Listening from the Heart
Church Family, thank you for joining us today for worship. If it is your first time worshiping with us…welcome! We hope you feel warmed and welcomed and we hope you have a wonderful experience. We are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) seeking to be a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” We have differing backgrounds and beliefs, but we all come together as ONE in the body of Christ. If you have any questions about getting connected to our community, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or a member of the church. Today we reflect on what it means to listen….to ourselves, to one another, and to God. Welcome to worship!
Introit - “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”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
Building work
Welcoming committee meeting
Scripture - Proverbs 2:2-5 - Steve Hurd
2 make your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding;
4 if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures—
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
*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 - Steve Hurd
One: Together, let us turn our hearts to the divine presence that resides within and around us.
All: We come with open hearts, open minds, and open arms ready to listen and receive God’s Word.
One: Together, let us be attuned to the whispers of the Holy Spirit,
All: We silence the clamor of our minds and open our hearts to your gentle voice, O God.
One: Together, may we find the guidance and peace that comes from truly listening.
All: We worship with hearts wide open, ready to receive and respond to God’s love.
*Opening Hymn - Where the Spirit of the Lord Is #264 (Sing 2x)
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is peace.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is love.
There is comfort in life’s darkest hour, there is light and life,
there is help and power in the Spirit, in the Spirit of the Lord
Invitation to Generosity
Invitation - Steve Hurd
Offertory - “How Great Thou Art” [Arr by E. A. Edgren]
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 - Steve Hurd
Children’s Moment (4th for the 4C’s) - Rev. Chad Delaney
Pastoral Prayer & The Lord’s Prayer - Rev. Chad Delaney
Prayers for: Len Malotte, Eileen Kinter, Liz Meeker with surgeries coming up. What others do we need to lift in prayer this morning?
Lord, listen to your children praying….Lord, send your spirit in this place
Lord, listen to your children praying, Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace…
Gracious and loving Creator,
We come before you today with humble hearts, seeking your presence and guidance in a world filled with noise and turmoil. In a time when it's so easy to be distracted by the constant chatter of our busy lives, we ask for the wisdom to listen with our hearts, to truly hear the cries of those around us, and to respond with love and compassion.
God of life, our world is filled with division and strife and in the midst of all this struggle…help us to be peace-makers. Help us to listen not only to the words people speak, but also to the pain and longing that lie beneath their words. Give us the patience to understand, the empathy to feel, and the courage to act in ways that promote reconciliation and unity and hope.
Today we pray for the leaders of our nation, that they may listen to the needs of their people and not only to the sponsors of their re-election campaigns. We pray for policy-makers that each might keep in mind the most vulnerable instead of lining the pockets of friends. We pray for those around the world who suffer from the effects of war, poverty, and injustice, that their voices may be heard and their burdens lightened. Give us the courage to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, to amplify the voices of those working for justice, and to work for a world where all people are treated with basic dignity and respect. May your Spirit guide us in all that we do, that we may be instruments of your peace and agents of your love in a world that so desperately needs both.
We pray all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who listened with a heart full of love and compassion. Unite us together as we pray the prayer he taught us saying…
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 - Katie Baird
Hymn - I Come with Joy #420, v. 1-3, 5
1 I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free,
the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me, in love laid down for me.
2 I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed,
the new community of love in Christ's communion bread, in Christ's communion bread.
3 As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division ends.
The love that made us, makes us one,
and strangers now are friends, and strangers now are friends.
5 Together met, together bound by all that God has done,
we'll go with joy, to give the world,
the love that makes us one, the love that makes us one.
Prayer - Rev. Nancy Humes
Words of Institution - Rev. Nancy Humes
Music - “I’d Rather Have Jesus” [By G.B.Shea] - Sarah Park
Scripture - Revelation 3:20 - Rev. Chad Delaney
20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
Sermon - Who is Listening? Rev. Chad Delaney
Back in June, I went on the youth mission trip to Charleston, WV and next week we will get to hear from the youth and adults who went on the trip and this week I wanted to share with you some of my own reflections.
A wonderful part of this year’s trip is getting to meet the homeowners and spending some significant time with them. Our mission team was divided into 3 groups to go to 3 different worksites. My group went to East Bank which was about 25 minutes southeast of Charleston to work on Gladys Ave with Lester. But his friends call him Cherokee because of his Native American blood. Cherokee was a character and you’ll hear even more about him next week.
