St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church - Elizabeth, NJ
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  • Home
  • Welcome
    • History >
      • Historical Sizzle
    • I'm New
    • Let's Get Acquainted
    • Rev. Canon Andy J. Moore
    • Leadership
    • Mission
    • Habits of Grace: Prayer into Action
    • Bishop Curry Who is my Neighbor
    • Bishop Curry
    • Make a Gift
    • Services
    • Sunday Service Aug 30th 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 23rd, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 16th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 9th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 2nd, 2020
    • Gallery >
      • Harvest Sunday
      • Sunday School Father's Day 19
      • Men's Club Community Flea Mkt
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Thankgiving Baskets
      • Celebration for High School Gradates
      • Homecoming 2018 >
        • Homecoming
      • Music in the Garden
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Sunday School Youth Sunday
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Christmas Mass St. Elizabeth's
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Frist Presbyterian
      • Feast of All Saints
      • Sanctuary Sunday 2017
      • International Food Festival
  • Get Involved
    • Sunday School
    • Sunday School Lift Ev'ry Voice
    • Moments in Black History 2019
    • Black History - MLK
    • Sunday School Black History
    • Sunday School Black History ii
    • Youth Ministry
    • ESL Fall 19 Classes
    • ESL Cerificate of Achievement
    • Computer Literacy
    • Episcopal Church Women
    • Mens Club
    • Outreach
  • Hall Rental
  • Calendar
    • News & Events >
      • Free Testing for COVID-19
      • Robin Pierre DCN
      • Pastoral Letter April 24th
      • Holy Week Schedule
      • Church Services Suspended
      • Reading Lent4 - Mar 22nd
      • Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing Challenge
      • Absalom Jones Service Sunday 2/16
      • Brad Kleiman in Concert
      • Annual General Meeing
      • Christmas Service
      • Cathedral Day 2019
      • Bern Nix Jazz Festival
      • All Saints Sunday, 3rd, November
      • Sight & Sound 2019
      • Int'l Food Festival July 13th
      • UMHA - Workshop Canceled 6/15
      • Prayer Breakfast Mar 16th
      • MLK Day of Service
      • UMHA - Sunday Dec 16th
      • New Year Eve Service
      • Christmas Celebration Fun Night
      • ECW Trip to Lancaster PA
      • Homecoming 2018
      • Music In the Garden
      • Saxophone Recital
      • Elizabeth Homeless Coalition
      • From Your Door to Heaven's Door
      • Urban Garden
      • Black History Events
  • Contact
  • Realm E-Giving Launch
  • Harvest Baskets Giveaways
  • Rector's Harvest Message
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
    • 25th Years of Priesthood Gala
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
  • Sunday May 5th
  • Lent 2019
  • Living Like Job
  • Operation Warm Heart
  • 9th Annual Food Festival
  • it's Friday....but Sunday Comin!!
  • Bishop Curry
  • Poor People's Campaign
  • Zoom Sunday Service Oct 4th
  • Stewardship Sunday 10/18/2020

Christian Activism

8/29/2020

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Mathew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Today I share my thoughts within the backdrop of two significant events. The first being the shooting Jacob Blake by a white policeman, and the subsequent shooting of protesters by a confessed 17-year-old white-supremist.  The second is the appointment of Fabiana Pierre-Louis as the only black woman now sitting as a Supreme Court Judge in New Jersey.

The first incident and the subsequent reaction challenged our hope for things to change in the post George Floyd America in terms of policing within our urban communities. Clearly one viewed the disparity in response to an unarmed black man and then to an angry, armed white perpetrator. This evoked a horrible brew of outrage and fear that rippled throughout black America and beyond.

The second incident allows us to view what many would celebrate as tremendous progress as we celebrate the achievements of a brilliant woman of immigrant parents educated in an urban community. Without any aim of reductionism of her achievements, Pierre-Louis’ appointment somehow casts an image of a successful black women who can achieve against a condemned black male who may eventually face her in the criminal justice system.

In many ways it is this irony which can be discovered in the readings for today. We have encountered Moses in the story recorded in Exodus: Chapter 3 having to confront his past and his future during a life changing conversation with a burning bush.  Born a Hebrew, raised as an African and now living among Arabs, Moses encounters a God who challenges him to find his true identity; one which is grounded not in nationality, but in a cause.  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.’” (Gen.3:14)

Moses is now called to lead an epic struggle for the freedom of an oppressed people.
In Mathew’s Gospel, we find Peter at a similar juncture.  Flushed with the joys of having been given a new name while in the foothills of Caesarea-Philippi and of being likened to a Rock, Peter now discovers his true calling. We witness him struggling to understand the nature of his identity.  Historically, as a method of intimidation and oppression, the Romans would have crosses installed on many of the major roads. Very much as a lynching in the South during Jim crow, these crosses were visceral reminders of the fate which awaits anyone who may challenge the oppressive Roman system.

