THE TRUTH IS THE LIGHT

Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., Columnist

Based on Biblical Text: 1 Thes. 3:12 “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.”

The greatest quality in the world is love. Without love, we are nothing and cannot have abundant life. The Apostle Paul was aware of this. His prayer to God was that the Thessalonian church and its believers might grow more and more in love. Paul knew that the church that would be a model to others is one that has a strong and abiding love. The model church exhibits an intense love for God and one another.

Paul prays to God our Father, reminding us that the God we serve is not just “out there” ruling and reigning in some place far removed from us but is, in fact, right here with us actively participating in our lives just as an earthly father participates in the lives of his children. In other words, God, our Father, is intimately involved in our lives. We see Paul approach God like a child approaches their father. A child requests of their father, knowing that he will hear and answer.

Paul prays to our Lord Jesus Christ, who has existed eternally in heaven but so loved us that he would become our Lord. He would come to earth in the flesh and dwell among us. The depth of Paul’s prayer reveals to us that both the Father and the Son have the nature of God. The Father and the Son have co-existed eternally and continue to reign eternally.

Paul prays for what he knows is the only solution to the people’s dilemma. He prays for their need to love. Why? Because love is the necessary foundation for every church that seeks to flourish in the work of the Lord. If the church of Jesus Christ is to grow, it must allow the love of God to multiply and overflow into the world.

God can increase our love and cause our love to overflow toward others. The overflowing love of God can perfect what is lacking in our conviction and can guide and direct all our efforts. This guidance is our mandate if we are to be the church in our community that

When God Baffles Us

Dr. Herman O. Kelly, Jr., Columnist

The word baffle means to be bewildered or perplexed. It can also mean being puzzled or confused. Life can be confusing and puzzling. We often make plans or an agenda for our present and future endeavors. Some wake up and write a to-do list on their devices or a sheet of paper. Our goal for that day is to complete our list. If we complete our list, we will have a productive day. But, in the ebb and flow of living, sometimes our list is expanded and may not get completed that day or even the next couple of days.

First, God baffles us with grace. Grace is unmerited favor from God. It is unmerited because none of us deserves or can earn the grace of a loving and forgiving God. I am baffled by how God gives me grace and my family grace, and others who share their faith journey with me.

Ephesians 4:7 reminds us that “each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Grace is a gift, and this gift should baffle us even more. It is like having a birthday celebration every day. The gift we receive is God’s grace. I wanted a new tie, but the color was not good; I wanted a new suit, but it was a little tight since I gained a few pounds, but God’s grace fits me just right. God can baffle and confuse us with grace and perplex us with this unmerited favor that we will never deserve. My seminary professor at Boston University gave me an assignment to write about my theological foundation. I searched for philosophical and esoteric titles for my presentation. Finally, God spoke, and I listened. I titled it “God’s Grace.” I looked back over my life and what God has done for me.

would be a model to others. God’s overflowing love will move us to encourage the unsteady among our congregation and the unsteady “out there” in the world. We will be able to not only strengthen the weak within our walls but also be compelled to strengthen the weak without. God’s overflowing love will allow us to inspire the dispirited in our roles and the discouraged in our community. We will be moved not just to feed the hungry in our membership but to reach beyond our membership to the hungry who are not.

Our prayer, as we aspire to be a church in our community that stands boldly as a model to others, is to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, asking that we are strengthened and encouraged to carry their overflowing love into all the world. The model church loves God with the entirety of heart, mind, and soul and, just as importantly, extends that same love to our neighbour. We know by faith that there is no relationship that God’s love cannot strengthen. We are encouraged that there is no fellowship that his love cannot enhance, no heart that God’s love cannot soften, nor is there any pain that God’s love cannot relieve.

Lord, we seek to be a church in our community that stands as a model to others, and our prayer is that you make us blameless, pure, holy, and our pathway sure.

The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. is the pastor of James Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

I took a journey through my good days and my bad days, and I realized the reality of God’s grace.

