Everybody Love me [Applause] Come on Miracles Around Tell me George Jones Foreign Thank you Testing one two three testing testing Me Will release And the glory glory glory of the Lord will serves Welcome to Westover Community United Church of Christ listen to these words of our welcome statement we the congregation of Westerville Community United Church of Christ seek to affirm the person that you are with loving hearts and open minds Guided by the Holy Spirit we are committed to expanding the ever widening circle of
Christ’s love we embrace the diversity of God’s Own image which includes people of all ages races ethnicities physical and mental abilities gender identities and sexual orientations we also respect diversity in our political beliefs theological backgrounds socioeconomic and relationship status anyway the world describes you or you describe yourself you are welcome here
To join and participate in experiencing are still speaking God Good morning this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it welcome to worship with us at Westerville Community United Church of Christ I am Pastor Susan our lay reader today is Dorothy Hall and I’m also very grateful to Nevin longardner who will be sharing in our
Fellowship of prayer today and leading Us in that moment of worship Pastor zigrid started her sabbatical on Monday of last week so she’ll be gone for the next several Sundays let us hold her in our hearts for a restorative Sabbath time if you are new to us today if this
Is your first or even fifth visit with us we are glad that you’re here I extend a very special Welcome to our guests in fact if you are interested in learning more about us as a congregation after worship today our Board of Outreach and welcome is hosting what we call Discover
Wcucc it is a brief 45 minute or so informational Gathering it will be in our Middle School room and if you need directions to that space you can ask me after worship I’ll be happy to point you in that direction we hope that you’ll come and learn more about us we are a
Congregation that works hard to welcome all and we hope that each one of you feels a deep sense of belonging in our worship today whether you are in the Sacred Space of this Sanctuary or the Sacred Space of your own home we hope to hear from you if you are here in the
Sanctuary please take a moment to find what we call our friendship pad it’s the black pad located at the end of each aisle if you could just sign in so that we know who was with us send it on down the road that’s really helpful and if
You’re with us online go ahead and drop us a note so that we know you’re here as well our Nursery is open so children who are three years old and younger if they’d like a place to hang out and play with some really cool grown-ups and some
Really fun toys the nursery is just on the other side of that wall we hope that you’ll have a great time there but kids are welcome in our service throughout the entire worship time today we will be using both hymnals and I want to make just a note of Correction
Our opening hymn will be number 73 it’s written in the bulletin is 74. it’s 73 enter rejoice and come in so when it’s time for us to sing make sure you’re opening to the right page in the new century hymnal a couple of brief announcements this
Place has been busy thanks to our Board of Parish life for hosting an absolutely amazing square dance last night their next event is coming up it is a nature hike at Blendon Woods Metro Park next Sunday September 24th at one o’clock and our chili cook-off and cruising is
Coming on Sunday October 8th late in the afternoon at four o’clock come for great chili and cool cars help to support our campership scholarship and wheels for Aiden all of our church members are encouraged to be part of our new of our new church photo directory you can learn more about
How to sign up in your bulletin and also there’s information in our narfax which is a fancy word for our lobby area some quick news for families with middle and high school youth there’s lots of exciting things taking place first of all you should know that last week’s pancake breakfast raised one
Thousand dollars for our youth program that is an all-time record I have no doubt that our middle and high school kids are going to have a lot of fun this year and thanks to your generosity if you are a parent or grandparent of one of our youth and also if you are a
High school or middle school youth group leader Trey Pearson invites you to a special meeting tonight to learn about what is to come this year join him in Fellowship Hall at five o’clock this evening and the official kickoff to middle and high school youth group will
Be next Sunday at 5 p.m at the Kellogg House they have a pool they have a bonfire they’ve got volleyball they have all the things I don’t know if Ron knows that you’re showing up yet but show up and surprise him hahaha all right dear friends I believe those
Are the announcements this morning could you do me a favor and take a deep breath let the spirit of God enter your heart your souls and your mind as we prepare for worship at the conclusion of the Prelude I invite you to spend just to beat in silence so the music can settle
