Harlem Church Tours

I could be wrong, but I believe that the hundreds of tourists visiting Harlem churches every Sunday morning come for the spectacle, the entertainment value of the services rather than for religious reasons.

Author's Note: The church, pictured above, was located on West 123rd Street, near the corner of Lenox Avenue, in Harlem. It was next door to the homophobic, anti-Obama ATLAH Missionary Church. The A.M.E. church is now occupied by a mosque called Masjid Futa Islamic Center Harlem.

A Prayer For Writers

The following prayer is from a pamphlet published by The Christophers, a New York City-based inspirational group that was founded in 1949 by Father James Keller (1900-1977), a Roman Catholic priest, who was the son of an Irish immigrant father. According to a Wikipedia article, "The Christophers preach a doctrine of religious tolerance and intend their publications to be generally relevant to those of all faiths."

Their motto is "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." The motto, states Wikipedia, "reflects the philosophical orientation of the organization, which emphasizes positive action to create a better world in such various arenas as political honesty, caring for the sick and poor, and dealing with substance abuse." The origin of the motto, notes Wiktionary, is a proverb (possibly Chinese) and means that "in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation."

"Writing is a lonely business, Lord.

A Writer sits at a typewriter [,computer,] or with pen in hand--

and often the page remains blank.

Touch their fingertips 

and jog their brains

with a spark of your creative power.

Gently direct them

to communicate more for truth than profit

to give us the highest aspirations

of the human spirit

while not flinching from our tragic flaws.

Help them

to share with us

moments of adventure

instants of joy

hours of reflection.

Don't let them down, Lord.

Or let them disappoint You.

In print, or on the stage, or on the airwaves

their words shape our very lives, images, or distortions of the

Word that was 'in the beginning.'

Amen."

 

How Hot Is It In Hell?

During past heat waves, I remember hearing religious zealots say when people complained about the heat, "Hell is hotter than this." I don't know how they knew that unless they'd been to Hell and back, an unlikely occurrence.

Plus, I've heard that there are microorganisms on Earth that can survive in extreme temperatures. If such a place as Hell exists, would these microorganisms survive and thrive in such a hostile, uncomfortable environment?

Giving Thanks At The Dinner Table

The only person I can remember saying grace before eating was my maternal grandmother and she always recited the same grace. (I heard it so often, that even to this day I know it by heart: "Before we eat we bow our heads and thank Thee God for our daily bread.") When I found (or refound) in a shopping bag in my kitchen a small hardcover book called Grace Before Meals, she came immediately to mind. The book, compiled by A. William Nyce and Hubert Bunyea, and published in 1939 by the John C. Winston Company in Philadelphia, arranged a mealtime prayer for every day of the year, including national holidays like Independence Day (July 4th). (I think this book originally belonged to a late aunt whose apartment I had to clear out after her death.)

The compilers, in their foreword, stated that Grace Before Meals "has been prepared for the home circle, in the hope that it may encourage reverence and gratitude by supplying appropriate graces to be spoken before meals at which the family meets together" and that its publication came about as "an answer to numerous requests that such a volume be given to the public." Obviously this book was published in the pre-television and pre-Internet days when family members sat down to eat together. Nevertheless, it's a handy book for those interested in getting into the habit of saying grace at mealtime. This particular book is probably out of print but there might be a similar book or books available, especially in religious book stores.

Here is the grace for January 14, today's date: "Lord, wilt Thou never cease Thy kindly care over us, may we also continue unceasingly to bless Thee for all Thy past and present blessings. Amen."

A Church Hides Behind The Word "Homo"

The illuminated message board outside the Atlah Church on Lenox Avenue and 123rd Street in Harlem had this pronouncement: "Say goodbye to black barber shops, churches and funeral homes to make way for homo gentrifier restaurants and condos." The frequent use of the word "homo" in the church's many messages over the past couple of years is code for "white people." Not wanting to be labeled racist, the church hides behind the homophobic slur because being anti-gay can be seen as following the teaching of the Bible.

Church Homophobia In Harlem

The following are my Facebook comments regarding the homophobic message board in front of the Atlah Church on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. The message on the message board advocated the stoning of  homosexuals. My comments on Facebook were posted on March 20, 2014. Regard this as the early draft of a longer essay on this issue.


