Black Church Life: The Altar!
Living in the reality of this global pandemic individual and institutional anxiety abounds. No doubt this societal shift will not be without it’s loses but will inherently yield life anew. History bears that in times of discontinuity the human spirit is resilient and is molded anew under pressure.
In the meanwhile, we recognize the traumatic impact of this global pandemic and ways in which to cope. Resiliency studies affirm that religious disciplines help in dealing with trauma and life’s discontinuities.
About two years ago Dr. Herbert L. Ponder, Pastor of the Mt. Tabor Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia invited Dr. Paula Parker a specialist in Generational Trauma (www.rootsmatterllc.com) to conduct a series of classes for our congregation. As we are an urban Baptist congregation, primarily African American in membership, we were encouraged to identify the generational traumas that have plagued our families with hopes towards healing. In this course, our overall history in America was acknowledged as it continues to have a cumulative impact in our individual families and in community life. Dr. Parker asked a question in one class that I have not been able to dismiss. She asked, “How does the black church help its members deal with trauma?”
Silence. The room stood eerily still while our thinking-caps were on. And of course, my calculating-brain was convinced that the uniqueness of the black religious experience in America is a reaction to trauma. Specifically, though I thought of one avenue for negotiating our trauma as African American as trauma and resilience has defined our very existence in America. Thinking of my own Church of God in Christ (COGIC) upbringing, my thoughts went to prayer. So, I responded, “The altar!”
Now historically in the COGIC, we revere the altar. We pray. We tarry in the presence of the Lord sometimes for hours. We engage in all-night shut-ins. I still join with the Jerusalem Holy Church in Richmond on occasion to pray through the night. Why do we do this? Because Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18, NIV). We believe wholeheartedly that “…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective ( James 5:16b, NIV).
To explore the validity of the relevance of the altar prayer today in dealing with trauma, I have designed a brief 5-question, 5-minute survey for African American Baptist church goers. To take this survey you must meet the following criteria:
1. Attend a black Baptist church
2. Participate regularly, (at least once a month) in the Morning, Pastoral or Altar Prayer
Must be taken by Monday, April 6, 2020.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PQWZ7RD
By: Dr. Valerie Carter Smith, MissioSpark LLC