5/20/2016

THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER ONLINE ENGLISH EDITION (05/20/16)


The Right Reverend T. Larry Kirkland - Chair, Commission on Publications
The Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour, Jr., Publisher
The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III, the 20th Editor, The Christian Recorder


The 50th Quadrennial Session of the General Conference, July 6-13, 2016
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

-- Massacre of Emanuel 9, June 17


1. TCR EDITORIAL – SOME MORE UNIQUE QUALITIES OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH:

The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III
The 20th Editor of The Christian Recorder

There is so much to learn about the Bible and the church and we must never forget that we are in spiritual warfare.

Pastoring is an awesome responsibility and it is important for pastors to train parishioners and especially young people about the sacredness of the things of God.

I have written on more than one occasion that one of interesting things about being the Editor of The Christian Recorder is the opportunity to interact with clergy and laity from across the AME Church, both here in the U.S. and abroad.

Some of the comments and queries send me scrambling to the Bible, to The Doctrine and Discipline - AMEC, the AMEC Hymnal, to reference books, the internet and even to colleagues; and those queries help me to learn and grow, and to be able to share. 

Some of the parishioners who correspond with me ask questions, others share anecdotes and others give their opinions. A common thread of all the inquiries reinforces for me the notion that pastors and religious educators need to do more teaching.

Spirited preaching that helps people to feel good and cope with the various challenges of life is wonderful, but teaching is important, especially in “connected organizations” and particularly so in a connectional church such as the AME Church. 

We have some biblical beliefs and doctrines with which people should be familiar. And, in this sense, “familiarity does not breed contempt,” but enhances love and appreciation for our Zion. The more we pray and the more we know about scripture, the greater possibility for a deeper spiritual life.  The more we know about doctrine and why we do certain things in worship the better enhanced is our relationship with each other and with God.

For instance I am sure it’s helpful for our parishioners to understand why we pray in worship before the reading of the scripture. In Methodism we have the prayer before the scripture because we invoke God’s presence before the reading of the Word of God. 

Another example, the first hymn should always be a hymn of praise and acknowledgement of the presence of God, not just any hymn because it’s upbeat or we like the melody. The sentence of the traditional AME Call to Worship, says, “O Sing unto the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth and sing praises.  The opening hymn should be praise to God!

Someone asked last week if I could address infant baptism. The question was, "Why do we baptize babies?"

A couple of observations

There is nowhere in the Bible and more specifically in the New Testament, a prohibition against baptizing infants. One could start off with the premise that the scriptures encourage baptism of children and even infants.

Why do I start off with that statement? Every AME should be familiar with the Articles of Religion. Pastors should insure new and old parishioners understand the Articles of Religion.

In the Fifth Article of Religion – “Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation, it states, “The Holy Scriptures containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man [woman].” Simply stated, the Bible contains everything necessary for salvation, the Bible is our rule and guide for faith and practice.

If the Bible says it, “Believe it and obey it and where the Bible is silent, the Pope or any other religious leader or denomination does not have the authority of making additional requirements about faith and salvation.”

Having said that, the Bible does not prohibit infant baptism, but rather infers that infants and children were baptised, e.g., the Philippian Jailer and his whole household were baptised. The scripture, Acts 16: 25-34 records the Philippian Jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.”

Another example – Jesus never rejected children, blessed them and chastised his disciples when they tried to keep the children away from him. Jesus was inclusive and Methodism is inclusive!

And before proceeding further, the terms “baptism and christening” are synonymous and the terms literally mean “to make Christians of them.”

One does not have to be baptized in order to be saved, based on Jesus’ response to one of the thieves crucified with him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

We do not re-baptize in the AME Church.  I am not sure what it is about the concern of people remembering their baptism.  Do Jewish men who were circumcised on the eighth day remember their circumcision ceremony? Do they want to remember it? No! 

Remembering our baptism is not important and there is no biblical injunction to do so.  Remembering the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is important because the Bible tells us to do so.

It is the responsibility of pastors to teach parishioners about baptism.  The “quick and dirty” answer is that those who practice infant baptism believe that baptism has replaced [fulfilled] the Old Testament circumcision and is the religious ceremony of initiation into the Christian community. Infant baptism is also referred to as pedobaptism.

Methodists believe infant baptism has spiritual value for the infant. John Wesley believed baptism was a means of grace, and water baptism was symbolic. Methodists view baptism in water as symbolic and believe that water baptism does not regenerate the baptised or cleanse them from sin. In Methodism, baptism is the doorway to sanctification and it is the water and the Spirit. We embrace water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Obedient Christians baptize babies because baptism is a “type” of circumcision. Jewish baby boys are circumcised on the eighth day; devout Jews do not wait until the boys come of age to determine for themselves if they want to be Jews (circumcised). Jewish infants are “made” Jews through circumcision and when they come of age can decide if they don’t want to be Jews. 

We do not delay baptism; we make our children “Christians from birth.” They can decide later if they don’t want to be Christians. It doesn’t seem Christian to wait and let our children decide if they want to be Christians. We baptise them, make Christians of them and if they want; they can decide “not to be a Christian.” 

When people were converted in the Apostolic church (throughout the book of Acts and the epistles), the person and his or her whole household were baptised (Acts 16 and I Corinthians 1:16) as well as "the promise to you and your children" (Acts 2:39) as including small children and infants.

One does not have to be baptised to be saved.  In Methodism, one does not have to be baptised to take Communion and that’s why in Methodism our Communion is called the “Open Table.”

Interestingly, most Christian faith groups around the world practice pedobaptism, the baptism of children, i.e., Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Eastern Orthodox, and many others.

There is nothing in the Bible about the necessity for a person to remember his or her baptism; and nothing in Judaism that emphasized the notion that Jewish boys needed to remember their circumcision.

And, a bit more about the various modes of baptism, most denominations around the world practice sprinkling and affusion (pouring).

The earliest images in the catacombs show John the Baptist pouring water on the head of a person, who is standing in ankle-deep water.

And in the Didache, an early Christian treatise, dated by most modern scholars to the first century gives a description of baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit by affusion.

A couple of more things

Traditionally pastors serve the elements of communion in a recipient’s right hand and people who receive the Sacrament cup their right hand over the left hand and in some instances, the crossed hands form a Cross.

In biblical times, and even today, in the Middle East, the left hand is considered unclean; the left hand was supposed to be the hand that one used to clean oneself after using the toilet. People ate with their right hand; touched others only with the right hand; never the left hand. The tradition has been carried over in the church and tradition has been to take Communion with the right hand. (It’s not a sin to take the sacrament with the left hand, just a tradition).

Blessings are also given with the right hand. In some churches a left-handed blessing is an anathema.  The Bible speaks about the right hand of God; never the left hand of God.

Holy Communion is a sacred event.  The bread and wine become the "Presence” of the body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The consecrated bread and wine transcend the ordinary and become sacred. We call the process “Consubstantiation.” 

Roman Catholics believe the consecrated elements of Communion become the “actual body and blood” of Jesus Christ and that doctrine is called, “Transubstantiation.”

The consecrated elements of the Eucharist should be handled with respect, and just as importantly, should be disposed of with utmost care. The consecrated elements should not be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet. 

The left-over consecrated elements can be eaten, but with reverence.  It is appropriate to put the leftover wafers/bread and juice/wine on the ground, but not where people can walk on it.  Leftovers should be disposed of with respect and reverence to God.

