“People are looking for a church that speaks to the concreteness of the world they are living in.” So said The Rev. Dr. Mark Jefferson during his Feb. 19 keynote address for the annual Absalom Jones Celebration sponsored by the Canon Nelson Pinder Union of Black Episcopalians Chapter of Central Florida.
“I’m often asked about the future of The Episcopal Church – ‘Is it dying?’ ‘Is it dead?'” Jefferson, who serves as assistant professor of homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary, said in his sermon, “Sharing the Love: Bearing a Wounded Witness.”
“I seem to be more optimistic,” Jefferson said. “I’ve been to over 110 different parishes and organizations in the past three years – schools, churches, jails. What has been consistent is that there are people who are trying to be faithful in all of them.”
The online event received more than 50 live connections during its two-hour presentation. Dr. John Robertson, chapter president, opened the celebration, followed by the 105 Voices of History National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Concert Choir singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Morning Prayer led by The Rev. Michelle Roach, Christ Church, Longwood; The Rev. Dr. Amanda Bordenkircher, Corpus Christi, Okahumpka; and The Rev. Brenda Taylor, Blessed Redeemer, Palm Bay.
“I feel honored to be a part of this,” said The Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, diocesan bishop. “The celebration of Absalom Jones is something that is near and dear to me.”
Brewer commended the leaders of the UBE, saying they were committed to being “empowered by the Spirit, to speak the truth in love.”
A Becoming Beloved Community task force was also launched during the program, and several invitations were given for viewers to participate in supporting scholarships for students at two historically Black Episcopal colleges and universities: Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, and St. Augustine University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Three scholarship recipients from previous years have gone on to become bishops in the church, Robertson said.
“We want to support the institution, but specifically the students so that we can further grow a Black presence in our Episcopal Church,” he explained.
Mid-Atlantic Regional UBE Director Carrie Brown offered a response to Jefferson’s keynote address, and The Rev. Eddie Asgill, St. Timothy’s, Daytona Beach, pronounced the benediction.
Prior to Saturday’s event, Robertson explained the significance of the annual celebration.
“Absalom Jones, as you know, is recorded as a saint in our Episcopal Church,” he said. “And the reason that we have the celebration is it reminds the Black members of The Episcopal Church of our voice and our participation from the earliest days of The Episcopal Church in the United States. The reason that we celebrate Absalom Jones is his feast day is right in February, and it also happens to be, of course, Black History Month.”
Robertson also said that while the online celebration had its “challenges” because of COVID restrictions, it has also broadened the impact of the celebration and Absalom Jones as well.
“The interesting thing is that, when due to COVID, we had to move to the virtual, we found that there were individuals not only within the diocese but across the country who tuned in and participated in our Absalom Jones event,” he said. “So, while COVID was a bit of a challenge in getting all of the elements together, we also found that it actually expanded the reach of Absalom Jones.
“We anticipate that we will have one of our members tuning in from Liberia,” Robertson said. “And we also know that we will have individuals who will tune in from California, the state of Washington and more. So COVID, despite its challenges, has actually allowed us to have a wider range of individuals participate.”