Jesus points out a way to go beyond the normative response of fear and intimidation and embraces the cross.  To embrace the cross rather than fear it, not only blunts its ominous message, but subjects it to the power of God.  Thus, Pharaoh in all his might or Roman power in all its glory cannot match the power of God is the message of Jesus. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”, says Jesus. To take up a cross is not just about being a Christian in name, but like Moses, taking up the mantle of God, becomes a new form of religious activism.  To be a Christian without fervor and activism for righteousness is like a well without water "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Mathew 5:13)

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans sought to provide the Church with the tools for activism against the pervasive evil that it faced. “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) This is not about a kind of privileged christianity which allows many to claim it is about personal salvation. What is prescribed is the total transformation of the society led by those who are willing to carry the cross of love boldly, lovingly, passionately, and uncompromisingly. It is about looking hatred, racism, elitism, and intimidation boldly in the face and declare, “No one or anything is greater than God and His love for His world”. Your identity is fully grounded in your relationship with God through Christ Jesus. At our baptism we were marked as Christ’ very own. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal.3:28) That is the miracle and power of Christianity.  

God had to push Moses beyond his deepest fear of earthly power; Jesus had to push Peter beyond his internalized trepidation, and Paul had to push the Roman Church beyond the noise of oppression. Maybe the message is about the unmistakable bond between identity and purpose. Which when discovered becomes the pearl which Jesus spoke about in parables.   Paul’s understanding of church was it was a manifestation of the love of God in Christ Jesus created to transform the most oppressive of forces. Fredrick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Rev, Dr. King Jr., and many others had to be pushed beyond the limitations of their fears, weaknesses, and insecurities to become a fully activated, shameless, fierce Christian. It was a communal effort of Christian activism which mobilized people and communities.
 
One of the poignant fact of life is often times we as individuals, communities, churches and a nation all encounter crossroads or should I say forks in the road. Each of these bring us moments in which God calls us to go beyond our self crafted identity which leads to captivity and enslavement or we can be bold enough to be like Moses ,Peter and Paul and place all our trusts in God and walk through the fires. Many years ago, in the midst of the horrors of slavery there were two sets of people who claimed Christianity as their faith; one sang hymns of power and might from the English Hymnal; while others were singing “No grave can hold my body down”.  Today Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, George Floyd, Emmitt Till and hundreds of others are still singing that song. My friends, Moses stood and gazed at the burning Bush and saw God beckoning him, he stood in awe as he heard God sending him to mobilize his people for freedom. My hope is today as we worship the same God who spoke to Moses and the same Jesus who transformed Peter and feel the same Spirit which inspired the Roman church, we will be empowered to act in our times.
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I leave you with this challenge first issued by Fredrick Douglas and repeated by Dr. King by saying, “America will rise or fall based upon its willingness to live out the claim of the land of the free and the home of the brave”.  Bravery today walks the streets shouting, “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” This is our identity and purpose in these times! One must be willing to suffer the consequences that result from standing for that which is right in the eyes of God. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” 
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Where is God in the Midst of Evil

8/22/2020

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Mathew 16:18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

This text, I believe, is one of the most controversial or even challenging of many of the statements Jesus made. The Roman Church has built its claim of legitimacy upon this statement and has created huge, lasting effects. Millions of lives have been jeopardized or lost, seismic theological and political fissures have been created based this text.

A closer look, however, may reveal something much deeper and foreboding than who is the actual rock of the church. Many years ago, Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon at his home Church, Dexter Baptist, based on the theme "How to Believe in a Good God in the Midst of Glaring Evil". It was one of the most fascinating sermons for me as a seminarian, and it has shaped my response to many of life’s more challenging situations. I hope many of us at some time take the time to read it. What stood out for me was his response to the lasting damage of the evil of slavery and Jim Crowism which lay heavily upon the lives of African Americans like a pall of death. This same feeling came to my mind this week as I helped my children with a summer reading project for which I had to explain the struggles of sharecropping to them. Then later that evening, as I listened to President Obama’s fearful warning to our nation, the realization of the power and nature of evil came to the forefront of my thoughts.

My friends, the readings for today presents us with the pervasive and fearful nature of evil.  The Pharaoh who began the cruel persecution of the Israelites, was driven by fear, ego and greed and came to power with a horrible agenda; oppressing all those who did not look and think like him.  Exodus 1:8-9 “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.” Soon the enslavement of adults, followed by the slaughter of children was combined with the desire for cheap labor to build up the wealth of the few; this cruelty became the economic growth engine.  It was a time of great evil, and the people cried out to God in anguish and fear. These are the factors which may often allow a powerful people to believe in the absence or impotence of God and believe their own power was and now is the greatest and most important belief in one’s own exceptionalism or greatness.   This situation causes great despair and fear.  It is such a deep-seated fear and despair Dr. King responded “disbelief in a good God presents more problems than it solves. It is difficult to explain the presence of evil in the world of a good God, but it is more difficult to explain the presence of good in a world of no God.”

