A Few Amens for St. James A.M.E.
Church has served Erie's Black community for 150 years
At the invitation of my friend and former Morning News colleague Fred Rush, I planned to attend the 10 a.m. Sunday service at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church on either Nov. 24 or Dec. 1. Thank heavens I opted for the Nov. 24 service, because a literal Act of God — the apocalyptic post-Thanksgiving snowstorm — would have prevented me from getting there on Dec. 1.
At the church service I attended, I learned some things about the impressive 150-year history of St. James African Methodist Episcopal, the oldest Black congregation in Erie; famed composer-arranger Harry T. Burleigh had been a member.
I met the marvelous pastor, the Rev. Madonna Gray.
I stepped out of the comfort zone of my Catholic upbringing to get anointed on my forehead by Rev. Gray at the altar call.
I discovered that I knew the words and melodies for most of the hymns, including "Blessed Assurance," one of the first songs I learned when I was cajoled into joining the choir at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana years ago. I protested then that I couldn't sing. Nonsense, Rev. Gray reminded me. If you can speak, you can sing, she said.
Writing this story gave me a chance to reflect on the need for more connections among faith-based communities in Erie, because good things are happening in those circles. In our fractured world, we need regular reminders about that.
For example, the Erie Spiritual Coalition has called attention to the need for a strong tenants' bill of rights, to assure that affordable housing is safe, secure, and up to code.
As a member of the local chapter of Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, I know that our small group is reeling from the results of the 2024 election. We will be tracking upcoming federal legislation that will hurt the poor and marginalized and hope to enlist others to speak with lawmakers.
Rev. Gray, the mother of two grown daughters, has a passion for working with youth. To reach youngsters and put them on a positive path, they need to know the history of the institution and hear the stories of those who have been part of St. James since it was founded in 1874, she said.
That familiarity starts by using the whole name for the congregation — St. James African Methodist Episcopal — instead of the A.M.E. abbreviation, she said.
The commemorative booklet for the church's 150th anniversary, celebrated with a dinner and exhibit on Sept. 14 and 15, traces the church's history and explains its importance to Black church-goers in Erie.
"From 1874 to 1921, St. James had the only Black church building in Erie," the booklet reads. "Many of the new churches that have formed since 1915 were nurtured and encouraged by St. James, which frequently offered the use of its facilities as a temporary home for emerging congregations."
St. James itself emerged from Wesleyan Methodist Church, located at 457 W. Third St. "This group recognized the necessity of a place for spiritual and community welfare in Erie's Black community. Differences arose regarding the proclaimed faith. This disagreement split the original congregation," according to the commemorative booklet.
After reorganizing, the new congregation met at East Third and German streets, then at 218 E. Sixth St. In April 1874, the Pittsburgh Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church formally accepted St. James as an affiliate. Another move followed to 242 E. Seventh in 1902 but the building was swept from its foundation by the Millcreek Flood in 1915. The church was rebuilt and served for decades, until ground was broken for the current church at 236 E. 11th St. in 1986. The new church was dedicated on July 26, 1987.
Rev. Gray, who started at St. James in November 2019, is the 70th pastor to serve St. James and is one of only a handful of female pastors of mainline Christian churches in Erie. "We as women still have a long way to go," she said in an interview. "Part of the issue is we have not been introduced to or studied our own history as women," she said.
She herself has had an interesting religious journey, one that shaped her outlook on the importance of faith, family, and tight-knit neighborhoods. Her parents, Helen and William Gray, moved to a small town outside of Columbus, Ohio, from Griffin, Georgia. Her father, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was Catholic and when her parents married, her mother converted, as the Catholic Church required back then. Her dad gave her the lovely name of Madonna.
Rev. Madonna Gray delivers the sermon at St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church on Nov. 24. (Photo: contributed)
"I came up in a Catholic village," she said. Her group of 10 close friends in Catholic grade school didn't distinguish themselves as Black and White. When the friends went to public high school, though, they were ostracized. "We got called all kinds of names but because of our upbringing, we stuck together," she said.
She was raised to prepare for adulthood by her parents and by a neighborhood woman named Mama Nita, who organized a program for young people who worked in one of the five restaurants — from the cafeteria to the upscale Rose Fountain — at Lazarus, the big department store in Columbus.
The young people did all kinds of jobs — grilled food, washed dishes, waited on customers. But Mama Nita had one rule. "She wouldn't allow us to take our tips home," Rev. Gray recalled. Instead, the young employees had to sock their earnings in the store's credit union.
For the first two years of college, Lazarus also matched tuition payments for its employees and added the students back to the payroll during breaks and summer vacation.
For college, Gray started at Ohio University before transferring to the historically Black Wilberforce University. During a college break, her uncle invited her to attend an A.M.E. church. "I enjoyed it but I still wasn't convinced," she said. What eventually persuaded her to join the denomination was its emphasis on ministering to young people, because she had witnessed the positive outcomes in her hometown when the community offered opportunities for youth to land jobs and become leaders.
She worries that we don't take time anymore to share stories about our own upbringings and favorite memories. For her, that also includes reminiscing about old and young gardening in the neighborhood, sitting on the porch and swapping stories as they snapped green beans.
Before going into ministry full-time, she had a long career as a program officer for the State of Ohio. Working in the church is different, she said. "When people get on your nerves, you can't give up," she said. "When the Pharisees and the Sadducees got on Jesus's nerves, he didn't give up. He just showed them through his action and his parables what they were lacking."
In the Methodist Church, bishops assign pastors to one-year stints at a time, but pastorships can be renewed. Her assignment to St. James is her fifth pastorship.
She is assisted by various lay leaders, including the Board of Stewards, the Trustees and two organizations for young people — the Richard Allen Young Adult Council, named for the St. James founder, and the Young People's Division. Both groups teach leadership and business skills, she said, and the church history shows many Black leaders in Erie belonged to St. James African Methodist Episcopal, including the late civil rights and labor leaders, Howard and Mildred Horton.
Erie County Councilman Andre Horton, their son, read from the Gospel of Luke on the Sunday I attended, citing each verse by number as he read. That made me pay attention — and the message was reinforced when Rev. Gray re-read from Luke for her sermon.
The history of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church is ongoing, Rev. Gray said. She keeps thinking of new ways to meet the needs of her congregation — for example, adding Bible study classes on days and times that make it convenient to attend.
And during her time in Erie, she wants to learn more about the earliest church members and their descendants, listed in the commemorative program as "Mrs. Mary J. Blake, Mrs. Emma L. Franklin, Mrs. Richard Johnson, Mrs. Maria Rector, Mr. James Williams and Mr. Wash Williams."
As I left St. James, I remembered that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the "most segregated hour of the week" occurs on Sunday mornings in church.
Everyone at St. James made me feel welcome and I'd like to return for another Sunday service when I am not busy scribbling notes. I just have to learn to say a few more "amens."
Liz Allen can be reached at lizerie@aol.com.
