The LORD passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sin of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” – Exodus 34:5-7

Have you ever heard that story where Jesus tells a bunch of people about how he didn’t come down to earth to help the healthy, but the sick. And, then, did you feel kind of left out cuz you’ve never really been sick per se–you’ve always been pretty healty–you know, an all around good kind of person? If that’s you, then you probably don’t understand the heart of mercy yet. But if maybe you’re one of those folks that suddenly realized how Jesus was talking about the state of our heart before him, and all of a sudden you felt like he was talking directly to you, and you totally saw yourself as terminally ill sans Jesus–then the compassionate merciful life is for you.

Indeed, God has shown himself abundantly merciful to us, for while we were yet sinners–rebellious people doing whatever the hell we wanted–Christ died for us and made us children of the Father. He declared his preeminence over all things and his provision in everything…existence, breath, food, shelter, time, friends, skillz, beauty, donuts, indoor plumbing, opposable thumbs–we are dependent on God for ALL things. And so, we find ourselves responding to God’s pursuit by repenting of and forsaking our own, and giving freely of our time and our talent and our treasure. Anything less is self-righteous nonsense…anything more is worship of the King.

On Saturday at MH DT we are doing the Christmas Coat Lunch. It’s opportunity for us to open our doors to our downtrodden neighbors and dwell among them. We’ll be giving away a free lunch and a coat and a hat to our needy friends, but even more so, a listening ear. We want to let them know, “Hey if you’re at all sick like us, feel free to be a part of our family.” We’ll be getting started around 08:00 in the morning. Feel free to stop by for a few hours. Shifts run from 08:00-11:00 and 10:30 – 13:00 and 12:30 – 15:00 and finally 14:30 – 17:00. Hope to see you there.