Sun., Feb. 11, 2018

     As of today, we are three days away from the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.  The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of satan and preparing to begin his ministry. This is also when people choose to give up something; however, I want to encourage us to add something to your life/day on a spiritual level during the next forty days. Add time for daily prayer, Bible study or time alone with God. Make time to visit or call a friend or church member who might be encouraged by your presence or call.
 
     We are also eleven days into Black History Month! OUR history is worthy of being celebrated every day and February is a wonderful time to remember the accomplishments of African Americans and people from the African diaspora (the dispersion of a people from their original homeland) for ALL the contributions they’ve made not only to this country but the world.
 
     America is a great country…I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else! However, this country has an ugly history of racism and social and civil injustice against people who are not of European descent. First Native Americans, then Blacks who were forcibly brought here as chattel slaves. Chattel slavery was the enslaving of a person forever! Their children and their children’s children were automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves were only viewed and treated as property; they could be brought, sold, given and even inherited! They had no rights as human beings…as children created in God’s image and loved by God.    
     The AME Church exists because the ministerial efforts of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones were so successful that the Black membership at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church grew tenfold and the white members of the congregation did not welcome this growth and in November 1786, white ushers attempted to remove all Blacks from the floor of the sanctuary and these brothers and sisters of God were having none of it! Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and other Blacks left the church never to return and founded the Free African Society in 1787. From this society the foundations of the AME Church (Allen) and African Episcopal Churches (Jones) came into being.
 
          I invite you to check out these websites for great Black History facts. These are just the tip of the iceberg to obtain information from, but it’s a good start:
 

• blackamericaweb.com/category/little-known-black-history-facts
• theroot.com
• thegrio.com
• newsone.com

 
     These are wonderful online resources to get news and other information that are meaningful and relevant to the Black community! We must become more engaged in the political process, we must vote and participate in political activities within our communities to ensure our issues are raised, our voices heard, and change comes that will benefit us, our children and our children’s children!
 
Have a blessed week family!
Pastor Carla Mitchell

---