Join us as we give God great praise for bringing us to 2017! We will come together for one worship experience on Sunday, January 1 - join us at 9:00 AM!
After our worship experience, please enjoy New Year's Day with your family and friends!
When
Sun, January 1, 2017, 9am – 11am
Where
Main Campus: Sanctuary
The entire community is invited to join us for our Annual Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24, from 10 AM to 2PM in the Family Life Center! Enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving meal with all of the trimmings and the company of friends old and new! For more information and to RSVP, call (510) 544-8910
Date and Time:
Thu Nov 24, 2016 10am – 2pm
Location:
Main Campus: Family Life Center - Auditorium
Don't miss the 2016 production of Black Nativity Revisited with the Allen Temple Cantateers and special guests on Saturday, December 17 at 7pm and Sunday, December 18 at 6pm! Celebrate the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ through song, dance and drama! Proceeds will benefit the Betty D. Gadling Fine Arts Academy. Tickets $10; to purchase yours, please visit the Music Ministry Office (Sanctuary First Floor), call (510) 544-8924 or email atbcmusic@alen-temple.org. T-shirts also available for $15
Date and Time:
Sat, December 17, 7pm – 9pm
Sun, December 18, 6pm – 8pm
Location:
Main Campus: Sanctuary
O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! Jeremiah 9:1
We face a national crisis in the United States of America as concerns increasing violence and the growing threat to innocent Black lives from America’s police. Daily in America, Black citizens are slain by police officers who are publicly sworn to protect the citizenry. This national crisis is well documented from Baton Rouge, LA, to Falcon Heights, MN; from Waller County, TX, to Ferguson, MO; from Chicago, IL, to Savannah, GA; from Cleveland, OH, to Staten Island, NY; from the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam. However, time and again when police brutalize and murder Black people, they escape criminal prosecution.
Urgently needed is a remedy that protects Black people from persistent police brutality and murder. Also needed are sweeping policy changes advocated by the White House and by the United States Justice Department requiring prosecution of police officers in keeping with the standard protocols for investigating and prosecuting civilians when homicides are committed. Ultimately, we need respect for the dignity of all human life with a firm resolve as a nation to live together in peace as a beloved community.
To be clear, violent confrontations with law enforcement and vigilante killings are not a remedy, but a dangerous diversion from our righteous struggle for justice and peace. We reject and condemn assaults on police officers with the same conviction with which we condemn the killings of innocent civilians. As we grieve the loss of innocent civilians we also grieve the loss of police officers and pray for their families and loved ones.
America’s current practice following the slayings of Blacks by police is a blend of cultural pathology on the part of prosecutors combined with racist urban mythology that quickly evolves into sympathy for the police officers without regard for the unjust killings of Black lives. Such gives dangerous credence to the notion that police are daily under fire from Black Americans—which, despite recent events in Dallas is historically untrue--and that the police are therefore justified in using deadly force against Black lives in order to protect their own lives, even when the use of deadly force was not justified.
Next, as we express honor, respect and appreciation for police officers knowing that most are decent people, the time has come for law enforcement officers to publicly affirm that “Black lives matter” in view of the glaring incidents of excessive force and brutality against innocent Black citizens. In the midst of hostility there is a real need to regain public trust and cultivate mutual respect.
The perception in America is that Black lives do not matter to the police whether they are men or women, boys or girls. Recent police conduct has proven that Black people from all walks of life, representing diverse cultural and religious identities, and varied socio-economic backgrounds are at risk of being unfairly profiled, detained, assaulted, arrested and murdered by America’s police every day of the week for simply sitting in the privacy of their own homes, playing in the park, visiting a swimming pool, walking down the sidewalk, standing in a hotel lobby, selling cigarettes or CDs on the street, riding a bicycle, or driving a car.
The killings of Black Americans by the police are so frequent that we can predict the public pageantry in the aftermath of a police shooting:
Typically, no charges are brought against the police at the end of an investigation. Or if charges are filed, the case against them is fumbled in such a glaring way by prosecutors, or evidence against the police is deemed inadmissible by the Court, or instructions to the jury are narrowly prescribed in such a way as to guarantee an acquittal. In the end, the repeated failure of America’s justice system to convict police who murder innocent Black lives begins to feel like state-sanctioned murder. All that notwithstanding, every day ordinary civilians are convicted of murder in much less time on far less evidence in America’s courts.
Something has to change in America.
