The morning of June 19th, 2022 was a special one for the Old South Church in Boston. Members gathered to dedicate the newly named Phillis Wheatley Room in honor of one of our celebrated members and the country’s first African American published poet.
The Reverend Jacob Merrill Manning, Old South’s 15th Senior Pastor was a staunch abolitionist. He was eager to serve as a chaplain for the Union army during the Civil War, and he was assigned to the 43rd Massachusetts Regiment (also known as the “Tiger Regiment”) in November of 1862.
We are bombarded by ads everywhere we look encouraging us to go out and buy the “next big thing” that will surely bring us the happiness we long for. We are told the newest cell phone, a flashier car, bigger house, or other status item will make our lives meaningful.
From the very beginning of his 43-year ministry at Old South, George Gordon’s theological views set him apart from many of his predecessors and local colleagues. Before being formally installed as Old South’s pastor, he famously endured three hours of questions from other ministers about some of his unorthodox beliefs (The Old South Church & Society 1884).
We have now entered the Lenten Season. It is a time of retrospection as to how we are doing in our journey as disciples of Jesus and, also, a time for the recommitting of ourselves to the work of God in the world. May we all be open to the leading of the Spirit as we work our way toward Holy Week. But there is one thing, in my opinion, from which we need to be relieved: namely the notion that our sins crucified Jesus. The Romans crucified Jesus. They were the only ones who had the authority to carry out a death sentence. Not you; not me.
Since Nancy Taylor announced her retirement, many people have been working on ways to celebrate Rev. Taylor’s profound and visionary ministry and leadership in a manner that leaves a lasting legacy that strengthens Old South Church’s role as a teaching and learning church.
GREEN TIP 1: Reusable Bags We use and discard nearly 1 trillion plastic bags a year! Plastic bags are not goof for the environment and are often unnecessary. Taking reusable cloth bags to the store is one of the easiest steps you can take to reduce waste and care for the planet. The best part, everyone can do it! Click here to take on this Climate Commitment and learn more.
Like many other fields, church music ministry is likely to take hybrid form for the foreseeable future post-pandemic and I anticipate that my repertoire recording project (now numbering around a hundred pieces) will continue even after we are together again.
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. So penned James Russell Lowell, Cantabrigian, abolitionist, and poet in his poem The Present Crisis (1845), a reminder that our present crisis is not sui generis, but rather an expression and exposure of what remains deeply, darkly true of the United States of America: our original sin of racism persists. Its cruel existence causes untold harm to Black bodies, Black lives, Black families.