Unity 2019 muskegon
White worshipers distanced themselves from black worshipers. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, black worshipers were undergoing a mirror image of those experiences. The minister chose the name Julius Caesar instead.Īt St. On one landmark occasion, an indignant white minister refused to baptize a black child under the name the child’s mother had chosen – George Washington. Black children were baptized after white children as well. They were served communion only after white worshipers, if they were served at all. While white worshipers sat in the main part of the sanctuary, black worshipers watched from the rear of the balcony, almost as if they were spectators. In John Street Methodist Church in New York, worship was conducted according to strict rules of segregation. The African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches sprouted from parallel experiences of discrimination and division – the AME Church in Philadelphia and the AME Zion Church in New York City. Rather, it was boldly, bluntly, nakedly dictated by rejection and race.
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It wasn’t prompted by political or doctrinal concerns. There is a historical context behind this rift between God’s people. But the more we did it, the more we saw people begin to fall in love with each other.” “We knew there was going to be some push back,” Peterson said. So was Crestwood UMC, at that time pastored by the Rev. Jeff Bowman, pastor of Temple UMC, approached the AME and AME Zion congregations with the idea of sharing worship, both were amenable to the idea. Jeff Bowmanīut as long ago as that may seem, it is a deceptively short period when compared to the centuries-old rift that has parted black and white Methodists in America.Īnd yet when the Rev. God’s people worshipping together at Muskegon: Crestwood United Methodist Church.~ photo courtesy Rev. Members of four congregations celebrate unity in diversity. Martin Luther King Jr., whose life was ended by an assassin’s bullet more than half a century ago. It is a much quoted description, often attributed to the Rev. – pastors of Phillip Chapel AME Church and John Wesley AME Zion Church, respectively – characterized Sunday morning worship as “the most segregated hour in America.” When the pastors embarked on this initiative, they were well aware of what they were up against. They have been joined by the predominantly black congregations of Muskegon’s John Wesley AME Zion Church and Muskegon Heights’ Phillip Chapel AME Church. Two of the churches are majority-white congregations – Crestwood United Methodist Church in Muskegon and Temple UMC in Muskegon Heights. Here in Muskegon and Muskegon Heights, however, in this corner of western Michigan, four Methodist churches have been coming together on a regular basis since February 2017, sharing preaching, music, traditions and styles, enriching each other’s worship experiences and managing in the process to build new relationships. But for more than two centuries, Methodists in the United States have been navigating parallel paths on a divided highway to heaven. Sometimes people speak of the Methodist church, as if there were only one. This is who we have been and who we are – as humans, as Americans, even as Christians. Instead it was a country deeply segmented and crosshatched by lines of race, color and culture, not to mention sharp wounds, long-time rejections, age-old hurts and deep scars. In a perfect world, maybe this sort of unity would be routine. What distinguished this day was the broad spectrum of human diversity inside – white, brown, black and related shades, a kind of rainbow coalition for Christ.įor the past two years, a quartet of Muskegon-area churches have been coming together regularly to share in praise and fellowship and to obliterate racial lines.
UNITY 2019 MUSKEGON SERIES
This flyer announced the worship series that launched the Celebration of Unity and Diversity during Lent 2017. The parking lot may have been a little fuller than usual that autumn morning, and maybe there were a few more cars at curbside, but to a pedestrian passerby, it must have sounded like any given Sunday.Įxcept it wasn’t.
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and from inside, the sound of instruments playing and voices singing, making a joyful noise.the sound of familiar human voices, raised in friendly greeting,.MUSKEGON, MI | FebruOutside the building, there was the usual litany of sounds signaling the beginning of worship at Phillip Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church: They are living their love through action. Since February 2017, these four churches in greater Muskegon have been coming together to celebrate historic ties and move forward in faithful witness.