What Does THAT Mean?!?

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC

August 15, 2010

INTRODUCTION:

            Imagine with me:  You have a beloved son or daughter.  This child has been the light of your life from the moment of conception.  You’ve watched your baby grow through infancy, to latency, to adolescence and finally into adulthood.  Your baby did well at everything; straight A’s from pre-K all the way through high school, the star of athletic competitions and that child can sing like an angel.  Your kid goes to the best university available and graduates with high honors.  And as we would expect from your child, lands the best job available at a very high salary.  Your baby is charmed.  During the first year of career development your baby meets Mr. or Ms. Right.  You are thrilled.  Pictures arrive daily in your email.  This new person is gorgeous, talented, smart, well-educated, forward thinking, the perfect spouse for your beloved.  They come to visit and you even let them share a bedroom.  You’re in love as much as your kid is, and then on the last day this probable spouse of your child comes into your kitchen for a quiet chat while your child is getting ready to leave.  You chat freely, comfortably, and then suddenly you hear these words, “Mom, Dad, I love your child with all my heart and I want her/him all to myself.  Remember this day, because I’m going to make sure you never see your child again.”

Would you pray with me?  God, sometimes you present us with lessons very difficult for us to understand.  Guide us together now in our thinking, in our preaching and in our attempt to hear the true word you have for us this day.  AMEN.

Gospel:  I open with that story for two reasons, because it is based on the true story of an event that happened in my own family, and second because as I thought about this gospel lesson, it is the best way I could find to bring the impact of this gospel home to us.  Imagine the words of this beloved Son of God, Son of Humankind, for whom so many had given up all that they had; homes, family, careers. “I came to throw fire on the earth. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.  Jesus yells at his followers in the crowd, “YOU HYPOCRITES!”  What in the world is he talking about?  What does THIS mean? 

            What about this fire?  Luke Timothy Johnson suggests three possibilities.  First Jesus could be reminding the crowd of the scene we discussed not too long ago where the prophet Elijah is pitted in contest against the prophets of Baal.  You remember the prophets of Baal unsuccessfully tried to call down fire on their altar.  Elijah then called down fire from Yahweh and the entire area blew UP, showing the true power of Yahweh and proving that Yahweh was the most powerful of all Gods. 

            Another possibility is that Jesus is reminding the crowd of another time when God made God’s presence known through fire, on the day of Pentecost, when the spirit came down in fire and filled the room and the disciples began to speak in tongues.

            Johnson’s final suggestion is that the fire might represent the later coming of the Son of Humankind in judgment.  No matter which one we choose, it is clear that Jesus is imbedding a sense of urgency, he is showing “prophetic passion” as he speaks to the crowd.[1]

            Now, what about this business of dividing up families?  I can assure you the experience I described for you at the beginning of this sermon was life-changing and very traumatic for my own family.  And imagine Jesus, this so-called Prince of Peace telling his followers he was going to destroy their families?  What does THAT mean?  Here it is.

            Jesus is calling his followers to follow him fully.  He is saying to them, okay now you’ve learned to interpret the seasons, you’ve learned to interpret changes in the weather, you’ve learned so many things and even mastered them.  And then, in an unusual way, he asks this same question that we’ve heard many times before. “When will you truly follow me?”

            Even if it separates you from your friends; when will you follow me?  Even if it separates you from your co-workers, when will you really follow me?  And yes, sisters and brothers, even if it divides you from your families, WHEN will you FOLLOW ME?  Follow me for all you’re worth.  Follow me when it’s easy.  Follow me when it’s hard.  Follow me when it’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever done in your life.

            Now, buckle your seatbelts for today’s Gospel.  Jesus is saying to us right here and right now on this Anniversary Sunday, “Trinity Metropolitan Community Church of Gainesville – FOLLOW ME.  Follow me when it’s easy.  Follow me when it’s hard.  Follow me when it separates you from your friends.  Follow me when it separates you from your co-workers. Follow me, yes, even when it separates you from your family.  And remember that “prophetic urgency,” follow me now.  Be my instruments in this community to bring about the kin-dom of God in the here and how, RIGHT NOW.  Stand with the oppressed, stand with those experiencing discrimination, stand with your Muslim sisters and brothers when some so-called religious organization threatens to burn their holy literature. Stand,  and having done all to stand just stand.  Follow Jesus and follow Jesus now.  Stand up, stand up for Jesus and do it now!

Oh God, we want to follow Jesus and we want to do it now.  Grant us courage and grant us wisdom for the facing of this hour.  We have heard your voice and we will follow.  In the name of Jesus.  AMEN.

Possessed by Possessions

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC

August 1, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upG01-XWbY

            According to Andrew Greely in his 2004 Chicago Sun Times article, the most serious spiritual problem in America today is unbridled greed.  I agree with him.  Greed causes every one of the disgraceful corporate scandals we see in the news every week.  Greed is responsible in large degree for crooked politicians, crooked cops, crooked preachers, and nearly every form of crooked behavior.  Greed produces rashes of tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens of our country and takes food off the tables and out of the mouths of poor people.  Greed is responsible for crazy immigration laws that lead to the deaths of thousands of men and women each year as they struggle to cross deserts in search of a job that will pay just enough to keep their children and spouses alive.  Greed is responsible for obscene salaries for corporate CEO’s while the workers who really keep their companies struggle with pay that is no possible way a living wage.  Greed is killing us; physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Greed is what is running a country whose leaders were, according the late President Ronald Reagan, “the haves and the have mores.”  Greed is appropriately listed among the seven deadly sins of  Pride, Anger, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Lust and GREED.  We are a people, we are a church, we are a culture absolutely Possessed by Possessions, in every shape manner and form.  Let’s look for a few minutes at what scripture has to say about it.

            As an introduction to today’s Gospel, I need to make one statement. Let us not be too quick to dismiss this gospel because the term “rich” does not apply to us.  Sisters and brothers, because we woke up with a roof over our heads and clothes to put on our backs and more or less what we wanted to eat and drink for breakfast and because we were able to get ourselves to church this morning and we have ways to get ourselves home without walking, because of all these facts, you and I, ALL of us, are among the riches people in the whole world.  So, let us listen well to what the Gospel has for us.

            In his gospel, Luke uses this anonymous voice from the crowd to set up a lesson about what is lesser and what is greater.  The voice wants Jesus to settle a sort of legal dispute.  It is not interested in what Jesus has to say and has seems not to know the real importance of who Jesus is.  The questioner simply wants what he wants and he wants it right now. Sound familiar?  So he misses out on the amazing gift he might receive from mindfully being in the presence of Jesus and hearing what he had to say.  Focus is very important.  What Jesus, via Luke, has been teaching so far is the ability to face threats, even on one’s life, with a lack of fear.  So they, Jesus and Luke, seize this opportunity to teach the listeners and us that if threats against our lives should not produce fear, then fear should not lead us to surround ourselves with possessions that will not protect us anyway.  All these possessions really are of no long term value whatsoever. The lesson is clear, finally, that life cannot be secured by possessions.  It just can’t.

            Possessions cannot buy us happiness.  Possessions cannot buy us love.  Possessions cannot buy us long term attention.  Possessions cannot even buy us self-worth.  As a matter of fact, according to Michaela Bruzzese, in his Living the Word, “ the real treasure, the only one able to satisfy our profound hunger to love and be loved, is the unconditional and all-consuming love of God. It alone can quench our thirst; like a parent, God wraps us "with bands of love" and clothes us with new life. And unlike material wealth, this treasure does not trap us, but liberates us, giving us the strength and courage to be liberators in the world.  I love the way our MCC Sister, Rev. Lori McPherson writes about this.  She says, “Seeking out comfort in anything but God is futile whether that thing is a bottle or a bank account. Jesus’ warning here is not against wealth per se, but against the false security that wealth and possessions can breed. “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15b). We could replace money and possessions with anything we use to seek identity and comfort in rather than God and the same futility (would still be) present.

            Brothers and Sisters, where is your treasure this morning?  Is it in the bank?  Is it in your house?  Is it in lots of stuff?  Is it perhaps in your status?  Let us all hear these words of Gospel together

            Strive for God’s realm^*, and things will be given to you as well. 32 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Creator’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

            Possessed by Possessions?  No way.  Possessed by God….may it truly be so in our hearts, in this church, and in all we do together.

The Sin of Sodom

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC of Gainesville

July 25, 2010

            On an exciting spring morning, a family from Canada began the long drive to Walt Disney World, just outside Orlando, Florida;  a mom, a dad, and two children; the North American dream vacation.  Before the first hour had passed first one child and then the other began to insist, “Dad, I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”  “Hold it,” said Dad, “For just a little while longer.”  They stopped at a fuel station, used the bathroom, bought more drinks and hit the road again.  They stopped for lunch and dinner and more potty breaks and somewhere deep into the night they stopped at a motel and slept a few hours.  When they crossed the Florida state line and saw the beautiful blue sign complete with an orange with blossoms still attached reading, “Welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State,” they thought they had made it to Mecca; sunshine, warmth, sweet oranges and Mickey Mouse…what more could a young family hope for?”  They stopped for lunch in Jacksonville, and then saw those wonderful factory outlets in St. Augustine and had to buy some warm weather clothes.  The drove on down to Daytona and were tempted by the beaches, but decided to keep moving.  Just after I-95 intersects with I-4 for the final trek to Orlando and Mickey Mouse they stopped at a rest area one last time.  It was dark and somewhat foreboding, but not to worry; they had done this at least a dozen times by now and after all, this was Florida, the state that welcomes tourists, families and children longing for a glimpse of Mickey and Minnie. They went inside, did their business and loaded back into the car.  And at just that moment a truck pulled in behind them and blocked their way.  Four angry people; three men and one woman, all white, surrounded the car and began beating on it.  The largest man broke the front passenger side window, unlocked the door, pulled Mom out and began yanking off her clothes. The woman pointed a gun at Dad and told him to give her everything, “or else.”  The other two men began pulling the children out of the car and tearing off their clothes, too. Mom screamed, begging for the lives of her children, and as if she had committed some mortal sin, she was forced to watch the brutalization of her children.  Couldn’t she have gone first?  The angry mob, having taken everything the family had, left them lying around their car in pools of blood, tears and body fluids as they sped into the darkness of the night.

