A Hallelujah Good Time
We pray that you come out and join us Saturday, February 1, at 5 p.m. at Union Grove UMC for our First Annual Gospel Explosion. Soloist include Tara Denson, Adrian Canady, and special guest Jamal Roberts. Hopewell M.B. Choir will be performing plus a host of others. Pastor Marcus Mann will be the Master of Ceremony. We are looking to have a Hallelujah good time.
Sylvester UMC will be having its Black History Program on February 16 during worship service.
As February approaches we begin to celebrate Black History, or as I like to say put an emphasis on Black History, as we should celebrate our accomplishments every day.
Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” This week was selected because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and of Frederick Douglas on February 14 both of which dates black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century. Later Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969.
The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later from February 2, 1970 – February 28, 1970. Six years later, Black History Month was being celebrated all across the country in educational institutions, centers of Black culture and community centers. Then President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month, during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial. He urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Let us not forget the impact that the black community has had on the world not only in February but every day.
A word from Pastor Mann: Valleys are not places to be dreaded. It is all about our viewpoint. It depends on how you see them. If you view them through the eyes of the flesh, if you view them through your emotions, if you view them on a natural plain, they will be feared, dreaded and ran from.
No one wants to go into a “valley,” but they are needful. Everyone wants to stay on the “mountain top.” We can’t. In the natural, if you climb a mountain, once you reach a point it is what is called the timberline. Above that spot nothing grows. It is barren. In the spiritual sense, the same is true. Mountain top experiences are good from time to time — they help us get a breath of fresh air, they let us see from another viewpoint and they give us a temporary boost of the feeling of passion and victory. But you can’t stay there.
On the other hand, the valley is a place of life. It is where things grow. It is where there are green pastures. It is where the still waters are. This is the place where we find the Shepherd.
If you are in a valley today, don’t dread it, don’t complain about it, don’t get discouraged about it, look at it from God’s perspective and see it as the place of life and growth that it really is.
