{"id":1723,"date":"2009-10-26T07:01:27","date_gmt":"2009-10-26T11:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=1723"},"modified":"2009-10-26T07:01:27","modified_gmt":"2009-10-26T11:01:27","slug":"a-rabbi-a-preacher-and-a-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2009\/10\/a-rabbi-a-preacher-and-a-journalist\/","title":{"rendered":"A rabbi, a preacher and a journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Mitch Albom has seen plenty of extremely large men, which isn\u2019t surprising after a quarter century as one of America\u2019s top sports writers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But he wasn\u2019t ready for the giant who met him outside the Pilgrim Church<\/a>\u2018s dilapidated Gothic sanctuary near downtown Detroit. The Rev. Henry Covington was as tall as a basketball player, but weighed 400 pounds or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis body seemed to unroll in layers, a broad slab of a chest cascading into a huge belly that hung like a pillow over the belt of his pants. His arms spread the sleeves of his oversized white T-shirt. His forehead was sweating, and he breathed heavily, as if he had just climbed stairs,\u201d wrote Albom, in \u201cHave a Little Faith<\/a>,\u201d a slim book that represents his return to non-fiction 12 years after his inspirational bestseller \u201cTuesdays With Morrie<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

Albom\u2019s first impression was crystal clear: \u201cIf this is a man of God \u2026 I\u2019m the man in the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covington certainly stood in stark contrast to the other clergyman whose image was fixed in the writer\u2019s mind at the time \u2014 the late Albert Lewis, the articulate leader of the Jewish congregation in which Albom grew up, in Cherry Hill, N.J.<\/p>\n

The elderly rabbi had shocked Albom by asking him to deliver his eulogy, when that became necessary. This led to eight years of talks between \u201cthe Reb\u201d and the skeptical journalist, who had walked away from his Jewish faith after college. This process resembled those philosophical Tuesday dialogues between Albom and a favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, in the years before he died of Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

But Albom wasn\u2019t looking for another book during his weekday visit to Pilgrim\u2019s Church. He had \u2014 while working to boost Detroit charities \u2014 dropped by to learn more about the tiny Pentecostal flock\u2019s work with the homeless<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Albom expected to meet people there scarred by life on the street or behind bars, but didn\u2019t expect to find one in the pulpit.<\/p>\n

In \u201cHave a Little Faith,\u201d Albom describes a dramatic sermon in which Covington explored the twisted road that led to redemption: \u201cAmazing grace. \u2026 I coulda been dead. \u2026 Shoulda been dead! \u2026 Woulda been dead! \u2026 His grace \u2026 saved a wretch. And I was a wretch. You know what a wretch is? I was a crackhead, an alcoholic, I was a heroin addict, a liar, a thief. I was all those things. But then came Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure that I trusted him,\u201d said Albom, in a quick telephone interview. \u201cI thought, \u2018Isn\u2019t there supposed to be some minimal \u2018goodness\u2019 quotient in all of this? How can you have done all of that and now call yourself a man of God?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

As Albom met members of Covington\u2019s church and heard their stories, bonds of trust developed, followed by friendship. Then some of the lessons he learned there began to overlap and interact with what he was learning in his pre-eulogy talks with Rabbi Lewis. There was an emphasis on respecting others, doing good works and helping needy and struggling seekers.<\/p>\n

The writer rediscovered his own Jewish roots, but he also had to confront the blunt, powerful claims of Covington\u2019s preaching. The rabbi\u2019s approach was broad, universal and embraced all faiths. The preacher\u2019s faith reached out to others, but remained rooted in the claims of Christianity. He didn\u2019t force the needy to convert, but he witnessed to them and prayed for their conversion. <\/p>\n

This led Albom back to some of the big questions that emerged from the dialogues with his rabbi: \u201cHow can different religions coexist? If one faith believes on thing, and another believes something else, how can they both be correct? And does one religion have the right \u2014 or even the obligation \u2014 to try to convert the other?\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the book, Albom concludes: \u201cGod sings, we hum along, and there are many melodies, but it\u2019s all one song.\u201d At the same time, he chooses to worship in his familiar Jewish congregation, as well as at Pilgrim\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I say? I like Henry\u2019s sermons and I like the people and I like the spirit in that church. It is what it is,\u201d said Albom. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve decided that I\u2019m not wise enough to tell you that one faith is better than another. God will have to sort it all out. That\u2019s in God\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitch Albom has seen plenty of extremely large men, which isn\u2019t surprising after a quarter century as one of America\u2019s top sports writers. But he wasn\u2019t ready for the giant who met him outside the Pilgrim Church\u2018s dilapidated Gothic sanctuary near downtown Detroit. The Rev. Henry Covington was as tall as a basketball player, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[298,487,1538,649,675,893,897],"class_list":["post-1723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godbeat","tag-detroit","tag-journalism","tag-judaism","tag-pentecostalism","tag-poverty","tag-universalism","tag-urban-life"],"yoast_head":"\nA rabbi, a preacher and a journalist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mitch Albom has seen plenty of extremely large men, which isn't surprising after a quarter century as one of America's top sports writers. 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