The Rural Church Still Counts as One of God’s Favored: Working In the Vineyard Proves Spiritual Key Vision

Rev. Dr. Gloria E. Jimpson, Pastor and Steward Pro Tem Naomi Pitts Payne AME Church in Chatham, New York, celebrated its 173rd Anniversary on Saturday, October 1, 2022. We paused for a few hours to celebrate our relationship with community partners, our brothers and sisters in faith, and friends and family to enjoy the love and respectful fellowship we all intentionally nurture. This longstanding fellowship relationship did not diminish but blossomed during the most recent height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have done prayer walks, prayed on prayer lines, and lobbied for better broadband. We helped members learn how to get on Zoom, fed a quarantined family of seven, supplied our lone village laundromat with complimentary detergent, organized Black Lives Matter drives through villages and cities, drove folks to their routine medical appointments and cancer treatments, became certified state chaplains, participated and assisted in organizing Juneteenth celebrations, held regular Zoom church services and Bible studies, assisted with the organization of gospel fests, back to school programs, March for Jesus and National Day of Prayer events, and whatever the Lord asked of and enabled us to do.

It was past time to celebrate the community we live and work in and ourselves!

We showed a poignant video essay featuring a few of the earliest congregations, our church’s first wooden edifice prior to its burning down by the KKK; the current and second edifice built prophetically by a community resident with the last name spelled Payn (no relation to one of our four horsemen Daniel Alexander Payne, bishop, educator, author, and administrator).

The cornerstone, dated 1849, is now in the process of being repaired from harsh winter damage. It includes momentoes of previous pastors over the last twenty years, African Methodist Episcopal Church historian, the Rev. Dr. Dennis Dickerson, Sr., Ph.D. proudly ranking among them, and as many of the community activities we could capture in photos despite the pandemic.

We celebrated in praise and with a dance of praise, choreography compliments of Sister Priscilla Troupe of Boston, performed by our own three novice dancers, but seasoned, clergy women to Kirk Carr’s, “In the Sanctuary.” A young saxophonist, Zachory Biggers, serenaded the crowd of nearly one hundred with “Amazing Grace,” “Let It Rise,” and “Bless the

Lord with Me.” Our dynamic meditation for the afternoon was brought to us by the Rev. Dr. Andrea M. Hargett, pastor of St. Matthew’s Community AMEC, Hollis, NY, and licensed family therapist.

We favored community members, workers, friends, American Legion officials, funeral home directors, and a United Methodist pastor recently reassigned to the area. We honored as well our Chathamarea Interfaith Council and its subset antiracism discussion forum members; a special member of the St. James Catholic Church, integral in our being included in community ecumenical services; a loving philanthropic husband and wife, dedicated to assisting all churches in the surrounding counties; and the Rev. Corinne Summers, a long-standing member of Payne, all accepting ...continued on p19