Church Family,

I hope you are having a wonderful week and have had a chance to get some fresh air and sunshine!  We had around 20 folks in last Sunday’s Zoom worship and fellowship and it was wonderful to see people and to have conversation.  Thank you all for taking part and we’d love to see more from the congregation join us if you are so inclined! (attached is the PDF from last week’s s3ervice)

Sharing Grey Areas from Worship Conversation

I wanted to share with you some of what we talked about during the Zoom session on Sunday morning.  Together we reflected on my sermon entitled “The Grey Area” about how Jesus was able to cut through the grey area in the passage.  Here are some of the “grey areas” we identified in our world today:– Staying home or not staying home?- Boredom- Justice — when to speak? when to let it go- Politics — grey areas on many issues- Mental Health — when do you take care of others versus taking care of yourself?- Bill of Rights — what is free speech? gun rights? freedom of religion- Social Media — When should you censor ideas/beliefs? – The Right to Sue — when is it ok? – Knowing where blame and responsibility lay- Marriage Equality
We also discussed how we try to “cut through” the grey area and do the right thing.  Here is some of the shared wisdom:– Listening to multiple perspectives- When there is grey…. PRAY- Err on the side of love- Love your neighbor and Love God- Talk to a lot of people- Journal and think- Give yourself and others space- Be guided by the Fruits of the Spirit

Get Centered Devotional

The “Get Centered Devotional” for this week can be found here: https://youtu.be/KmWi3NwdZRs

Invitation from Pastor Chad

I will be sending a more expansive invitation in a second email, but I want to invite everyone in the congregation to meet with me individually or in small groups to have a spiritual “check-in” conversation.  I have put together an exercise called the Get Centered Wheel which asks you to do some reflection on your own life, goals, and spirituality and see if there are places you would like to explore more deeply as you go on your walk of faith.  I would love to meet with you and would be grateful if you would check out the attached document and see if this is something you might be willing to participate in.  As your pastor, I hope I can support you as much as I can (at your invitation) as we go through this strange and difficult time.  Let me know if you have any questions! 

WEEK of COMPASSION

MCCC will be observing the Week of Compassion from Feb 14-21st and hope you will join us in supporting this important ministry in our denomination.  The Week of Compassion is our relief, refugee, and development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and every dollar given goes to support the ministry of helping the least of these in the U.S. and around the globe.  If you want to give, designate a check to Week of Compassion in the memo or if you prefer to give online go to www.weekofcompassion.org and remember to mark down you are from Mantua Center Christian Church! 

Lent is coming…

The sacred season of Lent is almost upon us.  Lent is the season to draw closer in our walk with Christ and accompany him through Holy Week to Easter.  The worship team has been making plans to provide you with a few items to unite our common practice at home and to give plenty of opportunities to explore our faith.  The theme this year is Living the Resurrection and we will draw five values and principals from the scriptures to take with us as we move forward to live the resurrection in the name of Jesus Christ.  Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, Feb 17 with a Worship at the Windows service.  

MCCC Zoom Worship and Fellowship for this Sunday, Feb 7

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3887011421?pwd=THN5TFhyR2ZrNWxXM2RudGtka05Ldz09
Meeting ID: 388 701 1421
Passcode: 1111
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,3887011421#,,,,*1111# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,3887011421#,,,,*1111# US (New York)

God’s peace and blessing be with you! 
Chad
Sarah