Commissioner Higgins:
Thank you for sharing, I did not know that Pastor Sutton had recently passed. Rev. Elijah Sutton was truly a grassroots, on the ground servant of God. He made sure that the doors of Guildfield were open to ALL people - including The Coalition to Save Our Neighborhood Schools - Pastor Sutton understood that our group was a David who was resisting and fighting against a Goliath - Michelle Rhee and her privatizers who descended on our communities to unfairly close Black public schools. Pastor Sutton wasn't bossed or bought or scared to stand on the side of righteousness and as Minster Steptoe mentioned he was so kind, humble and loving. He was a role model for young pastors coming up in the true Christ tradition. I pray that as we remember and uplift the memory and legacy of Pastor Sutton, that we dig deep to access a thimble of courage that this man embodied. By courage we mean - the refusal to be silenced by the popular majority who may not always have the interest and love of the community at heart, standing up for those who are the voices and servants of our communities, speaking out and taking action on a community issue or even sharing a warm greeting or a smile - these are just some of things that Pastor Sutton always did - and definitely some of the things that we can do to honor his memory and legacy.
Thank you for sharing, I did not know that Pastor Sutton had recently passed. Rev. Elijah Sutton was truly a grassroots, on the ground servant of God. He made sure that the doors of Guildfield were open to ALL people - including The Coalition to Save Our Neighborhood Schools - Pastor Sutton understood that our group was a David who was resisting and fighting against a Goliath - Michelle Rhee and her privatizers who descended on our communities to unfairly close Black public schools. Pastor Sutton wasn't bossed or bought or scared to stand on the side of righteousness and as Minster Steptoe mentioned he was so kind, humble and loving. He was a role model for young pastors coming up in the true Christ tradition. I pray that as we remember and uplift the memory and legacy of Pastor Sutton, that we dig deep to access a thimble of courage that this man embodied. By courage we mean - the refusal to be silenced by the popular majority who may not always have the interest and love of the community at heart, standing up for those who are the voices and servants of our communities, speaking out and taking action on a community issue or even sharing a warm greeting or a smile - these are just some of things that Pastor Sutton always did - and definitely some of the things that we can do to honor his memory and legacy.
Peace and Blessings to All,
Maria P. Jones
Ward 5 Resident
Ward 5 Resident
On Fri, Oct 8, 2021 at 7:24 AM Higgins, Ursula (SMD 5B02) <5B02@anc.dc.gov> wrote:
Dear Community:
It is with a heavy but God-ordained Holy Spirit to share this news:
Guildfield Baptist Church's beloved, community servant leader, Pastor Elijah Sutton, Jr., ("Rev. Sutton") peacefully transitioned with the Lord last evening (Wed, Oct 6, 2021).
Ward 5 and the entire District of Columbia knew and loved the heart Pastor Sutton. Our community loved his generosity, humility and relentless kindness as emanated from his pastoral leadership at Guildfield .
For almost 40 years, Pastor Sutton was the Ward 5/Brookland community's stable and humble friend and provider. Whether feeding the community daily from the food bank, serving neighborhood youth, opening the church facilities for community, political or social events or allowing the community to park on the church lot (ALL FREE!), Ward 5 and the District of Columbia all counted on Pastor Sutton and Guildfield to help us care for our neighbors and live together as community!
It is no wonder Pastor Sutton was proud his church at 1023 Otis Street, NE was known as "The Community Church with the Green Steps.". Pastor Sutton's service and generosity to his vocation knew no bounds! He lived his missionary, Jesus calling
I shall provide homegoing celebration details when finalized.
Given his lengthy and strong relationships within Brookland, Ward 5 and the city, Guildfield will call upon Pastor's very large community to join his Celebration of Life.
We at Guildfield are honored to know our efforts at humanity and civic engagement were guided by such a kind, humble and boldly generous servant leader as Pastor Elijah Sutton, Jr.!
Bless all.
Min. Carolyn Steptoe
Commissioner Ursula Higgins
Chairperson, ANC 5B
Single Member District 5B02
Telephone: 202-321-5289
Email: 5b02@anc.dc.gov
Website: www.anc5b.com
--
WardFive@googlegroups.com is open to WardFive residents for community discussion and information sharing.
To post to this group, send email to wardfive@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wardfive+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wardfive?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WardFive" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wardfive+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wardfive/CAB-1z9%3DMn5kd33oSbMjePcTFAp26m03%2BDbpDy%3DvTsKETSqV-Aw%40mail.gmail.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment