Saving Our Own Community
Pre-Watch Night Candlelight Prayer Walk
As the year 2023 comes to a close, The Positive Community is thankful for the loving support of so many! Churches continue to be the foundation of our community support. Congregations throughout the region subscribe for bulk deliveries to their houses of worship. TPC’s Great Roll Call to Progress (page 7) represents an ever expanding group of congregations that receive the “Good News from the Church and Community “each month.
Shout-out to Rev. Dr. Guy Campbell, Jr., Pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in Palmyra, NJ (right outside of Philadelphia), and past president of General Baptist Convention of NJ. Ever since joining our Roll Call, eight years ago, the church has never missed a subscriber payment and even stayed current throughout the pandemic! Stories abound with churches paying for their annual subscriptions upfront and new churches signing on every month. After 25 years of service, The Positive Community remains the people’s choice and has earned the right to exist as viable, relevant media in a competitive marketplace!
Our American Story
Notwithstanding the New Year’s holiday, are you aware that January 1st is one of the most important dates on the American calendar, especially for the African American people? On that day in 1863, one hundred sixty (160) years ago, as the Civil War raged on, an executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, went into effect. Freedom came to 3.5 million of our ancestors held in brutal bondage in the Confederate states. On that very day, two hundred thousand (200,000) Negro troops were mobilized to fight on the side of the Union Army. And yes, on January 1st, it went from being called a “War to Save the Union”, to the “War to End Slavery”; a civil war that cost over 700,000 American lives! Indeed, our people owe a debt of gratitude to descendants of the Union Army who made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefields for American freedom!
This was the first step that eventually led to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, forever abolishing slavery in the USA. At The Positive Community we view these historic times as a profound, spiritual and cultural event—the Season of the Great American Emancipation!
Watch Night
On New Year’s Eve, 1862, Watch Night, many of our ancestors gathered in prayer and song, in anticipation of the “dawn of freedom!” Question: Are we teaching the children about the Black Church Watch Night tradition and the blessings of The Great Emancipation?
The African American Cultural Narrative is the story of our American experience. It’s a learning tool that’s both easy to read and easy to remember. In fact, there are currently churches that would have a young person rehearse and read the Cultural Narrative before the congregation or present the Cultural Narrative video on Watch Night (see thepositivecommunity.com).
The times demand that we do something positive together to affirm the dignity of our humanity, in remembrance of and appreciation for those who came before us. Join us on December 30, 2023 for the 2nd annual ecumenical Pre-Watch Night Prayer Walk in Newark. This is an intergenerational affair, bring the children! Let us use this date as an exercise in collective faith. May this Pre-Watch Night Prayer Walk become an established, enduring tradition; a reminder of our true identity: liberated, beloved sons and daughters of the Most High God: mighty descendants of the Great Emancipation—1863!
At Freedom’s Table
On Saturday, February 24, 2024, Black History Month, all roads lead to the historic Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ. The story of our American freedom journey continues. It’s The Positive Community’s 5th Annual Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet. This year’s theme is inspired from the Frankie Beverly and Maze classic, “We Are One.” On this occasion, we reflect on our collective triumphs, and forecast and celebrate present and future achievements. TPC will honor outstanding individuals and organizations that demonstrate through selfless, loving service, a commitment to the ideals of community progress and positive change!
It’s the Function at the Junction, live on Saturday February 24, 2024. There will be plenty of good music, food, entertainment, enlightenment and fellowship. Reserve your seat at freedom’s table today! Visit our website: thepositivecommunity.com to view highlights from last year’s celebration . . .We are one; and that’s the way it is!
