Good Morning and Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church.  We are a community seeking to have Open Minds and Open Hearts and Open Arms...to live and love in the Name of the Risen Christ.  Though apart, be encouraged! We are bound together through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Today we will take a look inside a situation that arose in the earliest church.  We might have this vision of the early church as ideal and perfect, but they had issues arise just like any church does.  Acts 6 gives us a glimpse into how they handled it and what resulted from it.  As always there is much to learn from and be challenged by the passage today.  

So then!  Let’s prepare our minds and hearts for worship, let’s take a deep breath and Light a Candle.

Together we have set this time and space aside for the worship of God. Let’s give to God our joys, worries, and sorrows and open ourselves up to what God has to say to us today.  Let us worship the Lord...

SCRIPTURE READING -    Ephesians 4:14-15 - Joy Wyatt

OPENING HYMN   Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (ch)

1 What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.

[Refrain:]
Leaning (leaning on Jesus), leaning (leaning on Jesus),
safe and secure from all alarms;
leaning (leaning on Jesus), leaning (leaning on Jesus),
leaning on the everlasting arms.

2 O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
leaning on the everlasting arms. [Refrain]

3 What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms. [Refrain]

CHILDREN’S MOMENT  - Ally Hurd

SPECIAL MUSIC -  Up to the Mountain Beth Schabel

PASTORAL PRAYER - Sarah

SCRIPTURE READING               Acts 6:1-7

SERMON  Opportunity in Conflict Chad Delaney

HOLY COMMUNION - Nora Brant

           Meditation

Communion Song  -      Let Us Break Bread Together          

1 Let us break bread together on our knees; (on our knees)
let us break bread together on our knees. (on our knees)

[Refrain:]
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me. (on me)

2 Let us drink wine together on our knees; (on our knees)
let us drink wine together on our knees. (on our knees) [Refrain]

3 Let us praise God together on our knees; (on our knees)
let us praise God together on our knees. (on our knees) [Refrain]

Communion Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Words of Institution - Chad

As we gather around Christ’s Table we remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and broke it, gave thanks and said to his Disciples, “This is my body which is given for you, eat of it all of you in remembrance of me.”  Let’s Take the BREAD of Life  together.  

In like manner he took the cup and blessed it saying, “This is the cup of the new covenant in me, as often as you drink of it do so in remembrance of me.”   Let’s pause and drink the Cup of Salvation.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s life, death, and resurrection until he comes again.  Remember, all...ALL are welcome at the Lord’s Table.  

(Share in the Bread and Cup together)

CLOSING SONG              Blest Be the Tie that Binds

1 Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love:
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.

2 When we are called to part,
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.

BENEDICTION - Sarah

POSTLUDE                 Take Time To Be Holy, arr. by Eric Thomas Jan Green