Service overcomes two centuries of division
The
Revs. Alfred Day (center, left) and Mark Kelly Tyler help lead worship
at St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. A UMNS photo
by Jon Goldberg.
|
By Suzy Keenan*
Oct. 27, 2009 | Philadelphia (UMNS)
The Revs. Alfred Day (left) and Mark
Kelly Tyler prepare for worship.
A UMNS photo by Jon Goldberg.
|
The first members of their congregation marched out of St. George’s
United Methodist Church more than two centuries ago to protest a
segregated sanctuary.
On. Oct. 25, hundreds of congregants from Mother Bethel African
Methodist Episcopal Church poured into St. George’s for a combined
worship service, the first since the breakup.
“This is beyond a historical moment; it is a day of rejoicing, of true
enlightenment, and of gratitude – of moving from the past into the
future,” said Veronica Saunders, a member of Mother Bethel AME who
welcomed worshippers at the door dressed in her starched white usher’s
uniform and cap.
Pausing to smile, she added, “Mother Bethel has so much history, love,
and light, it brings chills to me to think of this day - of bringing us
together in a new unity.”
Laticia Stauffer, who was one of St. George’s representatives to the
combined team that helped plan the worship, also welcomed worshippers.
“This event came together effortlessly, like it was meant to be,” she
said. “This is a great step to building new history.”
The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of
Mother Bethel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia,
preaches during the combined
worship service. A UMNS photo
by Jon Goldberg.
|
That history began in the 1780’s. Richard Allen and Absalom Jones
became the first African-American lay preachers at St. George’s
Methodist Episcopal Church, licensed by Francis Asbury, Methodism’s
first bishop in America. The growing number of African members brought
in by Allen and Jones led to the building of a balcony, completed in
1792. With the balcony came segregated seating.
One Sunday when Jones was forcibly moved by a church trustee from where
he was praying, Allen and Jones led a walk out of the African-American
members. Allen began Mother Bethel Church, whose struggles with the
overseeing church, St. George’s, continued with a “long, distressing
and expensive lawsuit” over rights to self-determination. In 1816, the
Supreme Court decided in favor of Mother Bethel, and Allen founded the
African Methodist Episcopal denomination.
Hope from hurt
The Rev. Alfred Day, pastor of St. George’s, welcomed the brimming
sanctuary to the special Sunday worship. “We’re here today because
God’s Spirit is full of surprises,” he said. The combined worship
resulted from an invitation to the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of
Mother Bethel AME Church, to preach as part of St. George’s 240th
anniversary. Tyler’s response was, “Sure, but how about if I bring
Mother Bethel with me?”
In asking why the churches were coming together, Day said, “The God of
our mothers and fathers is busy pointing to the Promised Land more than
back to Egypt.”
He added, “Why do we keep coming back to something that happened so
long ago? Because in church and community there are still people pushed
into balconies or as far to the edges as we can push them…because we
must never forget—God’s people of St. George’s and Mother Bethel – the
story our ancestors have lived, hope can rise from it amidst the hurt.
The work overcoming racism, discrimination and division is work that
every generation must do in and for its own time.”
The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler
holds a cross made from
original nails taken from the
formerly-segregated balcony
at St. George’s. A UMNS
photo by Suzy Keenan.
|
Two stories
Day presented a gift to Tyler, a cross made of the original nails taken
from the very balcony that had led racial segregation and division.
Tyler preached from Genesis, when two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, bury
their father, Abraham. He pointed out that there are always two stories
at a funeral – the one in the bulletin and the one in the parking lot,
and that the story of Hagar and Ishmael is part of the latter.
He paraphrased what Ishmael might have said, “Mama, the bitterness is
your stuff. Maybe I can go back and get rid of my hate and say thank
you. I return because my brother needs me to stand with him.” The text
shows a new way, he pointed out -- that the children get past the
anger, and that blood is thicker than water.
Mother Bethel and St. George’s shared a common father, John Wesley.
“The same blood that runs through our veins is thicker than what
divides us,” Tyler said.
But he admitted that he did not know how he would end his sermon until
the moment Day handed him the cross -- “until Fred put the nails in my
hand, and I remembered it’s all about the blood – that Jesus’ blood is
thicker than water!”
The congregation shared in communion using a chalice sent by John
Wesley to the Methodists in America, and is thought to have been used
to served Richard Allen and Absalom Jones communion.
The service was accompanied by the noise of jack hammers and air hoses
from crews working on repairs to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which
lies on 14 feet from St. George’s walls: “Here is a message that will
not be silenced!” Day quipped at the end.
Church universal
Fourteen-year-old James Bradley surveyed the gathering from the
balcony. He faithfully attends worship at Mother Bethel every Sunday
and looks forward to becoming a member in the near future. “This is a
beautiful church and a great day today, in the joining of the two
churches together,” he declared.
The two churches shared
communion using a chalice
sent by John Wesley to the
Methodists in America. A
UMNS photo by Suzy Keenan.
|
Also sitting in the balcony was Melissa Miller McGinn, a member of St.
George’s. As a young professional in the city, she has friends of all
backgrounds, and found it “a big deal” to sit where, 200 years ago, the
Africans-Americans had been forced to sit, and look down upon the
congregation where everybody was mixed together.
Florimel Brown, a 72-year member of Mother Bethel, centers her life
around the congregation. She was so excited that she called her family
in South Carolina to tell them of the historic coming together of the
two churches.
“The world is in such turmoil,” she said. “At a time when we really
need it, maybe this will bring peace to our city, our country, and the
world.”
Following the service, worshippers were invited to have refreshments
and tour St. George’s museum. This was of special interest to retired
United Methodist Bishop Forrest Stith, president of the African
American Methodist Heritage Center located at Drew University.
“Old St. George’s will never be the same again,” Stith said. “They were
the greatest hosts one could ever imagine. The persons who were
visitors from Mother Bethel and the AME churches in Washington, D.C.
and New York all felt extremely welcome and well received. The joy was
real – not artificial – and this was the time to do it – right now.”
A tour guide in St. George’s museum, Vicki Lock also serves as the
church’s lay leader, parish relations chairperson and trustee and had
participated in a reconciliation service held at St. George’s with
Mother Bethel in 2001. “Rev. Tyler’s sermon was great – that we’re all
one in God and the rest doesn’t really matter – that is the ultimate
message,” she said.
Vanessa Thomas Smith has been a member of Mother Bethel for nine years.
Her sister, Jacqueline King, is a United Methodist Church planter in
Houston. The two had recently walked from Mother Bethel to St. George’s
to take in the history of the two churches.
“Today, there is historic significance of the church being universal,”
she said. “There are times when you have to separate and go where your
heart goes, and times to come together in remembrance, forgiveness, and
reconciliation. It is a highlight for us at Mother Bethel to be a part
of this gathering. I am hoping we do more together in the future.”
*Keenan is the conference communicator for the denomination’s Philadelphia Area.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Related Articles
Philadelphia Methodists join to reverse history
Reconciliation service addresses churches’ 200-year-old rift
Methodists join in service of reconciliation
Resources
St. George’s UMC
Mother Bethel AME Church
2000 Liturgical Act of Repentance for Racism
Richard Allen: Profiles in Black History
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