            That is a very difficult story for us to hear early on this morning; and I tell it because it is based on a true story and because it is so profoundly similar to what happened in the story told in Genesis 19.  And for just a few minutes I want us to think together about the sin of Sodom.

            I want to share with you some very useful resources on which I am relying in this sermon. First, The Queer Bible Commentary edited by Guest, Goss, West and Bohache, then Mark Jordan’s book, The Invention of Sodomy.

The Sin of the mob – Inhospitality

            We southerners expect hospitality. Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson teaches clergy working with her to practice, “Extravagant Hospitality.” Bishop Yvette Flunder preaches and teaches about “radical inclusion,” and expects those acts of inclusion to come with profound hospitality.  I know from years of study, teaching and preaching that hospitality was a valued practice in the Hebrew Bible, in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and in the life of the Lot family. So, angels presented themselves to Lot. They were visiting for just one night and at that time it was not possible to go on the internet, choose one’s favorite hotel and make a reservation for the non-smoking, king size room using one’s frequent guest number.  They needed, and according to the standards of the day, were entitled to, the hospitality of the community. Lot, as a decent and upstanding member of the community provided that. He opened up his home, provided them with beds in which to sleep, and a lovely meal provided by Mrs. Lot and the girls. And just when they thought all was well an angry mob appeared banging at the door demand that the angels be turned over to them.  This was not the welcome wagon, my sisters and brothers.  This was a mob, perhaps motivated by fear of their own destruction, demanding that they be allowed to rape the strangers inside.  Rape is not a sexual act. It is violence and aggression acted out and this story points that out clearly.  This angry mob wanted literally to penetrate these foreign men, to emasculate them, to womanize them, to take away whatever power they were perceived to have, to take from them, remember this phrase…all that they had and leave them lying around the courtyard. These men were spoiled rotten, fat, haughty, proud and accustomed to getting whatever they wanted including at the gross expense of others.  They were guilty of aggression, they were guilty of inhospitality, they were guilty of failing to show care and concern for the stranger as they knew they were called to do.  That is the sin of Sodom’s mob. These are the sins of Sodomy.

The Sin of Lot – His own “Family Values”

            Let us put ourselves in Lot’s position.  We have guests in our homes.  We’ve cleaned the house, changed all the linens, and our partners have prepared a delicious meal and each person is savoring every bite.  Suddenly there’s a loud sound and a group of people bursts through the door and wants to victimize our guests.  We defend them, we protect them in every way possible, we call the police, we set off the panic button, perhaps we reach for weapons, we do everything to protect our family, our guests and our honor.  And think of those beautiful children present at table and let us ask this question in our minds, “Could you offer your children to the angry mob?”  I want to scream at Lot, “How could you do that,” I want to get in his face and yell, “What are you thinking?” I want to find some way to get his attention and make him get over himself and take care of his family.  I understand that raping Lot’s guests was seen as the same as raping Lot.  I understand that brutalizing Lot’s guests was the same as brutalizing Lot.  I understand that penetrating Lot’s male guests was the same as penetrating Lot. And while I understand all of that I want so scream at the top of my lungs, “Lot, Brother Lot, these are your children, take care of them!”  I cannot imagine the horror of the daughters of Lot hearing their father offer them to be raped by an angry mob.  I cannot imagine the horror of a mother made powerless by a patriarchal culture listening to the father of her children offer those beloved girls to that angry mob.  And yet I know, that’s exactly what happened.  Lot bought the lies of patriarchy that men are better, that women are property, that his reputation is more important than the honor and dignity of his female family members,  that aggression is okay as long as it protects one’s masculinity.  And that my sisters and brother is the sin of Lot; the sin of betrayal of family, the sin of misogyny, the sin of power at the expense of ones beloved.

The sin of Mrs. Lot (Edith)

            In my own tradition Mrs. Lot never receives a name.  This sort of treatment of women makes me very sad, so I’m going to adopt one of the names our Jewish sisters and brothers give her.  I’m going to call her Edith.  And I want to confess to you that I tread very carefully here knowing that I live in a male body, raised in a system of privilege the effects of which I am still learning to understand.  And I stand here as one committed to equality and justice for all people, including biblical justice.

            We’ve been hard on Edith.  We’ve used her as an example of what happens when a person disobeys God.  We’ve used her as an example of what happens to people who keep looking back and fail to move on.  And of course, like the writers of the Hebrew Bible we’ve relished in Edith’s gender; that she is female, that she is weaker, that she is somehow less than. And I want you to hear me clearly that I do not embrace that interpretation as either scripture or gospel in my own experience of God.

            I hope I would be like Edith, don’t you?  I hope I would be able to understand and deeply feel the impact of what had happened to my family, my friends and my neighbors. I honestly wonder if I could continue to follow Lot anywhere after the behavior Edith had witnessed from him.  I cannot imagine what it would feel like to know that beloved members of my family were caught up in the furious destruction of Sodom. I just can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be Edith in that moment. I think in many ways Edith and that mom at the rest area in Florida must have had a lot in common. Both of them must have been horrified as they watched all that they loved most brutalized, destroyed with their very lives passing before these mothers’ eyes.  And I want to confess to you that I think I would have looked back, too. 

            And there’s just one more important lesson we can learn from Edith, from Mrs. Lot. I’m sure that every time Edith hears someone in our churches use this passage of scripture to victimize yet another marginalized oppressed victim of spiritual violence she wants to scream, “NO, Stop that!”  And I hear her clearly as she says to us, these are the sins of Sodom; aggression, inhospitality, failing to show concern for the stranger, misogyny, betrayal of family values, betrayal of one’s beloved, unbridled power at the expense of the other.  Let us hear the voice of Edith, let us hear the voice of God.

July 25  Ordinary Time 17C  “The Sin of Sodom”

Psalm 85

¹Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

²You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah

³You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.

⁴Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.

⁵Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

⁶Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

⁷Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

⁸Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

⁹Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

¹¹Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.

¹²The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.

¹³Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

Genesis 19: 1 - 24

The Depravity of Sodom

19The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. ²He said, ‘Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.’ They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the square.’ ³But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; ⁵and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.’ ⁶Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, ⁷and said, ‘I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.’ ⁹But they replied, ‘Stand back!’ And they said, ‘This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. ¹⁰But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

12 Then the men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.’ ¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.’ ¹⁶But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. ¹⁷When they had brought them outside, they^*said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.’ ¹⁸And Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords; ¹⁹your servant has found favour with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. ²⁰Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!’ ²¹He said to him, ‘Very well, I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.’ Therefore the city was called Zoar.^*23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; ²⁵and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

A Holy Ghost Revival in God’s Corral

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC of Gainesville

July 11, 2010

Introduction:

            YEEEE HAWWW.  I’m just so proud to be back here with you in this place on a Sunday morning. You know I really wanted to be here last week.  Let me just say that trying to get through the Mexico City Airport was like trying to walk peacefully through the biggest cattle stampede the world has even known.  Rather than lines they have corrals.When we arrived back in Gainesville very late Sunday night I wanted to jump off that water buffalo, better known as an airplane, and kiss the Gainesville soil.  The only thing that stopped me was fear of getting a mouth full of asphalt on the tarmac at the airport.

            Would you pray with me:  “God we come now to hear your voice. So I pray now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing to you, our God and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Sermon:

            When I began working on this sermon, I called it “Inheritance of Saints in the Kin-dom of God.”  When we settled on the theme for today’s Cowboy Sunday, I kicked it up a notch and called it “A Holy Ghost Revival in God’s Corral.  My brothers and sisters, I want you to hear this.  There is a revival going on in our church and in our community. God is at work in wonderful and amazing ways and I stand here this morning to tell you we are on the verge of a Holy Ghost Revival in God’s Corral.  Can I get a witness?  And there is a sub-message that comes along with that message and here it is:  When revival comes, freedom is not far off.  You remember these words from scripture:

1. Romans 8: 21 says that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought in to the glorious freedom of the children of God. And
2. Luke 4: 18 and 19 reminds us that "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  And
3.  In John 8: 31 Jesus tells us, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Are you with me, Saints?  Here’s the bottom line – Revival brings about the truth of God and the truth is always setting us free!  What good news that is.  We can proclaim freedom to the captive, freedom to the political prisoner, freedom to the oppressed, freedom to those who experience discrimination and yes, freedom to all of our sisters and brothers who have suffered acts of spiritual violence at the hands of churches that said we weren’t good enough, that God could not love us, that we could not be called by God, that we could not serve God.  The truth is, sisters and brothers, all of that rhetoric is filled with hateful lies of the devil.  Because when the spirit of truth comes and when revival comes the truth sets us free to we can be participants in and recipients of the benefits of this Holy Ghost Revival that is and is going to take place in God’s Corral.  Amen!  Oh that makes me excited and I hope you are catching the excitement, too. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us we area chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of God who called you out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.

