I was stunned. As a young man of Norwegian heritage, I had been raised in a Lutheran church. I had visited other churches, of course, but none of those visits had prepared me for such a worship experience as I witnessed in Pasco, Washington.

We had delivered Thanksgiving boxes to families when one of the parents invited my colleague Glenna and me to come to their church. So, that Sunday, we drove back to that area in Pasco and found our way to a church we’d never been to before: Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church.

What an experience! Warmly welcomed by the family we had met earlier that week, we sat on the aisle in wooden pews. There wasn’t an organ, just an upright piano. We watched as twelve to sixteen choir members marched into the choir loft and a young man–maybe twelve years old–sat at the piano. Then the service began.

My memories are like an impressionistic painting: a young pianist without any sheet music who literally owned that instrument; a choir that lived their hymns with movement and voices that carried me from sorrow to celebration; and a pastor who redefined preaching by speaking and then chanting the truth of God. I was exhorted then transported, from challenge into grace and love.

I went back to that church, to those wonderfully welcoming people for weeks. I was looking for spiritual renewal during a dry time and God answered my prayers. The gift that Thanksgiving wasn’t a box of food with a turkey–it was the invitation to a spiritual rebirth in me.

Black History Month at Luther College is an invitation to discover the richness of the African-American experience and expression in America. For me, it is a reminder of the presence and power of the Black Church in my own experience.

When I think of the many times I have had the privilege of worshiping in an African-American Church, the spirit of welcome always comes to mind. My colleague and friend and I were strangers; yet we were taken in and embraced by that congregation in Pasco, Washington. And that’s been my experience almost every time. How is that possible? What makes such a welcome almost standard in the Black Church?

I asked my friend and religion faculty member, the Reverend Doctor Guy Nave, about that. He said, “The Black Church was the source of solace in the community giving us the spiritual strength to persevere. The welcome you received was a natural extension of the church’s advocating for the value, the sacredness of all life–especially Black lives. The goal is to create what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. popularized: Beloved community.”

Beloved Community–Guy said, “Is a place, a people, who work to move beyond the created barriers human beings naturally erect. This would be a place for opening doors of access for those who were so often kept out.”

That was the welcome I experienced. As one who had never had access to such a community, such a worship experience, that congregation worked to open the door for my friend and me. And it was memorable… to say the least.
          
I appreciate that Luther College provides the opportunity to reflect on our experiences. Reflection brings with it both the acknowledgment of those experiences and the analysis afforded by exposing those experiences to the richness of truth. Black History Month is one observance that brings this process together and we are all richer for it.