The annual observance commemorates Jones, the first African American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. The church designated February 13 as Absalom Jones Day to celebrate his life and ministry. Lesser Feasts and Fasts states that "Absalom Jones was an earnest preacher who denounced slavery, and warned the oppressors to 'clean their hands of slaves.'"

Baxter, the 10th bishop of Central Pennsylvania, served as dean of Washington National Cathedral for 12 years. He served as administrative dean and associate professor of Pastoral Theology at Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts; seminary dean and associate professor of Church and Ministry at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and chaplain and professor of Religious Studies at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia.

For more information on the service, email Kathleen Walker, president of the Theodore R. Gibson Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) at kathywalker001@gmail.com.