Yet, I believe Jesus in this Gospel story did something extremely remarkable often overlooked.  Caesarea Philippi was a city built on a huge rock on the foothills of Mt. Hermon. It was an old city first rebuilt by the Greeks who dedicated it to the Greek God, Pan. Pan was one of the fertility Gods and this old city could be likened to our modern red-light districts. It was known as an evil, foreboding place filled with underground caves.  A spring was located below the caverns, and the belief was if Pan was pleased, water would flow freely to help the crops outside of the City. Later, when the Romans conquered the region, King Herod Phillip renamed it Caesarea Philippi to honor Caesar who claimed to be a God as Herod himself sought to be a lesser God. Yet, this area held on to its reputation as a red-light district and a place inhabited by evil.  So, everyone noticed when Jesus and his disciples enter Caesarea Philippi; but they all looked from afar.

For Jesus now to look at this place, known for being evil, foreboding and claimed as a place to worship other gods, and to boldly declare it as the place He would build His church was a revolutionary proclamation. To look at evil and declare that not just Jesus, but all who place their trust in Him are greater than the evilest of thoughts, ideas or places provides us with an eternal hope in the power of God. This is what St. Paul sought to capture in declaring in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

My friends, to act boldly in the face of evil is the call of the people of faith; whether this people are ordinary health care workers walking into COVID-19 wards, ordinary congregants motivated by Dr. King to leave churches and march for freedom and get into good trouble or those today, ordinary people, who are fighting for the protection of the United States Post Office and our sacred right to vote remains the same people of faith. Today, we stand like the disciples of Jesus as he points towards all that embodies evil and declares, “And I tell you, you are the rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”  Jesus urges you to be the Israelites who walked away from Pharaoh’s world; be the good trouble maker who broke Jim Crow’s back; be the Black Lives Matter voice that shakes the walls of structural racism; be the hands which pull down statues of lies and mass treason to build new structures over the caves of evil and be the light which shines into caverns of greed and cruelty.
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God is with you for you are the presence of good in a world of evil. Jesus Christ within you makes you, makes all of us the rock!
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Feeding the Crowds

8/8/2020

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​Mathew 14:16-18   Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me”.

Jesus, in His feeding of the crowds, seeks to help the disciples to understand their calling and to become instruments for teaching His revolutionary message.  God’s power is not limited by human circumstances and material shortcomings but actually demonstrates His power within and through these human limitations.  The miracles of Jesus were really exhibited how mighty humans can become if willing to allow the power of God to work within and through us.  From the days of Abraham in the Old Testament to St. John the Divine in the Book of Revelation, there lies a compilation of humanities’ ability to overcome the most extraneous circumstances if space is provided for God’s power to become activated.

Christianity, at its very heart, is about the uncompromising call to discover our true nature in spite of our possible shortcomings or fallen nature.  Several Old and New Testament readings reveal this particular understanding when we witness Jacob becoming Israel; no longer a man fleeing from his past, but one willing to walk boldly to encounter his greatest fears, or Paul, in the letter to the Romans, reveals his new identity; an identity no longer grounded in his Jewish heritage, but in his newly discovered faith in Jesus Christ.  This is a profound concept which takes a human face in the household of Philemon as he wrestles with his relationship with Onesimus, an ex-slave and a Christian. Christianity nurtures an astonishing personal and societal transformation.

Sadly, when Europeans discovered Christianity, this radical message became suppressed to that of economic well-being and political power.  Christianity became a tool of sinful divisive teachings. The new Christians developed theological conceptions which introduced ideas of the limitations or lack of God’s presence within those whose skin color was black or brown. The church provided a theological support for the White European imperial power structure built upon a lie sanctioning the ownership of flesh; of black and brown skin being property and white skin being free.  Now, salvation had a color; Jesus became white, all angels were white, Resurrection became a white liturgical power and heaven was a promise fulfilled after being washed and becoming white as snow.  Seminaries and theological writings reinforced those teachings and prepared clergy and church leaders to reinforce this evil.  The posturing in the front of St. John’s Episcopal Church is the natural flow of conditioning which cannot be erased by glib denials.

Now the scales like those of St. Paul has fallen off our eyes; the lie is now fully revealed.  “And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh.” (2 Cor.15 &16) Many recent articles are sharing how the Covid-19 virus lock-downs have allowed many Christians to see the truth of the insidious nature of systemic racial inequalities that leave one to question the integrity of our white clergy colleagues.  What is now evident leaves one to question the worth and value of sitting in convocations or Diocesan conventions with white clergy who quickly return to their segregated communities only to reinforce the evils and dangers of a bad theology lacking a Biblical basis.
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Now increasingly Christians are hearing Jesus saying, “they need not go away let’s share a meal together.” Let’s gather together around Jesus and no longer slip away into the comforts of our divisive communities. These words lie at the heart of His message. For too long we have been taught it was all about the meal, but Thanksgiving celebrations should be greater than what is on the menu. The Feeding of 5000 is a call for us to live in communion with each other through Christ Jesus. We no longer need to slip into our segregated communities where churches and the quality of schools are decided by our zip code but by our true identity as being in and of Christ Jesus.  Can our white clergy take a knee and sit with us at the feet of Jesus?

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    Author

    Rev. Canon, Andy Moore 

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St Elizabeth’s
305 N. Broad Street
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07207

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