Today, New Unity Baptist Church pauses with gratitude, reverence, and joy as we celebrate a rare and beautiful gift: the 100th birthday of Mother Ivy Mae Scott.

One hundred years!

A full century of grace and grief, laughter and labor, storms weathered and songs remembered.

Though miles now separate us geographically, Mother Scott has never been distant from us in spirit. Her presence remains woven into the sacred memory of this church family and into the very soundscape of New Unity worship.

There have been bumps and bruises along the way. The loss of a beloved husband. The heartbreak of burying a son. Battles with health and the quiet weight that accompanies long years.

Yet through it all, Mother Scott has continued to embody a strength both tender and unshakable.

Born in St. Catherine, Jamaica — that “big island” rich with rhythm, resilience, and sacred memory — she learned early the lessons of survival, faith, and joy.

Selling seashells and other wares along the shores of her beloved homeland, under the loving guidance of a cherished aunt, she absorbed the songs, Scriptures, and seasons that would sustain her throughout her life’s journey.

And what was planted then still blooms now.

Even today, Mother Scott can rehearse entire passages of Scripture from memory and, without warning, break forth into an old hymn seasoned by time yet alive with spirit.

Those who worshiped with us through the years know that there was only one Mother Scott.

On many a Sunday morning, as Pastor Golden worked pulpit and pew  into a spiritual lather  and the sanctuary swelled with praise, movement, and holy excitement, dressed in colorful Carribbean attire and above the joyful thunder of the congregation, there would come that unmistakable voice ringing out:

“Work it, Pastor! Work it, mon!”

You did not always have to see Mother Scott to know she was there.

You could hear the faith.

You could hear the fire.

You could hear the love.

Today we also extend heartfelt appreciation to her devoted daughter, "Debbie," with whom she now resides in Florida, surrounding her with care, dignity, and great love.

We thank her son, Hugh, who faithfully visited his mother week after week while Mother Scott lived here in Baltimore.

That kind of faithful devotion of two from the womb is its own sermon. Again, God bless you Hugh and Debbie.

In Pastor Golden’s more than 30 years of ministry, New Unity has been blessed to celebrate many saints who reached into their 90s. But until now, none had crossed the extraordinary threshold of one hundred years.

Mother Ivy Mae Scott has!

And so today, we do more than acknowledge a birthday.

We honor a witness.

We celebrate a daughter of Jamaica, a mother of the church, a keeper of memory, a singer of Zion, and a living testimony that grace can sustain a life across an entire century.

Happy Birthday,

Mother Ivy Mae Scott.

And may the God who has carried you this far continue to hold you close in love, peace, and everlasting joy.

Pastor Johnny N. Golden, Sr.

& the entire Ministry of the New Unity Baptist Church of Baltimore, MD.