Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church! Thank you for joining us online wherever you are in the world. We are so grateful for this opportunity to be in ministry with you and we hope you are blessed by this service of worship. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. This morning we are exploring God’s love at work in and through us. We gather not as perfect people, but people being perfected by the love and grace of God in our lives! Welcome to worship!
Prelude - “Come, Thou Almighty King” Sarah Park
Welcome - Rev. Chad Delaney
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church
Good Morning!
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church
We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms.
Today we begin our Week of Compassion…
- Offering this week and next
Thank you for joining us here in the house and online. Welcome to everyone!
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Thank you for CYF Auction - around $7000
- 4th for the 4C’s
Scripture Reading - Philippians 1:3-6 Rev. Chad Delaney
3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
*Welcoming Song - “Here We Gather” #294
Here we gather as God’s people with our friends from far and near;
Let our voices sound with praises knowing Christ has called us here.
Now we seek and greet each other, now in joy approach our friends.
Here we mingle, bound together as to all our love extends.
*Call to Worship - Karly Lind
One: Beloved, let us love one another.
All: But love is HARD!
One: Yes, yet this is love: God sent Jesus for us.
All: Since God loved us so much, we seek to love one another.
One: God’s Son is savior of the world!
All: God is love! So we come to worship God, and act out that love.
*Opening Hymn - “In this Very Room” #295, v. 1-3
1 In this very room, there's quite enough love for one like me
And in this very room, there's quite enough joy for one like me
And there's quite enough hope
And quite enough power
To chase away any gloom
For Jesus, Lord Jesus
Is in this very room
2 In this very room, there's quite enough love for all of us
And in this very room, there's quite enough joy for all of us
And there's quite enough hope
And quite enough power
To chase away any gloom
For Jesus, Lord Jesus
Is in this very room
3 In this very room, there's quite enough love for all the world
And in this very room, there's quite enough joy for all the world
And there's quite enough hope
And quite enough power
To chase away any gloom
For Jesus, Lord Jesus
Is in this very room
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Karly Lind
Offertory
Music: -“Jesus, Rose of Sharon” [by C. H. Gabriel] - Sarah Park
*Response - Accept, O God, The Gifts We Bring #379, 2 lines
Accept, O God, the gifts we bring of spirit and of clay,
transform them into blessings on those we serve today.
Offering Prayer - Karly Lind
Children’s Moment - Rev. Chad Delaney
- 4th for the 4C’s
Special Music - “O Master, Let me walk with Thee” [by John Purifoy] - MCCC Choir
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
God of Grace and Mercy, we are filled with thanksgiving today as we see to more understand how deeply you have loved us. Your compassion knows no bounds. It reaches into the darkest places of our lives and embraces fully in our joys and sorrows. Teach us to extend that same love to all in the world who are hurting, whose hearts ache with pain and longing, that all may find solace in your comforting embrace.
God, your grace knows no boundaries, healing our wounds and restoring our brokenness, bringing new life and hope where there was despair. Be with the conflicts at home in our political circles. Be with the people of Israel and Palestine as violence continues around them. Be with those waiting for test results and hanging on for life. Be with those who are tired, hungry, and lonely. Teach us, Lord, to sacrificially love the people around us in our world, to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, bearing one another's burdens and sharing in each other's joys, that we may truly reflect your love to the world.
We praise you for your boundless love, which knows no end and never fails, and we thank you for entrusting us with the sacred task of sharing that love with a hurting and broken world. May your love flow through us, transforming hearts and lives.
In your mercy, hear our silent prayers of celebration and sorrow…
Join us together now in your spirit as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us saying…
Communion
Meditation - Cathy Hakala-Ausperk
Communion Hymn - Spirit of the Living God #259
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Prayer - Sally Hoffman
Words of Institution - Sally Hoffman
Music: “On a Hill Far Away” by G. Bennard - Sarah Park
Scripture - 1 John 4:7-21
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We love because he first loved us. 20Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Sermon - “Love in Process” - Rev. Chad Delaney
This morning I want to show you or tell you about 4 different artistic works…there’s something they all have in common.
#1. Leonardi Da Vinci’s “Adoration of the Magi”. It was commissioned in 1481 depicts the biblical scene of the Adoration of the Magi, where the three wise men visit the infant Jesus, presenting him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
#2. Franz Schubert’s Symphony No.8 in B minor which he started in 1822. Renowned for its haunting beauty and speculation around its peculiar composition…
#3. Michelangelo’s, “The Prisoner” which were commissioned as part of a larger project—the tomb of Pope Julius II—in 1505
#4. The Gospel of Mark written sometime in the 1st century sharing the Good News about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
So, it turns out, that one of the things they have in common is that they are all “unfinished.” In the creative arts it's called “Non finito.”