In our souls as well and at that time we will rise in body or in spirit so together we can join in singing our opening hymn enter rejoice and come in number 73 in the new century Hymnal let us turn to God In Worship foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign And to rejoice Thank you Forever This song foreign Let us worship God by joining together in our call to worship God gathers us here apart from our everyday lives to share with us the good news let us hear God’s renewed call for us to go into the world sharing Jesus love with all let us worship God and be encouraged to
Transform hurt into healing by the power of the holy spirit amen let us pray the opening prayer in unison loving God you move us to new places and call us to a higher purpose May our sacred time with you open our eyes to the needs of the world
And Inspire us to respond with compassionate action draws closer to your own heart merciful Creator amen Glory You may be seated foreign Different times Foreign Thank you yesterday close to you in the shadow of your face [Applause] thank you to our chancell choir and to Joe and to Stu that was beautiful it is an exciting day in the life of our congregation every year we gift our third grade children with their very own Bible in uh in in gratitude for what they are to our congregation and for all
They will continue to be in great faith that they will continue to grow in their relationship with God and of course all of this is always done with thanks to the Watson family these gifts are always a gift in memory of Kathy Watson and we are so very grateful to Mark and Terry
And Megan for their gift to our children this year and every year at this time kids if you know you are here to receive a Bible today I invite you to make your way forward and do your best to stand in the place we talked about You want to grab the next batch I think everyone is here except for maybe one All right everyone take a big step backwards backwards good Perfect sure good morning to all of you look at this crew this is amazing we typically give Bibles to our third graders but we’ve had so many new families join us in the last year that some of these children are older than third grade and they have not yet
Received a Bible in a former Church home so thanks be to God for this growing church and these beautiful faces the gift that you are going to receive today is pretty special and Trey is going to tell you a little bit more about what the Bible means to this church and how
We hope it might be useful to you yes we believe that this Bible has been written over hundreds and thousands of years throughout history that has all kinds of stories of how God has moved through history and what we can learn from it and so we hope that you take these
Bibles and you get curious about all the ways God has moved and and through our faith tradition as Christians we get to see the stories of Jesus and the stories um from before his time as well and so I hope that when you get curious that
You’ll find a trusted adult to help you find some of these stories and that you’ll grow and learn from it as you get older in each of your Bibles there is a bookmark that we’ve chosen for you and your bookmark is in the is in the same
Place for each of your Bibles we’re going to talk a little bit about that in the children’s sermon but what we’re going to do is we’re going to call your name and when we call your name if you could come forward to receive your Bible that would be great and then you can
Stand back with the rest of your friends all 100 of them Vivian K Arroyo gots you and your time with it Landon Christopher butcher Landon this Bible is for you God bless you Cafaro Bible is a gift from our church God bless you Jonathan Cafaro Jonathan this is from your church family
God bless you and Lucy caffaro Lucy this is a gift for you God bless you Mara Christine Cowan all right here today that’s okay Ezekiel Rafael Cole Zeke this Bible is for you may God be with you Maxton Dean Cole Maxton this Bible is for you may God be
With you in your time with it Jackson Cox Jackson This Bible is for you God bless you Jocelyn m everhard hi Jocelyn this is a gift for you God bless you Wesley s Eberhard hopefully this is a gift from your church God bless you Harper a fox
This is a gift for you God be with you Gavin franconi the church God bless you IFA J Jarrell Gerald this is a gift for you God bless Janelle a Jarrell this is a second Vivian Catherine nicely is from the church Violet Sue Lang here you go Violet this is a gift from
The church Anna E Moss here oh man it’s not here take that okay Avery Oberlin this is a gift from the church Avery Lydia Oberlin Cole shooty you go cool God bless you Joshua Skinner this is a gift from the church God be with you and Jacob Coss vocalo for you Jacob God
Can we all pray together holy God of blessing for the ways that you make yourself known to us through Sacred Scriptures and the ways that you make yourself known to us in our everyday lives we thank you we thank you for the Watson family and this generous
Gift in memory of sweet Kathy and we ask God that you bless these children as they come to understand you better through these scriptures be with them and be with us all amen congratulations to all of you I invite all of you to come and have a
Seat for children’s sermon and if there are other kids who want to make their way forward do we have other we still have yet more children in this church come on up friends good morning Avery may I borrow your Bible thank you thank you good morning everyone I’m
