The Christian Recorder - A Pastoral Message to AME College Students Protesting US involvement in the Conflict in Gaza

Editor's Note: Last week, Rev. Andre Jefferson, Jr., pastor of Bethel AME Church in Hampton, Virginia, wrote a pastoral letter to the college students in his congregation protesting the US involvement in Palestine. With his permission, we are sharing this message with the Connectional Church. To The College Students Across The Connection  I greet you in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through whom we can accomplish all things. I hope that you are well as you prepare to close your semester. As I'm sure you've seen on your news feeds, there are protests against US aid to Israel in its ongoing occupation and genocide in Palestine. I do not take lightly that you all have lived through one national crisis to another. I can't imagine the emotional and mental impact many of you are facing as a result of your experience. Yet, you maintain your hope, as evidenced by your protest. Within the past twenty-four years, your generation has experienced several mass shootings, natural disasters, pandemic policy failures, and the silencing of your voices by banning social media. To that end, our college students and young adults are now fed up with the failings of a country where they previously had hope. The question then becomes, "What do you do when your hope fails you?" Maybe it's better to ask: "What/Who do you put your hope in?" If your hope is being placed upon systems and strategies that people told you would work (i.e., go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house, and start a family), then your hope is based upon a flawed system. If your hope is placed in people who make shallow or deep promises, they will eventually fail you as well. The only person we can truly put all of our hope in is the resurrected Jesus. The one who was in the beginning is right now and will evermore be, promised to be with us in darkness and, I believe, is with us amid protest. Though scripture teaches us that Jesus is gentle enough for the children running to him, he is likewise disruptive enough to overturn tables and protest against the unjust predatory practices of the ruling elites that were preventing people from worshiping in spirit and truth (see Matt. 21:12 – 17, Mark 11:15 – 18, and John 2:13 – 25). It might sound superficial to say put your hope in Jesus, but this is the same protesting and protecting Jesus that our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and countless other generations placed hope in. You all stand within that same lineage, legacy, and light. So place your hope in Jesus, who himself was a young man, about age 30, when He began to change the world. Place your hope in Jesus and what He can do for you, with and through you, as you change the world. You stand within the lineage of Richard Allen, Nat Turner, Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisholm, and countless other young radicals who hoped for change. So, as it was for them, so will the hope of a resurrected, protesting, and protecting Jesus be with you. Yours in Christ, Pastor Andre P. Jefferson, Jr, M. Div.

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Share Tweet Forward The Christian Recorder is the official newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the oldest continuously produced publication by persons of African descent.   Bishop David R. Daniels, Jr., Chair of the General Board Commission on Publications Rev. Dr. Roderick D. Belin, President/Publisher of the AME Sunday School Union Dr. John Thomas III, Editor of The Christian Recorder