God is great, and God is good.
Let us thank him for our food.
By his hands we all are fed.
Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread.
Amen.

Simple will suffice. This week, we lift up our friends and family. We are excited to share hugs and laughter with those we love. We pray blessings upon these family gatherings. We pray for peace and harmony to reign. We pray for the downtrodden to be encouraged. We pray for the good in man to consider his neighbor. Amen.

Dear God , I want to plea for forgiveness of our transgressions and ask  you to help us share unconditional love and respect for our fellow human beings. Please grant a fence of love and respect around our homes neighborhoods city state and county.  Give us patience to share our wisdom and helps us to understand our fellow man without judgment.

-Jerry

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Romans 9:21

Tommy Pacello had vision. He could see the potential for a space before others. He could draw it for us and bring us into the landscape. We were blessed to have Tommy in Memphis.

If you moved to Memphis is the past several years, you might not know how much of transformation the area surrounding the Memphis Medical District has undergone in the past 5 years. The Edge, just beyond Autozone’s right field bleachers, seemed to be a no man’s land. Union between Bellevue and the Peabody was run down. Where we saw blight, Tommy saw potential.

Tommy helped create, and is largely responsible for, the vision leading to the walkable, growing, revitalized Memphis Medical District we see today. His legacy lives on in the work of the Memphis Medical District Collaborative and those he inspired by his perseverance and ability to bring people together with his New Urbanism ethos. When he passed away at 43 from cancer in the pandemic, leaving behind a wife and small children, we mourned.

But we are not without hope. For though we don’t know our days, God does. As much as we question our Lord, He knows the reason we are here. With death comes new life, and his work on this earth planted seeds that will be harvested later. Tonight, we lift up the MMDC and the Pacello family. May the work of the MMDC be true to its purpose and the Pacello family know how thankful we are that they shared Tommy with us. As we pray for the city block by block, we ask for a bit of the vision that Tommy had. Lord, bless the work of placemakers, and the time and place in which they do it. We pray that the Tommy Pacello Fellowship reaches its fundraising goal. In your name, Amen.

“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” Proverbs 14:27

Losing your pride is a learned virtue. Killing your ego takes practice. As my dad told me to bury a dead rattlesnake’s head because its fangs still hold poison, I find pride often trying to bite me after I think I have it pinned down.

At work, it’s the daily irritants. On the road, it’s the crazy drivers. To my spouse, it’s the terse response. With my kids, it’s the preventable accident. All knock off the spinning plate of the expected, comfortable, and unquestioned life I have going at the moment. I scream and shout, try to impose my will, all because I am the god of my life.

It’s not worth it. The battle has been won. Christ died so that we don’t have to. We die to Christ so that we don’t have to build castles of sand here on earth. Our desire to be respected and have meaning can lead us to destruction if unchecked. When we seek Christ and only hope to honor him, we stop worrying about how we feel or how we look.

For me, I know this in my mind, if not my heart. But many of our neighbors do not know that Christ died for them. They think they have to settle scores and disrespect with gun shots. They live and die by fear. It’s tragic and the trauma lives on for generations.

Tonight, we lift up those groups in Memphis seeking to stop violence, the end result of our anger and trying to impose our will over another individual. We pray for the Family Safety Center working to prevent domestic violence and care for victims. We pray for the work of Whole Child Strategies in the community. We pray for those organizations providing resources to the stressed and beaten down, like MIFA and Agape. We pray for the loving neighbors that live in these violent communities that they be protected and encouraged. We pray for Klondike-Smoky City, Westwood, Whitehaven, Binghampton, North Memphis, Hickory Hill, and other neighborhoods where too often violence is a way of life. We pray for peace in our city and our streets. We pray for a change of heart and the Holy Spirit to be present in our communities. We pray for the souls of the 341 murdered in Memphis in 2021, the too many so far in 2022, and for the violence to end now.

Lord, we pray for our own anger. We pray that You grant us patience and rest. We pray you focus us on the cross and what your death and resurrection means for us. Lord, we pray that we can align ourselves with the Holy Spirit, that You may live in us.

Father, our words may fail us, our actions may deceive us, but You never will. Give us the strength, power, and love to let go of our pride. In Your name, amen.

1 Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight – Psalm 144:1

Yesterday, we honored and saluted our veterans. Men and women chose to serve our country, drawn to protecting the American experiment. We’re grateful for their service, standing up so others don’t have to. We remember the men drafted into service in prior wars. We celebrate the acts of courage and mourn the loss of life that wars bring.

Locally, we recognize our active service members, 7500 of them in 30 commands, stationed at the Mid-South Naval Base in Millington. We send local high school graduates to our military academies and others enlist on their own. We support the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery.

Lord, David had his Mighty Men of Valor, outcasts of society turned into a ferocious fighting force. They were dedicated to David, a man described as being after God’s own heart. Lord, though we don’t seek war, give us the strength to fight when needed. Bless our military leaders with wisdom and discernment. Protect our men and women in the armed forces. Be with the loved ones left at home when soldiers go on active duty. Support and encourage them. Lord, thank you for those who have laid down their life for America so that we can have this nation today. May the best of man be representative of our military. In Christ’s name, amen.