Good Morning and a blessed season of Lent to everyone...
Welcome to the Mantua Center Christian Church. Remember we gather not as perfect people, but as people perfectly loved, seeking to live and love like Jesus. We are apart, but we are bound together through the power of the Holy Spirit. Be blessed, be encouraged, and believe that God is near!
Today is the third Sunday in Lent. As we walk with Jesus to Holy Week, this morning we learn a lesson about what it means to REACH…..
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...
SONG - Weave (Pam and Beth)
Weave, weave, weave us together. Weave us together in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together. Weave us together, together in love.
SCRIPTURE READING - Psalm 119 - Ellie Monroe
OPENING HYMN What a Friend We Have in Jesus (Chalice)
CHILDREN’S MOMENT - Ally Hurd
PASTORAL PRAYER - Chad
God of Grace and Glory,
In this season when new life is teasing us amongst the cold grayness, we notice you reaching out to us. We feel your love and care through the creation, through music, through our church, through our families, through hope offered in small, but needed doses.
We are blessed to know that In the midst of our weakness. When we are lost and unable to find our way. When we feel discarded and left behind. When every step feels the same as the last, as if we are no farther than we were months ago...you come to us. You seek us. You reach out to and find us right where we are. Seeking God, we thank you for your gentle and assuring presence. We thank you for your rod and your staff that comfort us and hold us. We thank you for pursuing us and reaching to us, Lord.
In all this strangeness and lostness and wilderness...remind us, too, to reach beyond ourselves. To look over the hillside to the valley below. To take a glance into the depths draw up the courage we need to step out. To look before us, behind us, beside us to see who we might journey with. How we might extend our vision, our care, our compassion, our reach in the mold and likeness of Jesus.
God, be with those who are hurting in this time. Families in grief. People suffering with depression and anxiety. People who are wondering where the next meal is coming from or whether to heat or eat. God, be with those struggling with the pandemic, draw near to all so we might feel your comforting presence. Be with our church, each one of us and hold us together in your spirit in this season of separation.
For it is in your abiding, loving, grace-filled presence that we rest….In Jesus Name, Amen
SONG RESPONSE Shepherd Me, O God (Pam and Beth)
Shepherd Me, O God beyond my thoughts,
beyond my fears, from death into life
SCRIPTURE READING
SERMON -
SPECIAL MUSIC - How Can I Keep from Singing - Jon Secaur
HOLY COMMUNION - Liz Meeker
Communion Song - One Bread, One Body - Pam Auble
Meditation
Communion Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Words of Institution
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.” 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.” 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 Nearer, My God, To Thee (Chalice)
BENEDICTION - Chad
Church Family, it was a blessing to be with you in worship today. We hope you are finding opportunities with the church and beyond to deepen your faith in this Lenten season. Consider joining our book study, our Wednesday Worship, or even pop on Zoom if you aren’t there already to join us for the after-worship conversation. OR, you may find the way to deepen your faith is a quiet walk on the trail, to experience nature, or to sit in conversation with a trusted friend. However you explore your faith, be blessed on your journey.
I don’t know about you but I’m grateful to start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of this pandemic. Cases are declining as more and more people are being vaccinated. That being said, we are clearly not out of the woods. We must remain vigilant as a congregation and do our best in our daily life to love our neighbors by wearing masks and taking the necessary precautions. Let love persevere through this and find all the Joys God has for us along the way. So you know...Our church leadership is currently discussing what our next steps are as the weather will hopefully be changing soon. Keep a lookout in your email for what our tentative plan is going forward. Thank you so much for all your love, support, and patience as we get through this.
How the Light Comes by Jan Richardson
I cannot tell you how the light comes.
What I know is that it is more ancient than imagining.
That it travels across an astounding expanse to reach us.
That it loves searching out what is hidden,
what is lost,
what is forgotten
or in peril
or in pain.
That it has a fondness for the body, for finding its way toward flesh,
for tracing the edges of form,
for shining forth through the eye, the hand, the heart.
I cannot tell you how the light comes, but that it does. That it will.
That it works its way into the deepest dark that enfolds you,
though it may seem long ages in coming or arrive in a shape you did not foresee.
And so may we this day turn ourselves toward it.
May we lift our faces to let it find us.
May we bend our bodies to follow the arc it makes.
May we open and open more and open still to the blessed light that comes.
May God Light and Love bless you and Keep you, The Holy Spirit to sustain you and reach out to you, and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to guide you and lead you...now and forevermore. Amen.