00:00today is day six in mercy creek and the lesson comes from galatians six paul wrote if someone is caught
00:12in a sin you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently
00:17restore gently not ignore it not excuse it not shame them until there is nothing left restore
00:29gently then paul says carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of christ
00:41now that's a different kind of mercy it's not soft on truth it is soft toward the wounded soul
00:50and on tuesday morning in mercy creek the town was about to learn that serving with a towel was one
00:58thing restoring someone gently was another the towel from monday night was still folded over the chair in
01:07the church basement pastor caleb had left it there grace bennett had offered to wash it but ruth caldwell
01:16stopped her not yet ruth said some lessons need to stay where people can see them so it stayed a
01:27plain
01:27towel folded over a metal chair still holding the memory of jesus kneeling on the wet floor while
01:35everyone else learned what greatness looked like by tuesday morning the basement was dry enough to smell
01:44like old carpet again grace brought leftover biscuits from the diner nora reyes came by after her shift from
01:53the clinic while mateo was still rubbing sleep from his eyes deputy thomas reed carried in a box of bottled
02:03water
02:03hank miller hank miller showed up with the tool bag and said the storage shelves were crooked sam came
02:12behind him carrying coffee hank took one cup without saying thank you buddy took it and in mercy creek that
02:23counted as progress eli harper came last he stopped at the bottom of the stairs hand in his hands in
02:33his
02:33hoodie pocket looking at the room like he still expected it to reject him lily saw him first
02:41you're late she said eli looked at the clock only by four minutes that is still late you the boss
02:52now lily
02:54pointed to the pantry shelves i am in charge of labels eli almost smiled big promotion he walked toward the
03:04pantry
03:06then he stopped there was a note taped to the door one sheet of white paper block letters
03:16this church is not a place for troublemakers some people should be watched not welcomed eli stared at it
03:26the room seemed to shrink around him lily came up beside him her face changed
03:36eli she whispered but he had already pulled the note off the door
03:42pastor caleb saw it from across the room eli wait eli crumpled it in his fist
03:50i knew it grace moved toward him sweetheart let us see it i said i knew it his voice was
04:00quiet but
04:01it had a hard edge nora stepped closer mateo tucked behind her leg
04:09deputy reed looked uncomfortable hank's face tightened sam looked down ruth closed her eyes
04:19and jesus was already standing near the towel no one had seen him come in he looked at eli then
04:29at the
04:29the crumpled paper in his hand may i see it eli shook his head it does not matter jesus said
04:39gently
04:40it mattered enough to hurt you that stopped him slowly eli handed him the note jesus opened it he read
04:52it once
04:54then he folded it carefully as if even an ugly thing should not be handled carelessly
05:02pastor caleb's voice was low who wrote that nobody answered but everybody thought of someone
05:12that is one of the dangerous things about judgment it starts making guesses before truth arrives
05:20miss pritchard came down the stairs a few minutes later with a a tray of muffins from the pharmacy break
05:28room
05:29she stopped when she saw everyone looking at her
05:32what deputy reed pointed at the note miss pritchard did you write this her face went pale then stiff
05:44i wrote what needed to be said grayson inhaled sharply eli laughed under his breath
05:53there it is miss pritchard looked at him young man some of us remember broken windows police calls and the
06:03way
06:03people lock their doors when you walk by eli's face went red hank stepped forward enough miss pritchard turned
06:14on him don't you start acting holy hank miller this town has watched you carry anger like a badge for
06:22years
06:23the room went silent hank looked like he had been hit sam took one step toward him then stopped
06:34pastor caleb said miss pritchard but she was already crying
06:42i am tired she said i am tired of pretending people do not scare me i am tired of acting
06:49like every
06:50person is just misunderstood i am tired of this town making room for trouble and calling it mercy
07:01nobody spoke because she was wrong and also afraid and fear can make people cruel while they think they are
07:11being careful jesus walked to the center of the basement he held the note in one hand then he looked