The sacredness of the Cross

In worship, during prayer and singing the doxologies, it is traditional for clergy, parishioners to face in the direction of the Cross. In many churches, the church architecture lends itself to everyone facing the Cross; and clergy and parishioners naturally face the Cross.

There is so much to learn about the Bible and the church and we must never forget that we are in spiritual warfare.

Pastoring is an awesome responsibility and it is important for pastors to train parishioners and especially young people about the sacredness of the things of God.

2. TCR OP-ED - THE CHURCH AND THE TRANSGENDER DEBATE:

I write this missive and refutation today from a dual perspective both as a Pastor and Professor  in the church I love, the African Methodist Episcopal Church then as a Professor of Religious Studies  in both of these duties I am responsible for depositing knowledge into the hearts of my congregation and students, knowledge that can either be perilous, or laudatory, based on its presentation,  my heart is anxious and heavy as we are weeks away from the 50th Session of the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church one of the oldest African American denominations in Christendom we come together every four years for the purpose of implementing laws, and legislation that will navigate the future of the church, elect Bishops, General Officers, and Judicial council members that will implement  the decisions voted upon by the delegates of the General Conference.

However; this year as a church we have an opportunity to use our ecclesiastical platform to sound the clarion and prophetic call on prevalent and prominent issues of social justice and moral relativism, more specifically the issue of same sex marriage and the transgender bathroom debate.  I raise this concern due to the fact that just recently the Obama Administration declared an outrageous directive that every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity, the New York Times calls this decree a sweeping directive in the May 12, 2016 article and according to that same article "it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama's administration interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid."


It is unfathomable that we are debating an issue that according to a 2011 article published by the Williams institute only 0.3 of the population identify as transgender which raises the question who's protecting the vast percentage of persons who are not represented in this number? What about other concerns where there have been documented instances where sexual predators have portrayed themselves as a certain gender to gain access into restrooms.

I pray that as a church body that we can discuss and debate the issues aforementioned and leave the General Conference with a documented prospectus to these issues a prospectus  that will articulate clearly that as a Christian denomination we will uphold the tenets of the Bible that declare that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that God created male and female, to digress from these two ideologies is an attempt to recreate creation which in my opinion is a prodigious mistake to our faith and existence.

*The Rev. Dr. C. Dennis Williams is the Senior Pastor of Smith Chapel A.M.E. Church in Dallas, Texas and serves as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Paul Quinn College

3. TCR OP-ED - WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE:

*The Rev. Velma E. Grant, M.Div., Th.M.

-- Editor’s Note: This TCR Op-Ed appeared in last weeks issue of TCR Online and the name of the writer was inadvertently left off; re-publishing the op-ed today with the name of the writer, the Rev. Velma E. Grant.

The world is our stage or the world is now the platform for the African Methodist Episcopal Church since that fateful night in June 2015 (the massacre at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church). Moreover, because the world is our stage we should be aware and mindful of not only our actions but our language as well, since both can bring positive or negative light to our Zion. During the afternoon session of the General Conference Commission gathering in early April, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie issued a reminder to those who gathered for the General Board and the General Conference Commission meeting.

The reminder was for individuals to be cognizant of their discussions, jokes and other conversations during the meeting. Bishop McKenzie said, “I would hope that we are careful about the language that we use to each other. We have young leaders in the room. Be careful how we speak to each other, we cannot expect the world to respect us if we cannot respect each other.”

I have had several weeks to ponder on the importance of the cautionary warning issued by our pioneer female bishop on that April afternoon, and I realize that the warning was not only applicable to that afternoon, but it should be a continuous reminder moving forward. The warning should also remind us that our language and actions not only affect our young leaders but also affects others who are not members of our Zion.

For instance, I wonder about the thoughts of the audio-visual technicians/engineers who were not employees of the AME Church, but employees of the Philadelphia Convention Center. What were they thinking as the Church presented, discussed, queried, shared information that was relevant not only to the upcoming General Conference but to the overall business of the Church? Did those individuals leave our meeting with a positive or negative understanding of the AME Church, whom did they share this information with, or what did they share about what they learned about our Zion in those few days?

Bishop McKenzie was correct when she reminded those gathered – and perhaps those viewing via livestream – that if we as members of this great body do not respect each other in our language and actions then we could not or should not be dismayed when the world does not respect us in any capacity.  I am almost certain that our General Conference will be observed by many worldwide, and therefore “business as usual” should not be the norm.

I have overheard several individuals at different times; offer what they deem to be sage advice to some other individuals who are contemplating making their first General Conference appearance. The advice is usually cautioning those first timers not to be disappointed in the actions and language displayed by “church people” during the normal course of General Conference sessions. In other words, first timers should not be disappointed or dismayed when Jesus is left outside the door during business sessions or when Jesus is not visible during the course of the business session deliberations.

As we move towards the 50th session of the A.M.E Church’s General Conference, let us strive to heed the words of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie and exercise caution in our language and in our actions. Let us exercise caution so that we can be positive role models not only for our young leaders but also for others who are watching us on this worldwide stage. Let us invite Jesus to enter and stay in the room as laws, regulations, and polity are discussed, as new leaders are elected (not selected) to enhance our Zion as well as the kingdom of God. Please, watch your language and your actions so that others can see God working within us as members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, Richard Allen, Sarah Allen, and Jarena Lee.


*The Rev. Velma E. Grant, M.Div., Th.M. is an Associate Pastor First Saint Paul A.M.E. Church, Lithonia, Georgia

4. READER RESPONSE TO EDITORIAL AND OTHER ISSUES: 

-- To the Editor:

RE: Response to comments by retired Presiding Elder, the Rev. Sidney Williams

This past Sunday at my church, St. Paul AME-Newport News, a retired Presiding Elder spoke about the occasion of the church receiving a new pastor.  He spoke about the itineracy and how we depend on the Godly judgments of the presiding elders and bishops to lead them to assign pastors to each church in the conference.  He continued to say when we embrace God and his direction for us, then we will embrace the new pastor. 
He finished by saying St. Paul’s greatest days are ahead of it.

As I listened to his message I thought about how his message applied to the AME church overall.  When Absalom Jones and Richard Allen established the Free African Society over 200 years ago, they established the society around the mission of seeking out and saving the lost, and serving the needy.  Since its establishment, generations of African-Americans have carried out the society’s mission through the AME Church.  Now as we stand on the cusp of our 200th anniversary as an independent church denomination, some of us are thinking that our church overall is dwindling and dying.  Many of our churches are facing hard times financially.  Some of our churches are being foreclosed or pushed out by neighborhood redevelopment.  Attendance at some of the churches on most Sundays is barely one hundred.  And the consistent attendees to our many conferences are the more seasoned saints of our church.  Because of this, I can see why someone would think our church is dwindling and dying.

But I find it hard to accept the thought that the AME Church is dwindling and dying when I think about the young adults in the church.  The young adults in our church have continued to carry out the mission of the Free African Society through the AME church as attorneys, government officials, business owners, and teachers that all care deeply about the community in which they and their local church are located.  Not only do they care about the community around them but they also care about the church.  They demonstrate their care by serving the church as class leaders, organizational officers, trustees, stewards, and as clergy.  When I hear people say the AME church is dwindling and dying, I think of the young adults and I think about the end of the Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”: "Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ we are not now the strength which in old days moved heaven and earth; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."  

My AME church brothers and sister, the AME Church’s greatest days are ahead of it. 

W. Germain Favor
Young adult member, St. Paul AME Church
Newport News, Virginia

5. NEWS AROUND THE AME CHURCH:
-- From homeless to college through the gridiron...

Young People's Department of the Pilgrim African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was pushed to volunteer, and once he started, he never stopped.


