February is Black History Month, and I hope you will take the time to reflect on the power and influence of our black sisters and brothers which they have imparted to us as a nation but also to us as The United Methodist Church.
Do you recognize the names of Henry McNeil Turner, Lucius Holsey, or Donald Hollowell? Bishops, pastors, and attorneys that help Methodism in the state of Georiga to bloom and grow, but in their early days, they were simply men who had a passion for Christ and His people.
Do you recognize the names of Martin Luther King and Joseph Lowery? Brothers and colleagues who paid the price during the Civil Rights era. Not only for the Methodist but for people of all faiths. They put their lives on the line so that others might have a life.
Do you recognize the names of Leontine T. O. Kelly, Charlotte Ann Nichols, or maybe Joethel Jeannette Cooper Dicks? These women are trailblazers for black women but also for all women.
We must never forget the influence nor the impact these and others have had on the Methodist Church, and especially the United Methodist Church. I hope you will celebrate Black History Month, because these are our sisters and brothers; we need to know and understand their heritage and their dreams and their hopes because they are our heritage, our dreams, and our hope today. Start celebrating by Googling these names and seeing what they did for Christ and His Church and our family. Celebrate by spending time in prayer, praying that the hate that survives in any heart be eradicated and replaced with love and understanding. Celebrate, not only the past, but God's glorious future as we become one in God and change the face of the world.
You see the dream lives on in others,
Dana