Uma Ramiah Photo
The Rev. Eldren D. Morrison had a vision for his parishioners on Dixwell Avenue: A vision of a new house, at the end of a long road.
“Sometimes it seems that God has put what He has promised us on hold,” the pastor shouted from the pulpit at Varick AME Zion Church. “He promised you that house. But you’re still waiting!”
Morrison, at just 29 years old, has been working to revive one of New Haven’s oldest and most storied congregations. And on Sunday, during a joyful, thunderous service, he delivered a relevant, nuanced message.
“If you’re willing to let God lead you, even if it’s the long route,” he continued, “God will do exceedingly, abundantly; above all you could ask or think.”
On display, at times, was a religious approach known as “Prosperity Theology,” or the “Prosperity Gospel.” Sometimes referred to as the Health and Wealth Gospel, it holds that believers in Jesus Christ should expect blessings, often monetary, in return for their faithfulness, and tithes and offerings to the church. It affirms that Christians, through Christ, deserve and are promised both financial and bodily health.
But though Morrison and his congregation embraced that gospel on Sunday, it came wrapped not in a message of instant gratification, but of long years of hard travel, of desert wandering with that new home kept in sight. The way that Varick’s home itself is emerging from a desert trial.
2 Vacation Homes, Fancy Restaurants
Reverend Naamon Bradley (at left in photo), a member of the church, gave his testimony on Sunday before Morrison’s sermon.
“I used to listen to people talk about their homes in Connecticut, their vacation properties,” he said. “And I wanted those blessings for myself.”
So he leaned on the Lord, he said. “I asked him for those blessings, and I trusted him.”
Now, he reported, he has two properties in Connecticut. “And not only that, I have a vacation home in North Carolina!” he shouted, to the answer of a cheering congregation.
He can wear the nicest clothes these days, he said, and eat at expensive restaurants.
“Why don’t we test God more often? See what happens when you test him? He blesses you.”
Each Sunday, church members share similar stories. “They share testimonies of how God has blessed them,” Morrison explained in an email after the service. “And how they have been faithful in tithing and giving to support ministry, as part of our stewardship campaign.”
Prosperity Theology claims its roots in scripture. 2 Corinthians 8:9 reads, for example, “For you know what our Lord Jesus Christ gives freely, that though He was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”
And John 14:13 – 14: “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
The theology has its critics, but it continues to spread across the globe, particularly in the realm of the Pentecostal Church. At Varick on Sunday, Eldren Morrison related part of it to his congregation. But it wasn’t all about prosperity. Morrison also preached hard truths about suffering.
Varick’s Desert Road
Varick, with its long history, is no stranger to suffering.
At 194 years old, it’s is the third oldest American Methodist Episcopal Zion congregation. The denomination was born in the early 19th century when black parishioners broke off from the white Methodist Episcopal Church in response to racism and segregation.
“History is made here,” Morrison noted. The parish at Varick, behind the sanctuary, once served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were counted among its members. Zion Bishop Alexander Walters helped found the NAACP. Frederick Douglass preached at the Zion pulpit. So did Booker T. Washington, the last sermon before his death.
“Some of our members were part of the Black Panther movement. Jesse Jackson has been here to speak,” Morrison said. “Varick has a great past within this community in terms of citizens rights.”
But when Morrison arrived in 2007, Varick was, in a sense, on a desert journey.
“I got thrown,” the slender and (when not in the pulpit) soft-spoken Morrison said in an interview earlier in the week, “into a lion’s den.”
He learned that the previous minister had, unbeknownst to the congregation, refinanced the church property and allegedly used it for other purposes. No one knew about the new mortgage. No one had been paying on it.
“A month after I arrived, we were served foreclosure papers,” Morrison recalled.
The church hired an outside attorney, Timothy Miltenberger, of Coan, Lewendon, Gulliver and Miltenberger, LLC., in New Haven. The matter remains in litigation; Miltenberger was able to stop the foreclosure process and have the mortgage lifted until a settlement can be reached.
“The mortgage is on hold. We don’t have to pay anything at the moment,” Morrison said. He said he’s confident that in the end, the church won’t be financially on the hook.
But they haven’t filed a suit against the former pastor. “This may be one of those times where we are called to embody the faith we profess and move ahead in the spirit of forgiveness,” Eldren said.
On top of that unexpected mortgage, the church was in slight disrepair.
“Nothing had been done to the buildings in about ten years. Morale was low; attendance was low. It was a tough situation,” he said. “I knew that the church had had some problems, but I didn’t know the scope.”
At the heart of the Dixwell neighborhood, Varick has also seen its share of violence.
“On Easter Sunday we came to church with police tape– there were two shootings,” said Morrison, shaking his head. “So that sort of thing has been affecting how we move forward.”
The church has held several forums on violence and hired a full-time youth minister. “We’re interested in stopping this killing,” Morrison said.
Meanwhile, attendance has nearly doubled in the past two years, with an estimated 400 worshipers at the two Sunday morning services. The church is planning a major restoration project beginning next year with the roof and brick walls. It also runs the Varick Center for Empowerment, focusing on economic development along the Dixwell corridor. It has plans to start a charter school and is gathering research for a book on the history of the institution. It has held neighborhood meetings including one with the new CEO of the Hospital of St. Raphael.
Morrison came from South Carolina, a state he thought he might never leave. He pastored four churches there before accepting the call to take the lead at Varick.
“I was told, you know, just go and preach. Be a pastor. And in a couple months, these problems will be over. That was four years ago.”
On Sunday, the pews were full.
Desert Detours
“Going through the desert helps you appreciate your Promised Land destination. And some of us don’t like this because we want the blessing without having to go through any burden!” Morrison shouted from the pulpit, working through a sermon entitled “Desert Detours.” His soft-spoken demeanor had disappeared into a charismatic fire.
There are lessons to be learned in the desert, he said, that can’t be discovered once we reach our destination.
“The desert will teach you that God is water in dry places.”
And what about when it seems that God is delaying our deliverance and blessings?
“Sometimes it seems that God has put what He has promised us on hold,” he cried.
And then, another hint at the prosperity gospel.
“But if you take the short route you’ll get a short order blessing,” he continued, pointing at his congregation. “That’s why you got to be careful trying to rush God. But if you’re willing to let God lead you, even if it’s the long route, God will do exceedingly, abundantly; above all you could ask or think.”
Sometimes, Morrison continued, God sends you on a detour to avoid revisiting pain from the past.
“Egypt was the place that had you in bondage. Egypt was the place that took your joy. You’ve been wondering why you haven’t received what God promised? God is taking you the long route to keep you from wandering back into Egypt.”
All that wandering, Morrison explained, teaches us that we can’t make it through the desert without God’s presence. It teaches us, in effect, to rely on Him.
As Morrison addressed his congregation, he swayed from passion to serenity, from visions of suffering to promises fulfilled. His phrasing was lilting at times, even tipping on the poetic:
So if your blessing hasn’t come yet just keep on trusting.
If you haven’t been delivered yet just keep on believing because all things are possible if you only believe.
If you haven’t been healed yet, just keep on waiting because they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
God is taking you the long route; don’t give up.
He’s taking you the long route; don’t lose hope.
He’s taking you the long route; don’t get weary.
The race is not given to the swift or the strong but to the one who endure to the end.