DaVinci never finished his “Adoration of the Magi”--you can see the sketchings in the background without paint.
Schubert’s Symphony No.8 in B minor is known as the Unfinished. Whereas most symphonies in his time had 4 movements, his only had two leading to lots of speculation on why he stopped there.
Michelangelo intentionally left his Prisoner sculptures partially carved, with the figures appearing to struggle to free themselves from the stone. An artistic choice.
The Gospel of Mark’s original manuscripts end in Mark 16:8 with a preposition leading you to believe the author would write something next….but there’s nothing there. The women fled and were afraid because….” and it ended there. Unfinished.
With each of these, admirers of their work will wonder why they didn’t finish it and what it would look like if they did.
There is something powerful about leaving something unfinished if you are the artist. You can inspire a sense of mystery and invitation to speculate and wonder. It can give insight into their creative process on why they made certain choices. It can be an expression of raw authenticity and be more relatable. It can engage the imagination and make you a participant in its unfolding.
Whether intentional or not…there is power in that which is unfinished. Is this how God originally created us?
In our reading today from the epistle 1 John, we are offered a glimpse into God’s ongoing work within us. In the passage, the word “perfect” (in one form or another) is used 4 different times and at first reading, it sounds intimidating! Do you feel like God’s love has been perfected in you? I’m not perfect…are you perfect? I have fears, I have selfishness, I have resentment…does that mean I’m a failure in God’s eyes?
But…truly this is not what John is saying. Especially when we take a closer look at the word used for perfect here… we may have a fuller sense of the meaning.
The Greek word here is tel-i-o’-o and it means “to bring to an end, to complete, to perfect.” It is in the present progressive tense. A verb indicating that something is currently occurring. The root word telos means reaching the end and according to the Greek concordance…”working through the entire process (stages) to ultimately reach the final phase.”
In other words, God’s love being perfected, being finished in us is an entire process. There are stages. There are phases. There are hills and valleys. Bumps and Bruises. Victories and Defeats. And in this time…God’s love is shaping and melting and molding and filling us.
So…Instead of seeing ourselves only as no good, very bad sinners hopeless before an Angry and Frustrated God…we see ourselves as God’s work in progress. The work of a magnificent artist. We may feel like God has used an eraser a lot. Or maybe there have been a couple rough drafts. But we weren’t born a finished piece…we were made, born, created….unfinished.
I notice fear, pain and struggle within me --- it’s ok, God isn’t finished with me yet. Let’s keep moving
I notice impatience and jealousy and worry within me -- deep breath, God isn’t finished with me yet. One foot in front of the other.
I notice anger and hatred within me --- God isn’t finished with me yet. God will bring a new thing.
I haven’t quite figured out this unconditional love thing --- it's OK…God’s Grace before me, God’s grace behind me. God isn’t finished with me, yet.
What a difference to see God as the Artist of our existence, our being, who we are as a child of God. To believe that God sees us bursting with potential and is currently loving us into what we were created to be.
As Michelangelo said, “"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."
Life is a beautiful, tragic, powerfully creative process to finish what God has already started within us. It's NOT just for us to do by ourselves, but what God is already working in and through us. The Apostle Paul said, “6I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Everytime God’s love lives and moves in and through us…we are being perfected, being finished by our creator with love.
So then…
May we let God do God’s perfecting work within and through us…for God isn’t finished with us yet!
May we invite God’s love to continually change and transform us…for God is still speaking
May we embrace the mystery, the process, the journey of life to become who God has created us to be…for God is love and those who abide in God abide in Love.
And may each of us-in our own lives, our minds, our hearts--move forward in our faith by….
*Closing Hymn - Fill the World with Love #467, v. 1-4
1 With the vision in our minds of how the world could be
And the fullness of our heart from the suffering we see
When we make all that we are and have part of God’s destiny
We can fill the world with love. We can fill the world with love.
2 All the people in this world living lives of pain and fear
Crying out into the night, wondering when someone will hear
While there are so many others having so much they can share
Can we fill the world with love? Can we fill the world with love?
3 We whose spirits long to share, long to comfort and to heal
Know that when we act alone, hope is difficult to feel
But together as we labor God’s compassion to reveal
We will fill the world with love. We will fill the world with love.
4 Let us hesitate no longer in our doubt and our dismay
There’s a power at work within us that has promised a new day
And the time will surely come, it will not be long delayed
When God fills the world with love. When God fills the world with love.
Benediction - Rev. Chad Delaney
- God is Good!
- Choir
- Please have some coffee and join for conversation in our wonderful classes led by Nancy Humes, Jon Secaur, and Carol Buzbee
- Thank you for all that came and/or donated to the Soup Supper & Auction!
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Postlude - “Standing on the Promises ” [by R. K. Carter] - Sarah Park