Cherokee loved to talk…and talk…..and talk. He was itching to tell stories, ready to share about his life and all his adventures. He had had 5 heart attacks and 3 strokes. He was a Vietnam marine veteran who was wounded in action. He was proud of his Native American and Southern heritage. He had been a motorcyclist mechanic, a handyman, worked many odd jobs, and owned his own limousine company. He thought he might have 30-40 siblings scattered around West Virginia. He had multiple ex-wives he couldn’t stand and 2 of his own sons tried to beat him up. There’s much more, many of which I really don’t feel comfortable sharing during a sermon.
So, he would scoot around in his electric wheelchair watching what was happening and telling stories.
However….I had a moment with Cherokee that really challenged me. It was Thursday afternoon and I was very tired from the week of work. We were beginning to put the house back together after doing all the inside work and about to head outside the next day. I was moving furniture and items back into a room when Cherokee found me. I had a pile of stuff in my hands which were fairly heavy and he stationed himself in front of me to talk. I couldn’t move. I mean I could have in order to put some of the stuff down, but I didn’t want to be rude. So I stood and listened.
Now, as I’ve learned more about listening in ministry and coaching, it is very clear that there are different KINDS of listening with very different qualities attached to them.
There is Selective Listening -- when a person only hears what they want to hear in the conversation and blocks out the rest.
Biased Listening -- whatever the person says the listener will filter it through their own and bend it to their own ideas
Combative Listening -- where the listener ONLY is thinking about how they can combat the other says and is ready to argue
Inattentive Listening -- like in the movie “Dumb & Dumber” when Harry says, “My girlfriend was giving me some crap about me not listening to her…I don’t know I wasn’t really paying attention”
There is also much more positive ones like:
Informational Listening -- where you are listening intently to extract information and details
Appreciative Listening -- where you are listening with gratitude for the positive or when you are listening to a piece of music
Active Listening -- is when you put your whole mind, body, and soul into following the person talking so as to not just hear the words, but to feel the emotion, and hear what is behind the words.
Don’t worry….there’s plenty more, but we’ll stop there. Way more to this “Listening”-thing than I ever imagined. There are SO MANY ways to use our ears.
In Matthew 11:15, Jesus says, “Let anyone with ears listen!” …. Yeah, but Jesus, what kind of listening did you mean?
So…. when I was standing there with Cherokee that Thursday, I have a confession to make that I’m not proud of, but I think you’ll understand. After about 20 minutes or so I started doing “Exit Listening”, you know the kind of listening you do when you are just waiting for the right moment to exit. Listening for the awkward pause or transition. “Alright I better get back to work.” There is a definite correlation between how tired I am and the decline in quality of my listening!
And while it was understandable, it still grieves me a little bit. Afterall, as a child of God he has a story to share…and if I wasn’t going to listen…if Larissa and Avery and Charli and Leighton and Sophie (who ALL were amazing listeners and spent time with him)…if we weren’t going to listen to him…who was?
What we all know is that there are many crying out to be heard today that so many do NOT listen to.
The poor
The refugee
The abused and sexually assaulted
The lonely
Indigenous communities
Mental health and trauma survivors
Front-line workers
Children and Youth --- Who would you name?
And… it just might be that there are some right under our noses. What is the quality of our listening when it comes to your friends? Your parents? Your children? Your spouse? Is there more selective listening or active listening going on there? I imagine we all could do so much better with those we love, let alone how we might listen to those in the world in need.
Dr. Ralph Nichols who pioneered the study of listening once said, “People want to know that they're being heard. It's the greatest gift you can give someone, to really listen to them."
Recognizing that we are tired, busy, pre-occupied…. all the things… can we listen a bit better?
Jesus said, “20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” Today, Jesus, is speaking through the cries of the world. Knocking on our door to commune with him. Speaking through our friends and neighbors. Our children and loved ones. Our community and world. Are we listening?
*Closing Hymn - Open My Eyes, That I May See #586, v. 1-3
1 Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
2 Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!
3 Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Benediction - Rev. Chad Delaney
Thank you for joining us online and in the house.
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.
Next week WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY and Youth Mission Trip
Bring Bread and/or Jams/Jellies.
Listening by Ms. Helen Barron
To hear—really hear—amid the noise
to risk being open to another perspective amid the impacted certainties
to be able to listen to impassioned pleas
while owning the cries that come from our own hearts.
To hear an argument that does not resonate
disagree, if that be our call, without demeaning the bearer of the words.
Amid the colliding words
injured by the words
injuring with our words:
help us to hear God’s Words.
Amen.
Postlude - “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations” [by H. E. Nichol] - Sarah Park