First, America needs to reckon with its historic race problem whereby Black life is devalued. Despite moral movements in America which purport to defend the sanctity of life, those voices fall eerily silent when innocent Black lives are murdered by the police. Despite the gun lobby’s movement for the right to bear arms in America, those voices fall eerily silent when innocent Black people who bear arms without threatening the police are murdered, while the police allege that they were justified in killing the person simply because they believed he was armed with a gun or other weapon. When Black life is not valued it follows that Blacks are not seen as having any rights that the police are bound to protect.
Second, America needs to confront the spread of racism in the ranks of its police forces. The majority of the violence targeted at America’s Black citizens is not a function of responsible policing, but rather it emanates from racist attitudes and racial profiling on the part of individual police officers, and race-based policies of police departments.
Third, leadership is urgently needed from the White House and Justice Department to name the evils of racial bias, police brutality and violence against Black Americans as unacceptable and unlawful. The United States government is not slow to name and condemn other nations when innocent civilians are killed by agents of those governments. In most places throughout the world, police are understood to be government agents. Therefore, it follows that people throughout the world perceive the murders of Black people in America as state-sanctioned killings. Thus, it is urgent, both for the well-being of Black Americans and for America’s image throughout the world that our national leadership enact sweeping policy and legislative changes protecting the rights of Americans from police brutality and excessive force and assaults.
Legislative action is needed on the part of the U.S. Congress, State Houses, Governors and Mayors protecting their citizens against police brutality and excessive force and requiring immediate and full prosecution of a police officer when it is suspected that the use of lethal force was not justified, thereby relieving prosecutors of political considerations related to indicting police officers who are suspected of murdering innocent civilians.
As faith leaders we reject violence and advocate for respect and security for all human life. We speak in the name of the loving God who created all people in God’s image, and loves us all equally and unconditionally. God does not tolerate injustice, or look the other way when human beings are violated. We pray for grace and healing for all those who are victims of injustice and violence. We pray for righteousness and justice on behalf of all those who have been treated wrongly. We seek reconciliation and recompense on behalf of all those who deserve and want better. We dedicate ourselves to working tirelessly in our communities and our nation on behalf of change and progress, while speaking truth to power, correcting injustices, and improving the quality of life for all people. Amen
Allen Temple's own Brother Michael Sneed, Jr. has been granted an internship opportunity at the Cannes Film Festival with The Creative Minds Group May 9 through 23. This internship will grant Michael a platform to showcase his work to people in the film industry and to intern with production companies during the festival that can help launch a career in the film business. The program includes workshops, film screenings, and networking opportunities with notable and respectable people within the film industry.
Word of Michael's opportunity has reached the media; please click here to watch Michael’s interview on KTVU’s Bay Area People with Claudine Wong.
Click here for more information about Michael's opportunity and to learn how you can help
| The Allen Temple Family is exceedingly proud of two of our fine Youth, Brother Arthur Bowling-Dyer and Brother Sonny Buckner! Brothers Arthur and Sonny have been afforded a once in a lifetime opportunity to join their school, The Pacific Boychoir Academy, on a trip to display their outstanding vocal talents on a tour of Australia this summer! The Pacific Boychoir is preparing for an amazing 14 days in Australia, where besides learning about Australian peoples and cultures, they will perform at numerous venues throughout the country’s east coast.
Would you join us in ensuring that Brother Arthur and Brother Sonny have raised the necessary funds to be a part of this life-changing journey? Please visit their GoFundMe pages and make a donation (see below for details). Every bit helps. The deadline is Wednesday, June 1. We thank you for celebrating, supporting and loving all of the outstanding Allen Temple Youth! |
| Arthur Bowling-Dyer’s Go Fund Me Page: https://www.gofundme.com/cccdzfsc |
| Sonny Buckner’s GoFundMe Page: https://www.gofundme.com/robertgbucknerv |
My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. (Lamentations 2:11)
Should Priest and Prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. (Lamentations 2:20-21)
On Wednesday evening June 17, 2015 at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina a modern crucifixion took place. Taking the lives of:
Rev. Clementa Pickney (Pastor of Emanuel A.M.E. Church and a South Carolina State Senator) age 41
Cynthia Hurd, age 54
Tywanza Sanders, age 26
Myra Thompson, age 59
Ethel Lance, age 70
Susie Jackson, age 87
Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor, age 49
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, age 45
Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., age 74
Because they were bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and spirit of our spirit we too are a suffering people. We cry out with the Psalmist “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing”. (Psalm 22: 14-18)
Not only do we hurt with the Emanuel A.M.E. Church Family, but God also suffers with us because the name Emanuel means; God is with us! Our God meets us in suffering and in death. The cross is the meeting place between God and us. The cross is the place where God experiences human suffering and the human family understands the pain of God. The wounded heart of God is revealed on the cross. Abraham Heschel has reminded us that in the prophets God experiences pain and sorrow with a feeling of intimate and loving concern because life is a partnership between God and humanity. The crucified heart of God in the New Testament is revealed through the death of Jesus Christ. This death on the cross is not only the expression of God’s love for us, but also the defiance of God against evil.