Really glad to see you today hi this is a special day for lots of kids in our church because they received their very own Bible and I’m going to read from it the passage that we marked this comes to us from the gospel of Matthew this is chapter 20 and I’m going
To read verses 13 through 15. then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay hands his hands on them and pray the disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them but Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not stop them for it
Is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs and he laid his hands on them and went on his way thank you so much for letting me borrow this can you believe that there were people who thought that children shouldn’t get close to Jesus I think they thought that maybe his
Message was only for grown-ups and Jesus said that’s not true I’m here to show everybody love and the Bible is full of examples of that full of examples of how Jesus extended his love to all people of all age all ages and all places in the whole
World and sometimes God shows up in the Bible those of you who just got a Bible are going to learn this as you start to read more about it shows up with people on all kinds of Amazing Adventures how many of you have ever been on an adventure yeah what
Kinds of Adventures have you been on raise your hand if you’ve ever been on an airplane have you ever been on an airplane oh have any of you hiked up a big mountain or up a big hill yes have any of you had Adventures while you’re
Swimming in the pool or in the ocean or in a pond you’ve done all of those so far have any of you had Adventures while you’re roller skating oh my gosh you guys have had Amazing Adventures what about on bicycle rides have you been on a bike ride and had a
Really cool adventure that’s some you know what I think that you are a lot like all of the people in the Bible who God talks to all of the time God says I’m going to send you on this new adventure and the people say yes and then you know what happens they go
On these crazy adventures and they have a job to do every single time pretty much it feels like their job is to show love to people can you imagine that every time you’re on an airplane or hiking I’m getting all my steps in today we’re roller skating if all the
People you encountered you showed them just a little bit of God’s love do you know what that means it means that you’re doing exactly what God hopes that we will do I don’t think that that message is just for grown-ups what do you think I don’t think too many of these
Grown-ups roller skate that often anyway so the next time you find yourself on a big adventure I hope that you’ll pause and you’ll listen for just a moment and just maybe you’ll hear God’s voice in your heart telling you go show people how much I love them will you pray with me
O God of Great Adventures we say yes to them all thank you for sending us into this world to show your love and reminding us it does not matter how old or how young we are we all have the ability God to show people you your love and our love for them too
Amen and now it is time for Sunday school for those who would like to go can my preschool and kindergarten friends stand up please you’ll be going with Mrs franconi out this door and my first and second grade friends do you guys need help following them do
You know where to go Sadie okay my first and second grade friends will be going with Mrs Moore you guys can head out this door too and oh thanks be to God and God bless the people in the third through fifth grade room those of you who are in third
Through fifth grade if you would like to go to your Sunday school you’re going with these Brave courageous adults and anyone who is in 6th 7th or eighth grade who wants to spend some time with Trey in the Middle School room you can follow him there we’ll see you all back
Here for the end of the service thank you now comes a time in our worship service called The Fellowship of prayer it’s a time when we lift up the joys and concerns of our congregation To God In Prayer this morning we’re asking prayers for Haley Hargrove and her family Haley’s
Father Mike Feeney passed into God’s loving Embrace this past Tuesday Janet Barker Stone Rook is grateful to be recovering from surgery she appreciates our loving prayers and is not up to visitors at this time Jerry and Frankie Stein request prayers for their son Brian who is having surgery this week
Shirley MacPherson requests prayers for her family after the death of her cousin John Alex Getz asks for prayers for her friend Caleb who was in a car accident several days ago and is struggling to recover from injuries we also lift up Alan and Rebecca Johnston Joe Rangel and Jack Epley
And we pray for those impacted by Hurricane Lee please join me in prayer Almighty and holy God thank you for the beauty of this late summer day we love your creation and we pray that you will help us to become better stewards of our environment thank you Lord for our church and the
Opportunity to Worship You freely please bless our church and help it to always be a safe place that is welcoming to all Lord help us to be generous in our giving sharing out of the abundance that you have blessed us with and help us to encourage one another to
Be Advocates of justice peace and fairness Lord we lift up pastor zigrid and pray that her sabbatical will be a time of renewal reflection and learning and we also lift up Pastor Susan and pray for the Holy Spirit to fill her with strength wisdom and peace during this time of sigrid’s absence
