Greetings and welcome in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a blessing to have you in worship today whether this is your first time or if you worship with us weekly. Today we will consider what it means to be a church on a mission. How do we plug into God’s mission and do our part to build the Kingdom of God? In the book of Matthew we will read about two parables Jesus shared to encourage and challenge those who hear it and seek to apply it in their lives.
Introit - “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….
INVITATION FOR MISSION UPDATES:
Ministry Leaders and congregants are welcome to come forward to the mic, to give a mission update or share ways for people to get involved in missions and ministries.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Special Music today….
CYF Meeting at Derthick’s Corn Maze
Pastor Len’s Memorial Service is this Saturday, 11 & noon
Scripture Acts 1:6-8
6So when the apostles had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
*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 - Peg Ehrlinger
One: Your church gathers, Lord,
All: in Ohio and Ethiopia, in Switzerland and Serbia, in China and to the ends of the earth.
One: Your church gathers, Lord,
All: in city and country, in sanctuaries and huts, under trees and by streams of water.
One: Your people praise you, Lord,
All: for hope in the midst of despair, for strength in times of weakness, for justice in times of oppression,
One: You call your people
All: to have courage in the face of fear, to be life in the midst of death. Let us Worship the Lord!
~ written by Kristin Holbrook
*Opening Hymn - “We Call Ourselves Disciples” #357, v.1-3
1 We call ourselves disciples, as pilgrims on the way.
We seek the truth in wisdom, and beauty in each day
As women, men, and children, we serve Christ’s path to clear.
In joyful expectation we see God’s reign draw near.
2 So now the vision brightens, the light of Christ burns still.
In hearts of all disciples to be the church God wills.
From quiet meditation, and joyous hymns of praise.
We go to do God’s mission! Christ, lead us all our days!
3 We join with all disciples to live the Word in deed.
To share the cup of wine and the bread with all in need;
To work ‘til God’s compassion and righteousness prevail.
‘Til all this planet’s people know justice without fail.
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Peg Ehrlinger
Offertory - “Great is Thy faithfulness” [by W. M. Runyan]
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 Peg Ehrlinger
Children’s Moment - Rick Painley
Special Music - “Servants of God” [Todd Kendall (tune: Hanover)] - Jan Green
Congregational Singing #476 - Rejoice in God's Saints v.1-3
1 Rejoice in God's saints, today and all days; a world without saints forgets how to praise.
Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer, their depth of adoring, Lord, help us to share.
2 Some march with events to turn them God's way; some need to withdraw, the better to pray.
Some carry the gospel through fire and through flood: our world is their parish: their purpose is God.
3 Rejoice in those saints, unpraised and unknown, who bear someone's cross, or shoulder their own.
They shame our complaining, our comforts, our cares: what patience in caring, what courage, is theirs!
Pastoral Prayer & The Lord’s Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
- Pastor Len’s Service this Saturday. MCCC to offer desserts
- Barb Jackson recovering from surgery
- Conflict in the Middle East
- Churches for Middle East Peace - of which Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a member:
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) calls upon all Christians and people of faith to pray for peace — not an empty peace devoid of justice, equality, and hope for all people, but a deep, lasting, and just peace that addresses core systemic issues of the conflict, from Palestinian needs for self-determination and freedom to Israel’s needs for safety and security.
Today I want to offer a beautiful prayer written by Rev. Jack Knox as we ask God for guidance in navigating this weary world as a church in mission. Let us pray together:
Gracious Lord, we dream of a world free of poverty and oppression, and we yearn for a world free of vengeance and violence. And we pray for your peace.
When our hearts ache for the victims of war and oppression, help us to remember that you healed people simply by touching them…, and give us faith in our ability to comfort and heal bodies and minds and spirits that have been broken by violence.
When the injustice of this world seems too much for us to handle, help us to remember that you fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish…, and give us hope that what we have to offer will turn out to be enough, too.
When fear of the power and opinions of others tempts us not to speak up for the least among us, help us to remember that you dared to turn over the tables of money changers…, and give us the courage to risk following you without counting the cost.
When we feel ourselves filled with anger at those who are violent and oppressive, help us remember that you prayed for those who killed you…, and give us compassion for our enemies, too.
When we tell ourselves that we have given all we can to bring peace to this world, help us to remember your sacrifice… , and give us the miracle of losing a little more of ourselves in serving you and our neighbors.
Walk with us, Lord, as we answer your call to be peacemakers. Help us to know truly what it means to be a Church in Mission. Increase our compassion, our generosity and our hospitality for the least of your children. Give us the courage, the patience, the serenity, the self-honesty and the gentleness of spirit that are needed in a world filled with turmoil and terror.
Unite us together as we prayer the prayer Jesus taught us:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Holy Communion
Meditation - Pete Pruszynski
Hymn - “Seed, Scattered, and Sown” #395, v.2-3
Refrain: Seed, scattered and sown, wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one, the Living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land, wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all; the Living Cup, the Living Bread of God.
2 The seed which falls on rock will wither and will die.
The seed within good ground will flower and have life. [Refrain]
3 As wheat upon the hills was gathered and was grown,
So may the church of God be gathered into one. [Refrain]
Prayer - Roger Cram
Words of Institution - Roger Cram
Music - “Father, I stretch my hands to Thee” [Arr. By W. Shield] - Sarah Park
Scripture - Matthew 13:31-35
31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. 35This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’
Sermon - Redwood Cones, Mustard Seeds, and Yeast Rev. Chad Delaney
Like all living things, Redwood trees want to reproduce. These trees are 100s of feet tall and can live for thousands of years…but still keep the future in mind. Their biological clocks are ticking.
