...Although no one knew them personally, 38 slaves and servants of African descent who were buried in the cemetery at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in the 1700s and 1800s, many without their full names being recorded, were remembered Wednesday during a service of repentance and reconciliation at the historic church on Rector Street...
...“We as Christians have on occasion treated other people as property and people to be dispensed with,” said the Rt. Rev. George E. Councell, Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey, during his sermon in the two-hour service before an overflow audience of Episcopal church members and residents from throughout the state. “We don’t even know their names for Christ sake. But they are here somewhere.”
Councell said it diminishes them not to know their names and to have buried them in common graves.
“They are one with us,” said Councell...
Let us pray:
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
J.
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