Sunday was Baccalaureate Day at Highland Park. This service allows us to salute the academic accomplishments our members. It is always exciting and encouraging to see men and women who have actualized a long held desire and achieved a degree. This year’s Baccalaureate speaker was Melonie Wright, a 2016 graduate of Emory University School of Law.
Last Monday night at Highland Park we had a Town Hall meeting. Running in faith we are coming around the bend on a new church construction. We broke ground on May 31, 2014. Since that time we have continued in prayer and faith as the walls went up and the floors poured. Last December, everyone was inspired when the young people of Highland Park had an opportunity to write their names and favorite scriptures on the concrete of the floor of the sanctuary.
It is my delight and honor to share details of the latest book from the desk of my brother, Pastor Harold Carter. My Father’s Gospel: Reminisces of a Son is a tribute that reflects on the life of the late Dr. Harold A Carter, Sr., from his early ministerial development through to the shared pastoral ministry with his son. I had the privilege of reading this book as it was heading to the printer. It was the request of the author that I write the foreword. I was happy to do so. After reading the book, I realized that my brother's relationship with our dad was quite different from I had with him.
Last year in Vogue magazine articles appeared about a musical coming to Broadway that would revolutionize theatre. When my husband and I took our daughter to school in New York in August we tried to get tickets. When we realized no one had them we asked the hotel’s concierge. He told us he had one ticket that he was holding for a celebrity who paid $900. That’s when I knew something was afoot. From that moment I was on a quest. Mother's Day weekend I saw Hamilton and I can report what they said is true. After answering questions for so many, at weddings, in the market… and in the spirit of tonight's Hamiltony’s, I have listed some (not all) of my star points.
This year my daughter did not have a break from her studies and not wanting her to be alone for Easter weekend my son and I made the trip to visit her. The hidden agenda in my plan was to witness the Easter Parade. Growing up I always looked forward to seeing the ladies in their bonnets in Sunday Styles section of the Times. Over the years it has become more eclectic but it remained a hidden desire of mine.
The meteorologist said temps would be in the low 20's, but wind chill would make it feel like 13°. It did not matter last Friday night to the scores of young people who bundled up and walked from the sanctuary of Highland Park to the construction site of the new sanctuary. A good blessing was that members of the construction team stayed late... with their butane heaters. And so after a song and prayer, markers were passed out and the students began to write.
Years ago, in an issue of Just Between Us, I read about a young woman who was so moved after a missions trip to Uganda that she decided to return and make Uganda her home. Her name is Katie Davis, and her book Kisses from Katie-A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption became a New York Times bestseller. Katie made her first trip to Uganda with her mother. During the three-week trip, she was convinced in her spirit that Uganda felt like home. When she returned stateside, she immediately started looking for ways to return. Her parents agreed that she could return to Uganda for nine months to teach kindergarten, if she promised to attend college when she returned.
Last Friday, January 15 on what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King’s 87th birthday my family joined our neighbors and friends Rabbi Steve and Loren Weisman and their son David for Shabbat. Every year the Interfaith Clergy Council of Bowie, MD has a service on MLKing Day to mark the contributions of Dr. King. This year Rabbi Weisman invited my husband to share the Shabbat meal in his home and to speak at the Temple Solel for service on the legacy of Martin Luther King.
.....you missed it, check out these good reads.There has been a lot of buzz on social media about purity aimed at millennials. This is great, especially since it provides a counterpoint to the prevailing notion that has been around for generations that everybody is doing it. However, what to do if you are a mature Christian? Godsygirl takes on that topic and she is real, she is honest and she is a blessing.
Pastor Harold and Rev. Monique Carter, of New Shiloh Baptist Church, Baltimore, MD, recently returned from a grand preaching and missions journey in Itarsi, India. They traveled to Itarsi at the request of Dr. Matthew K. Thomas, President of the Central India Outreach for the Golden Jubilee Fellowship of Pentecostal Churches in India. The scope of the fellowship includes over 1200 churches throughout India. Pastors, leaders, scholars and program participants travel from all over the world for the conference, which also included a commencement for the seminary students. The Carters were prayed up and ready to meet the demanding preaching and teaching schedule.
