By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:13-19).
I cannot recall at what point after that I revealed my plight to Rev. Nash, but he quickly said, “ You have been called to preach!”
My friends, in my entire lifetime, people have said strange things to me occasionally, but that was the strangest, most foreign saying I had ever heard. I certainly needed smelling salts, hand fan, overhead fan, etc. By the way, all of this was taking place between him who as sitting in the pulpit and me positioned on the organ stool. He also added, “You will announce to the congregation, you have been called to preach and afterwards, I will tell them about my setting a date for you to do so.”
I kept pointing to the “place” in the audience where I kept seeing myself naming the systems of the body in front of the congregation, but to no avail. At the end of the service, he announced to the congregation that I had something to say. All eyes were fastened on me as he sat down and beckoned for me to speak from the pulpit. My feelings, during that moment, were indescribable. I openly trembled while walking toward the pulpit, made his forced statement and hurriedly returned to the organ stool. He told the congregation he would let them know my preaching date. Instead of leaving the church as they usually did by fellowshipping with one another, the congregation quietly exited the church. I feared that they would encircle me by asking questions, but no one said anything to me..,
My mother was here from Denver, Colorado visiting her family due to the fact that my father had recently passed and she was family lonely. All of her children were married, gone, and in different directions seeking their own ways of life. To her, one of her children, her oldest daughter, declared her “call to preach”, especially in the church her father had founded must have caused her to have strange feelings. However, being one of the quietest members of our family along with my sister, “Dena” and my brother Ronnie, she did not mention during our traveling home.
