EpiscoGrrlFebruary 13 is the feast day of #AbsalomJones, America’s 1st Black priest. Today’s #ForwardDaybyDay reflection entwines his remarkable story (born into slavery, freed, church planter, ordained at age 56, activist) with an OT verse (Isaiah 60:15) then asks us to reflect & move forward by imagining what a world of equality & love would look like then take whatever small actions we can to bring that dream closer to reality today. There’s just one problem: like Rev. Mathis, I can’t imagine that world, which nonetheless feels like it recedes further from the realm of possibility with each passing day. Yet I still have hope. Hope that the Beloved Community described in Isaiah 60:1-17 will, one day, be a reality. Hope born from reading the profound & enlightening works of BIPOC & women priests like Revs. Jones & Mathis & Rev. Canon Harold Lewis who told us “we will go forward when we learn…that freedom isn’t free [&] work to remove [the] shackles that imprison our minds.” #BlackHistoryMonth
A Guy Named Brian (he/him)Today, the Episcopal Church remembers The Rev Absalom Jones:
Set us free, heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear: that, honoring the steadfast courage of your servant Absalom Jones, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.