Isaiah 42:5-9
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
This past week the church commemorated the Feast of Absalom Jones - the first black man ordained in the Episcopal Church. Jones, along with Richard Allen (the Founder of the AME Church), were both Methodists when they felt called to start a black church for black people. The Methodists would not allow it, so Jones became Episcopalian and founded St. Thomas Church in Philadelphia.
He must have been a patient man, because the church was founded in 1794 and he was ordained deacon in 1795. However, he was not ordained a priest until seven years later.
Many ordinands remained deacons longer than our current practice of six months to a year, but there were certainly other factors at play in Rev. Jones’ case.
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
Certainly, St. Thomas and Absalom Jones himself still struggled for full acceptance into the Episcopal Church. But they still kept doing the work of the Gospel. During the yellow fever epidemic of the late 1790s, when white clergymen and congregations were fleeing the city to keep themselves healthy, Jones and his congregation went out and cared for the sick, white and black alike.
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
Jones and other were also active politically, including lobbying congress to revoke the fugitive slave act and to put higher penalties on kidnappers who would kidnap free blacks and attempt to sell them into slavery.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
Despite growing up in the Episcopal Church, I had never heard of Absalom Jones until I was in Seminary. When did you first hear his name? How many other Black voices from within the Church are we still unaware of because of our own internal biases and blinders?