"In the 1980s and '90s, such blatant homophobia would have been confronted by mass demonstrations. It seems like the LGBT community is too concerned with being mainstream and too mesmerized by the latest trivia on social media to get out in the streets and let their feelings be known, loud and clear. Alas, many of our boldest, as well as best and brightest, activists like poet/playwright Assotto Saint were mowed down by AIDS. Their absence has definitely weakened the resolve of the LGBT community. When a church states on its message board that 'Jesus Would Have Stoned Homos,' then it is time to carry picket signs while chanting 'Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia has got to go!'

One other thing, this church has a breakfast program for school-age children. It makes me wonder if they indoctrinate the children with homophobia as they serve them their morning cereal."

Voices In The Wilderness?

Bob Law, the host of the National Black Network's "Night Talk" (heard in the New York area on WWRL-AM) announced near the end of a broadcast in mid-April that Rev. Calvin Butts, the pastor of Harlem's famous Abyssinian Baptist Church, had spoken out against the persecution of gays and lesbians. The statement was made, said Law, at a rally held at Canaan Baptist Church, also in Harlem.

Law, who was present at the meeting, told his radio audience that Butts "thought  that everybody had a right to determine their own destiny and that God be the final judge, which is consistent with his Bible that says, 'Judge not that ye not be judged.'" The talk show host,  who has a black nationalist philosophy, went on to say that Butts's position is not a popular one in the African-American community and that it "is definitely not popular in the Baptist church." (I've been told that a considerable number of gays attend Canaan.)

Knowing that "he was standing by himself," continued Law, he made the statement anyhow, because he was "follow[ing] a course of action based on what he believes is in principle correct," and that this belief had nothing "to do with how many people stand with him, how much money is in it for him, what kind of guarantees there are further down the line. That's the kind of leadership we [blacks] need and that's the kind of leadership we should support."

Before you start gloating that Butts and Law advocate homosexuality, check out Law's reply to a statement of concern expressed by a homophobic female listener, who sees homosexuality as "very bad" for the black community.

According to Law, Butts "didn't say he thought they should be encouraged or that he supported it or that he was not frowning on it. If there was going to be a discussion between him and a homosexual, he might try to convince the homosexual not to be homosexual."

How does one do that? I think we should send Bob Law a correspondence course in Homosexuality 101. I agree with much of Law's philosophy on achieving political and economic strength in the black community, but when it comes to gay and lesbian issues, he could use some consciousness-raising.

This article ws originally published in the New York Native (August 11-25, 1985). It was an item in a "Media Watch" column I wrote for the paper.

A Young Brooklyn Choreographer Has His Say

"I'm dancing," says Brendan Upson, a Brooklyn-based dancer/choreographer, "because I have something to say."

Recently [in 1987], in the "New Territory" performance series at BACA/Downtown in Brooklyn, he got the opportunity to have his "say." Two of the three pieces that night had definite social messages.

The first of the dances, "Stay Here and Keep Watch With Me," a male solo (Upson), is about a man's spiritual awakening. At one point, as he sits down in a metal folding chair, he mocks religion by lip syncing the soprano chanter on the soundtrack. But after life's adversities have beaten him down, he sees that the last laugh is on him. It is a very compelling piece, energetically performed.

The second work, an improvisation called "Energy Spot," showcased a group of teens from the El Puente Community Center in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The press release describes "Energy Spot" as depicting "how an individual is blocked from attaining her true potential because of the fears which bind her." However, I came away with the impression that these 11 bodies represented atoms interacting with one another. The El Puente dancers have great potential, although I would like to see the females shed a few pounds; the added weight breaks the flow of movement. I didn't particularly like this work. The dancers crisscrossed the performance space numerous times, making no clear statement. It became so tedious that I was glad when it ended.

Upson was wise to save the best for last. "Delirium Tremens," a satirical piece for four people, good-naturedly explores alcoholism. Upson, displaying a comedic talent, was cast as the alcoholic husband and father. As the lights went up, his head was resting on a portable TV dinner tray, shot glass nearby. His family vainly attempted to rouse him from a drunken stupor. Eventually his dependence on alcohol causes him to wind up in a detox unit. While there he encounters the dreaded "pink elephants," a sign that he is having the D.T.s [convulsions and hallucinations]. The other three dancers, who played his family members, were also the pink elephants, dressed humorously in pink and gray costumes, sunglasses, and elephant trunks. Leslie Arlette Boyce gave a standout performance as Upson's no-nonsense wife.

