Black Power is Needed within the Episcopal Church

Some would day we don’t need a strong Black identity in the Church…

It’s the DuBois-ian ideology of assimilation…that if we just out-whatever White folk, we’ll gain their respect. If we out perform them on the job…in school..lin every facet of life…

It’s that “we gotta work twice as hard” mentality…

So, in the Episcopal Church the thinking is: all we need to do is out-Anglicanize White folk.

As if we could ever be “Anglo”

Nevertheless, we strive to out-Anglicanize them…

And I say this as one who loves the old traditions…

I still wear my godfather’s biretta…

I still chant the majority of the liturgy…

I am a “smells and bells” Episcopalian…

But, it’s always strange to me…a bit peculiar, actually. How we continuously try to deny our identity…

White folk love their identity. And they compel us to celebrate it with them. We’ll join them in Celtic Rites and taizé worship…

But where’s the Ethiopic Rite?!

What about claiming connection to the African Christian tradition that is one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world?

But many Negroes will say…

We ain’t Ethiopian, Father…

But we wanna be Anglo…smh

I thought the Episcopal Church was a “big tent?” With space for all forms of worship…

Confederate flags still adorn Episcopal Churches throughout the Country. Yes…some have come down. Many remain. Some came down grudgingly…

And the Church as a whole has made no definitive statement on the place of Confederate images and regalia within the Church.

We still have a University of the South, that praises the leaders of the Confederate Cause…

I’ve had more than my share of run-ins with the Confederacy, since I’ve been a priest in Florida…

In Southeast Florida, I was fired because I didn’t appreciate the flag being displayed by a teacher on campus. After raising the issue with church leadership, I was told I need to drop it. When I didn’t drop it, the White woman who displayed the flag said I “made her uncomfortable” and I was fired.

I remember having to argue with the Diocese of Central Florida about the Confederate Flag hanging in the Cathedral. It’s down now…but it didn’t come down without a fight. It didn’t come down without other clergy insulting me and proclaiming their “Christian love” for the flag.

It ultimately came down…

But it came down secretly and without any public position statement from the Bishop.

Yet, how many Black Churches will raise the Tri-Colors of Africa…the Red, Black and Green?

The flag of the UNIA never took up arms against America…never tried to overthrow America…never went to war with America…never was flown to terrorize Americans…never stood for the oppression of so many people…

The Church – in many parts of the Country – remains proud of its Confederate heritage.

But we don’t want a strong Black identity…

We want to blend in…

…to assimilate…

…to not scare White folk…

…not realizing the inherent problem of being made to feel that the image of God, in which we were created – as Black people – is frightening to White folk.

Confederate pride prevents the Church from Becoming Beloved Community…

It prevents the Church from becoming what it could be…what it should be…

Confederate pride prevents the Church from becoming what the Country needs the Church to be…

That pride – and the acquiescence of White liberals to that pride – denies the Gospel.

The stain of White supremacy and the cleaving to White power by both conservatives and progressives within the Church, betrays our Lord…

So a strong Black identity – Black Power – is necessary within the Life of the Church…

The stakes are too high for us to stay on the sidelines…

How can we ever “see the face of God in all people,” if some people – Black people – always have to dim their light in order to fit into the system?

How can we ever truly be one…

How can the Church ever be taken seriously about racial reconciliation if we – Black people – don’t know how to…are not able…assert our identity?

If we don’t come to see that asserting our Blackness is critically important to racial healing and Becoming Beloved Community…?

If we are to become one, as the Father, the Son and the Spirit are One, then you and I have a responsibility to harness power that allows us to take an authentic and authoritative role in shaping the way the Episcopal Church engages the work of racial reconciliation.

Now, I know that’s no easy task…

Even in the Church…

Even among Christian leaders…