-- Heartache permeates commencement services for Clementa Pinckney

Pinckney not only had been pastor of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., six years, but also had served in...


-- One of the largest gatherings of African Americans in the nation will be taking place in Cincinnati.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church will host its…


-- Pastor with Son Battling Cancer Faces Eviction: My Fear Is Being Homeless with a Kid with No Immune System


6. AME CHURCH BICENTENNIAL GALA BANQUET

AME Church Bicentennial Gala Banquet Video Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=487yrdv89a0&feature=youtu.be

Tuesday July 5, 2016

The First District will host a delightful evening of exceptional music, liturgical dance, and innovative cuisine as they kick off the 2016 General Conference of the AME Church.

Journey along the extraordinary timeline as the denomination celebrates its rich legacy, and the evolutionary promise of an incredible future. The Masters and Mistresses of the Ceremony are the Co-Pastors of Greater Allen Cathedral AME Church, Rev. Dr's. Floyd & Elaine Flake, 1st District YPD President, Lamone Gibson & Philadelphia Conf. YPD President, Iyanna Mapp. The Keynote speakers are Dr. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., activist, Harvard law professor, and director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice and Ms. Britni Peters, YPD-AME Church. Musical performances by gospel recording artists

Kathy Taylor, Jonathan Nelson, the Rev. Eyesha K. Marable, Liturgical Dane Ministry and the First District Bicentennial Choir.

Tickets are $150 and can be purchased through the First District Office: First District Plaza, 3801 Market Street Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19104; Attention Marian Spivey. (Make checks payable to the First Episcopal District, Memo: Gala).  For more information, call (215) 662-0506.

7. THE AME LUNCHEON AT THE HAMPTON UNIVERSITY MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE:

The AME  luncheon at the 102nd Hampton University Ministers' Conference / 82nd Choir Directors' & Organists' Guild Workshop will be held on Wednesday June 08, 2016 at 12 Noon at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 700 Settlers Landing Road Hampton, VA 23669. The Cost of the Luncheon is $25.00 and it is always a great time of fellowship.  If you need further information call Bethel AME Church, (757) 723-4065. 

The AMEs are presenting at the HU Ministers’ Conference: Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Presiding Prelate of the 10th Episcopal District, AMEC; the Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, the pastor and founder of The Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Maryland; and the Reverend Sheleta Fomby, the Director of Church Life at the Reid Temple AME Church, Glenn Dale, Maryland and also serves as the Minister to Women.

*Received from the Rev. Andre Jefferson, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Hampton, Virginia

8. BISHOP ADAM J. RICHARDSON JR., PREACHES POWERFUL SERMON ON PENTECOST SUNDAY:

The Right Rev. Adam Jefferson Richardson Jr., Presiding Prelate of the   Electrifying, Eleventh Episcopal District (Florida and the Bahama Islands), preached a fervent, Spirit - filled, thought provoking sermon on Pentecost Sunday. His sermon will be long remembered by all who had the golden opportunity to witness this soul stirring message.

The Rev. Dr. Marvin C. Zanders ll, the Shepherd of St. Paul AME Church, Jacksonville, Florida introduced Bishop Richardson as an anointed Gospel Preacher, mentor and unparalleled leadership. Supervisor, Connie Speights Richardson was applauded for the ministry she provides and is honored for all of her accomplishments.

The text selected was Acts to 2:1-4: And When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Bishop Richardson's dynamic message was titled, "Symbols and Substance of Pentecost." His salient points were: Jesus was the reason and focus of the Assembly, on the Day of Pentecost and Pentecost was fifty days after the Resurrection.  On this day we celebrate "the Birth of the Church." Bishop continued by stating that numbers in the Bible are symbolic. He chose the number twelve as an example. Jacob had twelve sons which represented the Twelve Tribes of Israel. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, the priest picked up twelve stones from the riverbed as a testimony That God had brought them over safely a river into the Promised Land. Solomon appointed twelve officers over Israel. The breastplate of the high priest had twelve stones embedded in it. Each stone in the breastplate represented The Twelve Tribes of Israel. They knew that twelve had symbolic meaning because they had saw Jesus choose twelve disciples. The twelve became known as apostles.

The designated symbols were Wind, Flame and Tongue. Bishop Richardson stated that moving air can be as gentle as a breeze. It can also be fierce and violent. It can be frightening and awesome. "Wind can be an act of God, for Example, God blew breath of life into Adam. God also breathed to divide The Red Sea, which caused the Israelites to escape on dry ground from the Snares of Pharaoh and the Egyptian armies. Bishop exclaimed boldly, "Hallelujah, Breathe on us Breath of GOD!" One morning in Jerusalem, through an act of God, the wind blew. God breathed. The Church inhaled Holy air. Perhaps it was the sound of a mighty Rushing wind! The Church began to cry. One of the words that came out from the beginning was “Hallelujah.” It is the language of the church. So we have come again today, asking God to breathe on our worship, make it Vital, thoughtful and joyful. Fill us with life anew so that we may love what God loves.

Flame was the second symbol. It is analogous to fire, heat and light. Bishop stated that God is a Consuming Fire. One of the earliest symbols of the church was fire. People had learned to control fire: Cook with it; to provide heat and light; to protect themselves from marauding animals with fire. It had been associated with God's presence. Moses encountered the presence of the Lord at Mt. Horeb. In Exodus 3: 2-3, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. The bush was burning with fire, but it was not consumed. The writer says in Hebrews 12:19, "For our God is a consuming fire.” We all react when touched by fire.

The third symbol Bishop Richardson addressed was the Tongue. Its purpose was to communicate the Gospel, so that those who heard would be saved. God shed His blood by submitting to a cruel death on a cross between two thieves. He has now been given a name that is above all names, and in that name, we are invited to come out of our sins and out of our separation and received into the presence of God in a language, in a tongue we can all understand. The question is, "Will you receive it? Will you be saved? Will you be filled?" If you believe you are saved, baptized and filled, He then invites us into ministry to go tell somebody else. The Book says, "And the Lord added to the Church daily, not just on Sunday, but daily. Those who were being saved thanked God daily for the gift of a tongue!

At the end of Bishop's powerful and anointed proclamation of God's Word, all worshippers were on their feet to attest to the awesomeness of the powerful message they heard on Pentecost Sunday 2016.

Some of the recognized visitors that shared in this worship experience were supervisor Connie Speights Richardson, Presiding Elder and Mrs. Tony D. Hansberry; presiding Elders Retired, Frederick Richardson, Jr. and Dr. James M. Proctor; Mrs. Mavis Bush, Office Administrator of the Eleventh Episcopal District; Mrs. Winifred Zanders, the Rev. Dr. Robert L. Mitchell and Mrs. Deloris Mitchell.

Retired Presiding Elder, Dr. Robert L. Mitchell served as President of Edward Waters College, in Jacksonville, Florida from 1990-1995.

9. LADY GAIL G. BOOKER REIGNS AS CONNECTIONAL FIRST LADY QUEEN 2015-16:

It was a bright hot summer day in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Hundreds of members of the Connectional Ministers’ Spouses, Widows and Widowers Organization Plus P.K.’s of the African Methodist Episcopal Church gathered for their Annual Clergy Family Awards Breakfast during the General Board Meeting June 30, 2015. All in attendance were dressed in red eager to see who would be the 2015-16 Connectional First Lady Queen.

