Just finished the Annual Conference of the Central Texas Conference of the UMC.
   This is where churches leaving the UMC over gay ordination and marriage made it official.
   They are gone. About half of the Central Texas churches withdrew. A lot of them are smaller country churches, but also some larger city churches and one mega-church.
   What does this show us?
   That the sin of prejudice is hard to overcome.
   Anti-gay prejudice is no different from racial prejudice. Those who make life miserable for gay people now are the spiritual heirs of those who demeaned people of color when I was growing up.
   And it speaks of a failure of ministry. Our theology schools have turned out some preachers who do not know the Gospel.
   These ministers have failed to call people to Jesus Christ.
   They have allowed idolatry—the worship of the Bible over the Lord.
   Yes, I know, it takes some guts to tell people that Paul was wrong about same-sex relations.
   He was wrong about women keeping silent.
He was wrong about slavery.
   I love Paul. I give thanks for him. But he is not the Lord and Savior of the world.
   Jesus is.
   And Jesus taught us to love people as they are.
   God doesn’t care if people are gay or trans. But God does care if we are cruel to the neighbor.
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   As soon as I get the world straightened out I can talk about happy stuff.
   I’ll do it anyway. We’ve got a Gospel concert on Sat., June 24 at 6:00—light supper after. Our great musicians and I will be singing. Mark the calendar.

WOW!

Blake has a couple of guests coming Sunday who will join in the singing. There will be three—count them—three! Special musical performances involving Blake, Shannon
and the couple.

   Sermon: More than Kin
   Scripture: Acts 17:22-28
   Expect a great time of worship.

Catching Up

We have some large repair bills (plumbing and roof–$26,000) and we have had to hire people to do things that we once had volunteers for. We are going to be working to catch up financially.
And I want you to be confident that we will do so.
   Mary and I and the Administrative Board will be watching spending very carefully. We are going to spend only what is essential for the rest of this year. We will not buy even a box of paper clips for the church to pay for. Someone in the church will have to pay for the paper clips.
   If we need $150 worth of chicken for a church dinner, we will need to charge a little for the dinner to cover the price of the chicken.
   And we will have fundraising events—such as our concerts. (These are also for the joy of it; they will be good for the church.)
   I will be reporting the weekly offerings in this space. We need $5,000 each Sunday to get us to where we need to be.
   Last Sunday, we received $5,911.
   That gives us $911 to help on a Sunday when we fall short. Br encouraged. The Lord is with us all the way.

Now About That Concert

Saturday, June 24, 6:00 p.m.—followed by a light supper. What a joy to resume our concerts! We will share some of our best times at these events.
   See you Sunday. (Yes! Please! Be here if you can.)

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!!!
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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.

   I said last week that Paul can be wrong—as he is in saying women should be quiet in church. This is one response I got:

I have a problem with that. If the Bible is the Word of God, you can’t say the words God gave Paul to speak are wrong. If Paul is wrong, what else in the Bible may be wrong?
(Name)

   That takes a lot of answering. The Bible is not the Word of God. Jesus is—the “Word made flesh,” John tells us.
   And God inspired Paul, but God did not take away Paul’s freedom to think and speak on his own.
   And something is never true just because it is in the Bible. The world is not flat with “four corners,” as the Bible indicates.
   And God did not tell the Hebrew people to slay the Amalekites—men, women, and babes in arms.
   The Bible says it, but it’s not true. That is against God’s nature.
   We know something is true when the evidence shows it to be true.
   I know the teachings of Jesus are right because our lived experience proves them to be right. And the God we meet in personal religious experience is the God we know through the teachings of Jesus.
   The fellow whose note I printed lives on dangerous ground. A person cannot believe God pushed for the slaying of the Amalekites and believe Jesus.
   Jesus said God loves all people–even his enemies. He said God is “kind to the wicked.”
   Biblical inerrantists do not believe the teachings of Jesus. That’s where the problem lies.
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   We just had a $16,000 plumbing break at St. M. If you would like to help fund Friday’s Word during our “crunch,” go to “Give” on our website.
Blessings

A Nice Note

Dear Reverend, I always enjoy/get sad/find humor/start to despair/regain some hope/always rejoice at your simple and profound wisdom.
In short, thank you. One of these days I might come join you for a service or a study. I know I would enjoy either. Stay strong in body and spirit.
Tony —

The Way It Works

   Tony has probably read Friday’s Word for years. Then he begins to think about giving us a visit. And I expect he will. This is the way it works at St. Matthew.
   We need to be glad about this—because this is the only reason St. Matthew exists (while many once-strong strong Eastside churches are closed).
   Churches can no longer survive by reaching the neighborhood around the church.
   I saw a report on a once-strong church trying to hold things together with an attendance of 20 on Sundays. They could not make it. And the closing of that church was particularly sad, because they maintained a soup-kitchen that fed a hundred people during the week.
   And the more progressive a church is, the wider the net it needs to throw. A couple visited from down the street recently. The gay issue was addressed during the service. I knew they would not be back. St. Matthew is a lovely and loving place. But we are a shock to some people who just wander in our door.
   Friday’s Word still works. (Our three newest members found us through it.) And we better be glad it works. There is no substitute.
Someday, when I am gone, Mary will have to write once a week in a little box in the paper.

Pentecost Sunday

It’s a big day—on a holiday weekend. Come to church before you go visit Aunt Sally. And wear something red. We’re going to have a rousing time of it. Sermon: God Does Stuff. (Acts 2:1-12)