PASTOR'S CORNER

 

 

"The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what He died about and that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen should be about". George Macleod, founder of the modern Iona community.

Alan sent this quote in an email to me and commented how fitting it was for our laundry ministry with the homeless men and women who are the congregation of Mercy Church. As good "churchmen" and "churchwomen" we can sometimes get so wrapped up in the life of the church that we lose sight of who we serve, who we are, and why we do what we do.  We forget that the walls of the church are not meant to keep us in, they are meant to hold up the roof. 

 

There is nothing inspiring or sacred about gathering at a coin laundry on N. Decatur Road.  The sounds of whirring machines and the blaring television are no substitute for the exuberance of our music program. There is nothing particularly spiritual about taking smelly soiled clothing out of a bag, putting it in a washing machine, adding enough Clorox to kill whatever might be lingering in the fabric, drying, and folding. What is inspiring, what is deeply nourishing for our spirit, is that we are being the church in the world, serving the lost, the rejected, the outcast, the cynics, and  the homeless, serving them in humility, patience, and love.   

 

Leslie starting an Upper Room study before work at her office and  the transformation that she has seen; Carl and Hackwin starting a Bible study in the food court of Northlake Mall; Alan starting a laundry ministry in a coin laundry on North Decatur Road; people serving, sharing, and praying for each other, for those in need, at the crossroads of our city, in the marketplaces, and shops; the places where prayers are rarely heard, and if they are heard, they are usually for the machine not to eat another quarter or for the workday to end real soon.  But really what we are doing shouldn't come as a surprise; after all, we are just following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. 

 

In Christ

 

George

  

Don Brim and Maria Storts

Marva Bryan, Leslie Carlson Rivera and Tanya Ferguson.

  

  10:30 am Worship  

 

 

Pastor

 

 

Parish Associate

Jihyun Oh

jihyun.oh@gmail.com