Then it was final, Lady Gail Glover Booker, First Lady of St. Paul AME Church in St. Louis, Missouri,  Fifth Episcopal District, was announced and crowned by Sister Lula Shaw Cleckley, President of Conn-M-SWAWO Plus PK’s., to reign as Connectional First Lady Queen 2015-16.

Lady Gail G. Booker was selected to be the First Lady Contestant by Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, Supervisor Mary L. Kirkland, President Kinette Cager, Retired Supervisor Vivienne Anderson and the Fifth Episcopal District members of the Clergy Family Organization.  More than three hundred contributors and supporters of the Fifth District propelled her to victory through donations. Additionally, her immediate family, being third generation AME’s contributed to this victory in memory of one of the Founding Members, the Late Presiding Elder Benjamin Roosevelt (Nell) Booker, Sr., who transitioned from labor to reward on February 28, 2013. Lady Gail was supported by her husband, the Rev. Spencer Lamar Booker, Mother Roxey Booker-Walton, Daeryl, Nicholas and other Booker family members who gave tangible support by donating $10,000.00 to the causes of this awesome organization that shares so much with Clergy Families since its conception under the founder, Dr. Dorothy Owens, and her husband Dr. John, Q. Owens, Social Action Director retired.

Lady Gail G. Booker was groomed for this honor early in life. She was nurtured in the AME Churches in Macon, Georgia. She maintained her AME loyalty by joining Allen Chapel, Macon where she served on the Steward Board and was a member of the Lay Organization. She served as Women’s Missionary Society Area Chair of the South Atlanta District of the Sixth Episcopal District, and President of the Midwest Conference of Conn-M-SWAWO Plus PK’S. Lady Gail is a retiree of BellSouth Telecommunications as Business Specialist. She has multiple skills as a certified Dale Carnegie Public Speaker and Human Relations, an Associate Degree Recipient in Secretarial Computer Science, Certified ABC of Effective Child Care Leadership from Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, an accomplished musician, a devoted wife, and a great mother.

At the 50th Session of the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, PA, our Connectional First Lady Gail will usher in this awesome title as we celebrate our 200th year of Christian Freedom. We the members of the 5th Episcopal District, the Booker Family, and many well-wishers congratulate Lady Gail for her reign as the Queen with dignity, honor, and Christian pride as she passes on the torch to the next Connectional First Lady Queen of the CONN-M-SWAWO Plus PK’s.

10. STATE OF THE COUNTRY REPORT - THE VIRGINIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE:

*Read by the Rev. Dr. Edward Scott

The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation’s purpose—and is a test of the quality of a nation’s civilization. John F. Kennedy, December 19, 1962

To Bishop William P. DeVeaux, the presiding prelate of the Second Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, to Dr. Pam DeVeaux, our beloved Episcopal Supervisor, Co-Host Presiding Elders Chester Morris and Quentin White, to all the clergy and laypersons assembled, your Committee on the State of the Country presents the following report:

Nature, scope and task

The task of presenting a brief but full report on the State of the Country requires a judicious review of the prevailing conditions under which States unfold their destinies, their honest and laudable ambitions, indeed, the values embedded in and flowering from their practices.

First, national purpose is uneasy to determine where there is an absence of myth, a national narrative concerning our whither and our whence, our ultimate comings and our goings. What experience of nature gave us our sense of boundlessness over a whole continent with its surging rivers and foaming lakes, it's the Shenandoah and the Rockies; it's mesas, plains and glades too? Where did we first hear the soundless flight of barn owls and the darkened evening lullabies of whippoorwills? Who first noticed the forests in primeval splendor and the rushing falls at Niagara, or plumbed the caverns’ depths at Ruby Falls and Carlsbad? Our natural wonders inspire imagination and provide the geography for spirit as well as soil.

Second, the mythic power of the country is, in turn, confirmation of the swell of our inclination toward the sacred. Religion is not dead in America, however diminished traditional denominational religious expression has become. The nation is, by all accounts, intoxicated in its appetite for the numinous, the sublime and the holy. We might expect this to be more the case in a time of drought in long standing religious institutions because human beings are by nature and in their natures called by the sacred most particularly when those institutions become hidebound and static.

Third, the reinvigoration of national life, especially after periods of moribund depression and decadent indulgence, occurs in concert with a rich and deepened awareness of our individual and collective will as it takes shape in the plastic, dramatic and musical arts. The nation’s voice is shaped and sounded with powerful witness on stage, in cinema, clubs and concert halls. Its brilliant variety, its riot of diversity is disclosed in its visual arts, its paintings, the embodiment of ideas in wood, in bronze and stone and even in the architecture we have invented for our dwelling, work and play.

Finally, the aforementioned is urgently significant in fashioning our political reality to meet our most pressing needs as a people, a people made up of peoples from all points upon the globe. What politics suits best the bewildering proliferation of languages spoken, the yearning of Greek, Jew and Gentile, of Arab, Indian and Asian not to speak of African? Our report sees the clue to a possible answer in the lay of the land, the tales we spin, the gods we serve, the arts we create and the songs we sing.

Findings

I. To speak of a national mythic consciousness may sound trite at first hearing but we have in mind the anxiety we often feel in the wake of nature’s manifestation of power for flood, quake and eruption. When lightning bolts and scars the purple skies and rock slides and rumbles from its perch to sack the roads we grasp and gasp that elemental forces bind us. Our genius for shaping the earth gives way before the power of the earth to shape us instead. We have not mastered water, wind or sky and the bowels of the earth collapse around us when all we know is the fungible value of coal and oil. Without the myths of the earth as holy precincts we despoil the earth. The winds carry the pestilence of our naked mercantile aspirations for cheap energy. Our waters run with brain damaging irons that pollute our Flints to the West, but in the North, East and the South as well.

II. Jews, Christians and Muslims and more besides sought safe spaces in which to honor the God they serve and reverence. Each in turn discovered how fragile synagogues, churches and mosques could be. All African Methodism felt the shock of this truth most acutely when a lone gunman assaulted Mother Emanuel in South Carolina. Dylan Roof snuffed away nine lives of the faithful while they were engaged in the study of God’s holy Word.  And so it was that terrorism in places of worship snapped us from complacency to alert attention that we needed to be well armed in the word of God to stand fearless before such mindless threats and to loudly proclaim in solidarity with our children that, “black lives matter.”

III. President Obama requested an early viewing of “Game of Thrones.” The stage musical “Hamilton” won an unprecedented number of awards for its hip hop musical treatment of the founding father most identified with a strong central bank and pop artist Prince succumbed to unknown causes after a career that reconfigured popular music composition and performance. Whitney Houston had shown in years past how the power of song could make a dead national anthem spring to life but Prince cast a spell of song to make us all delight in purple rain.

Toni Morrison continued to exorcise the national demons of race in a fiction as brutally honest as it was heartbreakingly beautiful and the nation said goodbye to a poet, Maya Angelou, the original “phenomenal woman” who taught us to say, “Still I rise.”

But if hip hop and pop music have ancestry they need look no farther than jazz, the very life’s blood of the national soul. Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra along with a 70 voices gospel choir recorded an epic jazz worship service entitled Abyssinian Mass. The Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III, the pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, commissioned the Mass to commemorate the church’s bicentennial. The performance of the Mass is a revelation of the transformative lift of spirit in man, woman, child and country. We are jazz children and our God is both protean and Promethean, singing the world into birth and rebirth by his own divine lyric.

