UBE-CFL Absalom Jones Day Celebration Guest Speaker: The Rev. Terence R. Gray

UBE-CFL Absalom Jones Day Celebration Guest Speaker: The Rev. Terence R. Gray

On Saturday, February 12, 2011, Union of Black Episcopalians Central Florida (UBE-CFL) will hold its Annual Celebration Honoring the Life of the Reverend Absalom Jones. The Celebration will consist of a service of Morning Prayer at 11AM followed by a luncheon at 12 PM. Both events will take place at Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, 1000 Bethune Drive, Orlando, FL 32805.

In light of the common history shared between Black Episcopalians and African Methodist Episcopalians in the personages of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, the UBE-CFL luncheon guest speaker is the Rev. Terrence R. Gray, Pastor, St. Mark A. M. E. Church. Pastor Gray will offer insights on the theme “Practicing Our Faith: Using Our Gifts as Witness to the Legacy of Absalom Jones & Richard Allen.”

Born a slave in Sussex County, Delaware, in 1746, Absalom Jones taught himself to read and write. In 1762, he was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to work in his master's store; however, in the evenings, Jones attended school. In 1786, Jones met Richard Allen. They were among the first African Americans licensed to preach by the Methodist Church and served the Black members of the interracial congregation of Saint George's Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1787 Jones and Allen, together with other black members, left St. George's, as they were tired of being segregated to a gallery and given second-class status in the congregation. They founded the Free African Society (FAS) which was first conceived as a non-denominational mutual aid society to help newly freed slaves in Philadelphia. Although they remained lifelong friends and collaborators, Jones and Allen separated over their different directions in religion.  Jones and his followers desired a complete break from the Methodist.  He subsequently founded African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. On the other hand, Allen formed a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Jones and Allen are significant because they were leaders in the establishment of religious, educational, and social institutions for people of African descent.  As the leader of the 5,000 member St. Mark AME Church-Orlando, Terence R. Gray continues the Jones-Allen tradition.

An Atlanta, GA, native, and a graduate of Morehouse College and the Interdenominational Theological Seminary with a Masters degree in Homiletics, Pastor Gray is committed to empowering those who are in need, touch the lives of those who are broken, tear down the walls which divide, build a future for his family, and fight poverty and injustice.  His awards from the AME Church, the NAACP, the city of Macon, GA, and others indicate that he is effecting positive change.  The dream of walking through the darkness that he had as a child, has shaped his life and enables him to provide to those who come into his presence with the greatest gift of all – the ability to know God.