Greetings, Sir.
You are wrong. Yes, God is love, but
his heart was not overflowing with love
when he destroyed the world with a flood.
He was angry. God shows wrath toward
any who oppose him. They will not see his
loving side. Respectfully,

   Apologies to the writer for using her e-mail. I’m sure she’s a fine person
  And apologies to all for staying on this subject.
  But biblical inerrancy is the chief illness of the church.
  It allows people to think that God has a “loving side” and a mean side. (A two-faced God.)
  It allows us followers of Christ to be loving when it suits us and mean as Old Billy when we want to be.
  And biblical inerrancy is what makes Christians so often vulnerable to the lies of truly evil politicians.
  It undermines morality and judgment.
  I know, with some of you, I’m wasting my breath in saying all of this.
  But God can’t be both loving and wrathful. God can’t love his enemies and also destroy them.
  God can’t, through Jesus, condemn retaliation, and then retaliate.
  Jesus tells us to love even those who do not love us. He says loving like that makes us perfect, like God. (Mt. 5:38-48)
  Read that scripture I just noted—ten verses.
  There is not even one biblical inerrantist in the whole wide world who believes those verses.
  If I shout this real loud, can everyone hear me?
  GOD—IS—LOVE!!!
+++

St. Matthew lives on the gifts of those who love this church. We preach a God who loves us as we are. Not everyone does. If you want to help, go to our website and click on “give.” Or mail a gift. Or—radical idea—bring it with you Sunday at 11:00.

Oops!

One thing I look forward to every week is whatever Blake (or Blake and Shannon) may do. But I was really tired Sunday—and something got lost.

I got home Sunday afternoon and lay back in my recliner. It seemed strange to me that I could not remember

Blake’s solo. Was I so sleepy I missed it. No! I was so tired I left it out! Went right from the prayer to the offering. So, we missed a blessing. But Blake is already prepared for
this Sunday.

Saturday Nite Gospel

A monthly Saturday Gospel Nite was once a big part of St. Matthew life. It was a door to the church for some people. They came to the concerts before they came to a worship service.

These begin again this month—on June 24. Leading it will be me, Mary, Blake, Shannon and Kristi. (Not everyone will be involved every time.) And we will have guest performers occasionally.

No one in the above gang but me knows what these concerts look like—feel like—but everyone will know after the first one.

There is a light supper afterwards—a good time of fellowship. We all bring the food. We eat what comes in.

Most of the music will be Gospel, but Shannon will soon do a whole evening of Frank Sinatra. And we will have a Broadway night. We used to fill the house for our Christmas concert in December. It was a big deal. We had our Christmas dinner after the concert and Santa came for the kids. (Expect this again—on Dec. 12.)

These will not be live-streamed. (We use some rec orded music we can’t get permission for.) You will have to come in person.

Great singing. Great time. Be looking forward to our first one. Saturday, June 24—6:00p.m. (Get home before dark.)

See you Sunday.
Yes—first Sunday. We gather at the Table.