Perkasie Mennonite Church

Our own Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse is excited to co-host this special virtual music event.

Perkasie Mennonite has a #LittleFreeLibrary! The library hopes to reflect the church’s welcome to those of various age, ability, class, race, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. Stop by to Take a Book, Share a Book and rest awhile on the new bench. Peace garden coming soon! #takeabookleaveabook #orjusttakeabook #socialjustice

RESTORED ( THE CONVERSION OF SAUL) by lisle gwynn garrity inspired by Acts 9:1-20 | charcoal & ink on paper Saul doesn’t just persecute Jesus’ followers, he breathes threats and murder. His hatred fumes out of him like fire, perhaps a fire tended by fearfear that his Jewish tradition will become impure or distorted, fear that the walls he’s built around who’s in and out will crumble, fear that his own hard-earned piety will diminish. He’s a force of terror, sculpted by self...-sufficiency and self-righteousness. He’s a religious extremist not so unlike the ones we know of today. Until God smacks him down, pulling his sight and self-reliance out from under him like a rug. God softens Saul’s steely heart by forcing him to confront those whom he harms, and by making him utterly dependent on relationship and others to survive. Perhaps Saul’s conversion is ultimately a radical healingGod soothes his fear and hatred with empathy and intimacy. But this isn’t just a story about Saul’s transformation. His companions on the road to Damascus are changed too, as they hear the voice of the risen Christ and escort a stumbling Saul to the city. Ananias’ conversion is the most courageous of them all. He risks everything, including his own life, to come close to one with the power to have him stoned. Only in the moments when Ananias’ fingers touch Saul’s eyes, does Saul see, for the first time, the image of the divine in one who is not his enemy, but his brother. In this image, a halo hovers around the hand of Ananias, nodding to the sacred courage required to melt the hatred of his oppressor with intimacy and connection. Scales pour out of Saul’s eyes, purging him, cleansing him, igniting him with a new and particular mission: to pour out God’s grace wherever humans try to limit it. LISLE GWYNN GARRITY a sanctified art | sanctifiedart.org Join us on Sunday August 30th, for more reflection on this story. A Zoom link can be found in our Facebook event page - Summer Worship 10: Discovering a New Path

AN IMPERFECT ALLY (PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER ADOPTS MOSES) by lisle gwynn garrity inspired by Exodus 1:22, 2:1-10 | acrylic on canvas Moses’ mother and Miriam plot a clever plan, but it’s far from foolproof. The risks far outweigh their chances for success. What if the basket they place him in leaks, drowning him instead of keeping baby Moses afloat? What if the current gets too strong, or the winds pick up, or he gets stuck in a tangle of reeds? What if the wrong person finds him ...and fulfills Pharaoh’s command? What if Pharaoh’s daughter is moved with disgust when she sees what floats into her private bathing quarters? Even if Pharaoh’s daughter decides to keep the child as her own, what will keep Pharaoh from killing Moses when she’s not looking? Their plan is too perilous, too fraught with danger for any infant to endure. And yet, we know of mothers who risk desert heat, fatigue, illness, dehydration, criminalized border crossings, and facilities with cages to pursue the slight chancethe mere hopeof survival for their child. Why would they do this? Because to stay home and succumb to the sure threats of genocideor gang violence, or civil waris far more dangerous. In this image, I gave the viewer the vantage point Pharaoh’s daughter might have had. What melts her heart with mercy when she sees this Hebrew child float downstream? Was a well of rebellion rising up within her, making her eager to subvert her father’s orders? Was she poisoned like most Egyptians with bias against the Israelites, but did the innocence and vulnerability of an infant shift her heart toward love? Had she desperately wanted a child of her own? Regardless of her motives, Pharaoh’s daughter uses her power and privilege to act as an ally to Moses and his family in their worst unraveling. It’s not a perfect solution, but God doesn’t need perfection to achieve liberation. LISLE GWYNN GARRITY a sanctified art | sanctifiedart.org Join us on Sunday August 23rd, for more reflection on this story. A Zoom link can be found in our Facebook event page - Summer Worship 9: When Our Plans for Our Children Unravel