Connecting our Past with our Present
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 05:15PM St. Luke's is a congregation that welcomes the visitor and seems to be comfortable, even delighted by, ethnic diversity. Yet, our forbears were all English immigrant from one town, Stoke-on-Trent, in England. I've often wondered how the church started grew into the church of today. It seems the seeds were always there.
Our immigrant forbears weren't welcome in a nearby church, so they started a Sunday School gathering in 1912 that became St. Luke's Episcopal Church. They were potters in England, so they came to work in the many potteries in our area. Our worship building was constructed from cast-off bricks retrieved from those potteries, unwanted because they weren't uniform - each a slightly different shade of red and not perfectly square.
Our immigrant founders saw the use of those bricks as a metaphor for the church - a gathering of "all sorts and conditions" of God's people into one holy community. Yet, compared today, immigrants who were mostly from the same town aren't very diverse. Why were they so welcome of diversity?
I discovered the answer the other night from this article about the Archbishop of York's visit to Stoke-on-Trent to help them celebrate their centennial. In it, Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, speaks of Stoke-on-Trent's historic commitment to racial inclusivity:
Dr Sentamu, who regularly speaks out in opposition to racism and slavery, particularly in his native Uganda, also reminded guests of the city's historic intolerance of racism.
Referring to Josiah's Wedgwood's campaign against slavery and his production of the anti-slavery medallion, he said: "This city has never stood for racism. Never stood for discrimination."
Dr Sentamu said Stoke-on-Trent was part of "the country's great heritage" and encouraged residents to look to its successes in the past to build its future.
He said: "If you forget your past you will become senile.
"When we build for the future we must do it not with blind optimism but from what we have learned from the past."
This is the medallian struck by Josiah Wedgwood referred to in the article. It became the most famous 18th century representation of a black person in Europe and helped turn the public against slavery and British involvement in the slave trade.
So, it seems that the towns that merged into Stoke-on-Trent were active in the abolitionist movement of the 18th and 19th centuries that led to the abolition of the slave trade by the British Parliament in 1806. This ethos surely formed the consciences of our forbears, and we are grateful they brought it with them!
Reader Comments (1)
Hello,
My name is Janet and I take care of Mrs. Bozarth we are trying to connect with the church again we have been reading the infomation on the web site. June likes to see the family history and is looking forward to seeing you in church in the future. The information is very informative and. June likes the fact that she can follow the church happenings on the web. For a 90 year old this is amazing. I look forward to meeting you all soon.
Regards Janet Nabinger