Are you looking for a theology that makes sense?

Are you looking for a faith rooted in Christ and His resurrection, but which also does not contradict science?

Are you looking for answers, and not always the standard ones you get in church?

I have a place for you.

This is what we are all about at St. Matthew — a faith that is based on the teachings of Jesus and on the actual experience of God.

Scripture.

And experience.

I teach a 9:45 class each week on my upcoming book, Discovering God.

We have some of the world’s best discussions.

We discussed recently whether God gets angry.

We decided “no.”

We checked our two sources:

Scripture and experience.

Jesus didn’t like anger. He warned against it.

Check out Matthew 5:22.

And what does the experience of God tell us?

In the thousands of religious experiences I have read or heard, not one person has met an angry God.

Yes, Paul talks about the “wrath” of God.

Paul got it wrong.

The teachings of Jesus and the experience of God tell us that Paul got it wrong.

God is not wrathful.

When Jesus and Paul disagree, we go with Jesus.

God is not angry.

You can get in on the discussions. We even have one person who attends the 9:45 class and heads off to another church to worship.

Class is over at 10:30.

Give us a try — class or worship or both. Visitors get a copy of my first book, whether you want it or not.

(Worship at 11:00.)

saintmatthewumc.com
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I’ve just watched the news, so I’m not in a great mood.
We have, at least for now, lost our democracy. We are an authoritarian nation.

No checks and balances remain. One group of people has all the power, and they are answerable to no one.

We know the character of many of those who lead us. A recent nominee withdrew under pressure because of emails that surfaced.

He disparaged minorities and confessed he “had a Nazi streak.” He still has a government job.

And there’s Stephen Miller, a power behind the throne, who dumped a friend when they hit ninth grade.

“I can’t be your friend anymore,” he told the kid. “You have Hispanic heritage.”

Miller designed the deportation program.

Usually, people like this have no shot at national power. Their character flaws—their meanness—would disqualify them.

Now, these people rise to the top—because the top is corrupt.

Some people call us a Christian nation. But a Christian nation would not divert money from food for starving children to make the rich richer.

We are not a Christian nation. But we are, to a great extent, a conservative Christian nation.

Conservative, inerrantist, “Fundamentalist.”

This kind of Christianity has a mean streak.

Consider the willful mistreatment of gay people.

That meanness is now at the center of our national life.

+++

What are you doing on Sunday? We could use your support. 11:00 a.m.

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Well, there were seven million last weekend standing up for right over might, good over mean, grace over vengeance.

My sermon this Sunday will barely mention our national plight, but it is about never giving up.

So, it will apply.

Are you watching our services?

You can see us on YouTube through our webpage. Type in our web address at the bottom of this little box. Click on “video.” There it is.

During the week, the service gets shortened to just the sermon—for those in a hurry.

But below the picture that comes up when you click on “video,” there is a choice to “watch full service.”

Or watch the full service on Facebook. Go to “Saint Matthew UMC Fort Worth Facebook.”

Or watch on your TV.

On YouTube.

There I am—preaching from a stool.

Yes, I hate it—preaching from a stool.

I hope to escape the stool after knee surgery.

You will note as soon as you tune in that I—uh—I am older than the picture I use in this little box.

I’ve been at this for 43 years, and I was 39 when I started. (You do the math.)

I’m still at it.

I hope to be at it for several years to come.

Lord willing.

And with our good Bishop’s approval.

But at one point, I thought my ministry was over before it began.

I’ll tell you about that this Sunday.

++

Monthly concert and dinner Saturday night, Oct. 25, 6:00 p.m. Free.

We take an offering for Eastside Ministries.

I’ve got a pew for you.

saintmatthewumc.com
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Rev. David Black is the young pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He and members of his church are putting love into action.

And Rev. Black recently made the news. He was praying on the sidelines of a protest against ICE agents. His prayer was that the Holy Spirit would touch the hearts of the agents and protect the victims. He was shot in the face with a pepper ball.

Standing in his black clerical garb with a clerical collar, in an obvious attitude of prayer, he was shot with the pepper balls over and over again. He heard the ICE agents laughing. Seeing him disabled, the ICE agents approached him and sprayed him with pepper spray. His congregants tried to protect him, taking a lot of the hits intended for the pastor.

If ICE agents treat a minister engaged in prayer with such cruelty, we can only imagine what they do to our Hispanic brothers and sisters.

So, here we are. We have, as a nation, placed evil at the center of national power. Our nation is corrupt at the core. Can the church help to save us?

It was largely Christian conservatives who brought us to this brink. We cannot count on them. But the rest of us have work to do.

First of all, we must not give up. We do not have the levers of power, but we do have the power of the Spirit.

Stand firm. Speak out.

Millions of people will gather in the streets across America tomorrow. It may get darker before the dawn—but love will win. Love will win!

saintmatthewumc.com
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The Germans still feel a lot of guilt about their decline and fall into evil.
I, too, once believed the Germans had some special problem. The madness could only happen there.
I was clearly wrong.
It can happen anywhere.

In Chicago, ICE swarmed an apartment building, agents dropping from a black helicopter in the middle of the night.
ICE agents have changed their uniforms to look like soldiers. They broke down doors and hauled men, women, and children out into the night.
Some were naked.
Even the children were bound with ties. They were hauled away in vans and separated from parents.

Imagine the fear.
Soldiers are occupying U.S. cities against the will of governors, mayors, and the people of those cities.
U.S. soldiers against U.S. citizens.
Once unthinkable.
The soldiers will be in place for the next election.
We can expect them at every polling booth.
We may have had our last free and fair election.

“The enemy within” this time is not the Jews, but Hispanics—and anyone who disagrees with the current regime.
I always knew that a man who loves dictators wants to be a dictator.
Jesus warned us. He said you will never get good fruit from a bad tree.
But strangely, it was mostly Christians who bit into the bad apple.
“Evangelical.”
“Fundamentalist.”
“Inerrantist.”

Bad theology is more dangerous than no theology at all. There is a truth that can save us. Help St. Matthew UMC spread that truth.
Worship at 11:00.
Consider it.

saintmatthewumc.com
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