An urgent update from Pastor Mark
My dear Chapel Hill family:
Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy!
I am grieved by the unrest that is rending our country as we speak and feel compelled to reach out to you again, twice in one morning. One of the challenges of our present digital reality is that we are working many days ahead of time in order to make deadlines—and sometimes are not able to respond in a timely fashion to fast-changing circumstances.
One such circumstance is the racial unrest resulting from the in-custody death of George Floyd. Although every person deserves the presumption of innocence in this country, the video capturing his death beneath a police officer’s knee is horrifying and disturbing. The resulting firestorm of violence is also disturbing. From all this…our prayers cry out.
We are already planning on a prayer walk tomorrow for the sake of our local businesses. (You can read more about the details of the prayer walk HERE.) In light of this terrible unrest, I invite us to include in our entreaties to the Lord, prayers for Mr. Floyd’s family, for the officials and people of Minneapolis, and for the powder keg across the country that has been lit.
Perhaps you can scatter across the parking lot before you begin your walk, and offer up such prayers. Perhaps as you walk and pray in the business areas, you can lift up similar areas in other parts of the country that are ground zero for violence, outrage and pain.
And for your information, I will be speaking on this issue in next week’s sermon, “God Heard Their Groans.”
Meantime, wherever you are, I beg you to become a praying people. If not now, when?
Lord…have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy.
Pastor Mark