We are a community seeking to have open minds, open hearts, and open arms, building community in a fragmented world.
Prelude - Poco Allegretto, [J. Brahms, arr. Wm. Barnett] music by Jan Green
Opening Scripture - 1 John 4:7-9
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.
*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 - Laura Parker
ONE: We’ve come to worship God,
ALL: who loved us before we were yet born,
ONE: who knows us even better than we know ourselves,
ALL: whose presence never leaves us,
ONE: and whose love for us never ceases.
ALL: This is our God! Let’s worship together!
*Opening Hymn - Come, Christians Join to Sing #90, v.1-2
1 Come, Christians, join to sing:
Alleluia! Amen!
Loud praise to Christ we bring:
Alleluia! Amen!
Let all with heart and voice,
before his throne rejoice;
praise we with gracious choice:
Alleluia! Amen!
2 Come, lift your hearts on high,
Alleluia! Amen!
Let praises fill the sky:
Alleluia! Amen!
Christ is our Guide and Friend
on whom we can depend;
his love shall never end:
Alleluia! Amen!
Invitation to Generosity - Laura Parker
Invitation
Offertory “I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing” by A. Giamanco
The Doxology #46
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below;
praise God above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Offering Prayer
Children’s Moment - Rev. Chad Delaney
Pastoral Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
“A Prayer for All Women on Mother’s Day” by Amy Young
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Tamar, struggling with infertility, or a miscarriage.
I want you to know that I’m praying for you if you are like Rachel, counting the women among your family and friends who year by year and month by month get pregnant, while you wait.
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Naomi, and have known the bitter sting of a child’s death.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you are like Joseph and Benjamin, and your Mom has died.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your relationship with your Mom was marked by trauma, abuse, or abandonment, or she just couldn’t parent you the way you needed.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Moses’ mother and put a child up for adoption, trusting another family to love your child into adulthood.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Pharaoh’s daughter, called to love children who are not yours by birth (and thus the mother who brought that child into your life, even if it is complicated).
I want you to know I am praying for you if you, like many, are watching (or have watched) your mother age, and disappear into the long goodbye of dementia.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you, like Mary, are pregnant for the very first time and waiting breathlessly for the miracle of your first child.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your children have turned away from you, painfully closing the door on relationship, leaving you holding your broken heart in your hands. And like Hagar, now you are mothering alone.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if motherhood is your greatest joy and toughest struggle all rolled into one.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you are watching your child battle substance abuse, a public legal situation, mental illness, or another situation which you can merely watch unfold.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you like so many women before you do not wish to be a mother, are not married, or in so many other ways do not fit into societal norms.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you see yourself reflected in all, or none of these stories.
This mother’s day, wherever and whoever you are, we walk with you. You are loved. You are seen. You are worthy. And may you know the deep love without end of our big, wild, beautiful God who is the very best example of a parent that we know. Amen.
Communion
Meditation - Nancy Humes
Communion Hymn - We Come as Guests Invited #386, v.3
One bread is ours for sharing,
one single, fruitful vine,
our fellowship declaring
renewed in bread and wine:
renewed, sustained, and given
by token, sign, and word,
the pledge and seal of heaven,
the love of Christ our Lord.
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
Words of Institution
Music: Meditation on “Trust is Jesus” by Susanna Keeney
Scripture - Deuteronomy 4:5-9
See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ 7For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? 8And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children”
Sermon - "On the Threshold" - Rev. Chad Delaney
I want to begin today with having you turn to your neighbor and share ONE thing you learned from your Mother.
As we go through our lives we carry wisdom with us from those who made deep impacts on us. Oftentimes, one of the best moments to share this wisdom and is when someone is at a new beginning..a new threshold in their life.
I’m keenly aware of this as a parent now, reflecting on the wisdom my parents gave me with our oldest son about to graduate from High School. Over the years there have been so many times of change and transition in which wisdom was needed.
I remember the first time the nurse said, “OK, now it is your turn to change the diaper.” The first moment of true recognition in eye contact and the big smile that emerged. The first steps. Leaving him at school. Handing over the keys. All those big and little moments when we let go little bits at a time. It brings anxiety and joy. It is both terrifying and essential.
Every year we send off our graduates (we are celebrating that Sunday in just a few weeks!) and of course in our personal lives recognize so many different transitions and changes. All the time people are on the threshold of something new. As the newness begins, what will they remember? So many parents and grandparents, teachers and professors, mentors and loved ones, church families, hoping upon hope that we’ve prepared them (as best we can) for what is to come.
You may not know off-hand that the context for our passage today is a major threshold in the history of the people of Israel AND in the life of Moses. By this point, Moses has taken people through thick and thin and they are now about to enter the Promised Land. Escaped from slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, and wandered in the desert for 40 years…they are almost there.
BUT……Moses has just found out that he won’t be going with them. Just in Deuteronomy 3, God says to Moses, “27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around…Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.’
Like a Parent about to drop off their child at Kindergarten for the first time…Moses realizes he’s not going with them. The people of God will be on their own.
In these moments, Moses surely had some grief and sadness, but it faitfully turns into an urgency for the people to remember and carry forth what it means to live in God’s way. Moses wouldn’t be going with them, but God’s Word always would be. God’s presence would be beside them. THAT is the most important thing.
Moses says to the people -- “See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6You must observe them diligently,”
What God’s people would need would be faithfulness to the call to which they have been called. To carry with them the teachings God gave them on Mount Sinai. To remember the stories that brought them to that place.
Moses says, “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.”
See what is truly amazing is that we are connected to that day. Because we are sharing this story on this day in this place…we know the teachings, the lessons, the stories have been shared from one generation to another. They did it.
Today on this Mother’s Day and it is good to remember our mothers many of whom are part of that long line of believers who passed on the story. She may be a biological mom or a spiritual mom. May be a grandmother or aunt. A neighbor or church friend. Amazing women of faith whom we honor and recognize today. In this room we have shared the lessons they have given to us as we have traversed deserts and gone on adventures and crossed thresholds of our own. Thanks be to God for them.
AND so it invites us to think…In what ways are we continuing that line? Really and truly, every day is a threshold. An opportunity to share our faith, to remember the stories, to pass on the wisdom given to us. What life lesson might we want to share with those we love? What scripture passage or story of faith that has spoken to us? What concept of faith or guiding metaphor might we hope those after us remember? As a mom or dad, grandparent, leader, minister of the Gospel…What one piece of wisdom you want to pass on?
May you be blessed in the giving, may your loved ones be blessed in the receiving, and may we continue to make these lessons of love known now and always. May it be so.
*Closing Hymn - Pass it On #477, v. 1-3
1. It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
that’s how it is with God’s love, Once you’ve experienced it:
You spread God’s love to everyone, you want to pass it on.
2. What a wondrous time is spring, when all the trees are budding,
the birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
that’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it:
you want to sing, it’s fresh like spring, you want to pass it on.
3. I wish for you my friend, this happiness that I’ve found -
on God you can depend it matters not where you’re bound;
I’ll shout it from the mountain top, I want my world to know:
the Lord of love has come to me, I want to pass it on.
Benediction
May the Lord who brought us to birth by his Spirit,
strengthen us for the Christian life.
May the Lord who provides for all our needs
sustain us day by day.
May the Lord whose steadfast love is constant as a mother's care,
send us out to live and work for others.
And the blessing of God Almighty.
the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you and remain with you always. Amen
Postlude - A Cheerful Trumpet [Patricia Lou Harris] music by Jan Green