We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms, building community in a fragmented world.
- We want to welcome everyone who is in the house today, everyone online, and everyone downstairs watching our live telecast. We are grateful for all the many ways you can join us for worship on this Lord’s Day.
- Announcements will be on one sheet at the back of the sanctuary.
- FOUNDER’S DAY SERVICE COMING Next Week - the past, present, and future story of our church
- Let’s prepare our hearts and minds for worship with our Opening Scripture Reading…
Opening Scripture - Psalm 139:13-18
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
*Response - Weave
Weave, weave, weave us together,
Weave us together, in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together,
weave us together, together in love.
*Call to Worship - Drema Herron
ONE: For God so loved the world;
ALL: The sparrows, the mountain lions, the fish and the people.
ONE: For God so loved the world;
ALL: In success and failure, in sickness and health, in mediocrity and extraordinary.
ONE: For God so loved the world;
ALL: Enough to become one of us, enough to suffer along with us, enough to offer new life for us.
ONE: For God so loved the world;
ALL: Let us worship God!
By Katherin Hawker
Opening Hymn - “Blessed Assurance” #543
1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Invitation to Generosity - Drema Herron
Children’s Moment - Ally Bozeka
Pastoral Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
God of us all,
Today we are those who may think we are too old or too poor or too small or too weak or too busy…..yet we come as we are to give you thanks and praise and wonder.
God, we pray for this world where so are in need of your tender mercy and care. Where so many look for love and fulfillment in all the wrong places. Where there is so much division and frustration and pain. We pray for this world and transforming power within it.
God of Grace and Mercy, we pray for all those who long for a new beginning:
those who are imprisoned,
those who are estranged,
those who have left loved ones behind,
and those who are ill or infirm,
Those struggling with a new diagnosis
Give them all new life by the power of your Spirit.Help us to see how we can be present with them as your hands and feet. Birth us all anew, O God;
Hear us and help us on our journey. Help us to grow up again, to accept not only earthly things but heavenly things, to lift up your Son and be lifted up ourselves, to let your Spirit move us beyond our understanding. God of Abraham and Sarah, Rachel and Jacob, Mary and Martha, Thomas and Nicodemus and all of us, hear us and help us even as surely as the Spirit blows among us to renew us again.
We lift to you in these moments those that are on our hearts, minds, and spirits….. In Jesus Name we pray…Amen.
Communion
Meditation - Pete Pruszynski
Communion Hymn - “Break Thou the Bread of Life” #321
1 Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord,
My spirit pants for thee, O living Word.
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer - Pete Pruszynski
Words of Institution - Rev. Chad Delaney
Prayer of Illumination
God, source of all light by your Word, you give light to our lives. Pour out on us your spirit of wisdom and understanding, that our hearts and minds may be opened to know your way. Amen.
Scripture - John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Sermon - "Deep Change" - Rev. Chad Delaney
What in the world does it mean to be born again?
Somehow, some-way Nicodemus -- an esteemed faith leader in the community -- landed a meeting with the new upstart in town who is making quite a stir among the locals.
Jesus’ first act on the public scene was to turn water-into-wine at the Wedding in Cana. This was the first of his signs and many believed in him. His second, however, wasn’t as endearing as the first. Jesus saw people at the Temple buying and selling cattle, sheep, and doves and money-changers at their tables. Jesus wasn’t pleased, made a whip-of-cords and drove them out of the Temple. In one of the gospels it says that he flipped the Tables over. Jesus’ wasn’t interested in only changing water-into-wine, there was much more to be done.
Maybe, then, that is why Nicodemus came to Jesus--as the scriptures say “by night”-- to meet with him clandestine style. It probably wouldn’t be a good look for him being one of the religious leaders of the community to meet with the guy who just flipped over tables at the Temple….yet he couldn’t help himself. Clearly Jesus was inspired by the Living God…Nicodemus was filled with curiosity and questions.
Their interaction is telling. Jesus is playing chess and Nicodemus checkers. Jesus is writing symphonies and Nicodemus is playing the nose flute. Nicodemus doesn’t quite get it. Jesus speaks poetry with images of wind and re-birth. Meanwhile Nicodemus is stuck on the mechanics… “How can anyone be born again after growing old?” Constrained by the literal, Nicodemus fails to see what Jesus is truly inviting him too.
Jesus’ actions speak for themselves so far…but Nicodemus doesn’t make the connection
- Jesus changes water into wine.
- Jesus seeks spiritual renovations at the Temple
- Jesus invites Nicodemus to rebirth.
Clearly, Jesus is not interested in the status quo staying the status quo.
This week we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and reading one of his speeches, “Where do we go from here?” he talks of this dynamic conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Hear it in King’s own voice…
“If you will let me be a preacher just a little bit—One night, a juror came to Jesus and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. Jesus didn’t get bogged down in the kind of isolated approach of what he shouldn’t do. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying.’ He didn’t say, ‘Nicodemus, you must stop cheating if you are doing that.’ He didn’t say, ‘Nicodemus, you must not commit adultery.’ He didn’t say, ‘Nicodemus, now you must stop drinking liquor if you are doing that excessively.’ He said something altogether different, because Jesus realized something basic–that if a man will lie, he will steal. And if a man will steal, he will kill. So instead of just getting bogged down in one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, ‘Nicodemus, you must be born again.’ He said, in other words, ‘Your whole structure must be changed.’ A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will ‘thingify’ them—make them things. Therefore they will exploit them, and poor people generally, economically. And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. What I am saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, “America, you must be born again!”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Powerful words speaking to the depth of change Jesus was speaking into. What Nicodemus (and all of us) needed to realize is that Jesus isn’t interested in just tinkering with things. What does it mean to be born again? The whole structure must be completely changed and renewed!
- Transformation of very molecules to go from water to wine
- Transformation of communities of faith to be faithful and true
- Transformation of society and culture to bring justice and mercy and fairness
- Transformation of each of us to be completely led by the Spirit.
Jesus’ transformation is not just for individuals to be saved, but transformation of the world, of the Creation itself. Restructuring the very way we think and act and live. For we remember on this day...that God cared enough, loved the world so much that he sent his one and only begotten Son to bring life and love, grace and mercy so that all might change, be renewed, and redeemed.
What is Jesus calling within you to be born again? Your words, your actions, your thoughts? Your giving, your receiving, your looking and listening? AND….What about our our church and world? As the church, to be moved by the spirit in such a way as to share our gifts and talents for the good of all God’s children? What deep change could be made in all of us?
May you be blessed as you, too, are born again!
May it be so. Amen.
Closing Hymn - “Breathe on Me, Breath of God” #254
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life a new,
that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure.
Benediction - Rev. Chad Delaney
May we God rejoicing that God of all Life….so loves the world!
May God your Maker send you back into the world
with creative energies refreshed.
May the Light of the Living Christ illuminate your darkest moments.
And may the Holy Spirit of steadfast love
Guide you, change you, transform you to bear the light until we worship together again. May it be so! Amen!