Tag Archives: Fellowship Church

Today is Not Adequate: A Sermon by Dr. Dorsey Blake

Posted on by Wade Lee Hudson

Following is the text of the sermon presented by Dr. Dorsey Blake at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples on February 15. 2015. To hear audio of other, more recent Fellowship Church services, click here.

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DSC02030Today is not adequate if we are to create a future.  Today with all of its affirmation of who we are, its stability and familiarity, its grounding, is not sufficient for what must become, the future that must be.  There must be in today a sense of beyondness, a sense of seeing beyond the present circumstances.  It is the impulse in the Black Lives Matter movement and other movements that moves beyond staying in today’s outrage and thereby consuming the self to incorporating an element of hope that what ought to be can be (The definition of faith by Harry Emerson Fosdick).  Without this element we will not create and embrace the fortitude needed for a new heaven and new earth, to use the language of John exiled on the isle of Patmos.

Freedom always entails a sense of beyondness.  No, we have not overcome; but, we shall overcome someday.  It is this dimension of the soul that allows one to deal with the vicissitudes, the pain, the  problems, the heartbreaks, the violence, the shootings, the corruption with Dr. Thurman’s understanding that the oppressions, the disappointments, the betrayals, the fear, hypocrisy, and hatred that enshroud one’s life are neither final nor ultimate.  For example, we hear these words in Charles Tindley’s wonderful song:

Beams of heaven as I go,
through the wilderness below,
guide my feet in peaceful ways,
turn my midnights into days.

When in the darkness I would grope,
faith always sees a star of hope,
and soon from all life’s grief and danger
I shall be free someday.

I do not know how long ’twill be,
nor what the future holds for me,
but this I know: if Jesus leads me,
I shall get home someday.

Listen to the words, I shall be free someday. I shall get home someday. Many people considered this and other songs like as other worldly.  And, felt that they guided people into accepting their struggles without struggling to overcome them.  But, when you realize that this was one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s favorite songs, you know that isn’t true.  It was not otherworldly for him. There is a presence beyond the earthly, beyond today, that infuses the spirit with an unshakeable confidence in the sojourn ahead. It says that the empire’s timetable is not God’s timetable.  There is a dimension of human existence that is beyond the manipulations of those in power who seek to continue oppressing the people of God, all people.  It is this dimension that is embedded in the nonviolent struggle, that the victory may not come today, or even in one’s lifetime, but it shall come, if the people of God trust God enough with their lives, their God-given talents to press on to a higher calling, to higher Ground.

Remember in Dr. King’s last speech, he assured us that we would get to the Promised Land even though he may not get there with us.  And, he did not get there with us.  And we have not gotten there yet. For a nation threatened by his vision and commitment to the beloved community, to eradicating poverty, to studying war no more, understood his anti-imperialist incarnation and caused the blood to cease to run in his veins as it poured upon the concrete at the Lorraine Motel, April 4, 1968.  But, he will get there with us when we get to that Promised Land; for his blood will never lose its power to help us overcome our fear, and will gird our loins, minds, hearts, spirits as we continue the march up to freedom land.

He knew and embodied the understanding that as Audre Lourde said so beautifully that the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.

This past week many of the most progressive Black religious leaders in the nation gathered in Norfolk, VA, for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.  Young people and older people, men and women addressed the conference addressing the theme:  Reclaiming Our Moral Authority:  Faith and Justice in the Age of Reinvented Empire.

That is not the master’s tool, moral authority. False claims to moral authority yes, those are tools of the Empire, but not moral authority.  You may recall that I have shared from this pulpit that in my junior year of college, Dr. King, spoke in Sayles Hall at Brown University.  Afterword, he was asked in a press conference about the idea that was going around about his running as Vice-President on a Presidential ticket with Robert Kennedy.  He responded by saying that he would never do such because he saw himself not as a politician but as the moral voice of the nation.

Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor was a friend and mentor of Dr. King who wrote a book entitled:  My Moral Odyssey.  I was so pleased that the conference honoring his life honored the centrality of morality in its conference.  I’m not talking about the phony morality that some, including religious, leaders use to talk about private morality such as drinking, smoking, dancing, premarital sex.  No, the folks at the conference talked about our moral responsibility to address the empire on behalf of the discarded ones, dispossessed, the locked out members of our society.  It did say that we have to be careful that our lives reflect the kind of society we want to see. There is an extensive internal examination that we have to make sure that we are living up to the values, the morality, that we project upon society.

It reaffirmed nonviolence as the moral way to create a moral society.  Violence was the master’s tool.   Nonviolence was a higher order.  It supports the idea that what is moral is that which elevates human personality and dignity.  And, what is immoral is that which degrades human personality and dignity. King stated that the ultimate goal of nonviolence was to understand that the destiny of all, white,  Black, whatever, is tied together, that is, to reclaim our walk together as one people.  He said that now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of what we called brotherhood.

The beyond dimension was there because it was clear that violence only perpetuated violence, creating an unending cycle of violence.  It, violence, could perhaps win some skirmishes but not win the heart of the people and the nation.  And winning the hearts, possessing the souls of people was absolutely necessary for the creation of that beloved community, the modern expression of the reign of Kingdom of God ideal.

One idea paramount at the conference was that we buy into the protocols and practices of the empire daily.  And, we need to examine ourselves and our duplicity and complicity with the empire and imperial practices if we are to be leaders of the people, leading them into this space of beyondness essential to the creation of the New Heaven and Earth.  which is our purpose for living. These are my words and concepts with which some at the conference may disagree. The empire understands violence. It will squash violence. But nonviolence is a new concept. They don’t know what’s going on. They cannot understand people going to jail. And that is what nonviolence does. It gives people time to do something before the empire catches on to what they are doing, allowing time for victories.

John exiled on the isle of Patmos envisions a way forward, a future beyond space, time, circumstance freed from present notions.  That is what beyond entails.  It is not a place but a consciousness, understanding, a vision that lifts us from our fallenness, not an original fallenness, but one in which we have been victimized by empire, victimized so thoroughly, so completely that we feel impotent to be the people we are called to be and create the future that needs to be.

“Behold, I saw a new heaven and a new earth” the writer of the Biblical book of Revelation wrote. And of John Dr.Thurman said: Very daring words they are and it is important for us to recognize that these words came out of a background of struggle and pain and tragedy and persecution.  They testify to the fact that there is something about the human spirit that is able to project itself out of any dilemma which may be facing it, and to act as if the dilemma has been resolved.

Let us remember the necessity of this beyond dimension as we move forward, asserting in no uncertain terms that Black lives do matter, that all lives do matter, that life itself matters.

When the writer of Revelation dreams, he says that he sees a new heaven and a new earth.  If heaven is where God dwells, and there is a new heaven, what does that mean?  Is the seer saying that God moves out more and more in creative exploration, that before there can be a new earth, a new Ferguson, a new New York, a new Santa Rosa, there must be a new heaven, a new way of thinking, of being, a new consciousness?

A new earth — we talk about it! One world (United Nations) we talk about it! We try to get sufficient dynamic, sufficient conception, sufficient insight, from an old heaven, an old dogma, old theological discipline, to provide power, insight, guidance, strength, substance for a new world.  And, we can’t do it.

Victor Hugo comments in Les Miserables “We often deny by our way of attaining the goal the meaning of the goal.  We strive for an ideal tomorrow by borrowing as the process of attaining it from the falsehood of yesterday.   We do not put our faith in the irresistible and incorruptible strength of our principles until after we have made ourselves secure on the world’s past falsehoods.”

But a new heaven! The dream of a new heaven, with all that that implies, works over the stubborn and often unyielding stuff of the old earth until at last out of the very heart throb of the new heaven is born the new earth.

There can be no greater hope, no greater stirring of the mind and the spirit, as we face going forth into the future with all of its withering disillusions and its grounded despair than that we are visited by the glory of a new heaven.