Secondly, God baffles us by God’s mercy. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness” (Micah 6:8). It can baffle us as God gives mercy to us, and we, in turn, are not merciful to our family, friends, and community. God is so patient with us, but we are not patient with each other. God is slow to anger, but we anger so quickly. Yes, God baffles me sometimes. However, mercy gives a wonderful glimpse of God, who looks beyond our faults and your faults and grants us mercy. At the mercy seat of God, we find forgiveness and salvation for our sins and shortcomings. At this mercy seat, the crucified Savior has atoned our sins. I am glad God baffles me many times.

Lastly, God baffles us by God’s love. “But God demonstrates God’s love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV). The commercial states, “diamonds are forever,” and we see the person giving their lover some diamonds. Maybe, I cannot afford diamonds; does that mean I cannot or do not love you? God’s love is priceless and can never be bought or bargained for. We all were bought at a price. The giving of a Savior to save you and me is baffling. It is perplexing and confusing because we did not deserve such love and consideration. God loved beyond love; God gave beyond giving. God did beyond what we could ever do. It ...continued on p6 is baffling. It is confusing. It is perplexing. Philosophers can baffle us, science can confuse us, and technology can perplex us, but nothing baffles us like God.

As Aristotle states, “The unmoved mover.” Paul Tillich writes, “The ultimate concern.” James Cone alludes to this love in The Cross and The

Lynching Tree . The love of God pours out in our Savior, Jesus. We see the suffering of Jesus on the cross through our ancestors who died on lynching trees because of hate and racism in this country. God loves us even in our hatred for each other and our mean spirit toward each other. The love of God still baffles me. I am baffled, but I have faith. I am baffled, but I still trust. I am baffled, but I still believe in a baffling God. ❏ ❏ ❏

Must Illness Knock On Our Door Before We Know COVID-19 Is Real?

James B. Ewers Jr., Ed.D.

I can remember my dad saying to me that discretion is the greater part of valor. Sir John Falstaff speaks the line in Shakespeare’s play, Henry IV , Part 1, Act V, Scene 4. Simply put, it is better to avoid a dangerous situation than to confront it. All of us have been in situations that could have gone wrong had we made the wrong decision. Are we making the right or wrong decision about COVID-19?

As far back as grade school, I can recall peer pressure before the term was coined. A few of my friends wanted to do the wrong thing, and I decided not to follow them. I thought it wise not to experiment with danger. Are we experimenting with COVID-19?

There are many crossroads in life where our decisions might literally mean life or death. At the beginning of the Coronavirus, we received information about it which most of us took seriously. We followed the protocols because that was the right decision. Now, of course, some in America did not trust the health experts. They adhered to their own advice and the advice of non-medical experts. Do you remember someone saying to take disinfectant as a cure for COVID-19?

Prior to the vaccines becoming available, wearing masks, washing hands, and practicing social distancing were a big part of preventing COVID-19 from spreading. Now, vaccines have been instrumental for us as we try to keep a safe environment. As a result, the number of people contracting the virus has dramatically decreased over time; however, over the past five months, COVID-19 numbers have been on the rise. According to reports, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Massachusetts had counties with medium to high levels of increased COVID-19 cases. Conversely, Hawaii and Maine were states with low numbers of new cases.

As we enter this new year, we should remain vigilant and aware of the COVID-19 surge. This health scare has made us both apprehensive and careful. We think it has disappeared, but it is still around and lurking. Knowing this, we must continue our safe practices; however, some think we are totally out of the woods and are COVID19-free. Unfortunately, that is wrong and is wishful thinking.

Going about your business without any regard for a virus that has taken millions of lives is shortsighted. Reports say there are over 32,000 new cases of COVID-19, and that number is growing. The major vaccine manufacturers have produced new vaccines to combat the new variants. It is up to us to take them.

Like many of you, I have taken my booster, and my family members have as well. It is in our rational self-interest to do so. Unfortunately, while many of us do not need to be warned, many do not heed the warnings. Do not let it reach your

Questioning Faith: My First Conversion

J. Jioni Palmer, Columnist

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” Ralph Ellison

When I was a child, my family attended Bethlehem Lutheran Church in West Oakland, California. West Oakland was and, despite rampant gentrification, still is a predominantly working-class African American community.

