How would you define “merciful?” The story is told of a politician who, after receiving the proofs of a portrait, was very angry with the photographer. He stormed back to the photographer and told him, “This picture does not do me justice!” The photographer replied, “Sir, with a face like yours, you don’t need justice, you need mercy!”
According to the fifth beatitude, people who belong to God’s kingdom are by nature merciful. Verse 7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” What does it really mean to be merciful? This is a magnificent human virtue. It is wonderful to meet a merciful person. Even the Talmud, which is a codification of Jewish law, records this saying by Gamaliel who was the great Jewish teacher referred to in the Book of Acts. Gamaliel said, “Whenever thou hast mercy, God will have mercy upon thee. And if thou hast not mercy, neither will God have mercy upon thee.” Again he was extolling the virtue of mercy as a path to blessing.
But the issue is far more than a human platitude. It would be nice to think of the fact that this is the great truth of life. But the fact of the matter is that you may find yourself on the human level being merciful to people who are in return merciless to you.
In fact, the Romans didn’t admire mercy at all. The Romans admired justice. The Romans admired revenge. They admired discipline. They admired power and strength; and they thought mercy was evidence of weakness. In fact, some philosophers at the time of the writing of the New Testament said that mercy is a disease of the soul. It is evidence of a sick person. And, any successful person would be ashamed to be called merciful. It was a sign of weakness. Frankly, that is not unlike our time, is it? Being merciful, being forgiving, being kind, being gentle with people, overlooking their sins, showing them great kindness no matter what they might have done to us is a sign of weakness today.
But, may we always be people who show mercy!!
Sunday Worship
Pastor Glen will continue the sermon series, Ephesians: Our Identity and Purpose! His sermon this Sunday is “All About God,” based upon Ephesians 2:4-7. Please read this text in preparation for worship!
Adult Sunday school
Our Adult Sunday school class will meet this Sunday immediately after worship in the large Sunday school room. Please join Deborah Kleinschuster and others for a wonderful time around God’s Word!! We will study Matthew 13 . . . Can you solve the Mystery Parable?! Pease bring your Bible!!
Tithes and Offerings
An offering box is available when you enter or exit the sanctuary. Additionally, online giving opportunities are available on the website.
Training2Send Class
A new class will be forming next Monday, February 21st at 6:30 p.m. at our church facility (Large Sunday school room). This is an outstanding eleven-week class for learning how to share the Gospel!!
Amazon Smile
Support Hope Community Church by choosing us as your Amazon Smile charity. Simply login to Amazon. In the upper left corner, Click Amazon Smile. If you are supporting a charity already, you will see that name. Click the dropdown arrow. Click “Change Charity”. Search for “Hope Community Church Waynesboro”. Click and select.
Exploring Hope
Come to Exploring Hope! Exploring Hope is a gathering designed to communicate a brief overview of what is important to us here at Hope Community Church. The information will include a look at what we believe, our values, our focus, our direction, and how to get connected. The class can lead to membership! Our next Exploring Hope Class will be THIS Sunday and the 27th (This is a two-part class) during the Sunday school hour in the smaller Sunday school room. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Pastor Glen!
Mission Corner
This month our church is focusing on the ministry of Love INC! Love INC helps churches help people. Members of HCC volunteer in a variety of ways to support this ministry.
Love In the Name of Christ’s vision is:
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to see Christian churches united in purpose and fully engaged in actively living out their faith
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by lovingly serving people in need in their communities.
You can visit our website and go to the Outreach Page.
Prayer Meeting
Our Weekly Prayer meeting is held at our church facility each Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. We invite you to join with us in prayer as, together, seek the Lord’s face!
Contagious Disease Preparedness Plan
The Session adopted a Contagious Disease Preparedness Plan to support our church family, as well as our visitors. We want to be supportive of our entire church family, as well as our community in this season of increased cases of COVID-19, including the new omicron variant. The plan has been sent to our members for reflection and feedback and is available at the church.