Why your 87 year-young cousin was at Bible Study in the first place?

Am I #MyBrothersKeeper? – Reverend Tony Lee, a 21^st Century “foot soldier” of the Grainger Browning Brigade pauses for an Instagram by his brother.  Today’s AMEs are learning and earning through the power of imagery in addressing historically unmet needs.  Photo Bill Lee

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AME Virtual -- Susie Jackson, 87, was, according to published reports, a long-time church member.  Nobody asked why this elderly cousin was at Bible Study on Wednesday evening when her faith met its final test.   The coroner’s report is likely to confirm the death of an African American woman from injury inflicted by gunshot.

Some kinfolk want to know why our 87 year-young cousin was at Bible Study in the first place?   As part of a global commitment to safe places where children live, learn, work and worship, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is equipping its multi-ethnic, multi-national, and multi-generational community with on-demand answers to the world’s most pressing questions.  

 “Boots On The Ground” intervention by the worldwide African Methodist Episcopal Church is evidenced by the deployment of its senior bishop.  The Right Reverend John R. Bryant (Pictured with son, Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant) has been described by media in earlier reports as "an unidentified pastor who showed up at a White House function dressed in a hoodie."  Bryant’s success in engaging an army of “friends-n-kin” on five continents endows historically disadvantaged Americans, like Susie Jackson, 87, with unprecedented modern-day access to power.

From his virtual command post, and through an historically ingenious Quadrennial Conference System, Bryant and a team of Regional Episcopal leaders have transparently ushered in a new era of inclusion for descendants of American slavery, African apartheid, and economic oppressed people worldwide.   

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35.  It is as much a message to polarizing politicians as it is to potential deranged killers.

“There is a balm for #HealingAmerica,” said Stephanie A. Walker Stradford.    “It comes at a high cost that’s affordable with blessed assurance.”

Facebook Friend Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning posted, “I was so glad to hear President Obama take a more forceful and forthright stand on this issue that affects all of us but most especially the African-American community.”

Wesley Stovall chimed in from Memphis, TN ...."Don't let the Shooting in Charleston keep you from your Houses of Worship....God's Business must continue...We must continue to be witnesses through our praise, our prayers, our choir rehearsals, our bible studies, our meetings, our schools, our conferences and even in our missions near and far.....SATAN HAS NO PLACE HERE IN THE AME CHURCH, THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL OR IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA...DON'T STOP YOUR DAILY BUSINESS CONCERNING GOD'S CALLING ON YOUR LIFE.”

Meanwhile, enterprising news reporters, lawyers and agenda advocates are hard pressed to answer the why in their “who, what, when, where, why” information gathering mindset.   Even the most zealous among  journalists seek to bundle Susie Jackson’s story within the painful reality of losing eight younger bible study learners. They included a pastor who also served as a state senator, a new college graduate from an historically black university (HBCU), a librarian, and most importantly, somebody’s mother, husband, wife, sister, brother, cousin, neighbor and friend.  The feeding frenzy has inspired folks who don’t value church fellowship to be less inspired about going to church and more satisfied with the next new and innovative approach to problem solving.

Facebook Friend and former YouthUSA Board Member, Sir Charles Hill, wants his friends to refer to this incident for what it is, "a racially motivated hate crime and domestic terrorism."  His social media call to action seeks net-workers who will “reach out to someone you know in media and demand their network refrain from using the term "mental health" with regards to the murderer of the church killings.  Young advocates still on a #BlackLivesMatter approach emphasize the “outrageous calm arrest and usage of the bullet proof vest.”  A whole new generation of angry Black folk are rising to generational challenges, but still require guidance from those who know both the question and some direction for, "Where do we go from here? .

Bishop John Bryant’s approach to the National Security threat on African American lives is well documented.  It is shared from the perspective of a faith-based solution instead of an evidence-based problem.   Any friend of African Methodism can join the movement now.

2013-THE GOAL OF DISCIPLESHIP  GO! This biblically-based command has been studied and strategized by AME Episcopal leaders since 1816.  In July 2016 the worldwide AME church will convene its 200^th Quadrennial Meeting.   Where to go from here has never been simpler.  Follow the leader who follows the Christ.  

2014-THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP Most AMEs grow up singing Hymns, repeating litanies, and trying to force change on a system we know too little about.  In the past, church goers have focused way too much on the collection plate and way too little on the collective human capital value of believers in Jesus Christ.   When you sing the words, “This is my story, this is my song…,” imagine yourself as an heir of salvation, a purchase of God.   The,n consider your part as one of 2.1 billion Christians, each responsible for another’s salvation.  Salvation, for an historically disadvantaged person, is, unarguably, a pathway to economic inclusion. 

2015 – THE EVIDENCE OF DISCIPLESHIP – A gunman, perhaps an agent of Satan, pointed a weapon at and shot Susie Jackson, 87.  The coroner’s remarks included testimony about friends-n-kin she had the “pleasure” of serving.  My Story is the evidence of Suzie Jackson’s discipleship.  Telling Suzie’s story, to include the life everlasting she believed in, is perhaps a shared valued for AMEs and 2.1 billion self-proclaimed “heirs of salvation” we value as “friends-n-kin.”    

2016 – THE HARVEST OF DISCIPLESHIP  The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George’s MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George’s made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794, Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

None of this evidence is likely to matter to professionals investigating the murder of Susie Jackson, 87.  No DNA study will be used to quantify the value of Susie Jackson, 87.  No obituary can articulate the objectives and outcomes of her story.  Those who knew her most must grieve through the tragedy and the news cycle to even take a stab at it.  We all want to ask why. But, no one really wants to deal with the 700 pound gorilla in the room.  Contrary to popular belief, it is neither racism nor gun violence that sent her to heaven.  God called her.  He calls us to rise from hurt to healing and prepare a lineage of stolen people for  THE HARVEST OF DISCIPLESHIP .

A future Class Leader at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church will, today, write a vision of his or her own future.  The future Class Leader will start with a Spiritual Goal, because the Susie Jackson Endowment will require that inherited value compounded by preparation and honest work.