In the 1960s, the people of West Oakland, many of them migrants from East Texas and Louisiana fleeing the choking oppression of Jim Crow, were harassed and brutalized by the Oakland Police Department. They migrated in search of better opportunities, but their material conditions hardly improved for many—rural poverty was swapped to urban poverty. As a result of these conditions, in 1966, the Black Panther Party for SelfDefense was founded and headquartered blocks from Bethlehem. Twentythree years later, Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton was murdered by a drug dealer near the sanctuary’s doors. Throughout it, all of Bethlehem has stood at the intersection of the sacred and the profane. While signs of a community in decay and turmoil proliferated on one side of the threshold—homeless encampments in the park across the street, doorstep before you act.

Since its beginning, there has been a reluctance by too many people to protect themselves. It was and still is in many circles a political football that people just want to ignore, thinking it will not harm them. We see commercials on television daily about folks that have lost loved ones because they ignored the information. We have a role to play, and that role is to be a vaccine advocate. That can happen when we speak up and say something about it in a non-threatening way. Be proactive and protect yourself and your family. We cannot stop doing so because our lives are on the line. ❏ ❏ ❏

Mickey’s malt liquor big mouth bottles littered the streets, and prostitutes worked the corners—I found spiritual and cultural undergirding and affirmation on the other side. The congregation was predominantly black but rich in the natural diversity of the African diaspora. Prominent figures like the publisher of the Oakland Tribune and a player on the Golden State Warriors sat in the pews alongside secretaries at Kaiser and high school custodians. Pastor Herzfeld was black, and so was the ministerial staff, including several from West and Southern Africa. There, I learned about Maurice Bishop, Steven Biko, and various liberation struggles sweeping the globe in the 1980s.

I didn’t always understand what I heard, but I don’t think that mattered because I felt something. Something that drew me closer to the divine. Something that pulled me closer to those in the pews. Something that drew me closer to my community at home and abroad. There, I developed the habit of looking around to observe what other people were observing to see what moved them and how they moved. One of my most vivid memories is from a Christmas Eve service. My mom and I were sitting ...continued on p7 behind a man who couldn’t sing a lick, and he moved off-beat, but that didn’t stop him from belting out “Silent Night” like he was choir director. His passion was undeniable.

I naively thought most Lutherans were black and worshiped the way we did at Bethlehem. I would soon learn most Lutherans were white, and many held very conservative theological, social, and political views that were antithetical to my own. Decades later, I was astounded to learn that former Attorney General Ed Meese, a Ronald Reagan loyalist, grew up in Oakland and attended Bethlehem Lutheran Church. It seems unfathomable that we would ever call the same church home.

For some reason, my family left Bethlehem and began attending another church in the East Oakland foothills. There were a few other black families and families of color, but it was a predominantly white congregation. The senior pastor and ministerial staff were white. The music was flat and lacked the zeal to which I had become accustomed. I missed the pageantry of Bethlehem.

No Excuses

Robbie Colson-Ramsey, Contributing Writer

While I was much more actively engaged with this new congregation—I was confirmed there, was an acolyte, and regularly participated in lock-ins and camping trips—than at Bethlehem, I found my connection to the faith I had known slipping away. In retrospect, I realize I was undergoing my first conversion experience, away from my family’s faith.

As I went through the confirmation process, I wrestled with understanding the concept of the Trinity—how can God be three separate individuals yet also one—and the question of who created the creator. I would lay in my bed at night pondering these questions. When I put them to my new pastor, I received a mystified look and the unsatisfactory response, “Well, you just got to have faith.” His words were reassuring, but the look in his eyes led me to doubt.

As I looked into his cool blue eyes, I felt like he was searching to understand me and what I was searching to understand. In contrast, when I looked into Pastor Herzfeld’s warm brown eyes, I felt like he knew what I was in search of—that which he had not yet found but knew existed—and invited me along on the journey. ❏ ❏ ❏

On the first Sunday of the new year, my husband preached a soul-stirring message, “No Excuses,” from John 5:1-15. The sermon begged us to move from stagnant ways and pleaded that we no longer allow fear to paralyze us because it is time to move from our old ways. It mandated that we get up, stop being distracted, and stop being held hostage by excuses. The sermon reminded me of when I was pledging (intake) for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. We would say, “Excuses are tools of the incompetent that build monuments of nothingness. Those who choose to use them seldom amount to anything.” Think about it; our excuses are empty thoughts and words used to bring nothing to fruition.

