Calvary United Methodist Church - Philadelphia

What better way to honor Labor Day (Weekend) than with this text:

“Now be doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.” - James 1:22

Hope you'll join us tomorrow - in person or virtually - for worship: allmeansall.org/worship.

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Find the thing that stirs your heart and make room for it." - Joan Chittister

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

See ya for tomorrow? Pastor Tim is back in the mix, so we hope you'll join us in person or virtually: allmeansall.org/worship.

Sermon: “Armor of Resistance"

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may … stand firm” - Ephesians 6:13a

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Grace is the permanent climate of divine kindness; the perennial infusion of springtime into the winter of bleakness." - John O'Donohue

To view or subscribe: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

ACTION ALERT TODAY!

End the ICE contracts at the Moshannon, Pike, Clinton, and Elizabeth Detention Centers now!

WHEN: Today, August 21 @ 3:30 PM
WHERE: Philadelphia ICE Field Office (114 N. 8th St)

ICE and immigrant detention are inhumane. They tear families apart, destroy dreams, and cause suffering. Please join New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia - Nuevo Movimiento Santuario and others (see below) to demand the end of the ICE contracts and the closure of the four regional detention centers - Moshannon, Clinton, Elizabeth, and Pike. Big thanks to Pennsylvania Immigration & Citizenship Coalition, Free Migration Project, CAIR - Philadelphia Chapter, and Detention Watch Network for planning this protest.

Immigrant rights are human rights, and every person deserves dignity, justice, and joy!

If you can’t make it to the rally, please call your legislators using the script below.

Script: “President Biden and Vice President Harris/Senator, I'm a Pennsylvanian and I want to see my immigrant neighbors safe and free of deportation and detention. End the ICE contracts at the Moshannon, Pike, Clinton, and Elizabeth Detention Centers now."

Phone numbers:
Sen. Casey: (610) 782-9470
Sen. Fetterman: (215) 241-1090
Pres. Biden & VP Harris: (202) 456-1111

While Pastor Tim remains out of the office until Monday, we welcome back our very own Lesley Curtis to guest preach tomorrow! Join us in person or virtually as usual: allmeansall.org/worship.

Sermon: “Loving the Material”

“To honor our grief, to grant it space and time in our frantic world, is to fulfill a covenant with the soul – to welcome all that is, thereby granting room for our most authentic life.” - Francis Weller

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble." - Bayard Rustin

To view or subscribe: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Join us for worship this Sunday, 11 am, as we welcome back Rev. David Tatgenhorst as our guest preacher! Rev. David is a retired United Methodist pastor, and former pastor at Calvary in the early-mid 1990s.

allmeansall.org/worship

Sermon: "Prisoners of Hope"

“… making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ...”- Ephesians 4:3

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Every time we draw a line between us and others, Jesus is always on the other side of it." - Nadia Bolz-Weber

To view or subscribe to the full Connections for Calvary and other community-related updates: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Beat the summer heat and join us for worship (with Communion) tomorrow, 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship. All are welcome!

Sermon: "Complaints and Confessions"

“David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the HOLY ONE.'" - 2 Samuel 12:13a

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it." - Richard Rohr

To view or subscribe to the full Connections e-newsletter: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Worship as usual this Sunday, 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship. Join us in person (with air-conditioning!) or virtually (via Zoom).

Sermon: "Rooted and Grounded in Love"

“... as you are being rooted and grounded in love." - Ephesians 3:17b

REGISTRATION OPEN!! CLBSJ's Fourth Black August Series launches on August 1. For five sessions in August, we will be looking at Panafricanism, Internationalism and African Liberation -- what is going on today, and what does the Bible have to do with it? Speakers will include Rev. Dr. Hugh Page, Elvine Belinda Andjembe Etogho, Dr. Steed Vernyl Davidson, Rev. Dr. Kenneth Ngwa, Cleo Silvers, Dr. Musa Dube, Sithembiso Zwane, Dr. Alice Yafeh-Deigh and others to be announced.

You can register for one, several or all of the sessions at this link: https://clbsj.civicrm.org/civicrm/event/list

PLEASE NOTE: We are using a new “cart” technology which allows you to register for multiple events at once. Add each session you wish to attend to your “cart.” Once you initiate the checkout process, you will be given an option to select a donation amount for each session. Please choose event donations that comport with your financial capacity — please give more if you can, and do not hesitate to select $0 if you need to. All are welcome!

