A New Year Greeting from Russell & Elaine Morrow

 

Happy New Year,

Beloved Family, Friends, Church Family, Colleagues, and Coworkers, to All Who Read this Letter.

As we resume the rhythms of everyday life now that we have crossed the threshold to the new year of 2024, we leave behind the diversity of life experiences in 2023 that ranged from joy to sorrow, a baby’s first cry and a loved one’s last breath, and the tension between the yin and yang of human relationships that is manageable for some and intolerable for others.

Yet, the manifestation of God’s love is present all around us and has maintained a stronghold amid the chaos of “man’s inhumanity to man.” As difficult as it may be, there are always reasons to give God thanks and praise for who he is and what He has done and continues to do to reveal his justice, love, grace, mercy, healing, and restoration. For example, we see this in the 2023 iteration of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple Musical.”

For the followers of Christ - Protégés of Jesus, the true meaning of Advent and Christmas is our spiritual segue into a New Year. With renewed faith, hope, and love that Grace Divine empowers, we can trust our hope in Jesus Christ, be delivered from every weight that holds us back, and walk in victory through Jesus Christ, who conquered death.

Are you familiar with the song We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder? As with many spirituals, the origins of “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” are unknown. An undocumented account indicates that the spiritual dates are between the wide span of 1750 and 1875. Enslaved Africans found fertile connections between this narrative and their existential experience and spirituality[i]

As we resume the rhythms of everyday life, be reminded that New Year is a good starting place for the next round on Jacob’s Ladder.

In 2024, Elaine and I pray that you open your heart and mind to the presence of God and see his justice, love, grace, mercy, healing, and restoration in ways you have not seen or imagined and be empowered by divine grace. Have an Empowering 2024.

Grace & Peace,

Reverend Dr. Russell & 1st Lady Elaine Morrow


[i] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-we-are-climbing-jacobs-ladder

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