family crest

We stand before God, our parent, and rejoice that we are born generally into the human family and particularly into an African-American family. We celebrate the great variety of family structures through which we can express our love, care, and concern for one another. We pledge to join forces with one another and get to know, understand, empathize with, and support one another. We promise to share stories of our memorial stones, practice the traditions, and pass on the heritage of our family for the sake of prosperity and posterity. We acknowledge our neglect in reserving time for family activities as we yield to individual desires and external pressures. We pledge to share time together as a family. We acknowledge the importance of each individual family member, while we affirm the significance of the connecting thread that binds individuals within families. We who are older accept the responsibility of sharing key teaching with members of the younger generations. We who are younger generation pledge to take the stories and make them our own. We hereby covenant as a family before God and commit ourselves to being responsible family members. We commit to pattern our lives after the example of Jesus Christ and to lead by the Holy Spirit. We Commit to communicate with one another, to love one another, and to assure the welfare of all family members. We will preserve the memorial stones of our African-American heritage and the Christian faith and intentionally share their meaning with others.

Warren Thomas

Another leaf has fallen, from the Thomas tree of life, 

to land beneath the earth's warm sun, cold snow and ice. 

Each day as I look upon the family tree, 

where next, which leaf will it be?

As I look around and see 

the beautiful leaves still on the tree, 

that stem to reach up to the sky.

I become saddened, for they too must fall and die.

I feel tears come to my eyes, and for the first time in many years, I could cry.

But then I had a vision, that seemed so clear and bright. 

I saw many beautiful trees, standing straight and tall in God's bright sunlight.

As my vision began to clear, and I could see through the light, 

there was one tree I recognized, that meant so much in my life. 

Their leaves were so beautiful, as they swayed above my head

and they seemed to say this is my home, we are alive, we are not dead.

The leaves seemed to beckon, for me to come near 

and I could hear them whispering in my ear 

we are not dead, we are alive, 

we have just changed trees for one in God's beautiful sky. 

I noticed that on some, the leaves had not yet grown, 

and I knew that they were waiting for us, from home. 

Many leaves have fallen, trom the Thomas tree of life 

but I know they are not dead, they are in God's green paradise.

Warren Thomas