Happy Mother’s Day
Graduation Recognition Sunday
Prelude - “What a friend we have in Jesus” [by C. C. Converse] - Sarah Park
Welcome to Mantua Center Christian Church --
a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms.
Whether online or in the house this morning, we want to welcome you as we celebrate our Mom’s and all of the other women who have made an impact on our lives, and recognize our Graduate.
Scripture - Psalm 66:17-20 - Rev. Nancy Humes
17 I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;
He has given heed to the words of my prayer.20 Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.
*Response - Weave - #495
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 - Kathleen Lewarchick
One: We’ve come to worship God who loved us before we were born.
All: God knows us even better than we know ourselves.
One: God’s presence never leaves us. God’s love for us never ceases.
All: This is our God!
One: Let us worship God together!
*Opening Hymn - “God is Here” #280, v. 1-3
1 God is here! As we your people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of the Spirit
into open minds and hearts.
2 Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, fount, and pulpit;
here the cross has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence, as in speech,
here, in newness and renewal,
God the Spirit comes to each.
3 Here our children find a welcome
in the Shepherd's flock and fold;
here as bread and wine are taken,
Christ sustains us as of old.
Here the servants of the Servant
seek in worship to explore
what it means in daily living
to believe and to adore.
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Kathleen Lewarchick
Offertory
Music - “Great is Thy Faithfulness” [by W. M. Runyan] - Sarah Park
*Response - “Give Thanks” #528
Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One,
give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ his Son. Give Thanks!
Offering Prayer - -Kathleen Lewarchick
Children’s Moment - Pam Baynes
Graduation Recognition of Charlotte Hooker - Kathleen Lewarchick, Rick Painley & Rev. Nancy Humes
Pastoral Prayer & Lord’s Prayer - Rev. Nancy Humes
Holy Communion
Meditation - Sally Hoffman
Hymn “Bread of the World” #387, v. 1-2
1 Bread of the world in mercy broken,
wine of the soul in mercy shed,
by whom the words of life were spoken,
and in whose death our sins are dead:
2 Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
look on the tears by sinners shed;
and be thy feast to us the token
that by thy grace our souls are fed.
Prayer - Ally Bozeka
Words of Institution - Ally Bozeka
Music - “Have you washed in the blood” [By E. A. Hoffman] - Sarah Park
Scripture - Rev. Nancy Humes
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
4Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
Proverbs 22:6
5Train children in the right way,
and when old, they will not stray.
1 Corinthians 13:11
11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12–20, & 26-27
4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Sermon -Rev. Nancy J. Humes
"A New Body – Reinvigorated, Revitalized, Re-Envisioned"
Question – Are you the same person as you were when you were two years old? NO? I’m pretty sure that all of us said No. Anybody say Yes? I didn’t think so.
What was the first thing you remember about your belief in God or going to church?
Faith or belief — whichever you choose to call it, well, we’re not born with it are we? So, how did you get your faith? For many of us the first two scriptures tell us how – we are taught by our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders and perhaps even other adults and siblings.
I remember my sister and I giving Mom and Dad goodnight hugs and Mom always said — “don’t forget to say your prayers” and we’d say “we won’t”. Do you remember that children’s prayer — “Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die!” What were are parents thinking! Putting thoughts of dying in our heads — and just before we fall asleep — but I digress — that’s a subject for another day — another sermon — another discussion!
In our Sunday school class we have been looking at our faith as a child and our faith as an adult and all I can say is — we’ve been having some very interesting and thought provoking conversations. I realize now that I should have started our conversations with the questions I just posed — How did I get my faith? Which should then be followed by — has my faith changed any from when I was little?
Now I think our class is a good representation of this congregation. We have some in our class that weren’t taught anything about God when they were little, it was left until they were older. Some had simply been taught kindness to others and treating others how they wanted to be treated – no God – no Jesus. Others were never taught anything and been left all on their own. And some grew up in church and as we became teenagers or adults sorta “fell away” from church. And naturally there are some who have been in the church since they were babies. As I said — we’ve been having a good time looking at it.
Carol or Rick – can you put what the class came up with for our memories as children please.
Let’s look at our thoughts and feelings about God and Jesus as children for a moment. What are your memories? Maybe yours are like mine.
My first memories are Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so and memorizing bible verses in Sunday School and Bible School. And, I have to tell you I’ve come a long way from that. I’m betting that there have been some changes for you too – maybe just little ones but changes never-the-less. And that’s perfectly fine. It’s just like I’m betting when you were little the color blue was just blue but now that you’ve grown up a bit and seen the changes in the sky – you know there are a huge variety of colors — shades of what we call blue.
I think we’ll all agree that things change over time.
Carol or Rick please put the child/adult chart up.
