ST. MARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: THE INTERACTIONS CLASS

Saint Mark
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH


781 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30308-1205

404.873.2636
facsimile: 404.873.2639

office@stmarkumc.org
WWW.stmarkumc .org

July 1,2015

To James Avery,

Acting on behalf of the congregation as represented by Administrative Council of Saint Mark United Methodist Church, we, the Board of Trustees, hereby notify James Avery that his presence on the property of Saint Mark United Methodist Church, 781 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta Georgia 30308; bounded by Peachtree Street, Fifth Street, and Juniper Street, shall constitute a criminal trespass from the time of the delivery of this notice forward.

E.C. LaRocca-Pitts
Senior Pastor, representing the Board of Trustees

Loving
Accepting
Serving

***

James E. Avery, DVM

1840 Mason Mill Road

Decatur, GA 30033

404.788.9263

JEAveryDVM87@att.net

www.anattemptathumility.blogspot.com

www.twistedpurplecow.blogspot.com

www.minusfleshequalswaterandspirits.blogspot.com

July 13, 2015

To  Rev. Dr. Beth LaRocca-Pitts/Congregation St. Mark ,

Can't help but be amused by this letter handed to me by two black uniformed officers the Sunday morning of July 5th when showing up for the Interactions Class.

About

St Mark UMC | Interactions Class

The Interactions Class at St. Mark is composed of individuals, both coupled and single, of varying ages, who explore life’s interactions and their consequences. Personal and interpersonal interconnections with partners, family, friends, the church, the community, and the world-at-large are discussed from a Christian perspective in this class that welcomes all.

The Interactions Class was originally called the Couples Class since it was a class designed for both gay and straight couples to share their experiences and to grow in their relationships.  The Couples Class began in 1998 with John and Jeri Hannula as class leaders.   The Couples Class and the Sunday Breakfast Class merged in early 2011 to form the current Interactions Class. The class also enjoys occasional social activities and retreats.  Bill Whittaker and Matthew Malok are the current class leaders.

10:10 – 11:00 a.m. Every Sunday – Room 206

Interactions Classes I've attended:

Bobby Strickland on June 14

Jun 11, 2015 by Matthew

Join us this coming Sunday, June 14 when Bobby Strickland will be presenting “Naked and Unashamed” at 10:10 am in room 206.

Spoke quite a good while with a Alice after this class.  Found out she and her husband, also there with her but nowhere around as the two of us talked, were the parents of a son who is gay;  formerly Baptist..?

Told her a little bit about my relationship with my family in Arkansas.  Alice even laughed slightly when  commenting, how, my mother would rather give a grown man up for adoption than accept she raised a gay son.  At one point Alice tells me, even after having explained how I justified my Atheism, that I was "a child of God."  

Here's the part where our conversation turned South:  

Upon hearing Alice telling me that she knows she's going to heaven:

"If you believe in Heaven, this also means there is the possibility of a hell..?"

Unfortunately, we didn't discuss this topic beyond this point.

Then I spoke my opinion about I.S.I.S. halfway around the world; how I felt that we here in the United States where somewhat responsible for all those caught in between us and the atrocities committed by I.S.I.S.

"You analyze things too much," 

I believe were the last words we spoke.

Paresh Sheth on June 21

Jun 20, 2015 by Matthew

Join us on Father’s Day, June 21, in room 206 at 10:10 am when Paresh Sheth will present “East Meets West.”

Upon learning that this morning's presentation was going to be about, having arrived early for a change, I sought out Paresh and showed him a printed version of one of the many signs I've made to display in the front yard of my home located within the shadows of near-by secular Methodist Emory University; a liberal arts and science campus on which Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church is located. 

Again, I explained how I thought our actions here in the United States were somewhat responsible for the atrocities committed by I.S.I.S. against ethnic minorities and even differing political views;  even if worlds apart.  Without saying anything, he seemed to agree.  It was hard to tell.  And after listening to his presentation, the part about his relationship with his father and his relationship with his wife I found especially interesting, I'm not sure he believes in a god either.  It was hard to tell. 

Afterward I went up to Alice Husband and asked why she wasn't with him this morning.  When hearing she wasn't feeling well that morning;  "I hope I haven't upset her in any way; I did give her an earful?"  

"She had nothing but good things to say about you," 

I was relieved hearing.  

Then I asked him to tell her I said hello. 

I was now troubled by the realization that two Sunday classes had pass without even any mention/discussion of a tragedy having happened recently.  So, wanting to talk about the nine African-American Methodists just recently killed in Charleston, South Carolina, I walked up to the white one of this pair of considered to be the class leaders, Matthew Malok:

"No one likes discussing the topics I'm wanting to talk about, 

so, 

I apologize up front.  

Do you realize what a fucking joke this massacre made of that 

'NO GUNS ALLOWED' 

sign recently put up out in front of this church..?"

 It was immediately obvious that he was not at all pleased to hear this.  Matthew then makes the excuse that he urgently was needing to talk to a couple of other people and begins walking away.  No offer of discussing my concerns, later, pretty much told me no need bothering with this one anymore. 

Jon Woody on June 28

Jun 24, 2015 by Matthew

 

Join us on Sunday, June 28 at 10:10 am in room 206 when Jon Woody will be presenting 

“All God’s Children.”

Now this one, did, talks about the Confederate fag... some.   FLAG!  I meant to say;  he...DID...talk about the Confederate...FLAG...some..?  

And he did  mention a trip to Selma, Alabama..? 

