The newest 1001 New Worshiping Community, Mercy Junction & their Holy Heretic

Who is God? The newest 1001 New Worshiping Community, Mercy Junction, isn’t certain. Their new e-magazine, Holy Heretic, within its August edition, will help you embrace any viewpoint, including atheism, pantheism, polytheism and goddess worship. If that isn’t good enough they will allow you to read a spoof (I hope it is a spoof) in which founder Brian Merritt encountered a god who was drunk.  The whole community is backed by East Tennessee presbytery and Renaissance Presbyterian Church. And, of course, because it is a part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and their 1001 New Worshiping Communities project, it is endorsed by the denomination

The “devotional” e-magazine, Holy Heretic, has been published several times on various subjects including prayer and justice. But the August edition on God seems to me to lay the foundation for their advocacy work. Since Holy Heretic is intended to be devotional after each description of the various views of God is a little exercise to help the reader experience that type of belief.

At the end of the page on the goddess, the devotional author writes:

“The moon has been used since ancient times as a symbol for the feminine and the Goddess (And her three incarnations, mother, maiden and crone.) The connection likely began because the moon’s 29 day cycle of waxing and waning is a schedule similar to menstrual cycle.[1] Tonight the moon will be more than halfway toward waxing into her fullest, most glorious self-reaching her complete magnificence on Sunday. Starting tonight take time to spend at least 10 minutes in the moonlight, returning each evening until the full moon is achieved. Let yourself relax, let your brain rest. Just be. Go with what you feel. Do you want to dance in the moonshine? Sing to the lady in the sky? Throw back your head and howl?”

At the very end they ask for the readers experiences and give their Facebook page.

On the page about pantheism, which is written under the title, “God is Nature,” the exercise is:

“Today recognize yourself held safely by the universe. Imagine yourself within the womb of god, as you move about planet Earth. The Universe is providing you with all you need- air to breathe, nourishment, water, love. Be extra good to yourself today. Drink water, eat a healthy meal. Go for a long walk after dinner- touch nature with your hands, see her with your eyes, hear her with your ears. Get a full night’s rest. Be safe, be comfortable, be nurtured.”

There are several pages that speak of Christian beliefs, but the exercises are never directed toward the word of God and the worship of the triune God. Not even the page on the Trinity. Instead there is this:

“Both the dove that descended during Jesus’ baptism and the fire in Cantus’ drawing [picture on the page] are symbols of the Holy Spirit. The Celtic Church used the Wild Goose, a loud, independent untamed bird as their symbol. Today, create your own symbol for the Spirit, whatever you might conceive the Spirit to be.”

One trembles before such arrogance that so clearly defies the exclusive claims of God’s Word.  This is all done, supposedly, in order that those of other faiths could be included in the advocacy work of Mercy Junction. But not only is the Church called to do works of righteousness, she is first of all called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. She is called to proclaim Jesus and his redemption. This isn’t done by worshipping the moon, the self or any other thing. Only the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is worthy of our praise.

The denomination is sick and in need of God’s healing. But that healing will not come until the denomination turns back to Jesus the Lord of the Church.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the Judgment that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wought in God.” (John 3:16-21)

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[1] The idea that the moon and her cycles have anything to do with some kind of ancient goddess worship is a myth. The idea of “mother, maiden, crone” is a myth invented in the 19^th century. See The Rise of Radical Feminism in Mainline Churches: A History # 4