IV. Political speech has surrendered prose and poetry to inarticulate insult and physical threats of violence. Republican oratory is sniveling and bankrupt but Democratic debate, only slightly loftier, trades on fiery charges and counter charges of disqualification for the Presidency. Still this final year of Obama’s leadership provides ample opportunity for us to boast of his accomplishments: the 5% rate of unemployment, increased access of vast numbers of the nation’s people to health care, the declining rate of crime in the most crime besotted cities in our nation, the increased attention now given to the need for massive reforms in our criminal justice system, and sharp reduction in threats of terrorism from abroad all speak to a robust and wise stewarding of political power for the sake of the common good. Our politics are never good but always on the way to the good because democracy, while messy, is the world’s best promise for the “beloved community.” Our politics are never beautiful but always inspired by the beautiful in the sweeping majesty of song, the virile strength of our arts and the penetrating insight of our stories.

Goals and objectives

Our committee would propose the following goals for our nation’s people of faith.

To renew our sense of the holiness of the earth and its fragility in sheltering us. We cannot continue to despoil its resources as though its coal and oil were simple substances we use without a harsh recompense in the change of climate that makes our air un-breathable and our water undrinkable.

To speak to national purpose in terms that recaptures our mythic consciousness of an exalted destiny. We need to reawaken our sense of intimacy with the soil from which we were formed and to which we shall all return. In this way we resituate our fidelity to our nation in the broader context of our fidelity to the earth and all her peoples.

The example of Mother Emanuel’s people in the wake of so devastating a tragedy as we all witnessed this past year should convince us of the power of faith to heal, to bind up the nation’s wounds and to reconcile. We pray for her spirit to be alive in us for forgiveness, love and redemption even as we reach beyond the boundary separating Christian from Jew and Muslim to proclaim a common father in Abraham.

John Kennedy was right when he declared that a nation’s soul is expressed in her arts and that a worthy home for their flourishing is essential for national health and esteem. We look to stage and screen for the super-abounding surplus of meaning of our national character. We listen to catch the simulation of angel song in our greatest singers and musicians. If “the good” is to be found in any American we may find it in her impulse to love the world through the arts.

We suspect that our talk of myth may appear strange in this report but we advocate that notion of myth, which becomes our cultural project. “[W]ithout myth every culture loses the healthy natural power of its creativity: only a horizon defined by myths completes and unifies a whole cultural movement. . . . Even the state knows no more powerful unwritten laws than the mythical foundation that guarantees its connection with religion and its growth from mythical notions.”

To provide a just regard for engaged citizenship through the electoral process. We are admonished that too few of our people ever even bother to vote. The hazards we invite are monumental if we disavow through indolence or inertia the right to vote. President Obama just last week cautioned the graduating class at Howard University that only two in every five of our people voted in the mid terms. He observed that it was painfully ironic that following the election of a Republican congress people remarked that he had been unable to accomplish more.

Recommendation

Our committee recommends that we take advantage of the high visibility that came to the AME Church when Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney and his members lost their lives to gun violence and racial hatred to advocate for gun legislation. We should join with like-minded and like suffering parents of murdered children in Sandy Hook, black mothers of black sons who were felled by police misconduct and those who lost loved ones in malls and theatres to pressure legislators to heed our just petition. We urge our churches to fire the imagination of their congregations with the poetry of the prophets and the sermons in deed and prose of the first apostles. Having heard the prayers we pray and the hymns we sing surely the earth will shake just as it did in the days of Paul and Silas and our chains of fear and lassitude we may at long last loose (Acts 16:25-26).

Let the church renew its covenant to embolden righteous citizens to serve the God of Glory so that justice will be secured. Let her ignite a spark of imagination in her children so that they will know that they are the children of that God who formed the concealed and revealed places above and below the earth. Let us teach them that he formed their inmost parts as well as those features we see face to face. The play of our children will reawaken the springs of national growth, first because in church we taught them to sing; in church we first taught them to dance; in church we first taught them to speak in prayer and preaching. Then it may be fitly spoken of us that we are a nation of painters and preachers, of mythmakers and mystics, of singers and statesmen too. After all, President Obama’s eulogy for Rev. Pinckney demonstrated, with grace on grace, that a statesman may even lead us in worship and in priestly fashion lift a closing song that bids us seek God’s own “Amazing Grace.”

Respectfully submitted by the members of the Committee on the State of the Country to the One Hundred Fiftieth Session of the Virginia Annual Conference in the year of our Lord, 2016.

The Rev. Dr. Edward A. Scott
The Rev. Willie Boothe
The Rev. David Brown 
The Rev. Ruby Brown-White 
The Rev. Deborah Bryant     
The Rev. Billy Hunter          
The Rev. Percy McIntire       
The Rev. John Swann  
The Rev. Willie L. White

Delegates

Brother Earnest Harvey
Sister Ida Henry 
Sister Tracee McMillian
Sister Miranda Roundtree     
Brother James Sample 
Sister Matilda Watson
Sister Stephanie Winlock

*The Rev. Dr. Edward A. Scott is the pastor of Allen Chapel AME Church and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Mary Baldwin College, both in Staunton, Virginia.

11. BIRTH OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH CELEBRATED AT [UMC] GENERAL CONFERENCE 2016:

The Rev. Alfred T. Day III, general secretary for the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH), and Bishop Gregory Palmer, Bishop of West Ohio conference, delivered an address to the plenary on Tuesday morning to recognize the 200th anniversary of the birth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC). “It was a special privilege to share the platform with Bishop Palmer. Both of us were born and reared in Philadelphia, PA where the AME was born out of hurtful and hostile relationships within the church we still regret,” said Day.

Dennis C. Dickerson, retired general director of the AMEC, wrote, “The AMEC grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George’s MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists.”

Under the leadership of Allen, the first AME bishop, this autonomous Church emerged from the same Wesleyan theology, spirit and practical divinity as the Methodist Episcopal Church of Francis Asbury. Day stated: “What striking timing for this presentation! General Conference coming to worship this morning, with rumors of schism rampant all over the hall, remembering a painful 200 year-old breech among Methodists—a breech that was only brought back to full communion in 2012.”

During the service, leaders celebrated the strength, perseverance, and resilience of the AME. “To this great Methodist church, conceived in racial injustice and born out of an unquenchable thirst for freedom; to brothers and sisters of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church says: YOU are the Lord’s doing and YOU are marvelous in our eyes,” said Day.

“The racial tensions and discrimination that caused black and white Methodists to split into separate denominations as well as segregate into separate congregations within the Methodist Episcopal Church are not only worthy of remembrance and reflection,” said Day. “They are the subject and substance of renewed confession and action that will end all racial injustice and work for full and equal participation the varied hues and constituencies of the United Methodist Church, even the whole world. I pray God used our words to suggest that history doesn't have to repeat the broken and painful consequences of division.”

For more information on the AMEC, please visit their website: http://ame-church.com

The full transcript from the service is here:

African Methodist Episcopal Church 200th Anniversary Tribute

Written for the United Methodist General Conference

Portland, Oregon - May 2016

Awestruck at God’s time and again making a way out of no way, astonished at hope raised-up when disappointment and despair have a stranglehold, astounded at the remembrance of transformations come through impossible struggles, the Psalmist exclaims:

THIS is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes (118:23).

“The people called Methodist” from many and diverse communions, claiming the Wesleyan way of faith,  gathered in Portland at the United Methodist General Conference in the 250th year since the formation of the first Methodist societies in America, stand at the edge of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. To this great Methodist church, conceived in racial injustice and born out of an unquenchable thirst for freedom; to brothers and sisters of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church says:

YOU are the Lord’s doing and YOU are marvelous in our eyes.