The piece is appropriately accompanied by New Orleans honky-tonk style music. Although the piece at times can be stereotypical in its portrayal of alcoholic behavior, Upson should be commended for dealing with such a serious subject, the comic touches notwithstanding. Fortunately, Upson knows how far to go. Those comic touches do not turn into slapstick. I was not, sad to say, clear on whether the Upson character licked his problem.


This article was originally published in the New York Amsterdam News (February 20, 1988).

An Interview With Rev. Renee McCoy, Pastor Of A Church In Exile

"Unwilling to separate our lifestyles as lesbians and gay men from our experiences as Blacks in America, we are left to bring about our own liberation without the support and expertise of the larger Black community, and without the strength and guidance of the church."--Rev. Renee McCoy, pastor, Harlem MCC Church ("We are Exiles from Our Own Communities," Insight: A Quarterly of Lesbian/Gay Christian Opinion, Vol. 4, #4, pg. 8).

Harlem Metropolitan Community Church is one of 200 churches worldwide that form the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. These churches serve the lesbian and gay community as an alternative to the traditional churches where much homophobia is present.

Rev. Renee McCoy, a native of Detroit who attended Wayne State University, saw a need for a church that addressed itself to the needs and concerns of black lesbians and gay men. In November of 1981, she founded Harlem MCC.This was a little more than two years after she arrived in New York as a student clergy from the Detroit MCC church. "I wanted to learn New York," she said explaining her move East. "I wanted to leave the Midwest. I'd been there 28 years. I was tired of it. I loved Harlem. I always wanted to work in Harlem. And I came to MCC New York in the Village and I was licensed. I was credentialed out of there. And then I started Harlem MCC right after I was credentialed."

The church began at the Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University where "we averaged 23 in attendance on Sunday which meant that sometimes our attendance went from a low of eight or nine to a high of 46, 50." But the church, said Rev. McCoy in her Morningside Avenue apartment in Harlem, decided "we wanted to be more than a Sunday church. All we had was chapel space at the seminary on Sundays and we used the [MCC] church in the Village for whatever programming we did and we visited people's homes. We wanted to provide more counseling services for the church. We wanted to do regular Bible study in one single space so that people would know we were stationary, that we were part of the Harlem community." The church then moved to Hamilton Place and 143rd Street, in a brownstone owned by a black gay man. But after one week of occupancy, he evicted Harlem MCC because "he couldn't deal with the Sunday meetings and didn't want anybody on the block to know that he was gay. We were a church in exile for two months. We met in the Village at MCC New York until we could secure a place. We found a loft and moved into the loft on November 7, 1982. At that time the attendance was up to 46. Averaging 25 people on Sunday."

More problems continued to plague the church. This time it was the attitude of some of the members of the church toward the neighborhood the church took up residence in. Unlike Morningside Heights or the Village, the neighborhood could not be used as "a hideaway. You could slip into the seminary. No one would see you. It didn't look like Harlem. Nobody knew what you were doing when you came there." Also, said Rev. McCoy, there were congregation members who expressed fear of the neighborhood. "People who were somewhat supporting the church financially could not deal with facing Harlem. They couldn't look at themselves is what it was. 'I can't park my car there,' 'I'm scared of the neighborhood,' "I'm afraid to walk in Harlem.' These are black gay people. Things got rougher at that point. The loft base that we did eventually lease during the winter didn't have heat. We had problems with the toilets. We had problems with the lights. And as a result, attendance dropped. Especially the people who had children. The amount of money lessened."

At present [1983] there are 18 members. It is a church whose members come mostly "from Harlem and the Bronx, Upper West Side of Manhattan, Midtown Manhattan, still some from Brooklyn."

Harlem MCC is now located at 356 West 123rd Street, making this their fourth move in almost two years. The community organization that is subleasing the space to them has done so, said Rev. McCoy, "as a community gesture. We can do things now that we couldn't do, like we had a cookout. It's a small, intimate space." However, she went on, "We"re looking for a permanent space that we can afford. It's rough because every time we move, we lose people. It's almost like building from the ground up." Right now, she said, the church is in need of a piano, preferably a small one.



This is an excerpt from an article that was published in the New York Native in 1983, in its special supplement called "Harlem Rising." It was one of the earliest articles I did for the paper.

Black Atheists: A Minority Within A Minority

Black atheist Jamila Bey's theroot.com article about the increasing visibility of black atheists is worth reading, even if you're a devoutly religious person. Knowing what others we disagree with think broadens and deepens our knowledge of world events as well as other humans and gives us more food for thought.http://www.theroot.com/views/black-women-who-use-word