            I love this word from Out in Scripture, a resource provided by the Human Rights Campaign. “In reading Colossians 1:1-14, and considering the similarities between that small, strange (dare we say "queer"?) collection of believers in a frequently hostile society and our own strange collection of faith-filled people in our community. What power is available to us if we can receive the blessings this writer wants to pass on to that struggling first-century Christian community! We have a share in the inheritance of the saints in light! We have been rescued from the power of the shadows and transferred into the reign of God! This is all for us, not just for someone else.

            Finally, we know that with the privilege of fully experiencing God’s amazing transformation of our lives, comes a constant responsibility.  This responsibility can be very exciting.  As Rich McCarthy says, “We get to be the message-bearers of light to others! We invite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and all those who have heretofore been excluded, into a legacy that is not closed off, but is open for all."  We invite all of them and all of us into this Holy Ghost Revival in God’s Corral. 

            I hope you’re excited about this word from God.  Let’s make this property, this church and all of our work together an outpost of God’s Corral.  Let’s live in the truth and in the light of God’s transformative work in our lives.  Let’s participate in this Holy Ghost Revival.  Let’s welcome everyone.  And let’s shout out together…FREEDOM, in the name of Jesus.

            Will you pray with me?

            God we thank you for the Bible that inspires us.  We thank you for the gift of your Spirit forever and always present in our lives.  We want to be a part of the revival that is both occurring and coming in our world.  We want to be messengers of your incredible promise of freedom as we live into your truth each and every day.  Guide us along the way, empower us with your Spirit and help us to hear your voice every step of the way.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  AMEN.

Dear Trinity Friends:  This is the sermon I had prepared and would have preached if we had made it back from Mexico on time. 

Good for One; Good for Us All

Rev. Jim Merritt

July 4, 2010

Trinity MCC, Gainesville

Introduction:

            I woke up in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a little before 5AM Central, with you and this sermon on my mind.  Along with it I had a song in my heart that reminded me as soon as I opened my eyes, “Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he’s just the same as his lovely name.  And that’s the reason why I love him so.  Jesus is the sweetest name I know.”  I stand before you this morning having returned from another of  “Rev. Jim’s Adventures” to tell you that those words are true.  No matter where life has taken me, including some wonderful places, nothing has ever stirred my heart the way Jesus does.  Nothing is as beautiful, nothing is as exciting, nothing is a peaceful, nothing brings tears to my eyes faster than Jesus. And so I feel called to testify again this morning that the amazing, overwhelming, extravagant, radical love of Jesus has revolutionized my life, my work and my very existence. Falling in love with Jesus as a little boy in the Baptist Sunday School is the best thing I ever did.  And the very good news is that the love of Jesus reaches way beyond me this morning.  It includes you and you and you and you and the “them’s” and the “others” and all of us.  Because when God does something good for one of us, God does something good for all of us.  The love of God is good for us all.  Would you pray with me?

            Let’s think together about some attributes we can develop that are both good for our own lives and good for us all.

            Gentleness:     Paul writes to the Galatians about a spirit of gentleness.  Let me remind all of us that he is writing about a situation where a member or members of the group have acted out in some way that caused disunity in the community.  Paul tells the leaders, “restore them with a spirit if gentleness.”  I want to share with you, that is not the way I have experienced it in church.  Usually there is no restoration at all.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a well-meaning church person shout out with the threat, “I’m taking it to the Pastor,” or “I’m taking it to the church.  You know I have an inquiring mind and I do like to know AND I do not like to be used as a weapon in peoples’ personal struggles.  I want my ministry to be known as a peacemaking ministry.  I want this place to be known as a place of peace.  God is calling us this morning to establish ourselves as a community that treats one another with gentleness, kindness and appreciation.  Paul says, handle your problems with Gentleness and therefore who the world that Christ lives in you.  My sisters and brothers, that is good for us as individuals and it is also good for us all.

            Paul also tells us to bear one another’s burdens. You’ve heard many phrases around this.  “A burden shared is half a burden,” is one of the ones I like so much.  And there are examples of this all around here.  I love it when I get a voice mail or an email saying something like, “I went to see ___today and this is what’s happening.”  “I went to visit ___today and he or she needs this or that.  And I love it even more when I discover that someone has been quietly looking after another whose need is greater than their own.  It happens a lot and still it is a characteristic we need to encourage.  Bear one another’s burdens.  Never let anyone suffer alone.  Never let anyone cry alone.  Let us always be that Spirit presence for each other when times are difficult.  It’s good for us.  It’s like paying it forward.  It’s good karma.  It’s our calling to bear one another’s burdens. Why?  Because it’s good for us as individuals and it’s good for all of us.

            Finally, Paul tells the Galatians to work together for the good of all.  For the good of all.  Say it with me “FOR THE GOOD OF ALL.”  That means we work for the good of all in Gainesville and all around the world.  That means we work for the good of people from all socioeconomic levels.  It means we work for the good of all regardless of the color of their skin.  It means we work together for the good of all regardless of what faith they practice.  Why?  Because it’s good for all of us!  I always remember these words on Independence Day in the United States of America.

            "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

            Sisters and brothers, Trinity MCC in Gainesville, let us lift our lamps, too.  Let us lift of the lamp of salvation, the lamp of gentleness, the lamp of burdens shared, the lamp of Good for ALL people, knowing that if we sow the spirit we will reap from the Spirit, eternal life. 

            “God we thank you for these words written many years ago that continue by your Spirit to guide us and inspire us for the good of all.  Bless us as we lift the lamp of salvation that not only we, but all of us might inherit from your Spirit the gift of eternal life in the presence of God.  In the many names of Jesus we pray. AMEN.”

Old Testament Reading    Psalm 30             

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.  O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.  Sing praises to the Lord, O you faithful ones, and give thanks to God’s holy name.  For God’s anger is but for a moment; God’s favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” By your favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!” You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

New Testament Reading                          Galatians 6: 1-18

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. Those who are taught the word must share in all good thingswith their teacher. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.So let us not grow wearyin doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

Heirs of a Promise

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC of Gainesville

June 20, 2010 – Fathers Day

Introduction:

            I want to say, just one more time, how blown away I was by the events of last weekend.  You all are absolutely amazing and I’ll never be able to express the deep gratitude we feel in our hearts having been duly installed again, this time as Senior Pastor of Trinity MCC.  Exciting times are ahead of us and I’m looking forward to the journey together. And speaking of exciting times, I promised you we would have a contest for naming “the chicken.”  Here’s the way it works; I’ll have this bag with me in the back after the service.  If you have a name suggestion for the chicken, write it down on the paper inside your bulletin, and place the name in the bag.  The name with the most votes wins.  I’ll announce the results in e-talk this week.

            Now one word about next week; Al and I will be leaving for MCC’s General Conference on Friday.  Rev. Grant Ford will be your guest preacher next Sunday, which is the only one I’ll miss.  Please be here and bring someone with you to hear him.  While I am away, Deacon Linda Powell will coordinate Pastoral Care.  For any administrative needs I will be available by email and I will check the church voice mail once each morning and once each evening.  You know one of the most important characteristics of church for me is that it be able to continue with or without a Pastor.  This is a time for us to try that on for a few days.  I know you’ll be just fine.  Please pray for MCC, pray for the conference, and by all means, pray for me.  I’m the Director of Pastoral Care for the whole event and I might just have my hands full.  Al and I will miss you while we’re away and in the words of ET, “We’ll be right back.”

Body

            I like it very much when I can take the titles of my sermons directly from one of the readings for the day.   This is one of those weeks.  Look in your bulletin at the last sentence of the reading from Galatians and consider this paraphrase, “When we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to God’s promise.”  Well, brothers and sisters, do I have some good news for you this morning; we Do belong to Christ, we Do belong to God, and we Are heirs to all of God’s great promises. Amen?  Amen.

            Well, I am a firm believe that we are called to do some things to show that we belong to God and that we really are the children of God and therefore heirs to God’s promises.  Think about Elijah in the Old Testament reading for today.  You remember the story before this reading begins.  There’s a little contest set up between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, the prophet of Jehovah.  They pile up a huge altar and the prophets of Baal begin to pray for the fire to come down.  They pray and chant and dance and sing and do all kinds of interesting rituals and despite all of it there is no fire.  They give up and Elijah begins to taunt them. He calls them all kinds of insulting names, mocks and chides them.  As a final act of insult he has them bring buckets of water and pour all over the altar. Then Elijah prays and in one split second KABOOM the whole thing blows up in fire and Elijah, having shown the power of the one true God, kills all the prophets of Baal.  And you think you need to read fiction to get stories like this.

            Well, Jezabel, and don’t miss her in the Bible Study series, “The Bad Girls of the Bible,” is married to the king and she is furious and to make a long story short, determines that she will have Elijah killed in less than 24 hours.

            I use all of that to say this: Many times when we respond to God’s call risks are required. We are asked to do things that are difficult or uncomfortable.  Sometimes powerful people feel threatened by what we do.  And my sisters and brothers, Elijah, and Harvey Milk, and Troy Perry, and Mel White, and Nancy Wilson, and a whole host of others stand before us to show that following God’s calling on our lives is ALWAYS worth it.  Why, because in so doing we literally become heirs to God’s promise. 

