Today the Episcopal Church remembers the life and ministry of a man who encountered many obstacles, but through his faith and desire to serve, prevailed to the glory and honor of God, Alexander Crummell, who was born in New York City in 1819 and died in 1898.
Crummell was the grandson of a West African chief and the son of a free mother. He attended the Quaker-operated New York African School as a young man. Among his classmates were other future black leaders: Henry Highland Garnet, Ira Aldridge, and Samuel Ringgold Ward.
Due to his race, Crummell was denied entrance to General Theological Seminary. Despite this setback, he went on to receive his theological education in the Diocese of Massachusetts. In 1842 he was ordained to the diaconate and two years later to the priesthood by the Bishop of Delaware. In 1844 he established a small mission in Philadelphia where he became involved in politics including the campaign for equal suffrage and the abolition of slavery. After being excluded from the Pennsylvania diocesan convention, Crummell left the diocese and moved to England in 1848 where he graduated from Queen’s College, Cambridge in 1853.
James Kiefer writes:
After graduating from Cambridge, he went to Liberia, an African country founded under American auspices for the repatriation of freed slaves. Crummell hoped to see established in Liberia a black Christian republic, combining the best of European and African culture, and led by a Western-educated black bishop. He visited the United States and urged blacks to join him in Liberia and to swell the ranks of the church there. His work in Liberia ran into opposition and indifference, and he returned to the United States, where he undertook the founding and strengthening of urban black congregations that would provide worship, education, and social services for their communities. When some bishops proposed a separate missionary district for black parishes, he organized a group, now known as the Union of Black Episcopalians, to fight the proposal.
He was a prolific writer and published articles, sermons, and three books: The Future of Africa: Being Addresses, Sermons, etc. Delivered in the Republic of Liberia (1862); The Greatness of Christ and Other Sermons (1882); and Africa and America: Addresses and Discourses (1891). Crummell continued his campaign against racial oppression and the promotion African American leadership until his death in 1898.
Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Alexander Crummell, whom you called to preach the Gospel to those who were far off and to those who were near. Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
Invite Someone to Church Sunday is on the 21st of September 2014. Please invite someone to Church to experience the joy of the Good News.
Church Women United: Human Rights Celebration: “We Are in God’s Hands and We Are God’s Hands”, Friday, 26 September 2014 from 11 AM to 1 PM. Everyone is invited!
St. Vincent’s Feast Day and the 60th Anniversary of St. Vincent’s House will be celebrated the weekend of 27 and 28 September 2014. We will have the installation of the new director of St. Vincent’s House, the Rev. Freda Marie Brown, on Saturday, 27 September 2014 starting at 10 AM, the Houston’s Hero Award and then on the 28th the Eucharist at St. Augustine’s at 9 AM with Bishop Jeff Fisher and then the dinner starting at 3 PM. Don’t miss this!
The 6th Annual Art Show, “Let There Be Light,” will start on the 4th of October and last for 1 week.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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