Endeavors in Ethiopian Spirituality

Overview

Saint Ambrose received a $50,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program. Our rector, the Reverend Jemonde Taylor, worked with the congregation and vestry on an eight (8) month process that included listening sessions to design a grant application that would renew both Father Taylor and the Saint Ambrose congregation. The grant title is Endeavors in Ethiopian Spirituality.

Background 

All rectors in the Episcopal Diocese of NC have as a part of their letter of agreement a time for extended sabbath leave, commonly called a sabbatical. Sabbatical leave is available after three years of service. A sabbatical is an extended period of leave time for rest, renewal, and reflection. Father Taylor has been at Saint Ambrose for ten years and has not taken a sabbatical. 

Details Concerning the Sabbatical

Father Taylor will be on sabbatical during the first quarter of 2023. His sabbatical plans emerge from and will further deepen his journey with Ethiopian Christianity. His time at Saint Ambrose has strengthened this journey that is central to his sense of ministry vocation. The sabbatical coalesces around three areas: Rest, Relationship, and

Renewal. His family will begin in Ethiopia, follow the journey of Ethiopian archbishop

Abuna Yesehaq’s ministry in New York and the Caribbean, and culminate at his ancestral land in North Carolina and his dream of a conference center ministry built around Ethiopian Orthodox and Episcopal traditions. 

The sabbatical, Endeavors in Ethiopian Spirituality, traces the journey of Abuna Yesehaq. In 1952, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, commissioned Ethiopian Orthodox archbishop Abuna Yesehaq to evangelize the African diaspora in the Western Hemisphere in Ethiopian Christianity. The Taylor Family, including Father Taylor, his wife, and two children, will journey together.

The Taylor Family begins in Ethiopia for two of the holiest Christian holidays of Christmas and Epiphany. The family will celebrate these holy days, worship, pray, attend lectures, and participate in special children’s activities.

The Taylors next travel to the Bronx, New York City. It was there in 1952 that Abuna Yesehaq established Holy Trinity Cathedral for the Ethiopian Archdiocese of the United States. Father Taylor worshiped there while a seminary student at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. The Taylors will visit the cathedral, meet with clergy and members, and have a special listening session with community members Father Taylor met during his studies in NYC. The family will also take in children’s events.

Following time in New York, the Taylors visit Trinidad and Tobago. It was there that Abuna Yesehaq established Holy Trinity Ethiopian Cathedral for the Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America. Father Taylor will meet with Ethiopian clergy as well as members of the Anglican Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago to discuss ecumenical work between both Episcopal and Ethiopian traditions. Also, it will be a time of relaxation in that beautiful Caribbean climate.

Next, the Taylor Family travels to Jamaica where Abuna Yesehaq came in 1970 to establish the Ethiopian Church. It is here that Abuna Yesehaq spent nearly 40 years of active ministry. Jamaica has the largest Ethiopian Christian population of any Caribbean Country. He is buried in Kingston, Jamaica. Father Taylor will meet with Ethiopian clergy as well as members of the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to discuss ecumenical work between both the Episcopal and Ethiopian traditions. Father Taylor will pay special devotion at the grave and shrine of Abuna Yesehaq.

Father Taylor’s sabbatical concludes with a gathering of family and friends at his ancestral land in Franklin County, North Carolina and his dream of a conference center ministry built around Ethiopian Orthodox and Episcopal traditions. Read the Sewanee Seminary, TN article about his family’s ancestral land in this article.

Father Taylor returns to Saint Ambrose on Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Details Concerning the Congregational Renewal Component

The Saint Ambrose congregation will be on a separate but parallel journey while Father Taylor is on sabbatical. Father Taylor brought an awareness and application of Ethiopian Christianity to Saint Ambrose when he arrived in September 2012. He calls Ethiopian Christainity “Indigenous African Christianity” since it is Christianity on the African continent before European slave traders and colonialists ravaged the continent. It is a form of Christianity without the burden and yoke of white supremacy. Father Taylor believes this form on Christianity is important for Black Christians worldwide because it is spiritually liberating. 

Ethiopian spirituality is integral to the life of Saint Ambrose: Ethiopian Stations of the Cross; Tigray incense; immersion baptism; abundant chrismation oil; icons; liturgical umbrellas; crosses; labyrinth; and textiles. Father Taylor developed an Ethiopian Orthodox Inspired Evensong based on Episcopal Evening Prayer in seminary. The church integrates African Christianity and African American musical genres including Spirituals and Jazz into worship. During the exchange of the Peace one Sunday, Father Taylor observed a young Black child pointing to our Ethiopian icon while looking at a Black child who was a newcomer, saying, “See. Jesus looks just like you!” The child saw God’s divine imprint on himself and his friend. Awareness of that imprint of the divine is the church’s dream in the integration of these practices in the Black church. Read more about this at the Episcopal News Services article.

The following programs will be offered during Father Taylor’s Sabbatical

January

• Wednesday, January 18, 2023; 6:30PM-Dr. Gay Byron on Ethiopian Spirtuality via Zoom.

February

• Saturday, February 18; 10:30AM-1:30PM-Dr. Jocelyn Taliferio leads an in-person retreat at St. Ambrose on acute trauma in the Black community
• Sunday, February 26; 12 Noon-1PM following the worship service-Dr. Louie Rivers, professor of Forestry at NCSU, leads a session on environmental racism and applying the Ethiopian spirituality and forestry principles from this article in the context of St. Ambrose.

March

• Sunday, March 12; 12 Noon-1PM following the worship service-Ms. Patty Merrell will lead the congregation in an intergenerational artistic exercise. Patty created the holy water stoups and baptismal ewer at St. Ambrose.
• Saturday March 18 or 25; 10:30AM-1:30PM-Ethiopian Deacon Alemayehu Bahta will lead the congregation in a 3 hour spiritual retreat/quiet day in the Ethiopian tradition. 

April

• Sunday, April 2 (Palm Sunday)-Ethiopian/Caribbean festival with music and food to welcome the rector and his family back from sabbatical.

Palm Sunday is the rector’s first Sunday back at Saint Ambrose after sabbatical. It is the perfect Sunday as it is the liturgical service that has the most visible signs of the impact of Ethiopian spirituality on our worship life.There will be Ethiopian and Caribbean food and joyous fellowship. The rector and congregation will share their parallel experiences.

Worship and Pastoral Care While Father Taylor is Away

Canon Gregory Jacobs, retired Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, and the Rev. Lindsey Ardrey will lead Sunday worship while the rector is on sabbatical. The Wednesday 12:15PM Healing Mass will happen in-person once a month on the same day as the Silver Angels program. The Rev. Ardrey will lead these services. This is typically the second Wednesday of the month. Online Noonday Prayer led by a layperson will be via Zoom at 12:15PM on the other Wednesdays. Both Ash Wednesday services will be lead by our bishops, the Right Rev. Samuel Rodman and the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davidson.

The wardens are the first point of contact for any pastoral care concerns. They will coordinate with the Saint Ambrose pastoral care team and/or clergy person.

Sabbatical FAQ’s