ANOTHER NOTE! Because we have set a goal to make our sessions more accessible to a wider section of the globe, this year we will hold sessions at two different times. The first three sessions will be at our usual time, Thursdays at 7:30pm Eastern US Time, and the last two sessions will be on Saturdays at 11am Eastern US Time, which is 4pm West Africa Time and 5pm Central Africa Time.

Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions or technical issues with the registration process. Looking forward to learning and journeying together!

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Our religions are worthless if they aren't causing us to live and act justly. God does not divide between justice and worship." - Kaitlyn Schiess

To see or subscribe to the full Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

From Pastor Tim's sermon yesterday, "Sheep Without a Shepherd" (Jeremiah 23:1-4 / Mark 6:30-34):

So may we be sheep, not dumb but fully aware of our dependence, our interdependence, attuned and RESPONSIVE not just to ANY voice but to the voice of the HOLY ONE, the voice of Love itself, calling us back, again and again, from our wandering and waywardness, to love. And in love, to the safety and security of the flock TO which we all belong, and ON which we all depend.

But even as we are sheep, we are called, all of us, to be shepherds to and for and with each other. God is on the lookout for good shepherds. Sometimes we need to lead, to tend, to make OUR voices heard. And so may we be the good shepherds we’ve been waiting for, attuned and ATTENTIVE to the needs of those around us, to the world around us. Rooted in love above all else, and so ready to offer care and show compassion to those who are scattered and lost, hungry and afraid, until all are fed – and as Jeremiah says, so that all “shall no longer fear or be dismayed,” … “nor shall any be missing” from the fold.

To read or hear the full sermon: allmeansall.org/sermons.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Come as you are, in person or virtually, for informal worship at 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship.

Sermon: "Sheep Without a Shepherd"

“… he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, …” - Mark 6:34a

Words to Live & Love By from this week's Calvary Connections:

"In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart." - Blaise Pascal

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Pastor Tim is back for worship tomorrow as usual, 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship. All are welcome, in person or virtually (via Zoom).

Sermon: "Plumb and Level"

“Then God said, 'See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people ...'" - Amos 7:8b

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"I used to believe there was some line between what is sacred and common, miraculous and mundane. My perspective had to shift
to see that actually all of the bushes are burning, the entire world is ablaze." - Lisa Gungor

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Our former pastor, Rev. John Pritchard, is back again this Sunday. Join us for hybrid worship and Communion at 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship.

Sermon: "Take a Whiff"

“'Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?' And they took offense at him." - Mark 6:3

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"An economy based on waste is inherently and hopelessly violent, and war is its inevitable byproduct. We need a
peaceable economy." - Wendell Berry

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Join us this Sunday as we welcome back former Calvary pastor, Rev. John Pritchard, as our guest preacher - this week and next!

allmeansall.org/worship

Sermon: "Healing Faith"

“He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.'" - Mark 5:34

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"Service is the rent we pay for living. It is not something to do in your spare time, it is the very purpose of life." - Marian Wright Edelman

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Calvary Connections ​​This week's ​​​Calvary Connections:

Hybrid worship as usual tomorrow, 11 am. Join us in person or virtually: allmeansall.org/worship.

Gonna be hot in Philly, but a reminder that we now have air-conditioning inside - for the first time ever at Calvary!

No sermon this week, but we'll do some reflecting on faith and fear:
“He said to them, 'Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?'" - Mark 4:40

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"What does your life say?" - Parker Palmer

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Join us in person or virtually (via Zoom) tomorrow as usual, 11 am: allmeansall.org/worship.

Sermon: "Scattering Seeds"

“The realm of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, … and the seed would sprout and grow, they do not know how.” - Mark 4:26

Words to Live & Love By, from this week's Calvary Connections:

"We have to ask not, 'Are you saved?', but rather, 'In light of the universe we've inherited and the gift of our lives, what kind of human beings ought we be? What kind of human beings does the God of the universe require of us?'" - James Lawson Jr.

To view or subscribe to Connections: allmeansall.org/calvary-connections.

Celebrating (officially June 19) this weekend in Philly, including the Philadelphia Juneteenth Parade and Festival on Sunday!