            Where are we headed?  I want to share ___ dreams of mine with you.

            Trinity MCC is a place where Children are welcomed and valued: It’s no secret, and I hope you can see it here, how much I love children.  You remember Jesus showed a profound love for children, too.  And I’m happy about our children’s sermon that we do here each week. And there is so much more that we will do with children.  We are actively meeting with a group of volunteers right now to develop a strong children’s ministry.  You may wonder why I keep adding to those pictures out there.  Here’s why.  Because when families come in that door I want this message to be shouted out to them, “Children are welcome here.”  We need to do Children’s religious education. We need to develop all kinds of fun activities to do with our children. We need to get real in our advocacy on behalf of children.  We need to make children a priority around here.  We need to sing Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so AND because those people at Trinity MCC in Gainesville SHOWED me so all the years I was growing up there.  Train up a child in the way she or he should go and he or she will not depart from it.  We all know about the detours we take growing up and we all know the experience of coming back to it.  Children are welcomed and valued at Trinity MCC and we are develop meaningful ministry to them.

            Diversity is a priorityI’m so thankful that when I look out on you I see a variety of faces.  People of color, white people, women and men, from a variety of economic and social situations all come together to make up our church.  And we have such a long way to go.  We must get this message out to all God’s people right here in the Gainesville area.  We will work intentionally and mindfully for more diversity.  We welcome people of color, we welcome people from all around the globe, we welcome trans people.  We welcome young people, even if that means perking up some of our worship A LOT.  We welcome poor people.  We welcome all kinds of people. Here’s the working part of it; and we don’t just wait for them to show up.  We go out to the places where they are and invite them, pick them up, take them to lunch and take them back home.  We welcome them with our love and with our service and yes, with our extravagant hospitality.  Diversity is welcomed and deeply desired here and we are working to make it visible.

            Christian Education is important here.  Trinity is a church that studies the Bible in many, many ways.  In just a couple of weeks our Bad Girls of the Bible series begins.  After that others will follow on a regular basis.  We offer these studies here and in other places; on the university campus, in Ocala and Lake City and Trenton and Cheifland  and others areas where we have members and friends.  That means your Pastor needs help.  He cannot teach in several cities during a week alone.  And let me assure you, he is deeply aware that many of you have the ability to teach these courses.  We learn to hear the voice of God by becoming familiar with the ways of God in the Old and New Testament.  We learn about God from Biblical scholars and from those who have been walking from God for a very long time.  We hide the word of God in our hearts so we can follow God’s ways in all of our ways.

            Trinity is a place where people come to church; on a regular basis.  People come here because God is here. We come because our family is here.  We come to learn about God and to make sure there’s always a place for others to come.  We come faithfully and we support our church in all ways, including with our regular participation. We make regular attendance a priority in our lives.  Trinity is a church where its members and friends show up, stand up and build up the kin-dom of God in Gainesville.

            Finally, for today, Trinity MCC is a place of stability and peace.  That means our financial house is in order.  Our bills are paid on time, and we live in the kind of abundance that means we can carefully fund the ministries to which we are called.  We care for our buildings and our property in ways that are responsible.  We continue to show our concern for the environment by recycling and using products that are less harmful to our world.  And most importantly, we really do love each other.  We walk in loving ways, practicing peace in every step.  That includes in our ministry and in our business. We nurture the relationships we have with each other as an extremely high priority.  We love as Jesus loved.

            That’s just a start.  There is so much more before us as we set sail on this longer term journey together.  One of the most meaningful things I heard last weekend was this statement from Nancy Wilson, “I’ve never met a person that Jim Merritt couldn’t love.”  I want people to say that about Trinity MCC. “I’ve never met a person that Trinity MCC could not love.”  That is the reputation we are seeking and that is the reputation we will earn as we practice our faith and take our rightful position in this community and around the universe as heirs to God’s promise.

            Are you ready?  I am!  God bless you this morning.  AMEN.

Old Ways

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC Gainesville

June 6, 2010

Introduction:

This biographical information about the writer Paul has been of significant interest to biblical scholars for a very long time.  It is the most detail we are given any place in the Bible about the background and history of the Apostle Paul.   He was a mysterious man, you know.  We still wonder about that “thorn in his flesh” and just exactly what it might have been.  For us today, perhaps the most important aspect of the Apostle Paul is that he made a complete, drastic, impressive “turn around” in his life.  He went from assassinating the followers of Christ to one of the most prolific preachers and teachers of the message of Christ, in a flash; literally.  Paul turned his old ways into new ways, and I want to suggest to us that we can follow Paul’s example in our own lives and turn our old ways into new ways, too.

Reading:

            Many of us wonder why Paul included such an extensive autobiography at the beginning of this Epistle or letter to the Galatians.  There are several possible answers to that question.  Frank J. Matera tells us that one of those is that Paul is defending a charge against him that he gets his version of the gospel from Jerusalem.  In other words that he gets it from other people’s stories and experiences.  Another possibility is that Paul is responding to a charge that he presents a “watered down” gospel in an attempt to make it and himself more pleasing to the people who hear his preaching.  However, more recent scholarship has shown the weakness of this approach.  G. Lyons, in his Pauline Autobiography, suggests that Paul uses his own autobiography to demonstrate the consistency between his own behavior and what he preaches, and to highlight the differences between his own daily practice and that of his rivals.   When we study Paul’s letter with that information in mind, it is easier for us to recognize an organizational structure.  Our reading is only part of this section, and still I would like to share with you the structural support system for the entire section.  Here it is:

            Chapter 1: 11 – 12      The theme is announced – The gospel is not of human origin

13 – 17      First Proof: Paul received his gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

18 – 20      Second Proof – The Jerusalem Church did not commission Paul.

21 – 24      Third Proof – Those in Judea glorified God through Paul.

           Chapter 2    1 – 10       Fourth Proof: Paul defended the truth of the gospel in Jerusalem

                              11 – 14      Fifth Proof: Paul defended the truth of the gospel at Antioch

                              15 – 21      Paul’s gospel: We are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ.  

            Having heard all of that, let us shift gears for just a few minutes and about what this letter to the Galatian church has to say to us today; and here it is.  This reading and all the lectionary readings for today emphasize the importance of direct experience of the saving and restorative power of God in one's journey of faith. For Paul this happened through his direct experience of Jesus on the Damascus Road (Acts 9), which he alludes to in Galatians: "I did not receive it [the Gospel] from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (1:12). And this morning the Spirit is saying to us that we can receive that same gospel through that same Jesus who brought it to Paul.  Not from some authority on high.  Not from a church or denominational hierarchy, but direct from the one who is the revelation, direct from Jesus, the Son of God.

I’m reminded of the time when I was Associate Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Port Allen Louisiana.  We made an arrangement with two or three other churches to do backyard bible clubs in the Desire housing project in New Orleans.  I don’t know what you know about the Desire neighborhood, but it was rough then and I’m sure it still is.  There was drug paraphernalia all over the streets and sidewalks and even in the grass.  Somebody slashed the tire in our van the first day we were there.  The New Orleans Police Department tried really hard to convince us to leave.  However, the other leaders and I were convinced that we were in the right place.  Many amazing things happened during that week.  And I want to share with you one of them that represents leaving Old Ways behind and turning to New Ways.  On the last day we were there we had our final “Club” meeting.  Then our young people paired off with local kids to pray.  I have pictures of a field of grass covered with kids we brought with us joined with kids we met there, praying.  Every time I look at it, it brings tears to my life.  Here’s why; part of it was for the kids in Desire that experienced a new way of living based on love and concern rather than on fear.  They met a group of people who didn’t want anything from them and just wanted to be a blessing to them.  But, the most important change that happened that week was in the lives of OUR kids.  They saw the way people right in there home state lived.  They saw the way children much younger than themselves struggled.  And when they compared the lives of those kids to their own lives in the light of the gospel we’d been teaching that week, they found a new perspective.  That perspective challenged their old ways and cause them to consider new ways.  For years after that many of them would call or write to me to discuss that week and the way it changed their lives.  They told me how it led them to give up old ways of thinking for new ways.  They told me how they had given up old behaviors for new and improved ones. They told me that they gave up old prejudices and made new places in their hearts and minds for people whose color was different from theirs, for people whose economic level was much different from theirs, for people who lived in places they didn’t even want to enter.  They gave up their old ways for new ways in the light of the revelation of a God that loved those little poor children the same way that God loved them.  And that, my sisters and brothers is the message of God for us together this morning.  It is time for many of us to give up some of our old ways and trade them in for new ways.  It’s time for some of us to move off the one way street that’s headed in our direction and make some room.  It’s time for us to give up some of what we want to make room for some of what the world needs, for some of what our families need, for some of what our church needs.  It’s time to trade in some of our old ways for new ways that line up with the revelation of this Jesus that we’re always talking about.  Maybe it’s time for us to talk less about him and start living with and for him in new ways.

            I’m convinced, my brothers and sisters, that we are on the brink of an important time in the life of this church and in our own personal lives with Jesus.  God is calling us to give up some of our old ways and to build upon some of the others.  God wants to take old ways and turn them into new ways in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives and in our church.  The Apostle Paul was at least as far out on a limb as any of us has ever been and he gave up some serious old ways for some amazingly wonderful new ways. 

            And let me assure you those kids in the Desire project in New Orleans, all of whom are adults by now, had a long way to go to learn some new ways; and they did it.  And those solidly middle class that we took down there had their lives changed in ways that caused them to really consider their old ways in light of the Gospel. 

