Church Family,

As we enter this beautiful fall season, with its crisp air and changing leaves, we step into a time of gratitude and community. This Sunday, we are celebrating World Communion Sunday, joining together with our Christian family all around the globe in a shared experience of the Lord’s Table. It’s a reminder that we are part of something much bigger—one body, one faith, one hope—uniting us across borders and cultures. This Sunday we are celebrating by bringing different kinds of bread to the Table. Bring your favorite bread and be ready to enjoy some bread after the service!  As we gather, we invite everyone to embrace this season of connection, both with one another and with the world. Just as fall reminds us of the harvest, World Communion Sunday calls us to celebrate the spiritual harvest of unity, peace, and love that God continues to grow among us. This is a wonderful way to close our focus on unity and to remind ourselves to put it in action in the world. 

Sunday Skit

I am so thankful to Rick, Jon, and Ally for taking part in the sermon last Sunday. When originally writing the skit part of the sermon I had the characters talk to one another in dialog. But then it occurred to me—most of the time we don’t talk to one another! Instead we stay in our bubbles and only speak with people who agree with us. Even so, I hope that our message from the Epistle of James reminded us that we can still be generous and willing listeners to people even if they aren’t in the room with us. When we hear people of a different way of thinking share their religious or political beliefs, it can benefit us greatly to listen carefully and to try to hear what the true value behind their thinking is. We may not end up agreeing, but it is an act of generosity and love to try to understand. I appreciated the feedback Sunday from multiple people saying that this helped them take a more understanding lens to conversations with people they disagree with, but who they care about. This is a divisive time, but we can be the good we want to see in the world and still be passionate about what we think and believe.  

Sunday School Info

I was made aware of some questions about our Sunday School program at Mantua Center Christian Church and I just wanted to offer a little history about it. About 10 years ago, we had a Sunday School program that took place after the worship service. Usually during the service, the kids would leave after the children’s moment for a snack and a time to play before Sunday School would begin. However, what we found is that nearly all (usually all) the families would leave right after church for family events, activities, and sports leaving the kids without a Sunday School lesson. So, we decided to switch this and make sure to provide some bible lessons and activities during the service because that’s when the families were there and they were thrilled with that! This same program has continued to this day thanks to Christin Delaney and several other volunteers in the congregation. Every Sunday when the kids leave the service they go to Sunday School for a snack and a bible lesson with Christin (or Nora Brant or Sue Wright). Sunday School for children happens every week at MCCC and, as many of you know, we are still in search of a Children’s Ministry Director. We are so grateful to have found Angela for our nursery attendant, but we are still in need of someone to run our children’s ministry. In conversation with many of my colleagues, this has been a very hard position to fill in congregations, especially small/medium sized mainline churches. Nowadays, Sundays are filled with practices, games, and other activities that put families in a tough spot especially when their kids want to be a part of these teams and activities. We have money set aside in the budget and we hope we can call someone and build a program we can all be proud of. Please help us look for a leader in this area, please express your gratitude to Christin for keeping this going, and please keep our church in your prayers as we hope God will provide us with someone soon! 

Building

WOW! What a transformation. If you have been to the building this week you will have seen the back stairs and bathrooms completely torn out and dismantled. We are so grateful to the hard work of our trustees and several volunteers who helped make that happen as we prepare for a new set of steps and new ADA accessible background. There is still quite a bit of work to do, but we are making progress in so many areas. Thank you all for you love, patience, prayers, and support as our building is transformed for the benefit of generations to come.  

God’s grace and peace be with you and we hope to see you this Sunday for the celebration of World Communion Sunday. Looking forward to being with you and invite a friend.

Peace in Christ,

Chad