Mt. Hope A.M.E. Zion Church Members Have Defined Themselves.

Today, Sunday July 1st is a new beginning of the past, same old stuff just a different day. After personally witnessing those who have decided to do nothing and therefore attend service at Mt. Hope today, I have personally seen each and everyone of you define who you are and that you absolutely and unequivalently really don't stand for anything. You don't care about fighting for what is right, all you care about is going to church. Some have said: I am singing on the choir today so I must be there, I am ushering today and we don't have enough ushers already, I am on the worship service program today and I must be there, Today is the 1st Sunday and communion will be served - God knows that if I don't take communion today, I will be banished to hell (what about what Christ demands of us in preparation for the taking of the Holy Communion - I guess none of that is important, just the ritual of communion); etc., etc., etc., etc. Its best to serve & worship in a spiritually and financially bankrupt church than to fight for a church that can and should be better (this is what you are saying by your actions).

Good luck to you for the rest of your great life, the die has been cast and nothing will ever change. God bless you that you can lay your little heads on your pillow tonight and all nights to come and be totally at peace with yourselves. To heck with those that will follow us since we will be leaving such a great legacy for them and we will be primarily responsible for the church that is being left for them to try and salvage - I can see Jesus smiling on each one of you for the great christian job that you have done; Hip-Hip-Horay, Hip-Hip Horay - how great each of you art, such courage being dispalyed here.

On another subject, I attended the wake and funeral of Ronald N. Manning (age 61) of New Rochelle, NY on Thursday night and Friday morning (June 28 & 29, 2007). Ronald was the twin brother of Donald Thompson, who was my best friend in my adult life. Ronald is also the father of a 12-year old son and two other mature daughters. Donald passed away exactly 20 years ago and I was able to move on and not think constantly of how sad his passing was. Now, with the passing of his twin brother, whom I also knew quite well, it was all brought back to me full-circle.

However, my sadness was washed away as I sat in Bethesda Baptist Church as the fairly youthful minister delivered a wonderful eulogy. He went on to briefly state that Ronald was a truly religious person who cared deeply about his church and always did his best to help the church flourish. He was a leader and was dedicated to his church and his faith. The pastor and Ronald shared a true and respectful friendship that stood the test of time. The pastor was able to speak in glowing terms about Ronald and I know his words to be true because I knew Ronald. The pastor confirmed that on many occasions, he was admonished by Ronald but that he always spoke the truth and that he (the pastor) had the utmost respect for Ronald and looked forward to his counsel from time to time. Just hearing that made me feel somewhat ambivalent. I seem to share a lot of the core beliefs that Ronald had and we both had no reservations abouts demonstrating what those beliefs were.

I was really sad until the homegoing service got into gear; I felt like we were having a regular worship service since the spirit was so high, the music was tremendous and those in attendance reflected a sense of true contentment that they knew Ronald and that this was a service of celebration for the kind of good and decent life that he led. Again, I must say that it was a truly uplifting service, the likes of which I would like to experience more often. For just a fleeting moment I said to myself; why can't our church's regular worship service exhibit this level of joy and sincerity? But I realize that we at Mt. Hope are just in a different world and I quickly left it at that.

What I did act on was the urge to use Ronald's life to strengthen my resolve and to continue to try to help to make things better at our church since there needs to be a positive legacy for young people, especially during the times we live in. I sat down and finished a second letter to the church's membership appealing to them to do something and not just sit idly by with a defeatist attitude & mentality. God does not want this for our church since everything that he touches truly flourishes. I don't know what this says about Mt. Hope but maybe we can figure it out together.

Today is the first day of the new conference year and from what I witnessed today, there is not much to hope for. But I truly believe that God will have his will done, even when we think its to late and things may seem to be set in stone. I will never believe that positive change can't take place next week, next month or during the next few months. I now know that the battle will have to be waged by me alone (basically) but there are some small and encouring signs that have already manifested themselves. The future is now, not at the end of this conference year as most members are content to wait for - after all, that is another 365 days away.

Glover Davis