Agape' Metropolitan Community Church
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This Week's News and Updates
March 10, 2020
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Click Here
to view last week's worship experience.
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"The Fire"
Rev. David Wynn
It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
I have a very complicated relationship with fire. It’s my element, even though I am a water sign. Fire has healed me and burned up things that left me wondering what in the world do I do now? I do a lot of “burn and release” rituals and fire shows up when I need to pay attention…like the large outside planter that was gifted to me when I was the Interim Pastor at Agape 11 years ago and it was
the one thing
I was supposed to take with me when I left. On my first Ash Wednesday I filled it with small candles and crystals to greet people as they arrived for the service. As the ritual was ending, and I was smudging and hugging folks as they were leaving, one gentleman leaned in and said, “when I went to the bathroom after being ashed I noticed that your plant was on fire so I got some water and put it out.” I said “What? Wow, thank you so much for taking care of that!” He was so nonchalant that I didn’t think too much about it until I walked out the north west door and that large heavy gauge plastic planter and the plant (RIP) were gone…burned completely away. It lived under the portico across from where the angel and child hold watch so I immediately began checking the roof, the brick wall it was close to, and all surrounding areas looking for signs of damage, smoke and otherwise. Not one mark could be seen. All that remained was ash, some wax, and crystals. The fire changed everything. I had a somewhat similar thing happen in the Prayer Room in one of our candle boxes but…that’s another story and don’t tell the Board of Directors. There has been no shortage of “fires” in our community over the years and we’ve learned a thing or two about how to stand in the center and not shrink back. There will be fire on Sunday, can we stand together in it? Let’s see…
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Finding our Way Home
Please plan to join your Agape family for the season of Lent as we
find our way home.
Lent begins by hitting the pause button on life so that we can reflect on where we are and if this place feels like home. Oriah Mountain Dreamer, author and teacher, says that “to know what we belong to and what belongs to us” is to be home. In a world where the common state is too often detachment, isolation, and loneliness…homelessness is pandemic. So, after the pause, Lent invites us to change course, change our minds (literally the first words out of Jesus’ mouth in our scripture), engage, and set out. Guru Ram Dass teaches that “we’re all just walking each other home”. So, let’s go, the more the merrier and the sweeter the journey.
March 01-Lent 1 “Failure”
March 08 - Lent 2 “The Commitment”
March 15 - Lent 3 “The Fire”
March 22 - Lent 4 “Deep Sustenance”
March 29 - Lent 5
Communion Breakfast in the Social Hall
April 05 Palm Sunday - “Finding our Way Home”
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Spirit Cafe' will be on Spring Break this week. We will gather next on March 18, 2020.
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Linda Gray's father crossed over on March 7th. We send our prayers and love to her and her family. Visitation and Services will be held at Agape' MCC.
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Sam Gray, 87, of Burleson, Texas, passed away on early Saturday morning, March 7, 2020 at Hugley Medical Center in Burleson.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday evening, March 11, from 6 until 8,
at Agape' Metropolitan Community Church
, 4615 California Parkway in Fort Worth.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 12, at 1:30 P.M
., at the church. Burial will be held at Emerald Hills Memorial Park in Kennedale.
Sam was born on July 15, 1932, in Poteet, Texas to Carl and Dorila Gray. He proudly served his country in the USAF. He was a “boot scooting, karaoke singing, Cadillac driving, guitar playing crazy man.” He loved camping across this country, and those camping trips were some of our most cherished memories. Sam was loved by all and was always the ‘life of the party.” He will be greatly missed by many – particularly by his loving family.
Sam is survived by his children, Jerry (Charito) Gray, Shirley (Tony) Fontaine, Linda (Alisa) Gray, Kathy (Randy) Deel, and Curtis (Lisa) Gray; by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and by his fiancé, Mary Jo Bryson.
In addition to his parents, Sam was preceded in death by his wife, Patsy in 2012; and by his siblings, Deloris Sweeney and Jerry Lee Gray.