It is so easy for us as a suffering people to grow weary and inarticulate in endless despair and aborted hope that will satisfy the forces of evil; however, the Apostle Paul reminds us “to be in Christ means not only to know the fellowship of His suffering, but the power of His resurrection”; therefore, as a crucified and a resurrected people let us make a double commitment to preach a liberating gospel from the evils of racism, materialism and militarism. If we can make this commitment then we will respond to the Charleston massacre with living hope.
In 1850 Frederick Douglass, a member of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston stood in Faneil Hall in Boston speaking as if waiting justice would never wipe sleep from his eyes. In response to his morbid message Sojourner Truth who knew the evils of slavery from personal experience, having been sold four times, and having risked her life many more times as a conductor of the underground railroad arose to her feet, and said with a commanding voice: Frederick is God dead? As true believers with Sojourner Truth let us act on the words of James Russell Lowell: “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch [over] his own.”
Rev.Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., Chair
Sankofa Institute for African American
Pastoral Leadership
Oblate School of Theology
285 Oblate Drive
San Antonio, TX 78216
SANKOFA INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
COUNCIL OF ELDERS
Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr., Chair
Dr. Diana Hayes, STD
Rev. Dr. Dwight Hopkins, PhD
Rev. Joni Russ
Rev. Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, PhD
Rev. James Noel, PhD
S. Addie L. Walker, SSND, PhD, Director
Dr. Scott Woodward, Academic Dean, OST
Dr. Rose Marden, Associate Dean Continuing Education, OST
"To Pray or to Prey: Racism, Religion and Violence in Charleston" by Rev. Willie Dwayne Francois III, Pastor of Congregational Care, First Corinthian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York, June 21, 2015
Love Note From The Senior Pastor - June 21, 2015
Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,
I am so overwhelmed with grief that I am at a loss for words to share with you regarding the horrific terrorist attack upon Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina that resulted in the assassination of the church’s Pastor and eight other martyred saints:
The Honorable Pastor Clementa Pinckney
Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
Sister Cynthia Hurd
Sister Susie Jackson
Sister Ethel Lance
Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor
Brother Tywanza Sanders
Reverend Daniel Simmons, Sr.
Sister Myra Thompson
I say terrorist attack because this hateful crime was indeed an attack of terror. I say assassination because Pastor Pinckney was a state senator bringing leadership to the state of South Carolina. Let us continue to pray for the families who experienced a loss that cannot be restored, and for a beautiful church family much like our own that cannot be comforted.
This nightmare invaded our celebration of Fathers’ Day, a festive time in which we planned to come with uplifted hearts to honor the fathers of our families, our church and our community. Now this celebration takes on a different character, as we shall live out the definition of celebration put forth by the late Dr. Henri J. Nouwen, “Celebration is a mixture of tears and smiles, joy and sadness.” With this mixture of polar emotions stirring within our souls, let us yet celebrate Fathers’ Day and let us not allow a demonic terrorist attack to destroy our hope. Let us remember the words of our anthem, “Lift E’vry Voice and Sing,” penned by James Weldon Johnson in response to an era of terror for our people:
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chast’ning rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
Agape,
Senior Pastor J. Alfred Smith, Jr.
Allen Temple Stands With Mother Emanuel AME - June 18, 2015
Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,
As a church family, a people of faith and the body of Christ, we share the pain and unspeakable heartbreak of and convey our love and fervent prayers to our sisters and brothers who comprise the membership of the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, South Carolina after last night's tragedy, which resulted in the passing of nine treasured, beloved Christian people, including their pastor, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney. We convey the unbroken faith and hope in our liberator and savior Jesus Christ as a healing balm in their hour of darkness. We also extend our agape love to the Right Reverend Richard F. Norris, Presiding Prelate and the Seventh District of the AME Church of South Carolina.
Tonight (June 18) at 6pm, we will gather in solidarity and support with our AME family at First AME Church of Oakland (3701 Telegraph Avenue) for a special service in memory of the nine committed Christians who lost their lives and those who have been harmed by this tragic event. Please join me there.
Let us continue to be in prayer and look to our Lord for healing and for action strategies that will ensure that these sorts of future atrocities will cease.
Agape,
Senior Pastor J. Alfred Smith, Jr.
