From the Calendar of the Church Year Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021; John 15:12-15
John 15:12-15 (NRSV)
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
The Calendar of the Church Year lists Absalom Jones for commemoration on February 13th. The proper for this day of celebration is from the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, when following the final meal Jesus has his Final Discourse with the disciples. During this discourse he exhorts them to abide in him, commands them to love, and follows with an exhortation about hatred. In verse 18 he says “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you,” warning that being hated comes with the territory for those who follow Jesus.
Absalom Jones was the first African American to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States. His story is a fascinating one, and it seems certain that he heard and experienced the three exhortations of Jesus in the Final Discourse. He was born into slavery in 1746 on a plantation in Delaware. The owner sold the plantation and with it Absalom’s mother, sister, and five brothers. Absalom was taken by his master to Philadelphia where he later joined St. Peter’s Church. He met the enslaved Mary Thomas at the church and later married her. Her freedom was purchased with the help of wealthy Quakers, and after numerous requests and the necessary money Absalom’s owner agreed to free him. Jones began worshiping at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1787 he and his friend Richard
Allen founded the Free African Society, a social, political, and humanitarian aid organization. It was the first of its kind organized by and for black people, many of them newly freed from slavery after the Revolutionary War. While a lay minister in the church he helped to raise money to build an upstairs gallery to accommodate the enlarging racially mixed congregation. Church leaders voted to segregate the congregation and force black members to sit in the upstairs gallery. During an argument over this demand for segregated seating Jones was accosted, and most of the black members walked out in protest. In 1792 the Free African Society began building the African Church of Philadelphia. The membership of the church quickly grew, and voted to affiliate with the Episcopal Church with the demand that it would be independent from white control and that Jones could serve as a lay minister. The Diocese agreed and in 1794 the church was admitted to the Diocese of Pennsylvania as the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. It was the first black Episcopal Church in the United States. Shortly thereafter Absalom accepted the call to ordained ministry. He was ordained as deacon in 1795 and as priest in 1802. At age 56 he had become the first black American priest.
Famous for his oratory, Jones was an earnest, effective preacher, and established the tradition of anti-slavery sermons on New Year’s Day. A strong abolitionist, he denounced slavery and warned the oppressors to “clean their hands of slaves.” He was a strong advocate for social justice, and to him God always acted on “behalf of the oppressed and distressed.” His abolitionist work took place within religious systems, including Anglicanism, that had upheld the rights of slave owners instead of the rights of slaves. He petitioned Congress and the U.S. President against slavery and the cruel and brutal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, trying to convince whites that slavery was immoral, offensive to God, and inconsistent with the country’s ideals. This petition and a similar one two years later was declined by Congress. His sermon on January 1 of 1808, the date on which the U.S. Constitution mandated the end of the African slave trade, was called a “Thanksgiving Sermon.” It was published and became famous. Jones became known as “the Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church.” He died on February 13, 1818 at age 72. His remains are now located in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia.
Jones’ church at St. Thomas was one of a small number of Episcopal churches formed among free African Americans. The Episcopal churches in the south remained segregated, and household slaves of Episcopal families sat in segregated galleries or other sections. Preaching remained a white activity, and blacks listened. In his book Love Is The Way, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry writes about the story Howard Thurman tells about his grandmother, a former slave. She remembered two church services for the slaves on Sundays. The first was organized by their master and had a preacher giving sermons basically about how God would want you to be a better slave. After this formal service the slaves would “steal away to Jesus” and a slave preacher would preach another sermon that ended with the words: “You are not slaves, you are the children of God.” This was Sunday morning for slaves before the Civil War. The struggle for justice for African Americans continued and of course continues today. Absalom Jones was one of the pioneers for racial justice within the Church and within the broader American culture. He knew how to abide. He knew how to love. He also suffered from the hatred about which Jesus warned those 2000 years ago. The Episcopal Church commemorates him today for his persistence in faith and for being a vessel for Christ’s action in the world.
Rev. Bob Donnell
Collect
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 your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