Wherever we are, however we are functioning, whatever responsibilities are ours — if we capture the mood, the spirit, the intensity of a new heaven to steady us and to strengthen us, we shall walk though the “crud” of the earth in preparation for a new earth — a new earth which will be the heritage of little babies and little puppies and little kittens yet to come.  What a wonderful thing to make that kind of demand upon today and tomorrow!

Behold there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, because the new heaven is already born in the heart and the spirit and the life of anyone anywhere who has made the great and central surrender to God, replacing “hands up I can’t breathe”  with:

1.      Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.

2.      Breathe on me, Breath of God,  until my heart is pure, until with thee I will one will, to do and to endure.

3.      Breathe on me, Breath of God,  till I am wholly thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine.

4.      Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with thee the perfect life of thine eternity.

 

 

 

Fellowship Church: August 24, 2014

Posted on by Wade Lee Hudson

The August 24 service at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples included the following.

Readying the Spirit featured a piano prelude by Dr. Carl Blake.

Ingathering of Community included this responsive reading from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference:

A Litany For Children Slain By Violence and Traumatized By Those Called to “Serve and Protect”
August 17, 2014

Leader: A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are dead.

Assembly: We pray for the families of children who have been slain by gun violence, left to die on streets with less dignity than is given to animals.

Leader: A sound is heard in every city. Communities are weeping generationally for their children. Our sons, like Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, Michael Brown and John Crawford. Our daughters, like Ayanna Jones, Miriam Carey, Malisa Williams and Tarika Wilson.

Assembly: As people of God, we weep for the lives of all children who instead of enjoying the sweetness of innocence become victims of hate, victims of war, and victims of violence.

Leader: Now, let us rise up and interrupt these rushing waters of violence that leave children and communities wounded and paralyzed, traumatized by internal disintegration and state terror. Let us rise up and demand this nation abandon its affair with beliefs, practices and laws that are rooted in militarism, justified by racism and propped up by systemic inequities.

Assembly: We will rise up against laws rooted in evil that have no concern for life, nor any concern for God’s love. We will rise up until justice rolls on like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream.

Leader: Oh Lord, we commit ourselves to seeing all children the way that you see them. No matter their age or race, they are precious gifts made in your image, created with transformative purpose and unlimited promise.

Assembly: And for that cause, we pledge to be hedges of protection for their lives, we pledge to stand against anything that threatens their potential or promise.

All: We embody the universal spirit of Ubuntu, “I am because we are and because we are, I am.” We are all Rachel crying for the children! Therefore, we pledge to lock arms in solidarity with the families of the slain. We pledge to let our voices be heard all over this nation and the world, for we know we are called to do what is just and right.

Practicing the Presence included this Meditation from Wade Hudson:

On August 3rd Rev. Yielbonzie Charles Johnson’s offered a very thought-provoking sermon here. He recommended cultivating “intimate direct action” by traveling the Four Roads to Intimacy: Move away from self-deception and really get to know yourself; Utilize solitude; Establish a strong sense of community; and then without fear experience intimacy, or the “uncircumscribed engagement in the world.”

Webster’s defines “intimate” as “belonging to or characterizing one’s deepest nature.” As I see it, intimacy involves “speaking from the heart.”

What does “speak from the heart” mean to you? [Members of the congregation offered some answers.]

I googled “speaking from the heart” and the top result said “Ask yourself: is what you’re saying coming from your analytical mind or your intuitive heart?” and “Know that speaking from the heart doesn’t mean getting carried away by your emotions.”

I think of speaking from the heart as a blend of speaking from the gut and speaking from the intellect. After all, the heart is half way between the gut and the brain.

But an intimate conversation involves more than speaking. It also involves being a good listener.

What does being a good listener mean to you? [Members of the congregation offered some responses.]

Also, to my mind, I am not a particularly good listener when I immediately respond to someone with something like, “I hear you. The same thing happened to me,” and then proceed to talk about myself.

We have good reasons for being reserved, for not being more transparent. For one thing, what we say might be used against us. Teachers and bosses punish us for saying what they don’t want to hear. So we learn to be guarded and it becomes a habit.

