BLACK METHODISTS BEGIN LENTEN SEASON WITH WORSHIPFUL REFLECTION; JOINT ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE FEB. 9

Submitted by the Reverend Kevin Taylor

LOS ANGELES — (January 31, 2005) — On Wednesday, Feb. 9, Christians all over the world mark the beginning of the Lenten season with prayers, fasts and quiet introspection. For the leaders and parishioners of the Southland’s historically Black Methodist Churches, the evening will be filled with worship and reflection on the plight of the African-American community.

“Out of the ashes is the manifestation of the kingdom of God absent of denominational walls that have historically divided a broken community,” explained the Rev. Mark Whitlock, pastor of Christ Our Redeemer A.M.E. Church of Irvine. “This service represents a wise beginning to a living end — the beginning of a unified worshiping body and an end to territorial boundaries.”

Whitlock and members of the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches will gather for Ash Wednesday service in what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind event in the area.

The 7 p.m. special service will be held at Grant A.M.E. Church, 10435 S. Central Avenue in Los Angeles and features a mass Methodist choir.

“We need to transcend our institutional mindsets and do something for the kingdom of God,” Whitlock continued. “God has been calling his Church to come together to do kingdom work which means representing him in the community. And what better way can we do that than by coming together.”

Bishops John R. Bryant and Henry M. Williamson of the A.M.E. and C.M.E. churches, respectively, will lead the teaching and preaching for the evening. Likewise, clergy of the three denominations will be on hand to ceremonially place ashes on worshipers’ foreheads as a sign of humility before God and as a symbol of mourning and sorrow.

The tradition, which generally uses the ashes of the previous year’s Palm Sunday palms, is known as the “imposition of ashes” and is how the day earned its name.

It is apropos that the event coincides with the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season, a time of reflection, introspection and sacrifice, explained the Rev. Leslie R. White, host pastor of Watts’ largest congregation.

“As we journey through the Lenten season, we embark on the same 40-day period that Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness prior to beginning his pubic ministry,” White noted. “As we consider how we too might become living sacrifices to God, we must consider the needs of the community around us.”

Rallying to save the King/Drew hospital that serves the minority community, fighting to improve education and working to raise awareness and reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS are ways to do just that, White added, and is why they are major themes of the evening.
Like Ash Wednesday itself, the three denominations are deeply rooted in history as well — each with ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church, which officially became the United Methodist Church in 1968.

The A.M.E. Church, for example, was founded in Philadelphia in 1787 by the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen after he and other freed slaves were not permitted to worship freely. The A.M.E. Zion Church began under similar circumstances nine years later in nearby New York City under the leadership of James Varick.

The C.M.E. Church came on the scene soon after the Civil War as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America. In 1930 they dropped “in America,” and in 1954 they became the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

According to the 2001 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, the denominations have a combined membership of more than 4.5 million members in more than 12,000 congregations around the world.

For the Rev. Kwesi R. Kamau, pastor of Amos Memorial C.M.E. Church of Los Angeles, the event is an opportunity to emphasize the “very concrete and significant role” that the three denominations have played in the African-American community.

“The question has always been raised when something goes down in the community, ‘Where is the church?’” Kamau noted. “We don’t always come out with t-shirts with crosses, but in every significant cause the Church has been involved and in leadership roles…. We want to highlight the fact that God’s Church has been represented in meeting the needs of our community that night and in the months and years to come.”