As pastor’s spouses, the excuses we create often develop a hedge of hindrance that creates issues in our spouse’s churches. In 2023, we must alleviate excuses that make our spouses unsatisfied and why spouses do not get true fulfillment from doing the Lord’s work.

An ongoing excuse is that many spouses don’t work in the church because they feel it is their spouse’s calling and not theirs; when you march down that aisle and say I do, it becomes a shared calling. Now, you did not receive the appointment, but because you are equally yoked, you sometimes feel the partial weight of the charge. We create excuses because we are not prepared to engage fully in our spouse’s churches. This is the year for you to say I am here, ready to serve, with no excuses. Although we commit to lessening our excuses in the new year and hitting the target head-on, removing excuses and working in the church is not giving you a ticket to take over the church; it’s not your appointment, and you are not the pastor. It would help if you were an engaged member with a caring and approachable attitude.

What Does Black History Month Look Like In 2023?

Quardricos Driskell, Columnist

In February of 1926, Carter G. Woodson, a well-educated educator with degrees from Berea College, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago, observed with disdain that African American contributions “were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed” by writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them. As such, he had a specific goal in mind when establishing what was then called Negro History Week. He hoped that as time passed, black history would be recognized as so entrenched in American history that calendars wouldn’t indicate when society should celebrate black history.

Flash forward to 1970, when Black History Month, as we know it today, was first celebrated at Kent State University, then 16 years later, in 1986, when the United States Congress officially recognized Black History Month as the law of the land, some 60 years after Carter Woodson pioneered the celebration. Yet, as [we have concluded Black History Month 2023, we are] engulfed with the same, if not similar, concerns Woodson had at the turn of the century, which led him to establish the week in the first place.

Over the past weeks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sent waves throughout the country that the state was blocking a new Advanced

The members are watching and using you as a measuring stick. If you don’t support the project, why should they?

In the new year, be encouraged to lessen your excuses because you stand accountable in God’s eyes. So remember, in all you do and say, do not make excuses. ❏ ❏ ❏

Placement course on African American Studies because it included “queer theory” and depicted Black Panther-style radical racial ideology as representing black Americans.

DeSantis emphasized that Florida requires teaching black history, but the state determined this optional Advanced Placement course violated state law. No coincidence that an Education Week article notes that Florida is also one of 18 states that have passed laws restricting some lessons on race and racism. Florida’s law specifically bans teaching Critical Race Theory. However, Critical Race Theory or any discourse on race has been misused by Republican lawmakers as a cultural wedge issue that has essentially become an across-theboard ban on the history of race, racism, and history generally. This misrepresentation has subsequently led to DeSantis refusing the College Board pilot program of African American Studies in the state. In another southern state, Virginia, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin essentially won the governorship by campaigning against Critical Race Theory, a subject only taught at the collegiate level.

A recent Hill article entitled, “Republicans See Education As Winning Issue In 2024,” posits that prospective GOP candidates for 2024 could use education –concerns over parental rights and school curriculum as a winning issue, citing the actions of DeSantis and Youngkin respectively.

Given these intentional ways to legislate out African American history, which is American history, it begs the question – what does it mean for a 21 st-century politicized America divided by not only race but any social construction, such as gender and sexuality, religion, to celebrate the genesis, the struggle, the advancement and achievements of the entire African diaspora, especially within the Americas?

Conversely, I understand the apprehension around why some parents would not want such sensitive topics taught to their children, most especially at an early age. However, what puzzles me, is the concern among high schoolage children who presumably will discuss and learn such topics in college or any post-secondary educational environment.

Be clear; the antics by certain lawmakers are not about education; while education is masked as a legitimate concern for the electorate, actions by mainly Republican lawmakers across the country are less about proper academic education and more so about an anti-black, anti-LGBTQI+, anticritical-thinking propaganda that continues to divide our country – the very problem Dr. Woodson wanted to rectify.

