Usher Board Ushers in Another Graceful Year

By Jerome Nathaniel
Editor in Chief

A smile and a gesture can either make or break your entire impression of a church and your worship experience. Before any of us can make our way to Grace’s pews, be serenaded by an angelic choir or draw our attention to the hollowed pulpit, we first must make our way through the doors — an important part of service that we overlook and undermine far too often. Every Sunday, we are blessed to be greeted with open doors and arms because of an Usher Board that has been faithful to the church since its foundations. On August 28, 2011, Grace Baptist Church of Christ will be honoring the Usher Board with a 3:30 p.m. anniversary service. In recognition of their dedication to Grace, food, praise, history, thanks, good company and a sermon will all be a part of the menu.

But the festivities will not end on the August 28; Sister Griggs will also be recognized for her service as the head of the Usher Board as one of the select and prestigious honoraries at an appreciation banquet for the Ushers of the New York Missionary Baptist Association in mid-October.

For those who do not know, ushers, or gatekeepers, have been around the Church and Temple since biblical times. In Marty Stevens’ “Temple, Tithes, and Taxes: The Temple and the Economic Life of Ancient Israel,” she suggests that the gatekeepers could also be understood as “gate accountants.” Not only were they required to keep an eye on the Temple gates, but they kept an account of who entered the Temple and what transferred to and from the Temple storehouse and to whom (2 Kings 23:4).

The responsibility of today’s Usher Board is similar: Sister Griggs and Dennis are also bound to know what is stored in the kitchen and who made their way to the pews.

Regardless of what we may think we know about ushering, it is truly something that you cannot fully appreciate until you have tried it for yourself. Just two years ago, I was able to grow a greater understanding and respect for the Board when I participated for a month. Between standing, holding the doors and trying to pay attention to receive the message from the pastor, I was amazed at how they were able to juggle so many tasks and still be attentive for service.

Indeed, “the singing usher,” or Sister Brathwaite, seems not to have a problem ushering and being a part of the service experience at the same time — she’s been doing it since she was 10-years of age, including 20 years with Grace.

“It’s a blessing to be a doorkeeper,” Sister Brathwaite said with her trademark smile. “So we have to be prayed up, be prayerful in all that we do. For me, it isn’t even so much what we say; it’s how they see us. So I always ask the Lord if I can be a gesture or a smile, a blessing at the door.”

For some of us, it may be daunting to enthusiastically greet so many different types of people with a smile. As we have all witnessed at one point or another, there are many instances when individuals come through the church doors with a lot of negative and painful thoughts on their mind and with heavy hearts. However, Sister Brathwaite sees their entrance and welcoming as an integral part of the service.

“Ushers are like the spiritual guards at the door, because you see a lot of people come through the doors with a lot on them. If by greeting them with a smile or a hug can ease that, and in some cases warn of demonic spirits, I count it joy that I have done for the church. That helps the whole worship service — for us to be on one accord.”

As the famous Psalms goes, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper for the house of my God than to dwell in the tent of wickedness.” (Psalms 84:10). On August 28, we have the opportunity to recognize their hard work. Do not forget to show support and turnout for the Usher Anniversary. Without them, the doors of the church would hardly be open — or we’d at least be confused and traffic jammed at the entrance.

Jerome Nathaniel graduated from the University of Rochester in 2011 with a B.A. in Religion. Member of Riverside Church and AFSC's "Campaign to End the New Jim Crow"