Loading...The Rt. Rev. Brian Cole, bishop of the Episcopal Church in East Tennessee, will lead a community service celebrating Black History Month and the Blessed Absalom Jones at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Church of the Good Samaritan, 425 Cedar Bluff Road, Knoxville, TN 37923.
The service, which is open to the public, will celebrate the life and work of the Rev. Absalom Jones, an early 19th century pastor who is known as the first ordained African American priest of The Episcopal Church. Jones was born a slave in Delaware and went on to help found St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Penn. It was the first black Episcopal parish in the U.S.
Preston Johnson of the Knoxville Opera Gospel Choir will be featured in the service, as will local teens.
The preacher at the service will be the Reverend Ronald Byrd, the Episcopal Church Missioner for Black Ministries, a member of Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s staff.
The event is sponsored by the East Tennessee Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE). Formed in 2011 by local activists interested in maintaining a voice for interracial solidarity in the church, UBE is part of a longstanding, international UBE organization which has chapters in the U.S. Canada, Africa and Latin America.
Biography of the Reverend Ronald Byrd
