WORSHIP
By GEORGE MASON
Hello, it’s me, again.
WORSHIP
Wi t h a re m i n d e r to b e k i n d e r
BAPTIST
A
pologies to Adele and my grade-school grammar teacher (pop artists aren’t much on predicate nominatives). After saying goodbye a few months ago to my regular monthly column, I am back in a quarterly rotation with some admired colleagues. What have I missed? The opportunity to write about the spiritual significance of unfettered access to guns after Uvalde; Southern Baptists facing up to a legacy of institutional coverups of sexual abuse; Jan. 6 Congressional hearings; the Russian invasion of Ukraine; stock market swooning and inflation ballooning; COVID-19 hanging around like an old boyfriend: Nothing much, huh? Let’s take a summer break. Bad news has a way of dominating our dispositions. We get cranky with ourselves and one another when it seems the world is cracking apart. But the goodness of God shines through like a shaft of light through a dark cloud. We see it in the small acts of kindness of good people. Like the young couple who found a wallet while strolling through the Water Gardens in Fort Worth a few months ago. Yours truly had absentmindedly lef t it on one of the concrete steps under a tree. The sinking feeling of reaching for my wallet at a restaurant and finding an empty pocket led to my rushing back to the spot and finding it gone. Af ter canceling credit cards and applying for a replacement drivers license and insurance cards, I settled in to days of beating up on myself for my stupidity. Then out of the blue, a call came t o t h e c h u r c h t h at s o m e o n e h a d found my wallet. They had sleuthed
PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org
the Internet and figured out who I was. I drove to Fort Worth and recovered the wallet with more cash in it than I knew I had. After paying a hefty reward that was received with embarrassed gratitude, my faith in humanity was restored along with my valuables. In this summer of our discontent, I am reminded that goodness can s t i l l b e f o u n d a m o n g u s . I d o n’ t know whether the young couple was informed by a faith tradition or was simply acting out of shared sense of humanity. But either way, this is what keeps hope alive when we think all is lost in our striving for self-interest. Neighbors I didn’t know cared for someone they didn’t know as if it had happened to them. Our community and our country depend on ac ts of vir tue. People looking out for one another as if everything depends upon our actions. When we despair for the state of the world and worr y that we can’t count on anyone but ourselves, a simple gesture of kindness changes ever ything. What if we could imagine the consequences of every vote and every political decision on people we don’t know before we act? How would it change our city, our state and our country if we followed the example of a young couple like them? The ties that bind us would never be broken.
GEORGE MASON is pastor of Wilshire Baptist
Bible Study 9:15 / Worship Services 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500 WILSHIRE BAPTIST CHURCH / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100
Open to all / Worship at 11 a.m. Sunday School at 10 a.m. / wilshirebc.org
BIBLE CHURCHES NORTH HIGHLANDS BIBLE CHURCH / nhbc.net / 9626 Church Rd.
214.348.9697 / Sun: LifeQuest 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am / Sun: Youth 6-8 pm/Wed: AWANA 6-8 pm
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185
Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org
E P I S C O PA L ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH / stjd.org
Worship: Sat 5:30 pm, Sun 8 & 10:30 am / Christian Ed Sunday Morning & Weekdays, see calendar on website / 214.321.6451 / 848 Harter Rd.
LUTHERAN CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road
A Welcoming and Affirming Church / Rev. K.M. Truhan Sunday School 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am / CentralLutheran.org FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA) / 6202 E Mockingbird Ln.
Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule. 214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org
METHODIST FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH RICHARDSON
503 N Central Exwy / fumcr.com / 972.235.8385 / Dr. Clayton Oliphint 8:45, 9:45, 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Modern LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com
Sunday Morning 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am coffee Worship 8:30 am & 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Contemporary
PRESBYTERIAN LAKE HIGHLANDS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 214.348.2133
8525 Audelia Road at NW Hwy. / www.lhpres.org 9:00 am Contemporary, 9:55 am Christian Ed., 11:00 am Traditional NORTHPARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / Summer Worship at 10:00 a.m.
www.northparkpres.org / 9555 N. Central Expy. / 214.363.5457 Welcoming Seekers, Thinkers and Doers. NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. 214.827.5521 / www.northridgepc.org / Sunday Worship 10:00 am Church that feels like church and welcomes like family. PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org
Church, president of Faith Commons and host of the “Good God” podcast. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.
34 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com AUGUST 2022
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