The Saint Mark Social Justice Ministry is proud to offer a day trip to Selma, Alabama, to participate in the reenactment of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that led to the watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement known as “Bloody Sunday”. This story was depicted in the Academy Award nominated film Selma which was recently released.

When: Sunday, March 8, 2015
Time: Load bus and depart at 9am  ( remember we spring forward the night before )
Cost: $25 per person (covers cost of transport on charter bus – lunch is on your own)

We will arrive in Selma around 11:30am, have an opportunity to see the Voter Rights Museum and get lunch, then participate in the pre-march rally at 1:30, join in the reenactment march across the bridge at 2:30, and attend the post-march rally on the other side of the bridge at 3:30. We will load the bus to return to Atlanta at approximately 5pm. We should arrive back at Saint Mark by 9pm… we will not be stopping for dinner so you may want to pack something to eat for the the return home.

To reserve your spot, please email Josh Noblitt or call 404-873-2636, ext 19.

But, overall, it mostly sounded like a Barney and Friends' song..?

I love you You love me

We're a happy family

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.

Won't you say you love me too

I love you You love me

We're best friends like friends should be

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.

Won't you say you love me too

I love you You love me

We're a happy family

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.

Won't you say you love me too

I love you You love me

We're best friends like friends should be

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.

Won't you say you love me too

Oh boy does he have a lot of face book friends I'm learning later.  Some of them I even used to know..?

But not until after the two of us agreeing to meet at another time and playing a game of Pollyanna vs. Carrie; seeing if Pollyanna able talking her way out of a prom night gym fire..?

"LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! 

 If I hear "GOD IS LOVE" one more time I'm gonna scream! "

As I'm leaving on my way out the back entrance, I said this to the black female officer, I guessing, hired as extra security because of the recent SCROTUS ruling regarding same-sex marriage.  Then I describe to her a cool toy gun that I own, a water pistol actually;  the desire wanting to go home and coming back with it teaching these sheltered "Faggots" a lesson.

Then I stuck around long enough discussing with this black female officer...Malcolm X... and the importance of his presence near-by within the shadows of Martin Luther King to the success of MLK's I Have a Dream speech.  Even asking her, what do you think might have  happened if civil legislation had not passed immediately following that soaring speech given by Martin Luther King..?

http://minusfleshequalswaterandspirits.blogspot.com/2015/06/st-mark-united-metodist-church.html

It was this same black female officer, one of the two, presenting me with a letter from Congregation St. Mark, informing me of criminal trespassing the following Sunday.

http://minusfleshequalswaterandspirits.blogspot.com/2015/07/st-mark-united-methodist-church-sunday.html

Rev? Dr? Beth, do you remember the very first words you heard coming out of my mouth the very first time we met face to face after the very first Sunday Worship Service I attended at St. Mark..?  

"Although you have the wording down to an art sounding otherwise; 

Christianity is still an exclusionary religion."

~(Simply Jim:  Methodist Fag the Political Catalyst)~

 Do you even remember what the sermon was about that day..?  How does Josh Noblitt get away with being an exception to this Methodist polity of not allowing self avowed practicing homosexuals ordained as ministers..?  

http://www.twistedpurplecow.blogspot.com/2013/11/three-wise-monkeys-paradox.html

I'm actually quite proud of this letter informing me of criminal trespassing; thinking of having it framed and hanging it up on my wall next to a framed quote I purchased at an estate sale of a female judge who never married:

“People can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.”

― James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room

Baldwin's lengthy essay "Down at the Cross" (frequently called The Fire Next Time after the title of the book in which it was published) similarly showed the seething discontent of the 1960s in novel form. The essay was originally published in two oversized issues of The New Yorker and landed Baldwin on the cover of Time magazine in 1963 while Baldwin was touring the South speaking about the restive Civil Rights movement. Around the time of publication of The Fire Next Time, Baldwin became a known spokesperson for civil rights and a celebrity noted for championing the cause of black Americans. He frequently appeared on television and delivered speeches on college campuses. The essay talked about the uneasy relationship between Christianity and the burgeoning Black Muslim movement. After publication, several black nationalists criticized Baldwin for his conciliatory attitude. They questioned whether his message of love and understanding would do much to change race relations in America. The book was eagerly consumed by whites looking for answers to the question: What do blacks really want? Baldwin's essays never stopped articulating the anger and frustration felt by real-life black Americans with more clarity and style than any other writer of his generation. Baldwin's next book-length essay, No Name in the Street, also discussed his own experience in the context of the later 1960s, specifically the assassinations of three of his personal friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

While he wrote about the movement, Baldwin aligned himself with the ideals of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1963 he conducted a lecture tour of the South for CORE, traveling to locations like Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana. During the tour, he lectured to students, white liberals, and anyone else listening about his racial ideology, an ideological position between the "muscular approach" of Malcolm X and the nonviolent program of Martin Luther King Jr..

Sincerely yours,

James E. Avery, DVM

P.S. 

 Here's quote I've come across:

"Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color."

         

And now...

What did the Tortoise and Pedophile have in common?

  My ribald licentious sense of  humor:

THEY BOTH

As we must first be introduced to God before being aware of God...

GET THERE BEFORE THE HARE  

As stuff put into our heads when a kid never really goes away... 

does!

By default, 

color of  pubic hair can now...when in doubt... be used determining ones 

only "FREEDOM OF WORSHIP" choice

 available.

Get it!

James "BALD" wins!