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G4G DFW + Trinity River Audubon Center
April 4, 2020
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
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What: Help with habitat management.
When: Saturday, April 4, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
Details:
Please use sunscreen or insect repellent as needed. Wear work clothes, sturdy shoes, and gloves. Consider wearing a dust mask if you’re bothered by weed pollen. Bring a water bottle.
Let Audubon staff know if you are allergic to poison ivy.
The mission of the
Trinity River Audubon Center
is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.
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New Tuesday Psychic Class Offerings with Jayme O'Donnell
7:00PM - 9:00PM
March 10 Mediumship Development
March 17 Psychic Development - Candle Wax readings
March 24 Mediumship Development
March 31 No class
April 07 No Class
April 14 Psychic Development - Clairvoyance
April 21 Mediumship Development
April 28 Psychic Development - Psychometry using jewelry
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The participant fee is $20.00 per class. Jayme can take cash or credit card. The classes are posted on her website:
jaymepsychicmedium.com
and
meetup.com
(Jayme Pyschic Medium Development Classes). Anyone is welcome to ask questions about the classes through Jayme's email:
jaymepsychicmedium@gmail.com
.
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Weekly Devotional - Rev. Teri Lubbers 12/12/2012
"Light Weavers"
I weave light into words so that when your mind holds them, your eyes will relinquish their sadness, turn bright, a little brighter, giving to us the way a candle does to the dark...I speak because every cell in your body is reaching for God.
~ Hafiz, "The Gift" translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Who are the light weavers in your life? Think back...five years, ten years, twenty, thirty...think about the individuals in your life whose words were like light in your heart and mind the first time you heard them. Maybe it was a parent or another family member, a lover or a childhood friend, a teacher, a poet, a songwriter or philosopher. They might have been words of enlightenment, words of praise or encouragement, perhaps just words of acknowledgement. But whatever the words that were heard or read, they opened a door in us that nothing afterwards could close and we were never the same again. These light weavers showed us paths we would never have found alone.
I marvel at how easy it is to doubt. How easy it is to ignore. How easy it is to pretend that we don't know what we know. But we do know, we have had glimpses. We have all at some point tasted that light of which the poet Hafiz speaks, felt the longing that he describes as every cell in our bodies reaching for God.
Sometimes all it takes is a little light, a word of hope, the comfort of presence to remind us who we are and what we are about...to call us into being.
Prayer: God, original weaver of light, may light grow in me, brighter and brighter until I am all yours. Amen.
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Mar 03 - Zachary Roberts
Mar 06 - Melisa Price
Mar 13 - Chris Kalish
Mar 13 - Sebastian Lotz
Mar 15 - Rachel Cox
Mar 16 - Joe Rice
Mar 22 - Kaitlynn Rose Wolfer-Stephens
Mar 25 - Sandra Hardin
Mar 26 - Michael Stephens
Mar 29 - Denise LaRae
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Order of Worship - March 15, 2020
Lent 3
The Gathering
Call to Worship: Rev. David Wynn
Song of Welcome:
"Feels Like Home"
Community
Words of Welcome and Time of Greeting: Rev. Robert Myers
Time with our Children: Trish Ashton
A Response:
"This Little Light of Mine"
Community
A Time for Meditation
The Gospel Reading: John 4:5-26 Lisa O'Grady
Song of Response:
"There is Only Love"
Community
Time of Teaching:
"The Fire"
Rev. David Wynn
Centering Song:
"Need You Now"
Community
Community Prayer: Kevin Harkins
Response to the Prayer:
"Need You Now"
Community
Bringing Our Gifts: Cassy Batts
Celebration of Holy Communion: Rev. Robert Myers
Song of Sending Forth:
“We Are Called”
Community
Announcements and Benediction: Rev. David Wynn
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Be sure to like us on Facebook if you have not already!
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Agape' MCC is a Reproductive Justice Congregation.
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