In silence now we come to you o God lifting up the joys and concerns that we hold in our hearts God we trust that you heard the names of those that we hold in our hearts along with those names that we’ve spoken out loud this morning
We pray that you grant healing and peace to each person in need of your loving care now let us join together in the prayer that Jesus taught as disciples 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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen our Old Testament lesson today is from
The Book of Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 through 9. excuse me after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord the Lord spoke to Joshua son of none Moses assistance saying my servant Moses is dead now proceed to cross the Georgian Jordan you and all this people
Into the land that I am giving to them to the Israelites every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon I have given to you as I promised to Moses from the Wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the Great River the river Euphrates all the land of the Hittites
To the great sea in the west shall be your territory no one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you I will not fail you or forsake you be strong and courageous for you shall
Lead this people to possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them only be strong and very courageous being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left so that
You may be successful wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it for then you shall make your way
Prosperous and then you shall be successful I hereby command you be strong and courageous do not be frightened or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go our new testament lesson today is from The Book of Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 to 20.
Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them when they saw him they worshiped him but they doubted and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them
In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you and remember I am with you always to the end of the age may the Lord bless the reading and hearing of his holy word thank you Dorothy
And thank you Nevin how exciting to worship a god who’s always up to something how glorious to be made by a Creator who is constantly reforming us challenging us to grow and be open to new things how wonderful until it’s intimidating let’s continue to explore how God
Breathes new life into our community and into us as individuals with our sermon series making all things new last week pastor zigrid preached from the prophet Isaiah and also from The Book of Revelation reminding us of the many times the Divine has proclaimed I am doing a new thing
Our scripture readings today lean into something that might be a little uncomfortable and maybe even scary Joshua and the gospel writer Matthew remind us that in making all things new God calls us to a new purpose and that means we have to go to new places
It would be easier if we could just remain in our own comfortable places wouldn’t it like Archie Bunker’s armchair if you’re familiar with the 1970s hit TV show All in the Family you know what I am talking about Archie Bunker played by Carol O’Connor was notoriously Gruff and
Grumpy and set in his ways and yet oddly lovable for a character who was deeply prejudiced Archie’s armchair is Iconic which is why it has made its way into the Smithsonian that’s right Archie Bunker’s armchair is an exhibit at the Smithsonian I think we have a picture of it there you go
Archie’s chair is on the right his wife Edith’s chair is on the left and if you travel to Washington DC to the Smithsonian Institute you can see it there a little piece of TV history a little piece of Americana those who know the show will remember that Archie rarely left this chair
Pretty loved and worn out in fact the vast majority of scenes for All in the Family take place in the Bunker’s family room and if Archie isn’t in that chair you almost always see it in the background in so many ways that simple prop represents Archie’s stubborn nature
The chair was his literal and figurative comfort zone from that place he could remain crouched in his beliefs and his biases and protected by the familiarity of his surroundings and the meaning of Archie’s last name bunker is not lost on me either he spends his time hunkered down shielded
From the changing world and there were lots of social and political changes afoot in the 1970s movements to uplift women and people of color and LGBT folks and there were people like his own son-in-law who were as he called them liberal hippies Archie Bunker was having none of it
You know it’s hard to get a good view of the rest of the world and how others might live and experience life from just one location but who wants to be challenged when we’re cozy in a trusty armchair if we’re being honest with ourselves we might have a penchant for resisting
Change making us slightly more like Archie Bunker than we are like Joshua or the disciples our Old Testament and gospel readings are both commissioning stories meaning in each one the people are charged with a new purpose and both times it involves pretty specific directions go move to a new place
