Clear Skies apple and cherry blossoms give me joy. I hope this is a year orchardists will favor. While I enjoy blossoms, each orchardist examines them to see whether their crops will be favorable. Each has to answer for their fruit.
    But the decaying presidential primary infested me with statements that Obama has to answer for his pastor and fellow Board members, and McCain has to answer for pastors he asked to endorse him. 
    Answering for others could get out of hand. I have not agreed with all the words that have come out of my pastors’ mouths. Nor have I always agreed with fellow members of my churches or non-profit boards. I am busy answering for my past, not my pastors or past associates.
    Our landfill charges me for trash in my pickup, not my neighbor’s.
    When I watched Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s demeaning answers at the National Press Club, I felt he should pay for a lot of trash. And I do not agree with statements attributed to pastors sought out by McCain.
    My wife and I do answer for our choices of churches in the last 44 years. We choose them for the pastor’s message, and for youth programs, worship experiences, adult education, small group ministries, church members, nourishment for our faiths, and missions with neighbors who are nearby, nationwide, or international.
    I choose churches based on the fruit of its labors, not some pastors’ and members’ comments I toss in my mental trash bin.
I re-read Luke, chapter 4, which Wright said is the basis for his church’s ministry. In Luke 4 Jesus rejects temptations in the wilderness and proclaims His mission to preach good news to the poor, free prisoners, heal people, release the oppressed, and “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then He did what He preached. Luke 4 makes a good checklist for a church’s ministry.
The website of the church Obama chose, Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago) www.tucc.org displays appealing ministerial fruit produced by 8,000 fellow Americans. The church’s website of the pastor McCain sought out, Cornerstone Church of San Antonio www.sacornerstone.com displays appealing ministerial fruit produced by 17,000 fellow Americans.
    I confess I was a board member for a non-profit prison ministry. I believe some of those board members served prison time for their past. Do I have to answer for them because I served with them in a prison ministry? What was Jesus’ answer for outrageously sharing bread with tax collectors and prostitutes?
    I answer for my past, not my pastors and past associates. Demanding politicians answer for pastors and past associates produces too much trash talk.  Such a primary year would not be “a year of the Lord’s favor.”