Something to tell you this Sunday...

Hey beloved… I want to tell you about something I recently experienced, and a special invitation to the people of Mt. Hope Church. I’ll give you a quick heads up in Deeper Thoughts below and then share a little more detail on Sunday morning. Also, as you know Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we do plan to honor all of our ladies—whom I think most of us would agree are the “better half” of humanity. And, to cap it all off, we’ll continue to dig into God’s Word in our series “Knowing God.” 
 
 BUT first… a bunch of things happening… 
 

• TEENS: TOMORROW, Saturday, May 9, is FIRE Worship night, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. We’re going deep into what it looks like to have hope in Christ, with Mason Duckworth and Chris Cravens. Dinner, connection, music and discussion. Friends are welcome! 

 

• NO Youth Group this Sunday! 

 

• Ladies: Join us NEXT Saturday, May 16, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. for a women’s Self-Defense and Wellness Seminar led by Pastor Samuel Sierra and others to equip women with practical tools for safety, physical confidence, and whole-body wellness. Click here for details and to RSVP! 

 

• Really big deal BAPTISM Sunday, May 17… join us for an amazing Sunday morning worship service where we will be baptizing possibly 10 new believers at Mt. Hope! This is going to be a phenomenal experience of celebration and worship! 

 

• Churchwide workday!! Saturday, May 30, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Come join us to help spruce up the campus for the spring and summer… lots of fellowship, fun, and tasks for all skill level, ages, and energy! Contact Kristie Zoller for more info. 

 

• High School and College Graduates will be honored in our Sunday service on May 31. We look forward to celebrating this amazing milestone in your life! 

 

• AND… mark your calendar for a very special field trip to Landover, MD for a unique experience of racial reconciliation in worship… Sunday night, May 31. More on this in Deeper Thoughts below. Pastor Chris will share specific details with us THIS Sunday morning! 

 

• NEW Daily Six content THIS WEEK!! Join us for six minutes each day, Monday through Friday, as we continue our character-by-character study of how to find the heart of God… click here for our Daily Six webpage to find new content on Monday morning, OR… click here to sign up for our daily email reminders (if you’ve not already done so!).  

 
 
OK… that’s it for today for you email skimmers and those who hate long emails… 
 
BUT… 
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts… 
 
It doesn’t take much effort watching the news to recognize that our nation is profoundly and sharply divided along many important cultural, political, and ideological lines. Some of these divisions are systemic to humanity; some are more immediate conflicts that flow out of short-term political or sociological situations. 
 
Some systemic divisions that are commonplace to all of fallen humanity’s history--a result of the nature of sin inbred within each of us—also find pockets of intensity rising up in the more immediate conflagration of current cultural issues. 
 
One of these matters that bridges both the systemic and the short-term is the often-troubled relationships between various people groups, races, and ethnicities.  
 
Systemic fear, bigotry, racism, and prejudice find its roots in the earliest echoes of Adam and Eve’s knowledge of evil in the Garden of Eden. Read almost any page of the Old Testament with the smallest measure of historical context and you’ll see hatred, fear, discrimination, and prejudice between just about every tribe and people. Spend a little time contemplating the outcomes of the Tower of Babel incident in Genesis 11 and we can see where fear and division got its start as a global human problem. 
 
In Genesis 11, God confused the languages of humanity so that we could no longer unite in horrific humanism and godlessness. But this isn’t where He wants the story to end.  
 
God had a plan all along to reunite us—not in godless humanism, but in the redeemed, healed, and God-empowered baptism of the Holy Spirit. Genesis 11:1-9 tells of our division’s beginning; Acts 2:1-11 tells of the Day of Pentecost’s reuniting of diverse people under the power of the Holy Spirit.  
 
Fast forward to the relatively more “short-term” experiment of the American people. We represent just a handful of centuries among millennia upon millennia of divided, sinful, hate-filled humanity. In our short story, division and oppression between races and ethnicities has been a tremendous theme, as you know. 
 
Great strides were made in the elimination of slavery in the 1800s and the pursuit of Civil Rights in the 1900s. We have much to be thankful for and to celebrate--not the least of which is to recognize that almost all of those advances were led by people who were filled with the same Holy Spirit who poured out on the Day of Pentecost. But any honest glance at our present culture must admit there is a long way to go for every tribe, tongue, race, and ethnicity to be truly honored and united as the Holy Spirit desires. 
 
Enter this unique opportunity I was recently invited into, and another unique invitation that has been extended specifically to the people of Mt. Hope Church. 
 
Six weeks ago, I was invited by the Northstar Church Network--with whom Mt. Hope is deeply connected and I serve on their Board of Directors—to be one of ten white pastors to join ten Black pastors for a two-day intensive retreat exploring what needs to be done to bring greater unity and reconciliation between believers and churches of both races. It was a sacred and special conversation as these 20 shepherds poured out their hearts and experiences as it relates to their story with race and division.  
 
I have much to tell you about what I am learning from these beloved new friends of mine. More on that in the weeks and months to come. 
 
But for now, let me tell you three quick things, and then we’ll talk more.  
 
First, we were each paired one-to-one to build an intentional relationship—one white pastor, one Black pastor. I’ve begun building a wonderful new friendship with Pastor Charles Whitaker who shepherds the River of Life Church in Temple Hills, MD. What a beautiful and godly man. 
 
Secondly, the larger group of 20 pastors have continued to meet. We have planned two joint worship evenings to begin the dialogue—to not only experience each other’s cultures with as many of our people who could attend, but to also share publicly the discussions and learnings we have begun. The first of these nights will be held in Landover, MD, Sunday night, May 31 at 6:00 p.m. More on this to come… but mark your calendar… because… 
 
Finally, Mt. Hope Church has received a personal and specific invitation from Pastor John Jenkins, who is considered by many in the Black community to be the most profound shepherd of our generation—a “bishop” to all of the ten Black pastors who participated in our conversation last month. His church is hosting the first worship night on May 31. 
 
On Wednesday this week, Pastor Jenkins extended a personal invitation to you Mt. Hopers—that for any of our congregation who would make the Sunday night trek to Landover for the worship night, he wants to host us for dinner before the meeting in appreciation that Mt. Hope is the farthest church from the event.  
 
I’ll share more personally with you on Sunday about all this; I have a sense in my spirit that we have a special opportunity to have a seat at an important table of healing in our Nation’s Capital.  
 
So, with that… thanks for reading. C’mon out on Sunday, 10:00 a.m. sharp… We’ll continue digging into the Old Testament, honor our ladies, and seek the face of God for what He is doing among us! Don’t be late… bring your Bible and a pen!! 
 
Much love to you all…  
 
Chris Eads 
Mt. Hope Pastor 
Friend 
[email protected] ​