            Old ways; New ways, lives lived according to a revelation from God to us.  God bless you today.  AMEN.

Psalm 146

¹Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

²I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

⁴When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

⁵Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,

⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

⁸the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

⁹The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!

Galatians 1:11-24

¹¹For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; ¹²for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. ¹⁸Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; ¹⁹but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. ²⁰In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, ²²and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; ²³they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

Coming Soon, Morning or Night or Noon”

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC Gainesville

May 16, 2010

Introduction:

            Begin immediately with “Jesus Is Coming Soon” 1:53

Hallelujah, Glory to God!  Isn’t that wonderful news?  Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon, heavenward bound.  You just heard about 30 seconds worth of why I’ve loved Vestal Goodman and her music since I was a little boy about 5 years old.  We were in Winter Haven, Florida at the Citrus Dome when I first looked up, heard that voice and saw that amazing hair and knew for a fact that this woman and I would travel a long road together.  And so my sisters and brothers, Jesus IS coming soon. It’s another one of those “Both/And’s” that we’ve heard about here.  It is both true that Jesus has come to us over and over again and that Jesus is coming again, morning or night or noon, and that all of us are heavenward bound.  That stirs the old Bapticostal in me in ways that not much else will.  And guess where all this good and exciting news comes from this morning; it comes from the book of Revelation.  Not woo woo, not scary, no charts or maps or lists needed.  Jesus is coming soon.  Let’s look at the reading.

Reading:

            We start this reading again in that pattern that is now becoming familiar to us, where John, not the apostle but more than likely another John, refers back to the Hebrew Bible.  Isaiah 40: 10 says, “See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him, “ and our Revelation reading says, “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.”  This is a moment of fulfillment for John.  A moment when the prophesy of the Hebrew Bible is about to be fulfilled.  And notice in the next verse, language that has previously been reserved for God is now assigned to Jesus, “the Alpha and the Omega” the beginning and the end.  This is the first time we’ve seen a writer refer to Jesus in that manner.  And in many ways, like we have attempted to do during these sermons from Revelation, John attempts to alleviate the fear of anticipation.  You see, no one at this time and place in history believed it would be more than 2,000 years before the return of Christ.  They honestly believed he would be back tomorrow, maybe next week, perhaps a month or two from that very moment, but certainly not thousands of years later.  And, as is almost always the case, this fear of the unknown, this sense of an impending event that carries with is some at least underlying anxiety.  And John tells them and I might add that he is telling us, simply, Be ready.”  Keep your clothes washed, keep your house clean and be ready.  Now let’s be clear that John is not just writing about physical garments and physical homes.  He includes those while he is referring to much more important aspects of cleanliness and readiness.  He means we need to keep our minds and our bodies and our spirits ready.  He means we are to do our best to live in that Garment of Salvation, in that Garment of Love that we’ve been learning about during this study.  He means we need to keep our spiritual houses in order and to therefore be ready for the return of Christ to our physical and spiritual world.  This is like a new statement in the Beatitudes; you remember that whole list of attributes that begins with the phrase, “Blessed are…”  Now we are blessed as we put on the garment of Christ.  We are blessed as we love one another.  We are blessed as we love the stranger.  We are blessed as we treat one another with kindness, respect and compassion.  We are blessed as we learn to walk in the ways of Christ, and do not miss this important point; we are blessed both individually as we take on this manner of living and we are blessed as a church as we take them on together.  These are the ways we become that Bride of Christ mentioned in verse 17.  And hear what the Spirit and the Bride are saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”  Wilfrid J. Harrington says, “It is the marana tha, Come, Lord Jesus, come!”  And the church and the bride are crying out to all people saying, Come, Let the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!  Let all who hear say, Come!  Let all who are thirsty say, Come!  Let all who are hungry say, Come!  Let all God’s people say, Come, Lord Jesus Come.  Maranatha – Come, Lord Jesus, Come and let anyone who wishes take this water of life as a gift.  And what a wonderful gift it is.

Conclusion: 

            Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon and you and I, all of us are heavenward bound.  Hear the final words of the Book of Revelation in the words of Jesus, “Surely I am coming soon.”  Sisters; Brothers, Jesus has come and Jesus is coming, to our lives, to our hearts, to our minds, to our homes, to our workplaces, to our city, to our world and to our church.  Let the Bride and the Spirit say Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus, Come! 

            Coming soon…morning or night or noon…heavenward bound.  May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.  Amen and amen.

Revelation 22: 12—14, 16—21     

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

No More Night

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC Gainesville

May 9, 2010

Introduction:

            Last Sunday we took our first adventure into the book of Revelation.  We were reminded that God is building a new heaven and a new earth and a new city for all God’s people clothed in the garment of salvation; the garment of love.  I particularly loved two comments I received.  The first was, “You took the woo woo out of it,”  and the second was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “When you started saying I was included I really got it this time and I was blown away.”  That tells me we’re on the track, so I’ve been looking forward to this second sermon from Revelation all week.  Let’s see what God has for us this morning as we continue our study. Once again, I am relying heavily on the work of Wilfrid J. Harrington in his Sacra Pagina volume on Revelation.

The Reading

            Chapter 22 is the last chapter of the book of Revelation.  It gives us a wonderful and glorious image of this new Jerusalem, this new city located high on the mountain.  In order to get a clear view, it is important for us to remember what the Hebrew Bible book of Ezekiel says in chapter 40, verse two.  Some believe that the apostle was taken up onto a mountain from which he could see the city.  When we consider the Ezekiel reading along with this one from Revelation, it becomes clear that the writer is referring to “the mountain of God” and that the city is actually built on that mountain.  So, the apostle is being escorted through the city by the angel. He is not viewing it from above.  And in the previous section one of the angels has shown John Babylon, known as “the great harlot.”  Now John is being shown this new Jerusalem, the city of God which represents the entire new Kin-dom of God in contrast. Once again we see John referencing Ezekiel in that his model of Jerusalem is the model described by Ezekiel in prophesy in chapters 40 and 48 of that book.  Once again I want to highlight for us how wonderful it is to see the prophesy of the Hebrew Bible fulfilled in the actions of the New Testament.  It is no accident that these themes are consistent from Testament to Testament.

            Now we get to the part with all these measurements.  Why is that important?  It is important because the writer is doing his best to help us conceptualize just how grand this city is.  He’s trying to help us visualize it in human terms.  Note that in Ezekiel the 12 gates are used as exits for the 12 tribes of Israel and now in this new Jerusalem the gates have been transformed into entrances for all the people of God to enter the new city.  These gates are welcoming us in, and the writer is trying to help us comprehend just how wonderful this city created by God for the people of God is.  I love what Harrington writes about this when he says, “Built of transparent glass with jewels as its foundation stones and pearls for its gates, this city is, indeed, a heavenly city.”  Beautiful imagery.

               Now here comes the really good part.  There is no temple in this city.  You might ask, “why is that good?”  It’s good because no temple is needed.  The presence of the holy one of God permeates the whole city.  God is so fully present that there is no  longer a need to try to contain God’s presence in a temple or in a sanctuary.  God is fully present.  More good news, the gates of this city will never be closed by day, “And there will be NO MORE NIGHT. No more night. No more pain. No more tears. Never crying again. And praises to the great "I AM." We will live in the light of the risen Lamb. 

               See over there, there's a mansion, that's prepared just for me, where I will live with my savior eternally. And there will be No more night. No more pain. No more tears. Never crying

again. And praises to the great "I AM." We will live in the light of the risen Lamb. All praises to the great "I AM." We are going live in the light of the risen Lamb.”  Can you just imagine, a city where the gates are always open to all of God’s creation with no exception?  And there is no more night because the holy ones of God are fully present there. 

               I know that many of our lives have been enlightened by the presence of mothers.  And let me be clear here that I know many of have also had very difficult experiences of mothers and parents.  I always have that in mind on days like today.  For me, though, my own mother and many women who have helped mother me have been the light of the holy one in my life.  I remember, as some of you have heard, when as a child I would have night terrors, afraid that something or somebody out there was going to get me.  I would cry out in the night and my mother would come and escort me to the kitchen and she would pray for God to protect me and let me sleep.  Some nights we had to do it several times and somewhere in the night I would fall asleep and the next thing I knew morning would arrive and everything would be ok.  That for me represents the light of God.

               I remember women like Delores Bradley who attempted in many wonderful ways to mother me when I was in seminary in New Orleans.  She was one of God’s lights for me.  I remember Exine Grantham to whose house I had an open invitation to Sunday dinner while I was a Pastor in Port Allen, Louisiana.  That home to which I could go was one of God’s lights for me even in the weeks while I was preparing to leave the Baptist church and come out fully.

               I always remember Vestal Goodman and her music.  When she sang, “God Walks the Dark Hills,” I heard my own experience in her songs.  When she sang “I Wouldn’t Take Nothin’ for my Journey Now,”  I said in my heart, AMEN, Sister.   One night in Lakeland, Florida I yelled out to her, “I love you Sister Vestal,” and she responded back, “I love you too, honey,” I knew she meant it because I had read in her autobiography how much she loved her gay fans. She was another one of God’s woman lights to me.

               So on this Mothers Day, I honor mothers and I honor women.  This statement that I’ve made in many places has brought great response and I say it openly and with deep sincerity again today, “I am one woman loving queer man!”  I thank God for all the women who have played important parts in my life.  I thank God for all of you women here with you this morning and I wish you a very Happy Mothers Day.