Howard Thurman, however, affirmed Gandhi’s maxim, “Speak the truth, without fear and without exception” and Thurman wrote, “Be simply, directly truthful, whatever may be the cost.” I don’t know if I can ever live up to that standard. I would, however, like to move in that direction.

How many intimate friends do you have with whom you at least weekly discuss highly personal matters, problems as well as joys? Would you like to have more intimate friends? How many of those friends belong to Fellowship Church? Would you like to have more who are?

If we want to grow a strong sense of community, as recommended by Rev. Johnson, do we need to nurture more intimacy with one another? If so, how might we do that, either during the social hour or at other times during the week? Some questions for reflection.

Maybe, if we make more of a conscious effort, we can practice more fully what Dr. Thurman preached.

Resting in the Presence included a sermon by Dr. Kathryn Benton reflecting on the following quote from John Lennon:

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.

Offering Our Gifts included Announcements by Elanor Piez, Church Treasurer.

Sending Forth included this poem by Rev. Takashi Tanemori:

We can create our lives by
Transforming our experience
Into something new,
Like a butterfly soaring freely
Into the splendor.

Meditation Idea: 8/20 Draft

Posted on by Wade Lee Hudson

NOTE: Following is a Meditation that I may give at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples.

The sermon that Rev. Yielbonzie Charles Johnson offered on August 3rd was very thought-provoking. He recommended cultivating “intimate direct action” by traveling “Four Roads to Intimacy.” The first road is to move away from self-deception and “know yourself better than anyone else.” The second is to utilize “solitude.” The third is to establish strong “kinship,” or a sense of community. The fourth is to then experience “intimacy,” or “the uncircumscribed engagement in the world,” without fear.

Webster’s defines “intimate” as “belonging to or characterizing one’s deepest nature.” An intimate conversation therefore is one that comes from your deepest nature.

How many intimate friends do you have with whom you discuss highly personal matters, your joys and your troubles, at least weekly?

As I see it, intimacy involves “speaking from the heart.” What does “to speak from the heart” mean to you? [Allow for answers from the congregation; respond to those comments.]

I googled “speaking from the heart” and the top result said “Ask yourself: is what you’re saying coming from your analytical mind or your intuitive heart?” and “Know that speaking from the heart doesn’t mean getting carried away by your emotions.”

I think of speaking from the heart as a blend of speaking from the gut and speaking from the mind. After all, the heart is in between the gut and the heart.

But an intimate conversation involves more than speaking. It also involves being a good listener.

What does being a good listener mean to you? [Allow for answers from the congregation; respond to those comments.]

Also, to my mind, I am not a particularly good listener when I immediately respond to someone with something like, “I hear you. The same thing happened to me,” and then proceed to talk about myself. I find that kind of response to be far too common.

We have good reasons for being reserved, for not being more transparent. I don’t fully understand those reasons. I’m trying to better understand them. One factor seems to be that what we say might be used against us. Teachers and bosses punish us for saying what they don’t want to hear. Partly for that reason, we learn to be guarded and it becomes a habit. That is understandable.

Howard Thurman, however, affirmed Gandhi’s maxim, “Speak the truth, without fear and without exception” and wrote, “Be simply, directly truthful, whatever may be the cost.” I don’t know if I could ever live up to that standard. I would, however, like to move in that direction.

Most conversations strike me as a series of monologues, telling stories, gossiping, superficial chit-chat, or intellectual discourse. They rarely involving speaking and listening from the heart.

So let me ask again, How many intimate friends do you have with whom you discuss highly personal matters at least weekly?

How many of those friends belong to Fellowship Church?

If we want to grow a strong sense of community, as recommended by Rev. Johnson, do we need to nurture more intimacy with one another? If so, how might we do that, either during the social hour or at other times during the week?

Maybe, if we make more of a conscious effort, we can practice more fully what Dr. Thurman preached.

