From the Heart of Pastor Jacqueline A. Thompson

I was 12 years old when I shared with my mother that I was sick of going to church all day and that I didn’t understand why we had to do it. As an African American single mother who hailed from Louisiana and who had raised her three older children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, I am certain the declaration of her late-in-life precocious daughter was one that caused alarm.

Deaconess Easter Mae Green was known for reminding all of us that “as for her and her house, we WILL serve the Lord.” It was then that we began visiting various Oakland churches and found ourselves in the balcony of a church to which she had previously belonged. The pastor, small in stature but giant in presence, mounted the pulpit that almost touched the ceiling and began preaching slowly and powerfully on verses found in Matthew 28:18-20. He spoke of the church’s mission and the Christian’s responsibility to go out and make disciples. He spoke of helping people who were less fortunate and standing up for those who could not defend themselves.

For the first time, in my 12-year-old mind church had a reason, a divine reason. Our gatherings were not to be just about singing and having a good time in the Lord. But rather there was a purpose and a mandate with a measurable objective.

The doors of the church were opened that Sunday and before I realized it I was walking from the balcony and then down the aisle.

My mother followed, never questioning or chastising my decision. That day we both became members of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland under the leadership of Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr.

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April 15, 2019

Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,

Our Lenten Series continues this week with the theme of Reconciliation with Reverend Phil Bowling-Dyer.

Blessings to you!

 

Reverend Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson

Senior Pastor Elect

In the summer of 2004, I attended a seminar on reconciliation in a town in the Midwest. On a Thursday afternoon, the twenty-five of us watched a documentary that addressed the current economic discrepancies between American Whites and Blacks, ascribing a significant share of it to the racist use of the American G.I. Bill. After WWII, while 60%+ of White solders were aided by the US government to purchase homes, less than 5% of Black soldiers were given the same opportunity. One of our White participants had a shocked look on his face – HIS father had purchased their family home with funds from the GI Bill. He expressed how embarrassed and ashamed he was that so many others were disqualified from this opportunity solely based on their ethnicity. “How can there be reconciliation when so many of our systems are racist to the core? Why would Black people want to be reconciled to this?” With tears in his eyes, he turned to me and asked, “Phil what am I to do?”

I don’t remember how I answered him, but I do know that Isaiah 58 has something to say about the issue. According to this passage, our “seeking the Lord” and “delighting in his ways” cannot be divorced from our “unloosing the bonds of injustice,” “sharing our bread with the hungry,” and “serving the afflicted.” There is no real line between the earthly and the heavenly, the secular and the sacred - our reconciled relationship with our Creator is intricately tied to our reconciled relationships with one another. If we separate these spheres of the realities, we are tagged as “rebellious”, and are neither “seen” nor “noticed” by God.

Based on Isaiah 58, if I were back in the basement conference room of that Midwest hotel in 2004, I would tell my friend to both receive God’s grace and consolation AND to dedicate himself to fighting for just laws and practices that serve the historically disenfranchised—those in his local community and those across the nation.

In this Holy Week, as we bridge Palm Sunday and continue to prepare for Easter, let us remember to both ground our spirituality with right activity AND to elevate our activity with Christ-honoring spirituality. The New Testament scriptures make no distinction between “righteousness” and “justice;” the Greek work “dikaiosune” contains both concepts hand-in-hand. And as we seek God’s face, let us seek a wholistic and all-encompassing faith that truly reconciles us to God and us to one another.

For further reading:

• Matthew 5:23-26; 18:15-17
• Acts 3:19
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
• Ephesians 2:15-18; 4:32
• Romans 5:10; 11:15
• Hebrews 12:14

Reverend Phil Bowling-Dyer serves as a diversity trainer and a chaplain for college and university students and faculty. He and his family have been part of Allen Temple for more than twenty years.

March 25, 2019

Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,

Our Lenten Series continues this week with the theme of Prayer with Reverend Nannette "Robin" Walker.

Blessings to you!

Reverend Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor

“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.” [Isaiah 58:1-2]

It is in prayer that we can cry aloud to God. It is in prayer that we delight in approaching God. The Bible goes on to say many things about prayer. Prayer is the way that we communicate our thoughts, needs, and desires to God. There are many reasons we pray, and there are even formulaic ways in which we pray – head bowed, eyes closed, hands raised, prostrate at an altar, etc. In whichever way prayer happens, know that our omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God hears every word, silent prayer, and pities every groan.

Having the privilege of prayer, I thought that perhaps my observance this year would be an affirmative act to change my behavior or my being as a follower of Christ. So, I purposed to pray differently during this Lenten season than I normally pray. I will pray with intention. I will pray more from my heart than from my head. I will pray more from my heart and less from my ego. I will not pray seeking praise but seeking to be more like Jesus. And, while praying each day I will act with more mercy and I will act with more justice. For what does the LORD require of you? “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly] with your God” [Micah 6:8 NIV]. Each day during this Lenten season I will strive to be more patient and just a little gentler in my interactions with others. In praying each day, I will seek to imitate Christ. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! [Philippians 2:5-8 NIV]. If Jesus was willing to empty himself of divinity, shouldn’t we be able to empty ourselves of vainglory, of self-importance, of self-interest, of pride, of ego? Remember Paul’s words to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances…”

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