Reverend Michael Curry brought Jesus Fire to those stuffy British folks
May 19, 2018
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that Reverend Michael Curry would be doing one part of the wedding sermon, I didn’t really know what to expect. Given that BBC America’s entire wedding coverage was so focused on how odd/different/notable it is to see a black woman (or mixed race woman) join the “white space” of a British royal family, I thought that Rev. Curry would probably be asked to play it very safe. But he did not. He brought the gospel of the black church to that stuffy white space. Here’s his sermon:
The British reporters had never seen or heard anything like that and they were stunned, to say the least. The Americans were like “PRAISE IT, Y’ALL!” Even if we’re not black, Americans are raised to believe in the power of an African-American preacher talking about Jesus Fire and Gilead. There Is a Balm in Gilead is actually a traditional African-American spiritual. The point of this wasn’t that Meghan is “becoming white” by marrying into this family. Also: the reactions from the royal family were especially funny/interesting. Zara looked shocked!!
Photos courtesy of Getty.