Changes — let’s look at the charts together the child and adult thoughts and feelings on it. I guess most of you have something you can put in either as a child or as an adult.
Please take charts down.
Obviously things do change and there are those of us in the class that decided — maybe intentionally or maybe unintentionally that the Jesus loves me just isn’t enough to satisfy. We began to seek something deeper more satisfying. And well we fell in with other seekers and here we are!
So how did we get here? How did I get here?
Perhaps your story is a bit like mine. My childhood experiences started in the Congregational Church in a small town in Southeast Michigan. I went to Sunday School, Church, Bible School, Children’s Choir, later youth group.
When I turned 12 — like all my friends no matter what denomination we were, all attended the Pastor’s Class in our own churches. Again, like all my friends I joined church at the end of the class like everyone expected but I can’t say there was any feeling of a relationship with God or Jesus. I don’t know what my friends felt because we never talked about it.
Then IT (and it might not be what you expect) happened. In 11th grade our youth group attended a “Crusade for Christ” and that experience traumatized my best friend and left me with not wanting to experience that kind of Spirit”. I began to fall away from church. I stayed away for years. It wasn’t until after marriage and 3 children that I began to think I need to take them to Sunday School so they could learn about God and Jesus. I knew I wasn’t able or prepared to teach my children like we heard in our 1st scriptures. I had a friend who attended the Nazarene Church she invited me and the kids and I went.
Fast Forward 3 years and here we are in Akron Ohio. A woman I met attended North Hill Christian Church and she invited us to attend and we went, we felt at home and began to attend there.
The first step in my journey was getting more involved in the body of Christ at North Hill was taking my kids to youth groups, children’s choir, Bible School, and we all attended Sunday School. Then I began helping with Bible School and Children’s Cantatas — I’ll never know how many sheep costumes I made!
Then, when I made my confession of faith at North Hill Christian Church I didn’t know much about this body that we are speaking of today. I remembered that High School Crusade experience and still wasn’t a fan of the Holy Spirit stuff. These folks talked about the church as the body of Christ and gifts of the spirit but I didn’t think I had any talents or gifts to share – I just wanted to belong and that was ok. Well, it didn’t stay that way for long. I can remember my reaction when I was asked to be a Deaconess — I was appalled – that was for old people like my Grandmother – she had been a Deaconess and I wasn’t old!. But I was encouraged to think about it. Was told what the job was about — preparing and cleaning up communion and I decided that if that’s all there was to it, I could do that and I said yes.
That was just the beginning of my Yeses and they led me from Deaconess to Chairperson of the Education Committee and boy what an education! Later I led the Worship Committee and not long before we closed, I became an Elder of the church. So I can truthfully say that my part of the body changed so the body itself changed. This happens every day when someone says Yes — Yes to being part of the body. Yes to being part of the ministry. Yes to finding one’s gifts and talents.
Our scriptures tell us we are all given gifts — we may not recognize them — I sure didn’t, but we do have gifts of the spirit. And, as I’ve just shown, the gifts can change as we change and mature and that means the body changes too!
So how can it be ONE BODY and yet change?
I’m guessing that you are a different person than the one that first came forward and made your confession of faith. We know I am. Being out there — in the world, and let’s face it being here in church. We become friends with others who may not think exactly like we do and we grow and change too. To stay a living and vibrant church we must grow and change too. It’s safe to say that the one body goes through changes too.
So how has MCCC changed? Last week all of us were reminded that our 200 Anniversary is coming up in 4 short years and I am sure that you will all agree with me that Mantua Center Christian Church is a different church than when those 10 people came together to found our Church. The changes in our community, town, county, country and world have made their effect known and the facts are to survive — they had to change and we have to change. My parents – your great or great-great grandparents — those 90 and above have seen more changes than any other generation. They went from horse and buggies to the car that drive itself. From outhouses to indoor plumbing, from wood stoves to microwaves, to no radio or tv to our ”high def” TV’s and sirius radio. And computers? Well whether we like them or not they changed the world.
And none of us will ever forget the Covid pandemic. That caused us to change and to change radically and quickly! We started with the church on-line, to church at the window, to ZOOM church, to church on the lawn, to socially distanced inside with masks and now to our new ‘normal’.
We went from passing the bread and cup or the one bread and one cup to what we at Vanderbilt lovingly and jokingly called “MacCommunion”. We couldn’t ever imagine really using the single sealed serving cup and wafer except for maybe in home communion kits. But we became grateful that this convenient and hygienic form of communion was even available. We could still break bread together.
We have been fortunate — oh we worked and worked hard at it but sadly some churches couldn’t manage to change and are either fighting to stay alive or have closed altogether.
