government and the U. S. government’s acquiescence of that despicable racism.

Conceivably, Pastor Gray’s work with the United Negro College Fund will be his definitive contribution to the African American community and our country.  His grand successes in raising billions of dollars and preserving that entity for many years to come will enable future generations of leaders in all segments of society to obtain the foundational education and training necessary for their success.  It is ironic how destiny often finds us when we least expect it.  I hope future generations of African American collegians will revere Pastor Gray as they should.  His labor of love will encourage and empower future twenty-first century leaders to enter proactively and forthrightly the global village and marketplace in which we live in a post 9 September 2001 world.  Living with a myopic worldview that accepts xenophobia, practices jingoism and furthers economic and political elitism will be very costly for any nation.  It shall be particularly so for Americans as we witness fundamental and irreversible shifts in geopolitical and international relations. As a prophet who boldly proclaim the truth and foresaw future developments, Pastor Gray exhorted us to surmount these domestic societal ills enroute to embracing the world’s progressive pluralism and intermixture of economies and interests.

Quintessentially, Reverend William H. Gray, III was a Pastor.  Throughout his years of public service within the Congress and at The United Negro College Fund, Pastor Gray returned faithfully to the Bright Hope pulpit three Sundays per month to demonstrate his commitment to a church that fostered his personality, ministry and prophetic vision.  Thereby, he showed his true calling to serve God as he strove to meet the practical needs of people.  I still recall his Thanksgiving 1987 sermon, “The Moving Hand Writes,” in which he paid tribute to the late Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago at the time of his death.  I also recalled how he left the building shortly after delivering that sermon as his congressional duties mandated he leave.  As a Pastor, I admired Pastor Gray’s dedication to his priestly duties; he did not ignore them and allow them to lapse and suffer as he met the demanding schedule of elective office and educational administration in the public and prophetic sphere.  Additionally, I appreciate the way in which Pastor Gray handled the snafu that surrounded his initial period of retirement.  He put Bright Hope before his own interest and ensured her future would be secure.  His return to the Church until the installation of the current pastor was a testament to his grandfather and father as well as to the great people of Bright Hope to whom he must have felt an incalculable debt.

My final tribute to Pastor Gray is recognition of his esteem of marriage and family while juxtaposing his priestly duties as Pastor and prophetic calling as a public servant.  His untimely death occurred during a perennial period of enjoyment of Wimbledon in London.  One of his sons accompanied Pastor Gray on this year’s pilgrimage to watch superlative tennis matches.  Sharing a favorite and heartfelt interest with a son can be a father’s greatest delight.  I imagine Pastor Gray feasted upon the food for the soul that such times yielded.  I pray his son will find enduring comfort and sustaining healing in his reflections of these final days with his beloved father.  

Assuredly, the Bright Hope family mourns the loss of Pastor Gray as his death signals the end of an important era for your Church.  I recall the pride of my classmate and his fellow congregants in electing Pastor Gray to Congress and thus enabling the African American community throughout the country to ascend to greater heights of leadership and success.  Whereas these will become the glory days for many in the Bright Hope family, hopefully, they will be a foreshadowing of many more significant accomplishments in creating a more just and equitable society.  Nevertheless, I pray our brothers and sisters will find refuge in God’s Word and comfort in His presence.

With thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, I celebrate the life, ministry, public service and legacy of the late Reverend William H. Gray, III, Pastor Emeritus of Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA and former Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives.  “Blessed are the dead in Christ for they rest from their labors and their deeds follow them.” (Revelation 14:13).