               No More Night, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again.  An amazingly beautiful city built on the holy mountain of God where the gates are always open to all of God’s beloved creation.  Nothing to fear, nothing to dread only praises to the great I AM, because we will live in the light of the risen lamb.  Good news for all of us. No more night.

               God bless you today.  AMEN.

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make God’s face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us. May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere our God.

Revelation 21:10 - 22:5

And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the rulers of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

“Tabitha: Woman of God” OR “Hearing Voices”

Rev. Jim Merritt

Trinity MCC/OdysseyChurch

April 25, 2010

Introduction:

            TRINITY:       I must say, before I get to my sermon, how proud I am of you.  Many of you showed up for the “Love Conquers Hate” rally downtown Gainesville last Sunday afternoon.  If you were there, would you please stand so we can show you our thanks?  You were so helpful as we proclaimed the message of God’s inclusive love and the fact that God hates…Nobody, and that Love really does Conquer Hate.  People in the community certainly noticed your presence, too, and they heard an important underlying message, too.  That message is that Trinity MCC is alive and well and IS proclaiming the inclusive love of God both on this campus and out in the community.  You did a wonderful job and I am really proud of you.

            ODYSSEY:  Al and I are very happy to be back with you this evening.  April has been one of the busiest months we’ve had in a long time.  It’s important for you to know that we are still committed to you and to OdysseyChurch and that even when we can’t be with you here, you are with us in our hearts.  Finally, before I get into the sermon, I want to invite you to a very happy occasion for me.  On Sunday, June 13, I will be installed at Senior Pastor of Trinity MCC in Gainesville.  Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson will be our special guest, and we would love to have you join us.  There’s a big shindig, the details of which I know very little about on Saturday and we’d love to have you there as well.  Al will make sure Grant gets the information so everyone here will know what’s going on there.

Tabitha:

            Who was she?  What do we know about her?  What’s the big deal about this relatively unknown woman in the Bible?  You know I love feminist theology, so I’ve enjoyed getting to know Tabitha this week.  I’m heavily indebted to the work of feminist biblical scholar Amy Jill Levine, particularly in her feminist companion to The Acts of the Apostles for what I’ve learned about Tabitha.[1]

            Especially during the season of Easter it is important to note that the story of Tabitha is another resurrection story, this time of a beloved female disciple in the town of Joppa. Tabitha is known most of all for her many good deeds mostly by providing clothing for needy widows.  Many times when we hear of women giving clothing to the poor, we think of wealthy women giving extra clothing from their own closets.  This kind of thinking does not apply to Tabitha because she actually made the clothing she gave away.  Levine calls her The Charitable Seamstress. Although we might be tempted to label Tabitha as a wealthy and independent woman, several factors lead us away from that temptation.  First, she appears to be a single woman who is attached to no man.  Some scholars have wanted to call her a widow and the fact is that the term for “widow” commonly used in Luke/Acts χήρά is never applied to her.  If she is not a widow, we could say that she is probably financially better off than the widows she helps, and that she certainly is not an aristocrat.  It is also safe for us to assume that the clothing Tabitha made to give away to the needy widows was made in her home, not as some scholars suggest in a two story building which she owned (that comes from the statement that her corpse was laid in the upper room of a building).   Tabitha’s acts of good work and charity in “feeding the naked” and in particularly caring for vulnerable widows, stands out as particular devotion to her God and to the requirements of her Jewish religion.  Interestingly in this story as in so many other biblical stories, Peter’s act of resurrecting Tabitha is presented in a way that overshadows Tabitha’s good deeds.  Luke is hesitant to label Tabitha’s work ministry, that might take something away from the male disciples.  He left it at the level of a good work.   Luke also listed a seven man committee who had taken on the responsibility of taking care of needy widows.  Women of the day like Tabitha still simply could not make the list.  While Tabitha’s work could easily be labeled “household work” and therefore somehow less important, those of us who are charged with home making, setting up housekeeping, and house work certainly know how important it is. And whether she had a team of other women who helped her or she did it on her own, her devotion to her God and to her faith stands out as an example to all of us called to care for “the least of these.”

            It is important for us that this lesson from Acts is paired with the Gospel lesson from John today.  It’s easy for us to understand how Jesus might have experienced some frustration.  He had said it, he had lived it, he had even “performed” for the crowd to show it; “I am the Son of God.”  And still his friends and family just couldn’t comprehend it.  They just couldn’t get it, that Jesus was and is who Jesus said he was; the Messiah, the son of God. And he chastises them basically saying, “You are not my sheep.”  You cannot be my people if you do not hear my voice.  Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.”  To bring it forward we might hear it this way, “My people hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.”

            Tabitha heard Jesus voice, she observed his deeds and she followed him with all she had to offer.  Feed my sheep, provide shelter for them, clothe them.  And I just wonder this morning which voices we are hearing.  Are we listening to the voice of Jesus?  Have we truly observed the life of Jesus and his overwhelming preference for people on the margins like this single woman Tabitha?  Tabitha, in spite of Luke’s failure to label her that way, was a disciple of Jesus.  She was a minister every bit as much as all of us gathered together here are ministers.  And she knew her part of the calling was to clothe needy widows. 

            What’s your part?  What’s my part?  Will we be children of Jesus, sheep in the pasture of God?  Will he hear his voice, will we accept that we are known by him, and will we follow him.

            Tabitha;  woman on the margins, woman of God, disciple of Jesus. She heard his voice and she followed.   God bless you today.  AMEN.

Acts 9:36-43

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in GOd. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

John 10:22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Parent’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Parent has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of my Parent’s hand.  My Parent and I are one.”

            Two important events are coming up in the life of our church.  On Sunday, November 15, we will hold a Budget and Candidate Forum right after the morning worship service.  This will be your opportunity to ask any questions you might have about our proposed budget for next year.  You will also have an opportunity to meet and hear from those who are running for election to leadership positions within our church.  As is our general practice, most of our discussion will take place at this meeting rather than at the actual Congregational Meeting.  Then, on November 22, we will hold our annual Congregational Meeting.  We’ll hear reports from our church’s ministries, we’ll approve a budget for the following year, and we will hold our election.  A quorum is required for us to conduct this important business, so please plan now to attend.  And until that day, please join me that we will be led by the Spirit in our decision making and that we will successfully accomplish our business in ways that reflect the message that we teach and preach each week.   We can come away from even a business meeting feeling blessed.

            You might have noticed that there are now pens and offering envelopes in each of the chair pockets in church.  It would be very helpful if someone would take on the responsibility of re-stocking those items every couple of weeks.  If you’re interested in helping in this way, please let me know (Revjim@thecommunityactivist.com) . 

            I want to remind us of the ongoing and somewhat increasing concern about the H1N1 virus.  There are many ways that we can minimize our exposure during our times together.  We’ve placed hand sanitizer all around the building.  Use it frequently and remember to get under your fingernails with it.  Germs love to hide there.  When you use the bathroom, always wash your hands with soap.  If you blow your nose, put the tissue in a trash container, in your pocket, in your purse. Please don’t leave them on the floor or in the chair pockets. Sanitize your hands immediately afterward.  A good rule of thumb while washing or sanitizing is to rub your hands together for about 20 seconds. Think about the ways you exchange the sign of peace.  Some organizations are encouraging a warm nod with a heartfelt verbal greeting.  For example, I might look someone in the eyes and nod while saying, “I’m really glad you’re here.”  None of this is fun and it is a priority for us to be aware of our own health related safety issues while we’re together.  If you have other ideas, please share them with us.  I’ll keep us updated as we move through flu season.  Finally, if you do get sick, please let us know. We want to be there for you and your family when you need us.

            Have a blessed week. I’ll look forward to seeing you again during the week or on Sunday.

Rev. Jim Merritt

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I couldn’t be more pleased about the result of our October focus on the spiritual practice of giving.  I hope you are experiencing with me the blessing that comes from knowing that we can fund our ministries in ways that reflect our commitment to living out the message of the gospel. And since we showed that we could do it, let’s just keep our practice going and see what can happen as we continue to give according to spiritual principles.  I am so proud of what has occurred during this month.  Thank you for “trying it on.”

            Our Membership Class scheduled for this Sunday afternoon is postponed until after the upcoming congregational meeting.  If you’re interested in becoming a member or reactivating your membership, now is a good time to be considering that.  Also, baptisms are available.  Please see me or send an email to Revjim@thecommunityactivist.com to express your interest or to set up a time to discuss it.  I’ll announce another date later this month.

            This Sunday is All Saints Day.  As part of our worship service, we’ve planned an inspiring multimedia presentation.  We really need some more pictures of your loved ones who have passed on to supplement the pictures already included in the presentation.  Would you take a few minutes right now, while you’re on your computer, to email a couple of your pictures?  If you don’t have them in digital form, please get with me and we’ll make arrangements to scan them.  As always, the more inclusion we have in the presentation the more meaningful it will be. Thanks for your participation.

            Remember our upcoming Congregational Meeting on November 22, 2009.  This is a very important meeting for the ongoing life of our church.  The week prior to that, we will have a forum to address any questions about our budget for the next year.  The forum is important because on the date of the actual Congregational Meeting discussion will be extremely limited.  In addition to the budget discussion on the 15^th, we will have a few minutes to hear from our candidates who are running for elected office in our church.  Their information is currently in 3 books located at the back of the church.  Please join with us in this annual focus on taking care of the church’s business. It is an open process and everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate fully..

