(RNS) — The tradition of “Seven Last Words” services hosted by Black churches will mark a new milestone on Good Friday (April 3) when all seven of the active African American women bishops of the United Methodist Church are expected to preach at a Maryland church.
“This is the first time there’s ever been that many” African American women bishops in the UMC, said the Rev. Jason O. Jordan-Griffin, pastor of St. Mark United Methodist Church in the Baltimore suburb of Hanover, where the service will take place. “And this is the first time they’ve all come together to preach for an event of this magnitude.”
The retelling of the biblical account of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross, used to feature solely men in pulpits across the country. That changed gradually.
Back in 2011, Jordan-Griffin started inviting women to preach the seven sayings of Jesus — starting with “Father, forgive them … ” — at the first church he pastored, in Pumphrey, Maryland. Having been appointed to his third church last year, he decided he wanted to mark this year’s 15th anniversary in a special way. He invited Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, who leads the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Episcopal Area, to preach for the occasion and asked permission to invite the other six Black women bishops as well.
Easterling is slated to preach on the last of the seven sayings: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
She said in a video statement that she is honored to …