If teaching the principles of Black Lives Matter, which exist in a broader way that embraces Woodson’s idea, this would mean that we, as a country, have not dealt with 1619. Historically, we do not teach and have not dealt with Brown’s Raid, Bacon’s Rebellion, or the aftermath of the Civil War. Until we can deal with the reckoning and the truth about race, racism, and the historical traumas America has inflicted and continues to inflict on minoritized communities, most especially indigenous people and African

Americans, then we find ourselves here again, with a new set of politicians making similar claims as DeSantis and weaponizing education to divide further.

Furthermore, Republican lawmakers fail to understand and learn from the lessons of the 2022 mid-term elections. Indeed, inflation and the economy were on the ballot, but so were abortion, trans rights, race, and police brutality. Republicans do not seem to understand that cultural issues are a losing battle when it comes to voters’ concerns. What about the historical, cultural, and philosophical facts of race and other social constructions and history frightens voters?

President Biden sought to heal this nation upon his election – what will further cement his legacy on racial healing, especially during a gridlocked Congress, would be to establish a truth commission on racial justice, reconciliation—or a truth commission, a reconciliation, racial equity, and justice – one that examines tough questions and solutions, including but not limited to reparations. For a truth commission similar to that of South Africa, one of the truth commission’s priorities should be to listen to both sides because if this administration is going to have any meaningful impact in this country, the administration is going to have to open the door for a conversation between and among all sides and that requires education and celebration.

In celebration of that week, Woodson wrote in April 1927 in the Journal of Negro History, “We should emphasize not Negro history, but the Negro in history. We need not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”

Ninety-six years later, his words never rang so true.

Quardricos Bernard Driskell is an adjunct professor of legislative politics, where he teaches religion, race, public policy, and politics at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Follow him on Twitter @q_driskell4.

150 Years And Counting: Mt. Zion Ame Church Celebrates With Rebuilding Plan With Its 150 Years Church’s CDC Creating Commemorative Historic Guide

Don Coble don@claytodayonline.com

Posted Thursday, February 2, 2023, 12:00 p.m.

The Rev. James Pernell stood in the parking lot of the Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church shortly after last Sunday’s sermon and his mind wandered in several directions. Behind him was the shell of the old parsonage. In front was the church that was in a constant flux of repairs, patches, and promises. Nobody remembers the last time the church bell rang. It certainly was long before Pernell took the pulpit five years ago, yet the Rev. Pernell says with conviction, “That bell will ring again.”

Pernell also shares the same optimism as his parishioners: Mt. Zion someday will again be the beacon of the community.

“I was happy God assigned me here,” Pernell said.

The Mt. Zion Community Development Corporation of Green

Cove Springs is working to help the church celebrate its 150 th birthday on March 26, and in the process, raise money to continue many of its rebuilding projects. So much has been done; so much still needs attention.

Clay Today has joined the community development corporation’s fundraising mechanism called “Green Cove Springs and Clay County: Forward, Bonding Together.” The guide will tell the story of the church’s past and the city’s historic roots, particularly in the black community.

“The target includes locals and others with the idea of attracting them to see and hopefully engage in some manner in the community,” said CDC director of Special Initiatives and Programs, Dr. Cheryl Gonzalez.

The group will print 1,000 guides. The keepsake is looking for sponsors.

In return, money earned will be used to transform the iconic church into a hub that serves all residents.

“We plan to turn the parsonage into a community hall where we can have after-school programs, receptions, and activities,” Pernell said.

The walls of what soon will be called the Family Life Center/Fellowship Hall have been stripped to the frames. There are plans to remove some of the walls to create two open spaces.

“It needs a lot of tender, loving care,” Pernell said. “But this will be something that benefits the entire community. That’s why it’s so important to help this project.”

The church has scheduled repairs as they collect money. So far, new restrooms have been built, most holes in the roof have been patched, old paneling has been replaced with drywall and fresh paint, and the church now has three working air conditioners.

“Some of the office space in the back used to have plywood floors,” Pernell said. “When the roof leaked, the floor got so bad sometimes when women