Drawing Strength From Each Other’s

Faith for the Fight Ahead

Dora

Muhammad

This past March, I sat humbly listening to the Rev. William Lamar IV chisel out the Rev. Brandee Jasmine Mimitzraiem’s idea of TheChristianRecorder’ s potential role in amplifying my work at Planned Parenthood as its first associate director of faith engagement. The pastors’ creativity was sparked on the third day of a national faith table convening in Washington, District of Columbia, under the theme, “Imagining New Worlds: In Faithful Pursuit of an Inclusive Democracy.” The strength of their conviction of the possibilities invoked in my mind the anvil pictured atop the cross in the African Methodist Episcopal Church logo.

The intrinsic power embodied by their collective determination and vision of the way forward inspired me. That energy matched the story I heard of the founding African Methodist Episcopal Church congregation that purchased its own worship space in protest of the racist mistreatment of the Methodist church they attended to establish Bethel AME Church in 1794. From a renovated blacksmith shop, they used an anvil as an unassuming pulpit to deliver the Word of God and spread their faith. Extending from this ancestral boldness, it was evident why the AME Church today stands at the forefront of faith institutions fighting for reproductive freedom. The church was the first black denomination to issue a public statement against the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the federal right to abortion after nearly 50 years when news of it leaked in May of 2022.

One year after that devastating Supreme Court decision to reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, the federal judiciary, circuit courts, state courts, and state legislatures are still working to unravel ...continued on p40

Who said Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees?

The 300-leaf Tree of Life pictured above is a classic design that allows for a wide range of presentation shapes and accommodates a large number of donor names. This carefully crafted Tree of Life can provide the perfect way to:

• Recognize contributors to a building fund or fund-raising campaign

• Honor contributors to an endowment fund

• Salute individuals or groups for outstanding service or achievements

• Create a tasteful memorial

• The Tree of Life is so successful because the donor’s personalized message will be on display forever

Its leaves are miniature brass plaques that we custom engrave for mounting on sculpted plexiglass backgrounds. The result is elegant and economical.