            Mark your calendars now for our World AIDS Day Service.  I’m very happy to let you know the service will be held at the Pride Community Center.  I’m very happy for the opportunity we have to partner with other community organizations to offer a service of remembrance on this important day.  Watch E-Talk for more information as the date approaches.

            Isn’t it wonderful to be involved in a church that is alive and well?!  Would you invite someone to come with you this Sunday and let’s pack the place out?  What’s going on in our church is too good to keep secret.  I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Rev. Jim Merritt

Dear Members and Friends of Trinity,

            I want to begin this week by asking you to join me in prayer for many members of our Trinity family who are facing medical issues.  Pray for one with a heart condition, one having teeth removed, one facing sinus surgery, one facing kidney surgery and for a family with sick children.  These are just some of the situations I know about in our community.  I know you believe with me that God is a healing God and that our prayers can make a difference.  Pray every day, and let us bear up one another’s burdens in ways similar to those we heard about in last Sunday’s sermon, “What’s Your Status?”

            All Saints Day is on November 1, 2009.  We’ll be observing the day in several ways, one if which I’d like to tell you about this week.  We hope to have special music playing while we project images of our loved ones who have gone on before us.  In order to make this happen, the Worship Planning Team is asking that you send us pictures of your deceased loved ones.  Please label them with a name and any brief identifying information.  For example, I might write on one of mine, “Arvel Retherford, Grandfather of Rev. Jim Merritt.”  We’ll put them together in a slide show format and use them in the service that day. Please remember to do this soon so we have plenty of time to prepare. Email your pictures to Revjim@thecommunityactivist.com or bring them to church so we can scan them for you.  Also, if you have access to a Powerpoint Projector that we could use, please see me. We want to honor our saints on this important day.

            I want to thank you for your faithful giving this month.  We’ve done very well trying on the spiritual practice of giving.  I hope we’ve started something here that we can continue to develop on out into the future. Let’s fund the ministries of our church through intentional giving as part of our spiritual practice, and let’s reserve fundraising for special projects.  I know God will bless us as we continue this practice together..  Thank you for your participation.

            A new membership class is forming now.  If you’re interested in becoming a member of Trinity MCC, or in re-activating your membership, this would be a perfect time to explore it further.  Baptism is also available.  For more information, or to join the class that is currently forming, please email me at Revjim@thecommunityactivist.com.

            This week we’re expecting some Spanish speaking guests.  We’ve worked on some ways to help them feel more included and for us to practice our commitment to Extravagant Hospitality. If you know Spanish, brush up on it between now and Sunday and help us welcome these special guests.  I’m looking forward to welcoming them with open arms and I know you will want to join me.

            We’re on a journey together and I’m enjoying every step.  I’ll look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Rev. Jim Merritt

Link to Rev Jim's sermon:  “Conversations from the Heart: Coming our Through the Eye of a Needle”      

To the Saints in Gainesville and beyond:

            I begin by addressing you that way in honor of MCC Founder Rev. Elder Troy Perry.  TODAY marks the 41^st anniversary of the beginning of our church.  I know that many of have found a spiritual home in MCC that we might not have found any place else. I am so grateful for the life and witness of Rev. Troy Perry and so many who have worked with him to make our denomination a reality in the lives of people all over the world.  Happy Anniversary MCC and thank you, Rev. Troy Perry.

            We’ve begun our month of emphasis on the Spiritual practice of giving tithes and offerings. I hope you’ve heard by now that we will do no further fundraising for the month of October.  During that time each member and friend is encouraged to pray about how we are called to give in support of our church’s ministry.  Many times people ask, “What is a tithe?”  Generally speaking, a tithe is considered 10% of one’s income. So if a person makes $30,000 per year, their annual tithe is about $3,000 or about $57.69 per week.  I know that many of us are not able to start at 10%, so maybe 5% would be a good starting point.  The point is not a specific amount it’s the spiritual practice of giving.  Pray, knowing that God will guide you to the amount that’s right for you. As always, give in ways that represent how God is blessing you in your own life.

            Our Board of Directors meets this Sunday shortly after the morning worship service.  These meetings are held, “in the sunshine,” which means you are welcome.  We’d love to see you at this month’s meeting.

            I want to thank Nita White, the Vice-Moderator of our board for her service in publishing Trinity Talk, Trinity E-Talk and our bulletins for many months now.  We now have help with those tasks.  Michael Cavett is producing E-Talk and Barbara Grimes is producing Trinity Talk and the bulletin.  Let’s encourage both of these friends as they take on these roles.  They are big jobs and it will take awhile to get all our publications perfect.

            I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.  Blessings to you and yours.

Rev. Jim Merritt

Rev. Jim’s sermon title is “Conversations from the Heart: Coming our Through the Eye of a Needle”      

 Scripture Readings for Sunday, October 11, 2009 : Amos 5: 6 – 15 and Mark 10: 17 – 31..

Rev. Jim Merritt’s  prior sermons are on our website.

 

Link to Rev. Jim's Sermon "Proudly Reflecting God's Glory"

Happy Pride Gainesville !  I love Pride season.  It gives us an opportunity to celebrate all the progress we’ve made toward equality and justice for our families (make no mistake; we’re not “there” yet), it gives us a chance to celebrate all the good things that are happening in our community and it give us some time to play and have a good time together.  I hope you’ll join us as Trinity participates in this year’s event.  We’ll meet at Ayers Park on Saturday at 12:30 for the Pride Parade, and then we’ll have our booth at the festival until about 5 or 6:00 .   Our wonderful choir will be singing at 4:15 from the main stage. We’d love for you to join us.  If you’re interested and available, please contact me at Revjim@thecommunityactivist.com.  This Sunday begins the month during which we will intentionally focus on the spiritual practice of giving to the church and our ministry together.  Once our Pride activities are finished on Sunday, we stop fundraising for a month while we pray, meditate and listen to God’s direction about how we give to Trinity. So, I call on all of us, as scripture says, “to bring God’s tithe into the storehouse,” to give faithfully and even sacrificially.  If you don’t currently give; try on giving for a month. If you give regularly; try adding an offering to your tithe for this month.  I know this, God has a specific calling on us for the ministry of our church and that means God intends for us to fund that ministry in spiritually appropriate ways.  I will not be preaching entire sermons on giving all month, and we will be referring to it here and there. I expect us to make progress toward financial health during this month.   If you’d like to talk about it, please set a time to see me.  I’m here for you as we embark on this portion of the journey together.  Finally, thanks to all of you who do so much to keep the ministry of Trinity MCC alive and well.  And to those of you who are just arriving; you are welcome to join in all we do.  Blessings and much love to all of you.

 Rev. Jim Merritt

Link to Rev. Jim's Sermon:   Sisters and Brothers On the Journey Together

What a wonderful time we had together in worship and at the T-dance last Sunday..  I hope everyone is recognizing the level of activity we’ve reached in our church and that you’re finding many ways to plug in with us.  We are so much more than a Sunday only church; offering ministry to the entire community and sharing many diverse times of fellowship together.  That’s part of building community the Jesus way and I’m so glad that is what we’re up to together.

                Gainesville’s Pride celebration is right around the corner..  We’ll have a special Pride Service on Sunday morning, we’ll have a group in the Pride Parade, we have a booth at the festival, and our wonderful choir will be singing during the festival.  What we’re missing is you.  It will take a lot of people to make all of this happen.  We need many people to join us in the parade; we need people at the booth all through the event.  So, please call the church office and let me know what you would like to do.  Do one activity, do all of them, or select the ones that appeal to you.  We want to show the community that Trinity MCC is alive and well and that we know how to have a good time together.

                It’s hymnal amnesty time.  I know how tempting it can be to take a hymnal home to play through or just to look through and to be honest with you, with the increase in attendance (for which we are very thankful), we are running short of hymnals.  So, if you have one of the church’s hymnals at home (The New Century Hymnal), how it the time to bring it back.  We won’t ask any questions, we’ll just say THANK YOU.

                Finally for this week, I want to remind all of us for our fundraising holiday coming in October.  We will make one exception around what we are doing for Pride, and other than that there will be no fundraising that month.  As Pastor I am calling us to a month of honestly and intentionally trying on the spiritual practice of bringing tithes and offerings to church.  I expect us to get ahead and not to fall behind at all as we practice funding our ministry together according to Biblical principles.  I know it is a very difficult thing to do at times, and I know we will be blessed as we follow God’s instruction to “bring the tithe into the storehouse.”  Thank you for taking this journey with us.

                I look forward to seeing you through the week and on Sunday.  May God bless you and yours throughout the week.

Rev. Jim Merritt

This Sunday Rev. Jim’s sermon title is “Sisters and Brothers on the Journey” OR “I Wouldn’t Take Nothin’ for My Journey Now.”  

Link to Rev. Jim's Sermon:  “The Greatest Love of All:  A Message for Children of All Ages”. 


Dear Trinity Friends,

            Thank you so much for your kind and extravagant hospitality to the guest preachers who have been with you while I’ve been away.  Both of them enjoyed being with you and feeling the good welcoming energy that is present in our church.  I am thrilled to hear that from them.  So as I write this note Al and I are in Boston.  Today we’re going to hang out with my good friend Rev. Karen Coleman who is an Episcopal Priest.  We’ll spend some time with Al’s niece Katie, visit one of Al’s favorite places to buy old fashioned men’s colognes, stop by the restaurant where I get what I consider the best nuts in the world, my favorite cupcake shop, and of course….can you guess…Starbucks!  I love Boston/Cambridge so much and am so happy to have even a few hours here.

