The Feast Day of Reverend Absalom Jones - Feb. 13, 2010

Diocese of Southern Virginia
Feast Day of Rev. Absalom Jones, February 13, 2010
Leslie C. Ferguson, Candidate for Holy Orders
Isaiah 61: 1-4; Psalm 137: 1-6; John 15: 12-15

Today we celebrate the feast day honoring the life and ministry of the Reverend Absalom Jones. The Episcopal Church recognizes Absalom Jones’ life as one that presents an image of profound healing for the community of believers. I think it is fitting that we honor Absalom as we celebrate and pray for healing; personal, denominational, and global.

One of the blessings I have attending Virginia Seminary is the interaction with international students. One of the things we do is meet these new students at the airport and bring them to the Seminary. This past year, as part of these duties, I had the opportunity to bring a young South African woman who had flown for the first time and landed at Dulles after leaving Johannesburg. During our travels we shared part of our stories and one thing that came out in our discussion was the fact that she was a vegetarian; not because meat upset her stomach but because her friends in South Africa did not have meat to eat, so in solidarity with her community she chose to not eat meat. Her example of community living exemplified Absalom Jones’ to me as I was reviewing his life and ministry to his community - standing up for those who had no voice or were on the margin.

As we prepared for this service we had discussions about the person of Absalom Jones and his story. We discussed our impressions of Absalom and what he stood for, and not just our own impressions but our cultural heritage; what his legacy had to offer to the Episcopal Church of the 21st century; and what his life and ministry challenged us to do.

We honor Absalom Jones as the first Black Episcopal priest, a man who served the church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania; first as a Deacon in 1795 and later a Priest in 1802. Lesser Feasts and Fasts tells us that Jones bought his wife’s freedom before his own; he chose to free her from slavery before himself: to break his legacy’s bond to slavery. He put the status of his family ahead of himself - he loved them as he believed that God loved him. Next Lesser Feasts and Fasts points out that Jones partnered with Richard Allen to create the Free African Society in 1787. This society was a social organization that was responsible for seeing to the needs of black society in the growing United States. Under Jones’ and Allen’s oversight, the society built a church that was admitted into the Diocese of Pennsylvania in July 1794 as St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. Ironically, Richard Allen is probably better known by our society for the role he played in the growth of the black Christian church in the United States, even though he and Jones stood shoulder-to-shoulder for human rights and religious freedom.

Absalom Jones was a man who stood as a prophetic example of God’s love and faithfully following God’s call. He was a renowned pastoral leader, a vibrant preacher, and a steadfast abolitionist. He began his lay ministry and his life of faith in the late 1780s at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In response to the white congregation at St. George’s demand that the growing black membership in the congregation move to the balcony out of the main part of the sanctuary, he and Allen chose to walk out of church rather than be relegated to the balcony. Both Jones and Allen led a break from a faith tradition that followed the social norm of the day yet failed to honor the Christian commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Along with Allen, Jones earned his reputation as one who stood by his conviction against oppression and segregation. For these reasons Absalom Jones was chosen as a model leader in the Episcopal Church; a model who stood faithfully in God’s call; against long odds, in personal peril, and in violation of “accepted” behavior. Yet, Absalom Jones’ story is more involved than that; his life is not as neat as we might make it out to be; and often doesn’t receive the respect it deserves in the whole Episcopal church and universal Christianity. Absalom Jones had a hard life in turbulent and oppressive times; he faithfully listened for and followed God’s call; and yet his story isn’t always all that comforting.

From the surface we appreciate Jones’ story because it is a good news story - an oppressed person stands against the oppressive society and makes a difference in his community, his faith, and ultimately in his nation. His story is one that goes beyond the simple good news; it’s a story of steadfast conviction to faithfully live a call to love all others as he loved himself. Specifically he put his wife and children ahead of himself when he bought her freedom. He lived faithfully into his call to be a witness for and to God in the world above all else.

I also believe Jones’ story is challenging because of the distinction between Jones’ and Allen’s path with God as agents of change for God’s kingdom on earth. In Allen’s case he chose to live in a world separated by his design; one where race was important, where it was important to be black, a world that lived in parallel to the “white” world. It was here that Jones broke with Allen: he wanted to live a life in a community where distinctions made a difference but as a point of celebration of the diversity of God in creation. He advocated for a community that was integrated with white society, a faith community that worshiped God; not a black faith community worshiping a black God alongside a white faith community worshiping a white God; rather a community of the faithful worshiping the one God of creation. By his choice he put the future of the black Christian community ahead of his life and his family; he chose to live out his call with God from a place that was both isolated from the mainstream black community and un-embraced by the white community because he bucked “proper” society.

He was faithful to a call that flew against the social norm; he held fast to that call against long odds. He had to know by his choice to follow the one true God that he would set himself against the black society - one that wanted to be freed of the life and influence of the oppressive white society. Likewise, he had to know he wouldn’t be accepted by the majority white society; he wasn’t like them, he was someone who “should remember his place,” and he was bucking their impression of a God-ordained society. Jones affirmed something that we’ve come to stand by in the Episcopal Church; where two societies attempt to live in parallel neither one is a true image of God’s true kingdom. That kingdom where all are welcomed; where differences are acknowledged and celebrated; and where people of faith live in love and community with each other.

Imagine if you will Jones reading the passage from Isaiah. He’s so struck by it he hangs it on his wall as the guiding light for his life. Jones devoted his life to being the voice for God who proclaimed liberty to the captives, not just the enslaved blacks but the whites who were bound by in their own form of slavery - slavery to life in a parallel and unequal universe. He lived a life that provided release to the prisoners - he bought his wife and his family’s freedom from slavery; he paid for the release of the black Christians from slavery “in the balcony” and released them to the main sanctuary. Jones lived his life comforting those in need; being a steward of the Free African Society bringing positive change to his society. In the end, Jones stood for what was right; a life modeled after Christ. He stood firm in his call to show us the falsehood of life as we lived it: there is no place in God’s kingdom for parallel universes; we are all children of God, each with our own special talents and special place in God’s heart. And those differences should be celebrated and honored above all else.

Here is our challenge: to stand firm in our call by God. And as we stand firm we need to look at our understanding of that call through the lens of the reading from Isaiah. A true call from God is good news to the oppressed, it is freedom from captivity, it provides comfort to the brokenhearted, and proclaims a time of God’s favor.

Our call is complex but Absalom gives us a model to live by. We are called to live our lives in community; celebrating our differences and honoring those who we feel are different from ourselves. We honor the differences by being honest and open in our life in community, loving others as God loves us. We need to realize that the work of God is not complete on earth and that we are all important members of the body of Christ doing God’s work in the world. How do we do that work? We need to be present as we are and be open to hearing the “other” in our conversations and discussions in community. We need to look for those things that trouble us in society and learn (1) why we are troubled and (2) where God is in the troubling place. We do this through open discussion; sharing and honoring emotions on both parts; and remembering the “other” is made in the image of God and that God is present in this and every situation. Our conversation cannot be limited to those who are like us either. We need to be open to conversation with those we don’t agree with or who are different from us in: race, sexual orientation, country of origin, denomination, or faith tradition. By being open to and in conversation in community we will naturally become more attentive to God in us, in others, and in the troubling situation.

Today, we celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones: priest, innovator, pastor, and human rights advocate. May we continue forward in our call with our eyes on God’s commission to share God’s love, not as we want to but as God would want us to.

Amen!