It happened in Massachusetts, where gay marriage became legal in 2004 and most residents are way past fretting over who’s gay and who’s not. Still, it’s unusual – if not unprecedented – for a marine combat veteran and politician to single out a gay preacher in his victory speech. Yet that’s what Seth Moulton did Tuesday night when he ousted sitting congressman John Tierney in the primary. He named the late Peter Gomes as a spiritual inspiration.
Maybe it says something about generational change.
Moulton is 35 and white. Gomes, 68 when he died in 2011, was half Cape Verdean, half African-American. He was also a Harvard theologian, an extraordinary, sit-up-and-take-notice preacher at the university’s Memorial Church. He wrote many books on religiosity, including the bestsellers “The Good Book: Reading The Bible with Mind and Heart” and “Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living.”
Gomes was an American Baptist, but his highly readable works and sermons are filled with universal lessons, and just plain great life advice.