            Buckle your seatbelts.  Here comes one of those scary times I’ve been telling you about.  Call me old fashioned, call me stuck in my former Baptist ways, call me out of touch with reality in this modern era of the church and you still will find that I believe in the spiritual practice of tithing and bringing offerings to the church.  I, like most of you, have struggled to maintain that practice over many years of trying and I am still committed to it. After careful consultation with the board and with the fun-raising team, I am asking that we take a break from fun-raising for the month of October.  The only exception to that will be the activities we do around Pride.  The scary part is that we’ve depended on fundraising to get us through for a long time. I believe God will bless us for making a faithful attempt to live into the spiritual practice of giving.  I believe we will move forward rather than fall behind.  In that light, I am asking all of us to practice tithing on some level throughout the month of October.  If you want to talk about money, this would be a great time to come visit with me for a personal chat.  Over the next two weeks I ask you to pray about what God would have you do during this time of spiritual focus on giving back a specific portion of what God has given us.  Will you join with me during this time?  God bless you in your preparation.

            Children of all ages, I’m planning something special for you this Sunday.  Make sure you’re here for our first Children’s Moment during the sermon.  I think you’ll like it.

Rev. Jim

This Sunday Rev. Jim’s, who has been on vacation, sermon title is “The Greatest Love of All:  A Message for Children of All Ages”. 

Scripture Readings for Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009:  Psalm 54 and Mark 9:30-37.

Happy Homecoming Weekend, Trinity MCC!  What is Homecoming?  According to the popular website www.wikipedia.com, “Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back of former residents and alumni of an institution. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America. It usually includes activities for students and alumni, such as sports and culture events and a parade through the streets of the city or town. Additionally, the term can also refer to the special services conducted by some religious congregations, particularly by many American Protestant churches, that are often held annually but sometimes as one-time-only events, to celebrate church heritage and welcome back former members or pastors.”

            When I was a little boy growing up in the First Baptist Church of Auburndale, Florida, I loved homecoming. We had wonderful music, everybody dressed up in their Sunday best, and oh my goodness, the food.  Every version of fried chicken, chicken and dumplin’s, cornbread, cake, pie, bread, drink, salad, well you know what I’m writing about; an incredible spread was always offered after “preaching.”  Whew, I remember leaving those meals just barely able to breathe, both physically and spiritually.  I hope that’s the way we will feel when we drive off the property this Sunday afternoon.  Having been blessed with a wonderful meal and concert on Saturday evening, an amazing worship service on Sunday morning, and a wonderful Sunday meal after church I hope our cups will be filled to overflowing.

            And here’s the fun part.  When we say “WELCOME” we mean it for everyone.  I was on my way back from an appointment tonight and I saw a bumper sticker I loved; “God bless the whole world; No exceptions.”  And that is the message of our welcome; Welcome to Trinity MCC; No exceptions.  Even my fingers feel happy typing that.

            So to our Charter Members, to those of you who have been around for a very long time, to those who have been around for awhile, to those who are brand new, and to those who will come for the first time, let me simply say, Welcome to this weekend of celebration; No exceptions.  I’ll see you Saturday and Sunday.

 

Bless you!

 

Rev. Jim

WORSHIP SERVICE:  This Sunday Rev. Elder Don Eastman’s sermon title is “What Kind of Church is This?” 

Scripture Readings for Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009: Acts 3 1-9 and Matthew 28:18-20

This coming Saturday and Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost weekend, Rev. Jim Merritt, Pastoral Candidate, will be helping to lead the retreat and preaching.  He writes:   

Dear Gainesville Friends,

            My favorite movie of all time is Auntie Mame. I love the scene where Auntie Mame is ascending a staircase while boldly proclaiming, “Oh what times we’re going to have...”  That’s the way I feel about our upcoming visit.  Oh what times we’re going to have!  I’m so looking forward to our afternoon together on your beautiful property. Rev. Vickie and I are preparing for our retreat, for a time of really listening for what God is saying to us as individuals and as people of God together.  You know the Spirit lives in each one of us, so we can be sure the Spirit will be present with us during our time together.  Something wonderful will happen as we gather, and I’m so happy for the opportunity to be part of it.

            The fact that we’ll be celebrating Pentecost Sunday is like icing on the cupcake!  Pentecost is another reminder for us that God keeps God’s promises.  My sermon for the day is “Filled with Spirit; Filled with Purpose.”  God hasn’t filled us with Spirit so that we would just encapsulate ourselves and enjoy what God has done for us.  God has a purpose for each one of us, a mission, a calling.  And God has a purpose for Trinity Metropolitan Community Church in Gainesville as a community and for the community.  Just what is that purpose?  I would love to answer that question for us, and I know I cannot.  It is one we’ll have to consider together.  Isn’t that wonderful?  We all have a place and a voice and a calling and a mission, and we get to listen and work together to determine what our collective mission will be.  What a gift! 

            I’ll see you in just a few days….Oh what times we’re going to have!

Bless you.

 Rev. Jim Merritt

WORSHIP SERVICE: This Sunday Rev. Merritt’s sermon title is Filled with Spirit; Filled with Purpose.  Sermons are located on our website under "worship" on the top toolbar

Scripture Readings for Sunday, May 31, 2009: Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Acts 2:1-21.

MCC Moderator The Reverend Elder Nancy Wilson will be our special guest.  Lunch to follow in the church Social Hall.

         Trinity MCC announces the election of The Reverend Jim Merritt, M. Div., as Senior Pastor of our church.  At the specially called Congregational Meeting on April 11, 2010, Rev. Merritt was elected with 98% of the vote.  Following nearly a year as Provisional Pastor, Rev. Merritt said, "This will never be MY church, it will continue to be your church and now it will be our church together."

 

Please join Rev. Jim at the University of Florida Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil this Friday evening at 7:30 on the Plaza of the Americas

Come support our students and the University Office of Multicultural Affairs.

During our Pride Service on October 4,there will be anointing and prayer available at the same time that Communion is being distributed.  If you have a special need, please see one of the prayer ministers positioned near the Narthex.

TMCC ANNIVERSARY/HOMECOMING/ INSTALLATION SERVICE

August 29-30

Rev. Jim, the BOD, Deacons and Transition Team have been working together to plan a great weekend celebrating our 26 years of ministry and the installation of Rev. Jim as our pastor.  The festivities will begin Saturday at 6:00pm and continue through Sunday.  We are inviting folks from the community, prior pastors, colleagues of Rev. Jim, and former members and friends of Trinity.  As part of our Homecoming Weekend there will be a Salad Dinner and Concert on Saturday, Aug. 29th here at the church. (If you are bring a salad please have it at the church by 5:30)  If you chose not to do so there is a $5 charge. Families may purchase one ticket for $15.00. Children 12 and under eat free when accompanied by a paying adult. The dinner will start at 6:00pm followed by a concert by Nashville recording artist Justin Ryan.

 Justin has shared the stage with contemporary greats such as the Nelons, Matchbox 20, the Dixie Chicks, and the late Vestal Goodman. Justin is an accomplished Background Vocalist, having sung on cuts with such artists as Porter Wagoner, Dottie Rambo, Christie Lynn, Mel Tillis, Lulu Roman, and many more. In 2007 Justin was asked to be a part of a special Opry Christmas album called “Still Believing In Christmas” which was released on the Seasong recording label. In 2008 Justin released a new album of Timeless Hymns called Revive Us Again, Timeless Hymns, Treasured Friends. The album is a collection of well known hymns featuring duets with many of Justin’s friends from the Country and Christian Music fields. Also in 2008 Justin was honored to be a part of a special Country Patriotic album called “Never Forget” A 9-11 Tribute Album. This great album not only features a song by Justin But also features songs by Charlie Daniels, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Aaron Tippin, George Jones, Tanya Tucker, Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, and a host of others. Many of which Justin also sang background Vocals for.  www.justinryanonline.com

We will be celebrating the installation of our Provisional Pastor Rev. Jim Merritt on August 30th. Rev. Elder Don Eastman, Vice Moderator, retired, of our denomination will be here for the installation. As part of that celebration we will have a finger foods luncheon in the social hall after church.

Trinity MCC in Gainesville

Presents

Rev. Delores P. Berry

In Ministry and Concert

Sunday, January 24, 2010

10:15 AM

www.revdeloresberry.com

A love offering will be taken

Collections for Conference Fund:

Do you have old, broken, gold jewelry lying around that you don't wear? Perhaps something from an ex that you haven't tossed yet. Consider donating it to the church to help raise money for our conference fund. We will start accepting items on Sunday, Nov. 22nd and continue until Dec. 20th. These items can be tax deductible.

 COVERED DISH LUNCHEON

Sunday, December 13, after the worship service in the Social Hall.  Please join us for a time of fun and fellowship.  Bring your favorite dish! 

Reliable rumors are that "someone" is planning on bringing plenty of fried chicken and we need all the food to go with it ...

Mark your calendar –May 30^th and plan to attend. 

Church retreat 2 p.m.

Church cookout  5 p.m.

More details coming

Schedule of Rev. Jim Merritt’s Visit

Saturday, May 30

2 pm – 5 pm  Retreat led by Rev. Jim & Rev. Vickie

5 pm – 7 pm  Church-wide cookout & social

Sunday, May 31

Rev. Jim to preach at worship

Followed by a church-wide question/answer forum