07:20around
07:21the room yesterday he said softly you learned to bend low with a towel his eyes moved from face to
07:32face today you must
07:35learn what to do when someone hurts someone else miss pritchard wiped her cheeks jesus looked at eli
07:45this note was wrong eli swallowed jesus looked at miss pritchard fear does not give love permission to wound
07:58she lowered her head then jesus looked at the room but if you now make her the person everyone is
08:07allowed to
08:07shame you have only moved the stone from one hand to another well that landed hard deputy reed looked at
08:19the floor
08:20grace put her hand on lily's shoulder hank breathed out slowly jesus continued restore gently does not mean pretend
08:31gently he held up the note this must be named then he lowered it but restoration is not the same
08:42as public punishment
08:45miss pritchard's shoulders shook i was trying to protect the church jesus said my father's house is not protected by
08:57fear
08:57she covered her mouth jesus stepped closer to her not harshly but truthfully you owe him an apology
09:10miss pritchard looked at eli he would not look back i am sorry she said eli stared at the pantry
09:19door
09:20that sounded like church sorry grace closed her eyes pastor caleb almost stepped in but jesus lifted one hand
09:31gently miss pritchard nodded tears running down her face you are right she took a breath i wrote that because
09:42i was
09:43afraid of you and because i thought i already knew who you were i hurt you on purpose and then
09:52i called it protecting people
09:55eli's jaw moved i don't know what to do with that jesus said you do not have to know today
10:05eli looked at him
10:10jesus said forgiveness can begin before trust knows how to stand that sentence settled in the room like rain
10:20after dust ruth walked to the pantry door and removed the last piece of tape then she picked up a
10:30fresh sheet
10:30of paper from the paper from the table what should the sign say she asked no one answered it first
10:38then lily
10:40raised her hand it should say people are not labels eli looked at her that is kind of cheesy lily
10:50shrugged
10:52you can write a better one then he took the marker for a long moment eli just stood there
11:01then he wrote if you need food ask if you need help ask if you're afraid to ask come anyway
11:14pastor
11:16caleb read it and wiped his eyes nora whispered that one so they taped it to the pantry door
11:26this time eli held the tape miss pritchard stayed near the back of the room not pushed out not excused
11:36just quiet a little later she began picking up chairs hank saw her struggling with one and walked over
11:45her for a second he looked like he did not want to help then he took the other side miss
11:53pritchard looked
11:54surprised thank you hank nodded i know what it's like to say something because the hurt gets there first
12:04sam heard that from across the room he did not say anything but he heard it by afternoon the church
12:15basement felt different again not happier deeper because mercy creek had learned that mercy is not only
12:26mercy for the person everyone already feels sorry for mercy is also for the person who spoke wrong
12:36the person who judged too fast the person who acted out of fear
12:42the person who had to face what was ugly inside them and that well that became the lesson of day
12:53six
12:53jesus does not call us to ignore sin he calls us to restore gently to tell the truth without trying
13:04to destroy
13:06to correct without crushing to protect without becoming cruel
13:15to carry each other's burdens even when one of those burdens is the shame of being wrong maybe today
13:26jesus is asking us to look at the note we have written in our own hearts the label the suspicion
13:34the sentence we already passed on someone the fear we dressed up as wisdom
13:40the hurt we turned into judgment and maybe he is asking us to take it down
13:49not because truth does not matter but because people matter too
13:57tomorrow is day seven and mercy creek will face the final lesson of the week
14:04because after hunger storms towels hard truth and general restoration
14:11the town will have to learn what it means to keep walking in the way of jesus
14:17when he is no longer standing where they can see him
14:23can't wait till i see you tomorrow friends have a beautiful day
14:27my name is douglas vandergraaf and i believe in jesus christ god bless every single one of you
14:37every single one see you tomorrow
14:43maybe you tomorrow
14:47you
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