 

Belva Davis Promotes Fellowship Church

Posted on by Wade Lee Hudson

DSC02012During the Announcements period of the July 20 service, long-term attendee, illustrious and now-retired TV news personality Belva Davis proposed a “Social Media Project” as a way to increase attendance at the historic Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. Following the service she distributed a one-page statement that elaborated on her proposal.

Commenting “we are fortunate in so many ways,” she declared:

We have two world class ministers who write and preach timely, visionary and compassionate sermons.

We have a congregation sprinkled with artistically talented individuals.

Finally, we are blessed with the legacy and brilliance of Howard Thurman.

Given this foundation, she suggested:

I thought if each of us who attend on Sundays posted a short note on our Facebook page, or tweeted a message about what impressed us about that week’s service or a Thurman quote and provided a link to the Fellowship website or Facebook page maybe a few people might respond by visiting a service. There is no dogma here, no religiosity intended.

Belva’s initiative comes in the wake of the leadership provided by new Board Chair Bryan Caston, who has helped the church turn a corner and exhibit an invigorated spirit.

DSC02009You can stay in touch with Belva by “liking” her Facebook page and sending a Friend request to Belva Davis.

For more information about Fellowship Church see my prior posts, Fellowship Church: July 6, 2014 and A Meditation on Deep Community

 

 

Fellowship Church: July 6, 2014

Posted on by Wade Lee Hudson

On my way to worship at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples on Sunday, July 6, Rev. Dr. Kathryn L. Benton, Co-Minister and Rev. Dr. Dorsey O. Blake greeted me.
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While Board Chair Bryan Caston set up the recording and made notes for his Announcement.
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Readying the Spirit
Silent Meditation.
Prelude. Alexander Major played a beautiful prelude on the piano.
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Ingathering of Community
Expressing a Sense of Awe
Dr. Dorsey Blake opened the service with the opening lines from “A Garden Beyond Paradise” by Rumi:

Everything you see has its roots
in the unseen world.
The forms may change,
yet the essence remains the same.

Every wondrous sight will vanish,
every sweet word will fade.
But do not be disheartened,
The Source they come from is eternal—
growing, branching out,
giving new life and new joy.

Why do you weep?—
That Source is within you,
and this whole world
is springing up from it.

Music. The congregation sang “Énter, Rejoice, and Come In.” The lyrics included “Open your ears to the song,” “Open your hearts everyone,” and “Don’t be afraid of some change.” Then Dr. Blake coached the congregation to sing the first and fourth verses again, which led to a much livelier rendition!

Invoking the Presence. Dr. Benton read the following poem by Hildegard of Bingen:

Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

Practicing the Presence
Meditation. Hassaun Ali Jones-Bey reflected on the Fourth of July by riffing on the double meaning of the second syllable of the word “freedom,” which can be heard as “dumb.” He said, “I want to find a way of feeling free without feeling dumb. I would like free from dumb.” He then reflected on how we only have certain degrees of freedom. “There’s something called gravity that keeps me on the ground…. I really don’t want complete freedom…. These constraints, our inter-dependence, are what gives us free-from-dumb rather than free-and-dumb…. We are the founding fathers and founding mothers who have to make this idea of freedom come about…. May I wish you free-from-dumb and interdependence every day from now on. Blessings.

Music. The congregation sang “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” which includes the following lyrics:

Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams,
I’d be nearer, my God, to thee.

Prayer. Dr. Benton opened the prayer with an excerpt from “Be Melting Snow” by Rumi:

Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There’s no need to go outside.

