Church celebrates Black history

St. Thomas à Becket, Erin Mills South, celebrated Black History Month at three services in February. To help us with the festivities, we invited guest preachers and speakers, musicians and a liturgical dancer. As a congregation that loves to celebrate with food, the coffee hours after the services became feasts showcasing the best of Black cooking.

For the first service, Donna Scantlebury was our guest speaker. She is the co-chair of the Bishop’s Committee on Intercultural Ministry and works at the police college in anti-bias and anti-racism training. Her homily was inspiring and challenged us all to examine our unconscious biases and micro and macro aggressions. After the service, our coffee time consisted of Nigerian snacks provided by some of our Nigerian congregants.

For the second service, the Rev. Canon Dr. Stephen Fields, sub-dean and vicar at St. James Cathedral, preached on the four “P’s” – denial of the problem of racism, personhood, our presence and denial of our perspective. The Rt. Rev. Peter Fenty, a retired suffragan bishop of the diocese, was our preacher at the third service, which concluded our celebrations. Both Canon Fields and Bishop Fenty left an indelible mark on many of us. They challenged our core presuppositions, making us stop and think about what we thought we knew and how much more we need to learn, as well as to become more conscious of our beliefs and behaviours. All three guest speakers referenced various chapters in the Bible when making certain points.

Our services were enhanced by talented musicians, including the TrinBirds Steel Orchestra, saxophonist Joseph Callender, liturgical dancer Laila Dottin and pannist Trenyce Sweeney. They were invaluable in helping the congregation connect to the rich Black cultural traditions and heritage of so many of our parishioners. The joyful, upbeat mood of the services was palpable. On the last Sunday, we were joined by members from two other churches that are part of the campus: the British Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. They celebrated and enjoyed a Caribbean-influenced luncheon with us following the last service.

Enthusiasm for Black History Month was so high that we decided to conclude with one final cultural celebration of food and entertainment on Feb. 28. The night’s festivities featured the TrinBirds Steel Orchestra (expanded to six steelpan players); The Yerewolon, performing West African drumming; and singer Susan Grogan and DJ Curls both providing authentic Caribbean party atmosphere and fun. What was advertised as Caribbean appetizers turned out to be a variety of fantastic foods from various countries. We started off the night with a cup of warm and tasty corn soup and went on from there. We enjoyed jollof rice from Nigeria, Jamaican patties and jerk chicken wings, Trinidadian pholouries, Barbadian fish cakes, and Guyanese patties and pine tarts, just to name a few. Lots of fun was had by all and the success of Black History Month encourages us all as we look forward to even greater celebrations in the years ahead.