To be fair in both contexts the people had already been moving Joshua with the other Israelites had been following Moses and traveling for quite a long time and the disciples like Jesus already lived a nomadic lifestyle but both of them were charged with going forward in new ways
We can assume that Joshua felt overwhelmed by this call to assume Moses’s role not by what Joshua says but by the words that are attributed to God in the verses from today we can hear God say to Joshua three times be strong and courageous the concluding words from God are the
Lord your God is with you wherever you go in The Gospel according to Matthew we are with Jesus and the disciples after his resurrection the disciples like Joshua are anxious we know because we hear in verse 17 they worshiped him but they doubted Thank You gospel writer Matthew for the
Reminder that doubt and Faith are not mutually exclusive and we aren’t sure quite honestly if the disciples doubted Jesus themselves or their future for this is the moment when Jesus prepares them for what to do when he’s gone again when he finally ascends when Jesus
Cannot be on this Earth in the flesh to travel and touch Hearts his disciples must fill this role that’s their commission that is their new purpose in parallel with Joshua’s story Jesus concludes his charge with this word of encouragement and comfort and devotion saying and remember I am with you always
To the end of the age and off they went Joshua went on to lead the Israelites into the promised land and the disciples continued the mission of Jesus Christ but that cannot possibly be for us too right most of us are not nomads we have jobs and school and family and
Friends and finances and health issues that keep us settled dare I say tethered allow me to tell you about my friends Nick and Renee Shaw Nick is a United Methodist pastor and we became friends in seminary he and Renee have four sons and a very busy schedule that comes along with
Having four Sons and despite that over the course of many years Nick and Renee heard God calling them to go serve and learn in a different way in a different place with new people so they did this big Brave courageous and scary thing in 2019 they packed up
Their family and as missionaries with the United Methodist Church they headed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo it’s possible that some of you have met the Shahs they were guests several years ago at a men’s club dinner that we had here at the church just before their departure
Once in the DRC as they call it the Shahs served at a school as a technical Specialists and teachers they came to learn about the needs of the families and the students and the teachers at the school and here is a photo of their family with the pastor of their church and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and I know these Shaw boys so I know what it took to get them to stand still for this picture I call this a miracle moment this photo was taken at their going away party because after a short time in the
DRC they felt called to a new missionary focus and they headed to Zambia as one does I promise in no part of the sermon well I try to convince you that you have to go to a far away country with four young children but they had been in Zambia for oh a
Whopping three or four days with their belongings still in route behind them in March of 2020 when they got word that the world was shutting down because of this new virus making its way across the globe the U.S embassy in Zambia was closing which meant they would not be able to
Obtain new visas and they certainly did not want to be a burden on the Zambian Health Care system so with very little notice and virtually none of their belongings the Shaws boarded a plane for the United States all six of them I don’t know about you but I might have
Seen that as a sign from God that staying close to home was good enough and I would have settled right back into my comfy armchair but just a couple of months ago because Nick and Renee are Nick and Renee they returned to the Democratic Republic of
The Congo just the two of them this time older and wiser for a couple of weeks serving with a medical missionary team and this is where this precious photo was taken I think we have it here we go there’s my friend Renee with a newborn baby born in the clinic where they were
Serving Nick and I have had some really great conversations about their sense of call about living into a new purpose and Nick almost always brings it back to Matthew 28 verse 19. go and make disciples of all Nations he’s always said the most important important part of that sentence to him is go
I’ll be honest it’s one of those Bible verses that has made me and I suspect maybe several of you bristle a little bit because after go comes the part of the scripture that colonizers have used throughout history to justify their violent actions and taking over lands and cultures
As if making disciples somehow requires that one must transform other communities into their image practicing their religion and their particular way but Nick and Renee have brought a faithful loving theologically Rich perspective to that scripture Nick told me they don’t have to bring Jesus to people
