Our Joint Worship with Mt. Zion

By Vanilla Murray (10 yr. Old) with Nancy Holland (10 + years) On January 20, 2013, Mt. Zion and Dumbarton United Methodist Churches gathered to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., and the inauguration of Barack Obama. We met in a nice old church (Mt. Zion.)  I felt safe when I first walked through those red doors. We sang ¨Lift Every Voice and Sing.¨  This song always makes me feel happy.

I learned something about the people at Mt. Zion. One man, Leonard, is a cook and he has been at Mt. Zion for fifty-some years. That is a long, long, long time. Leonard said that Martin Luther King´s dream of equality and freedom is still important today. He also said that our two churches joining together to worship is a time for people to network and communicate.

We took a picture of Brittany, Valeria, and Christian in the Mt. Zion social hall. Brittany said that the Mt. Zion pastor, Rev. Johnsie Cogman, is her godmother. Brittany likes Mt. Zion because it is ¨warm and nurturing, like a family.¨ 

Michael Cooper is an usher and he has been at Mt. Zion his whole life.  He is 17 years old.  He said today is important because ¨history is made twice.¨  Another usher, Marcus who is 15, said that no one thing about the day is important, ¨it´s the whole thing.¨

Also, a lot of farmers walked from Florida to the District and I thought that was a little crazy.  I wonder why they did it.

There was great food that Leonard and other people cooked.