Maafa

“We call ours the church “un-us-u-´al,” he said, accent on the last syllable. “We are not going to be trapped in meaningless traditions. We look for creative ways to address the needs of Black people in particular, and others in general, and I say that without apology. We look at Jesus in terms of his “historicity” as well as his spirituality. He was a Black man. There’s no denying that. The whole issue of race, for me, was answered by God when he came into the world as a Black man. He answered it before the race issue became an issue.”

Those words represent the soul of the ministry of Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood and the congregations of St. Paul Community Baptist Church and Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church

Dr. Youngblood has served as senior pastor of St. Paul since 1974, and is in his third year in the same capacity at Mt. Pisgah. Both are located in Brooklyn, St. Paul in East New York, Mt. Pisgah in Fort Greene.

IMAGES OF GREATNESS
We sat with him in his office at St. Paul surrounded by African and Afro-centric art and sculptures.
On one wall is a huge collage that includes photographs of all of the men whom Youngblood considers the great preachers of his time. He was relaxed and garrulous—eager to share his thoughts on a range of issues affecting the African American community from the Willie Lynch letter to the Millions More March.

A DIFFERENT DRUMMER
He gives us a printed copy of the letter. The church sent 26 buses to the Million Man March in 1995 and will be involved with the October 15 Millions More March, although plans are not yet firm.

Johnny Ray Youngblood is a man who truly marches to the beat of a different drummer. In a county that bemoans the plight of Black men, he expresses optimism, but not from a perspective that one might expect.

“ I’m optimistic about Black men,” he said. “I’m optimistic about the Black church, although I don’t know what it’s going to look like.” He paused for a moment in thought. Then continued,

“I don’t think it will have crosses. The cross is not the Christian symbol. If anything the empty tomb is the real Christian symbol.” His voice rises almost to the beat of a different drummer. In a county that bemoans the plight of Black men, he expresses optimism, but not from a perspective that one might expect.

His voice rises almost to a sermonic level. “And that’s why Black men will make it, because Black men are not willing to cater to the crucified Christ, but they’re willing to run with the resurrected Christ.”

You can have Him crucified and never resurrected, but you can’t have Him resurrected and not been crucified. I think that Lazarus will become the patron saint of Black men, because he rose from the dead.” He explains. “There’s a line in John Chapter 12, I think it’s 9, that says when they heard that Jesus was in Jerusalem, the people gathered and when they heard that Lazarus whom He raised from the dead was with him, they wanted to see him. So, one-day people are going to want to know what a resurrected Black man looks like. He chuckles, “Jesus is the only one offering resurrection, so that’s why I follow Him.”

SANCTITY @ ST. PAUL COMMUNITY
It’s easy to see why Black men flock toYoungblood’s churches. One of those men is David Brawley. Brawley was hurting, broken—going through personal problems and abandoned by his church because of them. He was introduced to St. Paul by his closet friend who suggested that Johnny Ray Youngblood, might be the man, and St. Paul Community, the church that he needed at the time.

An ordained minister, Rev. Brawley attended services at St. Paul, sitting in the rear pews every Sunday for over a year, listening to Rev. Youngblood and observing. Youngblood had observed him, too, but did not approach him. Finally, Brawley introduced himself and asked for a meeting. “I was dressed in a dark suit and tie and was nervous,” he remembers. “Rev. Youngblood, dressed casually, was relaxed, welcoming and understanding. I expressed my gratitude to him for helping me to heal over that year. He allowed me to see that that which did not destroy me, would help to develop me.”

Brawley had read the 1993 NY Times best-selling book about Youngblood and St. Paul, “Upon this Rock” and came to the conclusion that what he gleaned from the book about the man and the church was true. “He is not only a great man, but also a great human being.”

Today, Rev. Brawley is fully ensconced at St. Paul as a member of the ministerial staff and, as Dr.Youngblood says,” pastor of the 11 o’clock church.”

St. Paul is a hub of activity. The Reverend Al Sharpton makes regular visits there. Min. Louis Farrakhan is scheduled to speak in late August; plans and rehearsals are underway for the church’s premier community outreach activity, the maafa.
The term maafa (pronounced ma-ah-fah) is a Kiswahili word which gives definition to the catastrophic event experienced by millions of African people captured by white slavers and transported, during what is known as the Middle Passage, to enslavement in the Americas.

REMEMBERING THE ANCESTORS
The MAAFA is an event like none other. Part conference, lectures series, workshops and theater this year’s MAAFA will take place over two weeks, September 12 through the 25. It also includes events such as a Baby Dedication, a ceremony at dawn on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean during which thousands of worshippers bid the ancestor’s farewell and centerpiece of the event, the MAAFA Suite…a Healing Journey — a thrilling performance in song, dance and spoken word.

More than 100 members of the St. Paul congregation—the oldest at age 75 and the youngest 8-months— have been rehearsing three times a week for several weeks. There are families, boys, girls, men and women each giving their all. On the evening I was there, I watched as they listened to the choreographer, then dutifully followed the instructions: “step, step, step, bend…lower, lower, lower…swing those arms…again…from the top…step…” This company of amateurs, most never having performed before, are trusting God that come Sunday, September 17, 2005, they will give the greatest performance ever, for which He deserves all the glory. Amen.

The MAAFA, as it resurrects relationships between us (the living) and our ancestors (the dead), embodies Rev. Youngblood’s perspective on the resurrection of Black people, particularly Black men and the importance of the resurrected Christ as the true symbol of Christianity. Johnny Ray Youngblood is a man who truly marches to the beat of a different drummer. In a county that bemoans the plight of Black men, he expresses optimism, but not from a perspective that one might expect.