He said we have never been anywhere that Jesus Christ wasn’t already present we don’t go to tell people what to do or to show them a better way we sit with them in their struggles and we are watching as God continues to be faithful how can anyone deny that God is already
At work in a place where you can see a beautiful new baby born in other words making disciples looks like listening to people meeting their needs noting how God is a part of all of it already making disciples looks like modeling mercy and showing love and knowing that
The people we meet have the propensity to do the same and model for us in return go go into the world and experience all the places that God is at work but holy moly traveling is really expensive and super inconvenient and of course what Nick and Renee have done is not for
All of us here this challenging news the Holy One calls God’s people to something new and that does include us the hard part is Discerning what that means what is our new purpose now hear this good news we can live into our new purpose right here in Westerville Ohio
We’re from Florida or Maine or wherever you find yourself today Nick reminded me that when Jesus says go he calls us out of our comfort and encourages us to cross some form of boundary often we think of that as a geographical boundary he said but in reality we are
Called to cross political economic social racial and other boundaries and then he said it’s about stepping out of where we are situated and into someone else’s struggle or need Archie Bunker like a lot of us was in no position to leave his physical location but over the course of the show All In
The Family the audience Bears witness to him meeting new people who make their way into his home those poor unsuspecting hippies eventually Archie softens and we see him transform over time just a little bit our faith as Christians is richer than any television show we might identify
With Archie’s desire to live in the good old days but can we accept that those days weren’t good for everyone can we leave our chairs in the Smithsonian finally empty because they are now relics of our past I ask you to Faithfully discern what is God’s new purpose for this congregation
And what is God’s new purpose for you individually you know what scratch that it is not a new purpose it is a renewed purpose God has always called us forward out from the place where we are most comfortable let’s move from that place to meet new people
And hear New Perspectives and be open to change because God is there that is exactly where God is where we will encounter the Creator the Christ and the Holy Spirit anew go let us be strong and courageous amen oh to be strong and courageous it’s one of those things that’s like easier to
Preach and harder to practice let’s think about that for just a moment what it means to be strong and courageous and how we meet people where they are one way we can do that is meeting some very practical needs week after week our Board of missions is
Always hard at work coming up with new ways for us to help folks out in our community our partnership with Westerville area resource Ministry a brand new blessing box if you haven’t seen it in the parking lot please help us to fill it with Necessities for those
Who might be wandering past our church and looking for a meal or diapers or tissues let’s keep that stocked and for all of the ways that our Ministries throughout the week allow us to meet the needs of people we ask you for your financial support because it allows us to keep moving
Forward as God continues to call us from the place that makes us comfortable into new territory where we will meet God and you as the offering plate comes around I invite you if you have nothing to place in it physically spent just to beat holding it in your hands
Offering up a prayer of gratitude for the way that God has blessed you abundantly in listening to how God might ask you to be a blessing for others let us give as we are able Thank you foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Foreign Holy God of blessing we thank you for these gifts and ask that you bless them and the givers open our ears o God to all the ways that you tell us to go and may these gifts help us meet the needs of the people we come to meet when we
Are out in your beautiful world Amen let us remain standing for our closing hymn called as partners in Christ’s service thank you Foreign Foreign Understand Foreign Foreign Let us go into this world strong and courageous confident that God is with us wherever we are now and God is already where we are heading it is a tradition in this congregation that at the conclusion of my spoken benediction we will sing together our congregational benediction and the words
Will appear on the screen at that time if you are comfortable reaching out and holding the hands of those nearest to you I invite you to do so it is a symbol of us being the ever widening circle of Christ’s love if you prefer to leave
Your hands at your side we trust that the spirit connects us one to another and I remind you if you are a guest and you would like to come to discover WCC you are invited to the Middle School room we’ll need just a few minutes to
Prep so help yourself to some coffee and meet some lovely souls in our fellowship hall and dear friends as you go forward from this place may you always know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit goes with you amen I actually Forever Thank you Foreign Foreign
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