When the then Methodist Church said “NO” to your ancestors, you kept faith with God’s overpowering “YES” to all humanity. The Holy Spirit stirs in the telling of your story:

YOU have moved from second class, deferential treatment to the dignity of world class leadership in academic, educational, political, economic, religious, artistic and activist fields of endeavor

YOU have moved from enforced racial discrimination and refusing victimization, YOU have created opportunities for individual and community self-determination

YOU have moved from the balcony and the blacksmith shop to the chancel of worldwide Christian leadership, modeling Wesleyan practical divinity

YOU have survived hostility and aggravated interference and grown more relentless in the divine quest for justice and equality for ALL God’s people

YOU have moved from unwanted outcast to found and sustain a vital expression of Christianity challenging the Church beyond the limitations of euro-centrism

YOU are the spirit and substance behind the families of Charleston South Carolina's "Emmanuel Nine," meeting bigotry, hatred and horrible death, fired from the gun of a white supremacist, with divine mercy and forgiveness

YOU have given us Richard Allen, “Freedom’s Prophet,” founding father of the American nation and a global church. YOUR churches and Sunday schools have given us Jarena Lee, Reverdy Ransom, Rosa Parks, A. Phillip Randolph, Henry O. Tanner, James Cone, Jacqueline Grant, Vernon Jordan, Ramsey Lewis, Kathleen Battle, Judith Jamison and d’brickashaw Ferguson.

Through the Holy Spirit’s movement among you, YOU have moved The United Methodist Church and people of God everywhere. African Methodist Episcopal Church is our full communion partner.

YOU are the Lord’s doing and YOU are marvelous in our eyes.

The theme of your 2016 Bicentennial General Conference is “An Extraordinary History, An Incredible Future.” Those words echo your life through the ages and continue to and through all that lies ahead.

YOU are 3 million strong in more than 7,000 congregations, in 20 episcopal areas, nearly 40 countries, spanning 5 continents.

The spiritual sons and daughters of John and Charles Wesley, “The people called Methodist” are blessed because of who you are and what, by God’s grace, you are becoming.

We rejoice to be in the Methodist family of Christ with you.

Alfred T. Day, III, April 29, 2016 / May 17, 2017

12. NAACP FILES LAWSUIT OVER FLINT WATER CRISIS:

State officials, companies named in class action civil suit

BALTIMORE — Attorneys with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of people and businesses affected by the failure to provide safe drinking water to the city of Flint, Michigan.

The civil suit filed in U.S. District Court alleges that the state of Michigan, many city and state officials and two engineering firms hired to evaluate water quality in Flint failed to detect problems and properly treat water that caused extensive lead contamination in the city while Flint was under supervision of state-appointed emergency managers.

The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit include Flint residents and members of the local branch of the NAACP, whose national attorneys are working with the firms of Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll of Washington, D.C. and the Houston-based firm of Susman Godfrey.

The complaint seeks property damages, pain and suffering damages, emotional distress damages, medical monitoring, and other injunctive relief for affected city residents and businesses to be determined by the court. 

“The people of Flint have been harmed through the failure of state officials to provide professional and accountable basic services mandated by federal law and expected by any person living in a major city,” said Cornell William Brooks, the national president and CEO of the NAACP. “Our organization stands with the citizens of Flint to demand a clear timeline, deadline and price tag for fixing this crisis as well as effective remedies for the harms that have already occurred and complete compensation for each and every victim of this unimaginable tragedy.”

Governor Rick Snyder is named as an individual defendant in the suit, along with six former high-ranking officials with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and three men who were emergency managers during the prolonged exposure period. Two engineering firms hired to analyze water in the city, Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam Inc. and Veolia North America, also failed to satisfy their professional duties and affirmatively worsened the extent of the lead exposure, according to the complaint.

The 103-page complaint alleges that the officials and companies supervising the water system failed to properly treat the water supply for salt and other chemicals, which caused lead to leech from corroded pipes into the drinking water for years. Officials repeatedly denied and dismissed reports of poor water quality and pipe corrosion before acknowledging widespread failures to act.  

The NAACP’s Flint Branch and Michigan State Conference have diligently worked over the last two years to inform the public about the poisoned water and its potential effects on city children and residents, and called for federal and state action to provide relief.

The NAACP and attorneys in the case are planning to host Town Hall meetings with the residents of Flint in the near future to discuss further action.

13. RACE, HUNGER, AND POVERTY FOCUS OF GLOBAL CHURCH VISIT TO U.S.:

The Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith

More than a dozen representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) took a “pilgrimage of justice and peace” in April on a visit to four U.S. cities that have recently confronted racial injustice. As a part of WCC’s Racial Justice Accompaniment Visits, the team came to listen to and support community members in these cities in order to understand their experiences with racial discrimination, oppression, and violence.

The core question of the visit was how the WCC as a global fellowship of churches can work in partnership with U.S. churches in achieving racial justice.

The WCC is the world’s largest ecumenical body and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It brings together 345 churches, denominations, and church fellowships from more than 110 countries, representing 500 million Christians. The group seeks visible Christian unity, promotes common witness, engages in Christian service, and seeks justice and peace.

I and other Bread for the World staff were able to address the WCC delegation at the beginning of their trip in Washington, D.C. I told them, “You will be going to some of the most volatile communities in the world. People feel burned up. Really try to understand their hearts. Work to understand their experience.”

The delegation proceeded on the official visits in Charleston, S.C.; Saint Louis and Ferguson, Mo.; and Chicago. These are cities where hunger, poverty, and race intersect. The states where these cities are located have some of the highest rates of hunger and poverty among African-American children, ranging from 41.7 percent to 44.8 percent.

The delegation saw where these places have been traumatized by conflicts with police, mass incarceration, lack of immigration reform policies, and other transient issues.
 
“We have been following developments in this nation. The WCC recognizes the many positive actions of churches here, but they do not seem to be enough. Church life must provide the means of grace to strengthen us for action,” said Dr. Agnes Abuom, moderator of WCC’s Central Committee and leader of the delegation.

Although the visit was a continuation of the WCC’s long history of racial justice work and its commitment to overcome racism, the visit identified new forms of racism that have emerged.

The visit challenged churches both inside and outside the U.S. to listen carefully, to understand the experience of people caught up in racial confrontation, and to address racism in their own structures and life. Bread for the World and the WCC play very important advocacy roles in these contexts.

Bread will partner with WCC in an event next month – the Pan-African Women of Faith consultation. It will take place June 9 to 11 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., which is the third sponsor of the event. It will bring together scores of women leaders from both Africa and the U.S. for conversations about advocacy and ending hunger. Find more information about this event at www.bread.org/panafrican.

14. THE TRUTH IS THE LIGHT:

*The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins

Based on Biblical Text: Exodus 24:12: And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

I think we have reached a point where our spiritual vision has gotten lazy. What I mean is I think we have a problem understanding the things of God because we don’t take the time to distance ourselves from our troubles and get alone with God. We need to put some distance between our troubles and take the time to be one on one with God. The truth is that we tend to confine the truth of our own finite understanding and in doing so we limit the Divine to what we know.

The question for us is, when was the last time we stretched the limits of our understanding of God? The truth of the matter is many of us are muddling our way along this Christian walk, hoping to make it on what we learned of God when we were at our mother’s knee or in Sunday School.  If we were asked to recite a scripture verse from memory, a lot of us would quickly respond with, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me.” Some of us would still use that old familiar “Jesus wept.”

