B'More Metro Let's Go! September 2017
Season’s Greetings!
This may seem like an off-season way to greet you on this September day. After all, we usually wish each other season’s greetings at Advent and Christmas. This isn’t Christmas, but it is somewhat of an ‘advent’ in terms of the anticipation and shift that this season represents. This is quite a different season. This is the season of new backpacks and books, church conferences, anniversaries and homecoming celebrations. This is the season of longer sleeves and shorter days. I saw a leaf floating through the air yesterday and I shed a spiritual tear. You see, I love summer and I am one of those people who go through a bit of mourning at its passing. I thrive on the constant dose of vitamin D that summer provides and I thoroughly enjoy beaches and back yard barbecues. But whether you enjoy warm weather or cooler temperatures, we all have so many reasons to give God praise for the season that we are in and the season that lies ahead.
Here are just a few: We celebrate with Pastor Laura Kigweba James and her new husband Marc who got married this summer (on July 1st… sort of a new appointment). Season’s Greetings! We celebrate with Reverend Dell Hinton who welcomed a new grandson to her family and Reverend Bonnie McCubbin and her husband Reverend Lemuel Dominguez as they prepare to welcome their new bundle of joy. Season’s Greetings! We celebrate with Pastor Irance Reddix whose poster presentation about the Adullum Community Healthcare Center has been accepted for the UMC Day of Health in Dunwoody, Georgia later this month. Season’s Greetings! We wish “Happy Anniversary” to Bishop LaTrelle Easterling as she begins her second year as our anointed episcopal leader. Season’s Greetings Bishop! We also honor the memory of those we have lost this summer, such as Rev. Dr. Mary Brown Oliver, who passed just days ago, having broken ground as this conference’s first female African American District Superintendent, as well as Rev. William C. Miller, who passed earlier this month having pastored many churches in our conference, including Gatch and Hiss UMCs in Baltimore. May God bless their families, congregations and colleagues in this season of loss and resurrection hope.
As we watch summer prepare for its transition to fall, we also watch as storms have raged in Houston and Louisiana and threaten Florida, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and elsewhere. We watch, pray, and act as powers compete in Washington, as war-mongers entice each other across the globe, and as the murder rate continues to rise in Baltimore. Still our refrain in Season’s Greetings! For everything there is a season. The season may be changing, but our God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever: faithful and true. It is by God’s grace that we embrace this new season together. Let us remain prayerful, grateful, and powerful in the Spirit. I’m excited about this new season. How about you?
B’More Metro… LET’S GO!
Rev. Dr. Wanda Bynum Duckett