Nearer to Thee, Great Spirit of this moment, of this place. We welcome your presence into the quietness of this place as we prepare for that moment of prayer. We center ourselves by breathing deeply the breath of life, bringing our heart to that breath. [Silence.] We find ourselves at the altar of the soul within and we pray. We long to be nearer to Thee in our thoughts as we strive to solve the challenges of our days. May we keep you near that we may not only think of ourselves but of all of your creatures, the insects, the birds, the reptiles, the other mammals. May we think also of the plants, the flowers, the trees, the grasses. And may we think also of the elements, water, earth, fire, air. May we remember the whole creation in our thoughts. We long to be nearer to Thee in our feelings, as we strive to love and not hate, as we turn our anger to a passion for all life. May we find on that altar of the soul your deep love for us. As we feel this love may we remember those who are suffering, those whose lives are nearer to us: [six names] and others we name here [silence]. And finally Great Spirit of this moment we long to be nearer to Thee in our actions bringing into our consideration the welfare of all creation, our fellow human beings, those that are homeless, those that are incarcerated, those living in poverty, those living in violence. We bring into our consideration the welfare of the animals, the plants, and the entire Earth. With each act, may we consider the consequences for all life. Nearer to Thee, O God, nearer to Thee than ourselves. There is no need to go outside. Amen.

Resting in the Presence
Music Meditation. Alexander Major

The Word. Dr. Dorsey Blake also reflected on the Fourth of July. First, he began by quoting from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Then he offered this prayer, “Let the words of my mouth that proceed from the meditations of my heart find favor in the heart of the universe and in the heart of those gathered in this place today. Amen.”

Recalling how his grandmother had challenged the notion of “Independence Day” by declaring, “I don’t know why you young black people celebrate Independence Day,” Dr. Blake said, “That prompted me to think about what does it really mean, this Declaration of Independence?” He went on to reflect on how the colonists were revolting against abuses. After trying to resolve them, they were breaking away to form their own government and affirming wonderful ideals. But as Dr. King pointed out, no matter how noble those ideals, how can you pursue happiness if you don’t have a job?

Dr. Blake then quoted from a speech that Frederick Douglass gave on July 4, 1852.

Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?…

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Many years later Dr. Thurman would say things very similar when he said the United States would end up being the most hated nation on Earth. Dr. Blake also reflected on Thurgood Marshall’s comment on the bicentennial of the Constitution when he said we should celebrate those who have continued to push for change to enhance human rights.

Today, in this country, even religions are oppressive. As Douglass said, “If you are going to have a slave master, don’t have a Christian one.”

Paul said you should always obey the law of the government. But when Jesus was asked the same question, he gave a different answer. In the midst of a popular revolt against “taxation without representation,” someone asked Jesus if he should pay taxes. Jesus replied by referring to the Roman coin, which had an image of Caesar on one side and an image of the High Priest on the other, and replied, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Jesus refused to sell out those who were revolting by telling people they should pay those oppressive taxes. That challenge was also reflected in his Prayer which affirmed the Kingdom of God on Earth. He refused to sanction loyalty to Rome. He was therefore seen as a threat for good reason.

Yet, Frederick Douglass still had hope. “If he had hope, how can I not have hope?” The Declaration states that when humanity is faced with a long train of abuse, “It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” How many abuses have we experienced? Clearly we must act. “I am suggesting we not listen to Paul. He was wrong.” We need to proclaim “a new era. We are called to bring a new kind of community into being.”

Offering Our Gifts
Announcments. Bryan Caston.

Sending Forth
Music. “Love Will Guide Us.” Love will guide us, peace has tried us, hope inside us will lead the way on the road from greed to giving. Love will guide us through the hard night. If you cannot sing like angels, if you cannot speak before thousands, you can give from deep within you. You can change the world with your love.
Blessing. Dr. Dorsey Blake.
Postlude. Alexander Major.

After the service, the ministers greeted the parishioners, including Belva Davis, a local TV news anchor, long time Fellowship Church attender, and former associate of Dr. Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman.
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And I asked a parishioner if I could photograph the drawings she made during the service.

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Then I photographed the books on display for sale downstairs.

 

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Pressed for time, I only stayed briefly for the Social Hour, but I left with my spirit uplifted by a wonderful worship. Then at home, I noticed the following poem by Steven Biko on the back of Sunday’s program:

We regard our living together not as an unfortunate mishap
warranting endless competition among us
but as a deliberate act of God
to make us a community of brothers and sisters
jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer
to the varied problems of life.

NOTE: If you want a digital audio tape of this service, let me know and I can send it to you via wetransfer.com.