Unless we have the Spirit of God in us, we have no might within and no means without to battle our storms. We will be like an unfinished building with no roof on it. We can attempt to live in it, but storms will keep raining on us. In order to put a roof on our faith, we have to get alone with God.

It is a fact that nothing can come out of us that has not been deposited in us. In other words, it is a requirement that we receive before we can give. We must be equipped for our task. We are on a journey and what we do to equip ourselves for our journey will largely determine our success or failure. Before God sends us out to do the work He has purposed for us, He first wants to equip us. The equipping process must include time alone with God. If we would be all the Lord would have us to be, we must first be willing to develop a probing, venturesome theology that solicits God’s wisdom above all else.

If we are to be all the Lord would have us to be, we must get alone with Him. We must develop an open line of communication with Jesus that will, in time, reveal His purpose for our life, and give us new direction. We must refrain from putting a time limit on God and just get alone with Him and learn of Him.

We cannot fight the good fight unless we get to know the Battleaxe. We will have a problem telling the story until we have spent time with the Author and Finisher of our faith. We will be unable to face our storms without our ship’s Captain. There is no way to expect light in the midst of our darkness, unless we spend time with the Bright and Morning Star.

*The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., is the pastor of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina

15. GETTING TO ZERO:

*The Rev. Dr. Fuller is currently on Sabbatical leave from the University of Michigan and will submit her column as her schedule permits. 

16. iCHURCH SCHOOL LESSON BRIEF FOR SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2016 - CHILDLIKE FAITH – DR. LUKE 18: 15-17 & MARK 10:16:

*Brother Bill Dickens

Introduction

Social scientists often link societal habits, norms or behavior relative to a specific time period.   The veteran journalist Tom Brokaw described children born of the "Greatest Generation" since they had to fight the Great Depression and the great World War II. 

We are either "Children of the Depression, "Baby Boomers," "Hip-Hop Kids" or "Millennials."   

Each of the categories conveys something specific about the person born in that particular dispensation.  The common denominator for all is the miracle of birth was established to allow a specific identity.  The decision to populate society is perhaps the most important of all social decisions.  Population trends impact national security, economic growth and development, education, health and scientific activity.  The decision to have a baby encompasses both costs and benefits. 

Economists estimate the USA pre-natal, post-natal and life cycle years prior to adulthood are roughly $250,000 - $400,000 for "bringing a child into the world." 

It is no mystery, given these cost estimates that population growth rates have declined significantly in the USA since 1970.  While no one disputes the cost for "child production," children also provide benefits to our society. 

There are the benefits of joy and companionship associated with children.  Children can also provide economic security for parents when parents transition into their twilight years.  The decision to have children is extremely important.  Once a child is born, the parent is not provided an "operating manual" for effective results.  In the absence of such a manual we have to depend on God just like the child depends on the parent. 

The Adult AME Church School lesson for May 22, 2016 displays the sincere feeling Jesus projected to children.  Many church goers like to say they are a "Child of God." 

Let's see if this church cliché matches up to the Biblical text.

Biblical Lesson - Barriers, Babies and Blessings

The Bible affirms the importance of children.  A command is given in Genesis to be fruitful and repopulate the earth (Genesis 1:28).  Moses is adopted into an Egyptian home as an infant (Exodus 2:5).  A thin-skinned Herod, upon hearing about the birth of the Messiah, issues a decree that all young male children under age two be put to death (Matthew 2:16). 

Our Bible story in Dr. Luke provides a continuation of the message about humility.  Last Sunday we saw the concept of humility embedded in the least expected person - publican (tax-collector). 

Our lesson today shows the disciples acting in an over-protective manner.  Some mothers desire to have their young children blessed by Jesus.  The disciples, functioning as the "first-line of defense," reject such requests and insist the mothers and their children keep a respectable distance from Jesus.  Was this evidence that the disciples were "anti-children"? 

A better interpretation of their behavior may be the disciples wanting to give Jesus a chance to have some quiet time given the demands placed on Him to heal and deliver.  The disciples were acting much like today's Secret Service.  The job of the Secret Service is to protect the President and his family at all times even if this means maintaining a proper perimeter that limits access and creates a barrier to access. 

Jesus vetoed the disciples’ behavior of creating barriers.  He insists that the children have full and complete access to Him.  In fact, Jesus uses this situation as a teaching moment.  He communicates to the audience that unless we have a revolution in thinking and behave like a child, we will forfeit any opportunity of eternal life.   Children are ideal examples of heavenly citizens because of their humility, innocence and complete dependence on their parents. 

In order to live with God we too must become humble and recognize that God is our source of living. Jesus receives the children and provides His blessings on every baby.

Bible Application

Parents capture the joy of children in different ways.  First, there is the baby shower.  Family and friends arrange for a special day to let the mother and father know that they too are excited about the future addition to the family.  After the child is born the parents become expert photographers.  Hundreds of pictures of the baby will be taken. A baby will grow to become a toddler and teen and look to the future; parents look at the early years and reminisce about the past.  Church christening events - infant baptisms and many, many birthday parties will follow. 

A popular song in the 80s stated, "I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way." 

A threat to the fulfillment of this song is the sinister behavior of child abduction and child abuse.  Equally demoralizing is the practice of abortion. 

This writer views abortion as a form of infanticide.  While it is true that Roe v Wade grants women the "right to choose" and attacks on Planned Parenthood Clinics are egregious and unwarranted, children should nonetheless be protected.  Parents and adults have a fiduciary duty to raise children in a caring, loving environment in order for society to experience a form of godly and rational evolution.  It is difficult to carry out this fiduciary responsibility if we don't have children.  Children are more than a burden.  They are a blessing to all of us.  QED

*Brother Bill Dickens is currently the Church School Teacher at Allen AME Church in Tacoma, Washington.  He is currently a member of the Fellowship of Church Educators for the African Methodist Episcopal Church

17. MEDITATION BASED ON ROMANS 12:1, 2:

*The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Darby

I’m writing this meditation after spending a couple of days in meetings in my hometown - Columbia, South Carolina.  Whenever I’m in Columbia and have “downtime,” I’m fond of driving through familiar communities to see what’s changed and what remains the same.

My drive through one of those communities earlier today took me past a new Day Care Center that my Columbia friends say has an excellent track record of preparing children of modest means for Kindergarten and for achievement in their elementary, middle and high school years.

I found that to be encouraging and uplifting, but it also made me smile with a bit of irony, because I remember the business that occupied the Day Care Center’s building during my high school years.  That now bright and cheery building dedicated to shaping young minds once housed one of Columbia’s pre-imminent black night clubs - a club that didn’t check IDs for age and that was a serious “party site” - those of us who patronized the place during our high school days never told our parents we’d been there!

The transformation of what used to be a night club into a successful Day Care Center reminded me of what happens when we put our lives in Jesus’ hands.  All of us are flawed human beings, incapable of finding redemption on our own because we all do our share of right and our share of wrong.

When we realize that, however, and turn to the Savior who gave His life for the price of our sins and who sent God’s Holy Spirit to transform and redeem all who believe, we can walk, as the Holy Communion ritual of my faith tradition says, “in newness of life.  When we have the faith to let Christ transform our lives, we can find new direction, new strength, new hope and new joy that enables us to be more than we could be on our own and to share the Good News with all of those who come our way.

Take the time to let the Lord Jesus Christ change you into someone better - in spite of your old life and old baggage.  You’ll walk in newness of life, find new perspective on life and understand why those who embraced Christ in spite of the burdensome chains of slavery to sing, “I feel better, so much better since I laid my burdens down.”

