Black History Month: Absalom Jones Day, New Book Offers Insights
Episcopal News Service. February 8, 2005 [020805-3-A]
The 203rd anniversary of the life and ministry of the Rev. Absalom Jones, the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church, will be observed in congregations this weekend, with Absalom Jones Day being held Sunday, February 13.
Absalom Jones made history when in 1786 the white members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia decided that black members should sit only in the balcony. After learning about the decision, Jones and his friend Richard Allen walked out of the church and were followed by the other black members.
William White, Episcopal Bishop of Philadelphia, agreed to accept the group as an Episcopal parish and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas opened its doors on July 17, 1794, making it the first black church in Philadelphia and one of the first in the country. Jones served as the parish's lay reader until 1802 when he was ordained priest and served as the parish's rector.
Jones and Allen were also co-founders of the Free African Society, the first Afro-American organization in the United States, whose purpose was "to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children."
The Preamble, dated April 12, 1787, explains that the original intent of Allen and Jones was "to form some kind of religious society" for "the people of their complexion whom they beheld with sorrow, because of their irreligious and uncivilized state."
In the Episcopal Diocese of New York, an Absalom Jones celebration will be held at St. Augustine's Church on Saturday, February 12, at 11 a.m., and will honor the Rev. Canon Frederick Boyd Williams, rector of Church of the Intercession, for his service to church and community in the spirit of Absolom Jones. The service will include a presentation on the "Slave Galleries" at the church. Further information can be found online at http://www.dioceseny.org.
The Washington Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians will celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 13.
Note: The following titles are available from the Episcopal Book/Resource Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017; 800.334.7626 or 212.716.6118 http://www.episcopalbookstore.org.
To Read: AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH: Daily Devotions 2005 by Karen F. Williams (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2005: 32 pages; $2.00.)
From the publisher: Welcome to African American History Month. This annual publication of devotions contains Scripture-based readings and inspiration for each day of February. Each day's meditation is based on a Scripture passage combined with African American history, and includes a prayer based on the theme. Church congregations will find African American History Month Daily Devotions perfect for Bible study, for opening meditations for meetings and events, as well as for personal and family daily devotions. These devotions increase a sense of knowledge and awareness of African American history, foster pride in that history and accomplishment, and strengthen personal and communal faith, hope, and commitment to a rich heritage and future.
Karen F. Williams is the co-author of Sending Up My Timber: An African American Prayer Journal and the author of four volumes of Lights, Drama, Worship! She is a freelance editor and writer with a diversified career in journalism and publishing. She received a B.A. in English from North Carolina A&T State University and an M.A. in Communication (Creative
Writing) from Regent University.
To Read: CLAIMING GOD RECLAIMING DIGNITY: African American Pastoral Care by Edward P. Wimberly (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003: 125 pages; $16.00.)
From the publisher: What does it mean to be persons of worth and value in our contemporary culture? How can a relationship with God give us a renewed sense of our personal dignity? It is these perennial questions that Edward P. Wimberly addresses. According to Wimberly we become persons by internalizing the conversations in which we take part, but we become holy persons by giving conversation with God a privileged status over all other conversations. Following the African American tradition of drawing on biblical material, this book uses the book of Job but also contemporary African American fiction to show how persons can be transformed by putting conversation with God in the forefront. In so doing Wimberly offers the field of pastoral care an elegant tool to help understand how persons can come to a renewed sense, or perhaps a first-time sense, of personal worth and dignity. In addition this enhanced sense of personal worth and value leads toward social transformation in the direction of greater worth and dignity for all persons.
Edward P. Wimberly is the Executive Vice President for Academic Services/Academic Dean and Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.