You're Invited

I don't fully understand what it happening at Mount Vernon Place. What I can tell you is that I have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in profound ways in recent weeks. It is so abundantly clear to me that God is at work in bold, powerful, somewhat scary and somewhat exciting ways. I have found myself preaching in a different way - putting a bold vision before the congregation of where God might be calling us. I have found myself turning down invitations to be part of something that might bring people and money into our congregation but that does not, necessarily, line up with where I feel God at work. And, I have found myself being available for tasks that I was never ready to be present for in the past. Clearly, the Spirit is working. A faithful conversation is percolating. New ministries are on the horizon.

To continue to get a sense of where and how God is working, we're starting a new Bible study on Wednesday morning. I'm calling it a pilgrimage of pain and hope through scripture. Unlike the Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope I was a part of in South Africa, we will not travel far geographically. But, we will travel into the depths of our church's community and into the depths of scripture. We will travel to the place where it might seem scary because God is inviting us to do such unfamiliar things. We will travel to the place where we open our hearts and minds wide to see how God might be asking to use us.

You are invited. You are invited to come downtown every Wednesday morning. I invite you to arrive downtown by 6:50. Walk around the church, peaking inside the nooks and crannies of the building, the porches and windowsills where people might still be sleeping. Walk around the area of 11th and K Street and seek to have your heart opened and then broken by the prostitutes who are waiting for their pimps to pick them up from a night of work. And then, come inside. Ring the bell and come up to the community room. Let's together open wide our hearts, the pages of scripture and our minds. Let's journey through the stories of pain where Jesus was fully present in the scriptures. Let's talk about what our eyes see when we arrive downtown early in the morning. Let's pray for God's guidance, wisdom and direction. Let's ask God for the courage to respond faithfully - to be a hopeful sign of God's kingdom on the corner of 9th and Massachusetts.

You're invited. The journey will likely not be easy. It will perhaps be painful or even lonely at times. But, after seeing the way that God is working, I am convinced that we cannot ignore this call, this movement, that is so abundantly real.

Come join us. Send me an email if you are interested. And, if you do not live in Washington, then journey with us through prayer or by reading the same scriptures.

You're invited. Will you come? Wednesday mornings from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. in the community room at Mount Vernon Place. A pot of coffee will be waiting for you.