Church to ring bells of `reconciliation'
An Oklahoma City church will hold a special bell ringing event on Sunday, joining churches and other groups around the country in a national commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first landing of enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America.
St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church will participate in a Day of Healing and Nationwide Bell Ringing with a prayer service at 1:45 p.m., followed by a bell ringing at 2 p.m. at the church, 14700 N May Ave.
The National Park Service planned to commemorate the anniversary on Sunday at Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, which is now part of Fort Monroe National Monument, a unit of t he National Park System.
According the park service's website, the anniversary will be commemorated at Fort Monroe as a day of healing and reconciliation.
The park and its partners have invited all 419 national parks, National Park Service programs, community partners and the public "to come
together in solidarity to ring bells simultaneously across the nation for four minutes — one for each century — to honor the first Africans who landed in 1619 at Point Comfort and 400 years of African-American history," the website said.
The Rev. Joseph Alsay, St. Augustine's rector, said the Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, appealed to churches within his denomination to join in the commemoration if they felt led to do so.
Alsay said he vacillated about whether to participate but ultimately felt it was a worthy event to do so.
"I've been saying we are called to come together to create a harmony of healing, ring out reconciliation between the races, a peal of peace for all people of goodwill," he said.
"We're also giving thanks for the contribution that African Americans have made t o America."
Alsay, who is black, said the commemoration fits within St. Augustine's mission as a church for all. He said the church was predominantly white when he became its rector nine years ago and over the years, it has increasingly become more racially and ethnically diverse and drawn people from all backgrounds.
"We say that is one of the things we are proud of and what we affirm every Sunday in our mission statement," he said.
Alsay said one member of his church wondered if Sunday's commemoration is something they should be part of because neither they nor their ancestors were responsible for enslaving people.
Alsay said he answered the individual by telling them that some biblical prophets like Nehemiah lamented for their forefathers' actions and doing something similar is OK.
"Dr. (Martin Luther) King said whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly," he said.
Alsay said as of Thursday, he knew of only one other Episcopal church in Oklahoma, Christ's Church in Tulsa, that planned to take part in the commemoration.