Mercy Street Fellowship

There are no lengths to which God will not go to bring YOU home, if it means bending all of creation in your direction in order to lure you into the embrace of unending love. Through music, through art, through everyone you meet, your experience of creation is ALL for you, every last bit of it, for your growth, your development, for your ultimate and total good.

They use bad theology to justify doing things that put themselves and others at risk. The bible does happen to say the following: Matthew 5:45 That ye may be th...e children of your. Father which is in heaven: for he maketh. his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Luke 4:12 and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ 12But Jesus declared, It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ 13When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. Matthew 4:6-7 If You are the Son of God, he said, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You, and they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ 7Jesus replied, It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Also old testament: Deuteronomy 6:16 You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. Also just for funsies, if you have never read it, go read the book of Jonah - its actually a great story, pay attention to the other parts of the story rather than just the rather fantastical bit where Jonah gets swallowed by the whale. In fact there are well over 20 times the bible mentions that you shouldn't put God to the test...and I happen to believe in a risen Christ who works THROUGH people to make this world the Kingdom - which is all around us...and that means that all the scientists and helpers (thanks Mr. Fred Rogers) are his hands and feet...and our marvelous brains and creativity and intelligence are merely reflections and manifestations of the divine intelligence itself. So be smart, use science, and social distance! Additionally I would like to say - may this man rest in peace...I feel saddened when I see things like this, for him and his family, those who love him and all his parishioners, there is a fine line between cult-like behavior and true religion (nominative religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods; conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation; fear of the gods") I pray for all whom are also sick and in danger. He was taught this theology by someone else...and it is a deep undercurrent in much of American Christianity, and very troubling.

Message for Palm Sunday, 4/5/2020 Today I pray for everyone being affected by Covid-19, for all those who are sick, who are dying, who are missing their friends and family. I pray for all those who are ill or in need of health and medical care for other concerns as well, they also need our love and care. I want to remind everyone that the greatest act of love you can do is to lay down your life for your friends...this doesn't mean you have to die, but "lay down" your daily l...ife, your normal life, let it lie dormant for a while. Stay home and keep yourself and others safe. Please also do not think that you must fill this time with "projects' or busy-ness - it is OK to take some time to reflect, rest, or just to deal with all the complex emotions that come from what is going on in the world. For your own mental well-being as well as your physical health and safety. This is NOT the time to do that home improvement project, or clean the gutters on your roof, or take down that tree at the back of your property...please do not do things that might result in physical injury to yourself - don't do things that might result in ER visits or need for emergency care! I would also remind you that it is OK if your church does communion online, if you have your own bread or crackers or cookies, your own wine, juice, coffee, or water - all of these are fine. Christ is all-in-all - he is in every person, in every thing, in all of creation and he is in whatever it is you take into your body, and in fact, he is already in you to start with! There is no where you can go to escape from the Christ that lives in all of creation, so your offerings, however humble are communion. And also remember, that it is not the Priest who consecrates the offering - it is the Holy Spirit, so the fact that you are in your living room or on your porch, that is OK too. You are the Body of Christ, you are the Life Blood of Christ in the world, you are the Love of Christ made manifest in creation. Take this "40 days in the wilderness" as a time to realize, understand, and embody this idea that Christ is with you always. When you suffer, and when you are well, when you are with others and when you are only with yourself. Thank you all for engaging in this great act of self-sacrificial love by refraining from the social contact you crave, for clergy the praise and self-affirmation you receive by being the center of attention, and the one who is "allowed" to consecrate communion. This is a time for us all to come down, as equals and engage in this great act of self-sacrifice in order that all might have life, and have it abundantly. Humble ourselves to the Christ, that is in everyone and everything and let Him do the work of redeeming the world that only He can do.

Can I pray for you today? Please leave me a message.

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.... https://twistedsifter.com//doctors-and-nurses-after-gruel/

This is my message for today, Sunday March 22, 2020. Ephesians 5:8-14 Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light for... the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Works of darkness and works of light. These are strange times, I don’t know about all of you, but I spend a lot of time reading the news lately looking to see what the status of the coronavirus is in my area. It has frankly been scary for all of usand know that you are not alone in these fears. In my county we have been asked to shelter in place meaning we are to stay home, not go out, not go to work, not socialize in person, and also when we do go out to essential things like the grocery, the pharmacy we need to stay 6 ft away from other people. There are two ways to look at this, one, is that this is so oppressive, that we are being forced to stay in, that we are being controlled by the government, that we are being jailed.OR we can look at it another way.we are, for a time, and for the good of our fellow humanshumans that we do not know and may never meet, being asked stay in our homes. For some people doing things for the good of others just comes naturally, but for far too many of us, it is hard for us to consider other people and their needs above our own. A century of focusing on our own selfish wants, comforts and luxuries, coupled with a relative freedom from a serious outbreak of communicable disease (the last truly pandemic outbreak was the Spanish flu in 1918) has led to us being not very well practiced at the skills we need to cope with this situation. So we can take this as a learning experience learning what it really takes to make a good, just, healthy society, that is resilient in the face of challenges. Some painfully obvious things that are coming to the light about how our current society has been operating are the need for everyone to have some basic assurances in order to prevent outbreaks like Covid-19 from simply destroying our societyassurances such as access to timely medical care, sick leave from work so that we don’t spread disease around, access to basic necessities such as shelter, running water, healthy food. We have the means to provide these things for every American. We are an incredibly rich country, however we have allowed a small percentage of our population to engage in unfruitful worksand I am not talking about the things that we often like to focus on as sin, sex, drugs, drinking, other types of personal problems, these are really not the kinds of sin that keep us from manifesting God’s kingdom here on this earth, really, the things that prevent us from doing this are self-centeredness, greed and the hording of wealth. Lust for power and control over others. It is these types of societal sins that we are seeing manifest and brought to the light by this pandemic. It is our job now, to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to do his work to turn this darkness into light. By insisting that our vulnerable are cared for, and that we do not let the sins of the few become the sins of all of us.

Prayer for Sunday - March 22, 2020 Gracious God we thank you for this opportunity to come together in your name, help us to forget our worries and cares, so that we might hear your voice as you speak to us, through all of your creation. We thank you for this day that we have been given and understand that every day we are alive is a day we can change our hearts, open our minds, and use our hands to do your work in the world. We know that we often fall short we need your gr...Continue reading

This is my pastoral prayer from the recorded service on March 15, 2020 Eternal, ever living God, we are grateful for this new day, and for the opportunity to worship together in your Holy Presence. Help us to lay aside our worries and fears, so that we may be open to hear your voice in the present moment. We thank you for the gift of technology, which is allowing us to still be together as a congregation this morning, rather than alone and isolated in our homes. We know that ...Continue reading

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