It's In Your Hands

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."          

     Anyone who spends any time around the institutional church  -- not church in the abstract, but the institution, with its worn-out linoleum and its 19th century hymns and its propensity to trivialize its own gospel and its tendency to make mountains out of molehills (and what is far worse, molehills out of mountains), and its use of its own message of love and redemption to be unlovely and hateful and exclusive -- anyone who knows anything about the institutional church becomes impatient with it and sometimes sick at heart over it.  

     We want it to be more inclusive, more biblical, more relevant, more Christocentric, more businesslike, friendlier, bigger . . . .
     "Maybe the best thing that could happen to the church," Frederick Buechner wrote, "would be for some great tidal wave of history to wash it all away, the church buildings tumbling, the church money all lost, the church bulletins blowing through the air like dead leaves, the differences between preachers and congregations all lost too. Then all we would have left would be each other and Christ, which was all there was in the first place." (The Clown in the Belfry, p. 158).

Like A Bird Up In The Sky

Paul Vasile, our beloved Minister of Music, reminded me after having attended the New Year's Eve Watch Night Service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, of the song, I Wish I Knew How to be Free.

It became one of the anthems of the Civil Rights movement written by Billy Taylor, jazz pianist and composer who died this past December and was memorialized at the Riverside Church this past Monday. Taylor wrote the song in 1967 for the iconic Nina Simone.

I have been humming it for the past few weeks. It has become in many ways my theme song for the new year -- particularly so in light of the tragedy in Tucson.

Christianity by Choice

Pastor Alvin Jackson contributed to a report, "Christian by Choice: How Do We Choose Religion?" that was broadcast on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer on September 29.

Park Avenue Youth Chorale

We are so proud of our Youth Chorale! Here they are rehearsing during their summer music camp held at the church on August 27.

Making a Difference in the Lives of Pakistanis

How much more can the people of Pakistan handle? We can practically hear them crying out, "How long, O Lord, how long?" The flooding in Pakistan has been absolutely devastating; beyond what anyone anticipated. The scope of the flooding, as illustrated by this video, is incredible, and the damage done by the rising waters will take years-if not decades-from which to recover. Our hearts ache for our sisters and brothers in Pakistan.

As always, Week of Compassion, the relief, refugee and development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, is there -- thanks to you. Your gifts are already at work in Pakistan, channeled through our ecumenical partner organizations, Church World Service and the member agencies of the ACT Alliance, doing all we can to respond to this overwhelming disaster. And we will continue to work non-stop to provide aid to those in need. Our colleagues in the CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan Office have produced this short video highlighting the needs in Pakistan so you might get a closer look at the situation on the ground:

We invite you to continue to help us make a difference in the lives of the people of Pakistan. Please partner with us to make a difference. 100% of your designated gift to Pakistan flood relief will be immediately directed to relief efforts there.

Pakistan faces a desperate situation. Your partnership, your faith, your Courageous Compassion go a long way in helping the healing begin. Thank you so much for your support!

A Call for Discourse

As religious leaders in the City of New York, we are deeply disturbed at the increasing level of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our city. From it's earliest days, New York has stood for religious freedom; we have always welcomed the immigrant and the stranger into our midst.

Now the mood has changed. We hear hostility and rancor. Some of this comes from nativist elements in other parts of America; they clearly do not understand our New York commitment to welcoming the stranger. Other voices speak of Islam without knowledge or understanding. They identify our neighbors with radical forces seeking to destabilize the community of nations. We deplore the linking of our fellow New Yorkers with these radical elements.

First, we seek to reduce the intensity of discussion. Our City has always been the home of free speech; each of us has the responsibility to speak our thoughts with care and with respect for our neighbors.

Second, we encourage all New Yorkers to learn more about Islam. All of us, community leaders, politicians, teachers, journalists and clergy, know too little about the faith of the more than 770,000 Muslims with whom we live in New York City.

Third, we implore our fellow New Yorkers to respect those in our midst as we expect to be respected. This does not mean that we cannot express alternate views. What it does mean that we speak to our neighbors and about our neighbors with the dignity that they deserve.

Rev. Dr. Alvin Jackson
Senior Pastor
Park Avenue Christian Church

Rabbi Leonard Schoolman
Director
Quest: A Center for Spiritual Inquiry

Celebrating 60/40!

Last Thursday evening, I celebrated two very significant milestones in my life with you -- my 60th birthday on July 10th (I can't believe that number! I am not feeling that number, but I am grateful.) and the 40th anniversary of my call to ministry.

In 1970, while astudent at Chapman University in Orange, California, I sensed a call to Christian ministry and began my journey. I was ordained in 1976 after completing seminary at Duke University.

We had a fun evening of music, food, stories and embarrassing pictures of me! Two special guests from Tougaloo College -- president Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan and board member Isaac K. Byrd, Jr., were there.

Tougaloo is a very special place for my family. My Dad, along with my mother, were graduates of the Southern Christian Institute that merged with Tougaloo College in 1954. My twin sisters are also graduates of Tougaloo.

My Dad's funeral service was held in the Woodworth Chapel on the campus in 2004. It was in this beautiful little chapel where important meetings and gatherings of the Civil Rights and Women's movements were held. Great icons like Ralph Bunche, Julian Bond, Robert Kennedy, Medger Evers, Joan Baez, Fannie Lou Hammer and Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke here.

Special thanks to all those who made donations -- in honor of my milestones -- to the Clyde Cullen Jackson Scholarship Fund at Tougalee College. I am very proud that we have raised over $20,000.