Photo Courtesy of Christian Unity Baptist Church
The Rev. Dr. Dwight Webster, founding and senior pastor of Christian Unity Baptist Church in New Orleans, addressed an audience of about 60 people Friday night in Oblate School of Theology’s Immaculate Conception Memorial Chapel on the theme “In Times Like These – Christian Unity in 2017.” The Christian Unity worship service was the opening of the annual Come, Taste, and See Conference by the Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership.
Dr. Webster substituted for his good friend Bishop Fernand J. Cheri, auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, who had to cancel because his mother was hospitalized in New Orleans.” He noted at the outset that (Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, SSND) didn’t hook this event up; this was the Lord’s hookup.” He compared the present times with the times of which Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, during the French Revolution, quoting, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times,” contrasting good and evil, love and hate, wisdom. and foolishness, belief and incredulity, light and darkness, hope and despair. He also recalled Thomas Paine’s writing in 1776 that “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
“The present times we look like might be headed for are what I would characterize as a George Orwellian animal farm of 1984 in 2017. In themes like these we need some answers. Psalm 133 says, ‘Behold! See how good and blessed it is when brethren dwell together in unity.”
What does that mean? When brothers dwelt together in unity, if they were heirs of their fathers’ fortune, they fulfilled something in the Old Testament that was echoed in the New Testament. If they did not hang together, their mothers would be left by herself and their sisters who were made orphans had no physical means of support.” He emphasized that God requires Christians to act for justice and righteousness, to care for orphans and widows in their distress.
He recalled Jesus’ charge to “make disciples of all nations” and the words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times…and if necessary, use words,” adding that “they reverberate with the radical imperative of Gospel.”
His audience laughed as Dr. Webster quipped that, “I’m getting ready to close, but as. good Baptist, I have to close five times.” He recalled Jesus’ words that “whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers, you did it to me,” noting that Jesus’ intention was to include all people. Dr. Webster used a geometric analogy, observing that most of us have an x axis and a y axis and view ourselves as the origin – the center of each; of you’re saved and sanctified and baptized believer in Jesus Christ, you’re not at the center of the cosmos; your axes are off; only Jesus Christ is at the center. Our axes need to be reoriented.
Webster reminded listeners that Jesus commanded his disciples to “Love one another as I have loved you,” and noted that it was as Jesus loved them, not as they choose to love one another or not. They were no longer to be male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, bit they were all one family in Jesus Christ.
The churches involved in the event included the Praise Cathedral Church of,God in Christ, Redeeming Grace Christian Church, Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the “Exciting” West End Baptist Church. The Bethel Aires singing group and The Sankofa Choir also sang.
The Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership is an interdisciplinary, multidimensional academic, formation and professional leadership process for developing and supporting pastoral/church leaders committed to ministry and proclamation. All Institute programs foster an understanding and appreciation of African Americans’ contributions to Christian faith, life, and witness in North America and the world.