The method they use to do this is somewhat surprising. In the Avenue of the Giants visitor center there was a little bowl with--what looked like tiny little pine cones in it. We were allowed to take one and so I did. I’ll pass it around. It is in fact a redwood cone. These gargantuan trees have tiny cones. But these tiny cones pack a lot of punch.
They can make about 10-20,000 cones in a season. And within each one of these cones is 100-200 seeds. Now here’s the thing…despite all this effort….the vast, vast, vast majority of these seeds will never make it to germination. So of the millions of seeds produced every year….the tree will be extremely lucky if they get ONE to germinate. But clearly not for a lack of trying.
They got the tiny size so they can be nimble and transportable. The wind can blow them around and an animal can easily move it.
These cones are super fire resistant. They grow up in California after all, so have thick, fire-resistant scales that protect the seeds inside from the intense heat of wildfires.
So they move forward with strategy and urgency.
And YET….there is also patience. Interestingly some of the redwood species have a feature called Serotiny --- this means that their cones remain closed on the tree for years, sometimes even decades. They only open to release their seeds in response to specific environmental conditions, like the heat from a forest fire. The heat from a fire causes the redwood cones to open and release their seeds onto the freshly burned soil.
Redwoods give everything they got, they are not afraid of failure and understand this is a long play--willing to wait for the right timing and conditions.
All of this powerful wisdom as we think about carrying out the mission of the church. Perhaps the Kingdom of God is also like Redwood Cones, because I see wonderful connections to our parables in the scripture reading today.
The first parable from Jesus is more familiar about the Mustard Seed and we get the connection here. Jesus says that though a mustard seed is teeny-tiny, it can develop and grow into the greatest of shrubs. Jesus says that even a mustard seed can grow into a tree (which is not biologically possible), but Jesus is telling the listener that God has more than a few unpredictable surprises waiting for us.
And we also have this wonderful little parable about woman with the yeast. It says that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ That doesn’t sound so strange until you look up what a “measure of flour” is. The estimate of “3 measures of flour” is a little over 60 lbs of flour. One guy who calls himself the Bread Monk, Father Garramone, said this: “its a ridiculously large amount of flour---you’d need a 100-quart Hobart mixer with a dough hook as big as your leg to knead it!”
So imagine doing it by hand! The woman in the parable is a beast. Determined, strong, hard-working, and patient. Nora, who’s made her share of bread over the years, mentioned Wednesday when we read the passage that it takes time to knead the dough to make sure all the yeast is distributed evenly. If you don’t take the time to do so…the bread won’t rise properly. So how long would it take with over 60lbs of flour? It is a huge task…but the woman in Jesus’ parable plugs away at it. She keeps kneading and kneading and kneading…until the time is right to bake the bread and watch it rise.
What wisdom is here for a church called to minister within a broken and fragmented world!
Sometimes we’ll feel like our efforts are futile and experience a high percentage of failure.
Sometimes, the mission will feel intimidating and discouraging.
Sometimes, there are challenges within our families, our work, and our church that will feel overwhelming.
But the Kingdom of God is built when people of faith persist in doing good.
In these stories we’re reminded--as Yoda said, “Size matters not”. That even the smallest acts of kindness, words of encouragement, or little ideas…can bloom and blossom and grow in incredible ways. Don’t underestimate them. Sure a lot may fall flat or even not work, but we keep on planting seeds. We keep listening for those small nudges toward service that God calls us to. We never know how far it might go.
We also have this wonderful example of the woman in the Jesus’ parable. She exhibits powerful characteristics about what it means to be the church in mission.
She’s got this wonderful patient urgency. She’s going to work hard and do all she can to get that yeast spread evenly…AND she’s not going to shortchange it. She’s going to wait until conditions are right. It is going to take time to get it where it needs to be…and that’s ok.
And…I love that she’s “go big or go home.” I mean, if you’re gonna make some bread and feed people, might as well go all out. Clearly, she’s not just making bread for her household…she’s making it for the whole darn village. She’s making enough to feed everybody. The church does well when we think and dream big with God.
The Body of Christ is called to a monumental task. To go into all the world loving and serving and sharing the Good News. Let’s go BIG! To look all the darkness in the world--the poverty, racism, and violence--right in the eye and still say there is still goodness to be shared!
No one said it was going to be easy. So may God strengthen us for the challenge. Let’s keep planting seeds--even the tiniest ones. Let’s keep kneading the doughs and spreading the Good News a little at a time. God needs us. There is much work to be done. There is much work to be done.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” May it be so!
*Closing Hymn - In the Bulb There is a Flower #638, v. 1-3
1 In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
2 There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
there's a dawn in every darkness bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
3 In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
in our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
Benediction
Thank you for joining us online and in the house.
Please join us downstairs for coffee downstairs
Please join us for our Sunday gatherings led by Jon Secaur, Carol Buzbee, and Nancy Humes. It's a great way to get to know folks and grow deeper in your faith.
Join us this week on Wednesdays
Christopher Wright said,
“Mission means inviting all the peoples of the earth to hear the music of God's future and dance to it today.”
May we -- as the Mantua Center Christian Church --
Learn to dance to the music of today
Plant some seeds (no matter how small)
Work with Patient Urgency to build God’s Kin-dom on Earth as it is in Heaven!
And the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit be with us NOW and ALWAYS!
Go in Peace!
Postlude - “All the Way my Saviour Leads Me ” [by R. Lowry] - Sarah Park