A Message from the Senior Pastor

Dear Members and Friends of Ezion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church:

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ. As I write this note of hope and inspiration, as we look around us there seems to be very little of either. While we bask yet in the glow of the Obama victory and pray for his administration and safety, we are well aware that there is much that yet needs to be transformed, changed and made new. Too many of our family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, face daily the inevitable and the painful. Jobs are being lost, houses (homes) foreclosed, retirement funds are dwindling, and the general economic picture globally looks bleak.

As people of faith we keep reminding ourselves that if we remain faithful and continue to pray God will see us through. On level that makes sense. God has seen us through in the past. However, there are more and more people both within the family of faith and outside the arch of spiritual safety, who are less and less convinced in the power of God in the midst of the realities around us. This is more reason for the faithful to be more vigilant, active and vocal about the power, goodness, and resources of the God we claim and serve.

To this end I invite each of you on this Lenten Journey toward Hope, Healing and Wholeness. Each Sunday morning during this season we will be considering the theme: Prayer and Fasting: Obedience, Sacrifice and Power. As each of us look at our own journey of faith, I encourage you to consider what you need to give up or sacrifice in order to become a more faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. By fasting from what "binds" us, we will find ultimate freedom to be a vessel for Gods' hope, transformation and power, in a time of despair, brokenness and hopelessness.

I invite each of you to join me on this Lenten Journey by attending Sunday worship as often as possible and to attend the Wednesday evening Bible Study led by your Pastor and Assistant, Rev. Anna L. Cottom. I promise if we are faithful on this journey toward wholeness, hope and transformation, God will hear the prayers of Gods people and God will heal the land and transform the nation(s).

Reverend Dr. H. Greer, senior pastor