(PAUSE)
So CHANGE — it’s a normal part of living. Some think it’s a bad word but those of us who know better embrace change which is exactly what we are doing – and it’s an exciting exhilarating time. Chad is on sabbatical getting revitalized, refreshed and renewed – learning and doing new things— things he will bring back and share with us. And, here we are — leading ourselves. We have strong leadership and people are being called to change and pick up different ministries – be different hands and feet so to speak. And YES, it’s an exciting time for all of us!
Oh, we’ve done our homework – we did our re-visioning and we prepared for this. Kathy Meier said it very well when she said, and I quote her here — “This is our sabbatical too” and yes, she is so right — it is. This is the time for us to learn to do new things and embrace new ideas just as our founders did and we will be stronger because of it.
Chad prepared too for his time away to refresh, revitalize and renew. And the facts are — he will come back as a different pastor. And something that’s really important that Rev. Harris didn’t mention last week was — Chad has put all of his faith and trust in us. I’ve heard some ministers talking about sabbaticals and they say they won’t take one. It’s rare, but I’ve heard it and WHY you might ask? Because they are afraid the congregation will be different and he/she won’t feel at home or be welcomed when they come back. This is important — Chad trusts us and is looking forward to coming back at the end of his sabbatical revitalized, refreshed and renewed, revitalized and re-envisioned MCCC. This speaks volumes about our combined ministry here — it speaks volumes about Chad as a person, as a minister and us as individuals, as a congregation and ALL of us TOGETHER as the body of Christ. .
Our body is changing and one thing that’s so great about Mantua Center is we embrace new ministries. We understand that sometimes a ministry has fulfilled its role and we either revision it or replace it with another ministry. If someone finds a need and wants to create a ministry — we listen and evaluate and if we decide it is part of who we are — we embrace it with open minds, open hearts and open arms. And, if Mantua Center is the only experience you’ve had with church you may not realize just how unique we really are. We take our founders’ Campbell and Stone directives to heart and focus on unity in all things or as we’ve so often heard “unity is our polar star”. We know we don’t have to believe exactly the same, we don’t have to read the same edition of the Bible, we can believe different things about how Jesus is the Christ, Savior, or Messiah, we can believe that this table works in a variety of ways to connect us to God our Creator and God’s saving grace. We can disagree and still be part of one body. And yes, my friends this is rare!
Well, before we leave our scriptures, I think we need to look at what Paul was facing with his followers in Corinth.
First — let’s remember this is a letter and a noted scholar says that it’s like we are reading someone else’s mail — we are only hearing one side of the story.
Second — we need to remember that Corinth was a prosperous commercial city located on the East/West trade routes so these people were exposed to a variety of folks, a variety of ideas socially, politically and religiously. There were a variety of Gods and Goddesses.
Third — these folks were Gentile converts from other religions or no religion at all to the only Monotheistic religion in town — a huge difference.
Fourth — Paul spent about 18 months here teaching and preaching the Good News. This fledgling church is about 5 years old so he’s been away from what seems like a significant amount of time to us but to them? We just don’t know..
Fifth — these folks meet in large homes of the wealthy, able to hold 30 – 50 people at a time — there were no big community buildings like a church.
Six — these groups were made up of a variety of social and economic classes — we don’t know how many home groups there were but it sounds as if there were quite a few considering the population of Corinth. So it’s no wonder the groups were developing differently and problems began to arise. People will be people!
SO — what did Paul do — he did what he does best. He wrote them a letter. A letter that applies as much to us today as it did back to them back then.
His letter reminds them and us:
- we have been called to be different from others
- we have been called to be the body of Christ — linked together in mutual love and concern.
- we have been set apart to serve our God — the ONE GOD whether slave or free, Jew or Gentile, male or female
- we are all part of the ONE body sharing the variety of gifts of the Spirit.
Now I’m gonna leave us with a few things to ponder
What would we write to Paul today about Mantua Center Christian Church? We aren’t facing the same problems and challenges that the Corinthians did. But we do have challenges and concerns don’t we?
AND
What would Paul say to us today?
AMEN.
*Closing Hymn - “God be With You” #434, v.1-3
1 God be with you till we meet again;
loving counsels guide, uphold you,
with a shepherd's care enfold you:
God be with you till we meet again.
[Refrain:]
Till we meet (Till we meet,) till we meet, (till we meet,)
till we meet at Jesus' feet; (till we meet;)
till we meet (till we meet,) till we meet, (till we meet,)
God be with you till we meet again.
2 God be with you till we meet again;
unseen wings, protecting, hide you,
daily manna still provide you:
God be with you till we meet again. [Refrain]
3 God be with you till we meet again;
when life's perils thick confound you,
put unfailing arms around you:
God be with you till we meet again. [Refrain]
Benediction - Rev. Nancy Humes
Postlude - “Tis so sweet to walk with Jesus” [by A. B. Simpson] - Sarah Park