*The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Darby is the Presiding Elder of the Beaufort District of the South Carolina Annual Conference of the Seventh Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

18. GENERAL OFFICER'S STAFF PRAYER REQUEST:

Please be in prayer for Mrs. Karen Bluing-Osborne, Executive Assistant to Dr. Richard Allen Lewis, Chief Financial Officer/CFO of the AME Church (Nashville, Tennessee Office).  Mrs. Osborne sustained extensive injuries from an accidental fall.  She has been released from the hospital and is recuperating at home.

Get well-wishes and messages of cheer can be emailed to: kbluingosb@aol.com

19. EPISCOPAL FAMILY PRAYER REQUEST:

Prayer is requested for Vinton Randolph Anderson, Jr. (Randy) who is ill. Brother “Randy” is the son of the late Bishop Vinton Randolph Anderson and former Episcopal Supervisor Vivienne Anderson.

The Anderson family can be contacted at their home address:

22 West Sherwood Drive
St. Louis, MO 63114

Telephone: (314) 427-2711

20. CLERGY FAMILY CONGRATULATORY ANNOUNCEMENTS:

-- Robin D. Cleckley received a PHD from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Commencement ceremony was held on March 12, 2016.  Robin is the daughter of retired pastor, Reverend Robert L. Cleckley of the Columbia Conference, Seventh Episcopal District, and Mrs. Lula Shaw Cleckley, President of the Connectional Ministers’ Spouses, Widows and Widowers Organization, Plus PK’s.

Dr. Cleckley is a member of Reid Chapel AME Church in Columbia, SC, where the Reverend Carey A. Grady serves as the pastor and Bishop Richard Franklin Norris is the Presiding Prelate.  Currently, Dr. Cleckley is an Early Childhood educator where she continues to educate and develop young minds.

Congratulatory expressions can be emailed to:


-- The Reverend Phil Jeriod Flowers will receive the Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary Dayton Ohio

The commencement ceremonies will be held at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, Friday May 20, 2016 at the hour of 1:30 p.m. The Reverend Flowers received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Voorhees College, Denmark, South Carolina and Master of Divinity Degree from Erskine Theological Seminary Due West, South Carolina. He is the pastor of Mount Zion AME Church (North Santee) Georgetown, South Carolina; Seventh Episcopal District and brother of Dr. George F. Flowers, General Officer.

Congratulations may be sent to:

Dr. Phil J. Flowers
P.O. Box 7453
Columbia, SC 29202-7453


-- The Reverend Janet Lee Seay received the Master of Arts Degree in Christian Ministry Leadership, Saturday, May 7, 2016 at Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN.

The Reverend Seay is a Local Elder serving at Greater Taylor Chapel A.M.E. Church in Franklin, Kentucky

Congratulatory Communications can be sent to:

Greater Taylor Chapel AME Church
Attn: Reverend Janet Lee Seay
604 Jefferson Street
Franklin, KY 42134

-- Ms. Tiffany Marie Kelly is graduating from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida

Tiffany Marie Kelly is graduating from Nova Southeastern University in Davie, FL with a Bachelor of Science in Sport and Recreation Management on Friday, May 13, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Tiffany will be honored at the Commencement Exercises to receive the James Farquhar Award. This award is given to one graduating student on behalf of one of the founding members of the University, the late James Farquhar. The student is measured and chosen on the accolades of scholarship, leadership, and service excellence. Tiffany will be the first Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship student to win in 20+ years. In her undergraduate career, Tiffany has completed four (4) internships with LSU Athletics Department, Miami Heat Basketball Operations, 24-Hour Fitness Rock City Hoops Basketball League, and Fast Twitch Under Armour Training Facility. Tiffany has also completed two (2) research projects – “The NBA Draft: Opportunity costs of early entry” and “The ‘Triangle’ Formula: The role and play option analysis of the triplepost offense.” Both research projects were awarded at the 2014 and 2016 Undergraduate Student Research Symposium for Honorable Mention in the Poster Presentations Section and First Place in the Paper and Oral Presentations Section.

As far as future plans, Tiffany hopes to enter either an NFL or NBA team front office analytics department where she will utilize statistical modeling techniques and technologies in support of operations for player evaluation, player performance, and coaching. She is currently in the final round of interviews for the Miami Dolphins, Accenture Strategy Consulting, and the Harvard Sports Analytics Program. Tiffany graduates as the founder of the first sport student organization, as a Dean’s List Scholar for 7 semesters, and with a 3.68 cumulative GPA receiving over 6 scholarships to fund her studies.

Tiffany Marie Kelly is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Herman O. Kelly, Jr. and Mrs. Linda Marie Kelly, pastor and First Lady of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, LA.
 
Congratulatory messages can be emailed to:

Dr. and Mrs. Herman Kelly: spidermh7@yahoo.com
Ms. Tiffany Marie Kelly: tk384@nova.edu

-- Sister Traci Maxine Thomas, received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication from Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY, graduating Summa Cum Laude

She has been accepted with a full Scholarship for the Masters in Communication Degree at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.

The proud parents are the Rev. Troy I. Thomas and the Rev. Dr. Maxine Thomas, pastor and associate minister of Quinn Chapel AME Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Congratulatory messages can be emailed to:

The Rev. Troy I. Thomas: ThomasRevTroy@aol.com
The Rev. Dr. Maxine Thomas: Exhalemlt@aol.com

-- Morgan C. Sumner graduated from Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Architecture BSD at Arizona State University

Morgan C. Sumner, the granddaughter of Presiding Elder Samuel L. Sumner, South District, Indiana Conference, Fourth Episcopal District, and daughter of the Rev. Samuel K. Sumner (Dr. Carol) graduated from Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Architecture BSD, Arizona State University on May 9, 2016.  She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., President, Iota Kappa Chapter.

Congratulatory messages can be emailed to: slsumner@sbcglobal.net

21. CLERGY FAMILY BEREAVEMENT NOTICE:

With heartfelt sympathy we regretfully announce the passing of Ms. Toby E. Buchannon, sister of Mrs. Dorothy M. White and sister-in-law of the Reverend Archie L. White, pastor of Faith Chapel AME Church in Fostoria, Ohio.

Services will be held Saturday, May 21, 2016

Viewing and Family Hour: 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Homegoing Celebration:  11:00 a.m.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church
614 West River Road N
Elyria, Ohio 44035

Telephone: (440) 323-3075

The Reverend Marcettes L. Cunningham, pastor

Arrangements are entrusted to:

Carter Funeral Home
127 W. Bridge Street
Elyria, OH 44035

Telephone:  (440) 322-7788
Email: carterfuneralhome@yahoo.com

Expressions of condolence may be sent to:

Mrs. Dorothy M. White
P.O. Box 347
Fostoria, OH 44830

Telephone:  (419) 722-9486

22. BEREAVEMENT NOTICES AND CONGRATULATORY ANNOUNCEMENTS PROVIDED BY:

Ora L. Easley, Administrator
AMEC Clergy Family Information Center
Email: Amespouses1@bellsouth.net      
Web page: http://www.amecfic.org/   
Telephone: (615) 837-9736 (H)
Telephone: (615) 833-6936 (O)
Cell: (615) 403-7751




23. CONDOLENCES TO THE BEREAVED FROM THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER:

The Chair of the Commission on Publications, the Right Reverend T. Larry Kirkland; the Publisher, the Reverend Dr. Johnny Barbour and the Editor of The Christian Recorder, the Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor III offer our condolences and prayers to those who have lost loved ones. We pray that the peace of Christ will be with you during this time of your bereavement.

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