Worship in Place | Awake in the Dark | Advent 2 | December 6
The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859
Order of Worship | Awake in the Dark | Advent 2
Prelude
Welcome
Hymn | Holy Darkness | Martin Family, Tom Blosser, piano
Call to Worship
Peace Candle
As we worship in place today, we light a Peace Candle in our home.
May this flame be a sign of our prayer for peace within us, among us, to the ends of the earth.
The flame joins us in spirit across distance, along with our sister church in Armenia, Colombia.
Hymn | Awake | written by Phil Hart, sung by many voices
Children’s Time
Offering/Dedication Prayer https://www.columbusmennonite.org/donateget-involved/donate
HWB 172 | O come, O come, Immanuel | Martin Family
Scripture | Isaiah 40:1-5; Mark 1:1-8
Sermon | Braving the Dark
Silent Reflection
HWB 183 | On Jordan’s banks the Baptist’s cry | Martin Family
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer
Extinguishing the Peace Candle
Benediction
Announcements
Congregational Meeting | following worship
Baby Shower | following Congregational Meeting
Cookie Sunday | following Baby Shower
Thanks to everyone who helped lead today’s service
Sermon: Mark Rupp
Worship Leader: Jennifer Cartmel
Music coordination: Debra and Galen Martin
Children’s Time: Wyse Family
Peace Candle: Hoke Family
Scripture Reading: Maya Plessinger
Zoom Host: Gretchen Geyer
Sermon Text:
I can’t remember if I’ve shared this with you all yet, but I have a genetic condition known as Autosomal-Dominant Compelling Helioophthalmic Outburst Syndrome. It affects somewhere between 18-35% of the population, so there’s a good chance that you or someone you love is affected as well. But it’s probably a lot scarier than it sounds, especially when you realize that some scientist decided to call it that long string of big words mostly for the acronym, which spell out ACHOO. It’s also sometimes referred to as photoptarmosis, or light sneezing.
The completely unscientific way I like to describe it to people is that I am just a…
Awake in the Dark | Advent 1 | November 29
The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859
Order of Worship
Prelude
La Ténèbre (Our darkness) | Phil Yoder, vocal, cello
Welcome
Call to Worship
Peace Candle
As we worship in place today, we light a Peace Candle in our home.
May this flame be a sign of our prayer for peace within us, among us, to the ends of the earth.
The flame joins us in spirit across distance, along with our sister church in Armenia, Colombia.
Hymn | Awake | written by Phil Hart
Children’s Time
Offering/Dedication Prayer https://www.columbusmennonite.org/donateget-involved/donate
HWB 252 | O sacred Head, now wounded | Phil Yoder, cello
Scripture | Isaiah 64:1-4, Mark 13:24-37
HWB 176 | Comfort, comfort O my people | Phil Yoder
Sermon | Awake in the dark (Manuscript below)
Silent Reflection
HWB 233 | Joyful is the Dark | Becca and Michael Lachman
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer
Extinguishing the Peace Candle
Benediction
Announcements
Thanks to everyone who helped lead today’s service
Sermon: Joel Miller
Worship Leader: Jennifer Cartmel
Music coordination: Phil Yoder
Children’s Time: Mark Rupp
Peace Candle: Cartmel/Plessinger Family
Scripture Reading: Bill and Maya Plessinger
Zoom Host: Elisa Leahy
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Awake in the Dark Sermon Manuscript
One day, five or six years ago, we can’t remember exactly when, our dear Lily came home from school in tears. As a concerned parent, one instantly begins to wonder what could be the cause. Had she been bullied on the playground? Had she failed a test? Had the teacher drawn attention to her in a way that was embarrassing? Had something happened on the bus ride? Whatever it was, she was absolutely inconsolable. Had she stepped on a nail in the driveway that was still in her foot?
No, none of this had happened. As we soon learned, the cause of…
Worship in Place | Thanksgiving Service | November 22
CMC Weekly Service 11/22/20 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.
The video above includes the full service, except for the time for sharing.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained through One License with license A-727859
Order of Worship | Thanksgiving Service
Prelude
Welcome
Call to Worship
Peace Candle
As we worship in place today, we light a Peace Candle in our home.
May this flame be a sign of our prayer for peace within us, among us, to the ends of the earth.
The flame joins us in spirit across distance, along with our sister church in Armenia, Colombia.
HWB 89 | For the beauty of the earth
Children’s Time
Offering/Dedication Prayer https://www.columbusmennonite.org/donateget-involved/donate
STJ 4 | You’ve got a place
Scripture | Psalm 67:6 NIV
Gratitude Reflection 1 | Blake Miller
Silent Reflection
Scripture | Philippians 4:6-7
Gratitude Reflection 2 | Jayne Reynolds
Silent Reflection
Scripture | Psalm 69:30
Gratitude Reflection 3 | Jacqui Hoke
Silent Reflection
HWB 94 | Come, ye thankful people
Sharing of Gratitude and Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer
Extinguishing the Peace Candle
Benediction
Dance Party
Announcements
Christian Education | 11:00 am
Thanks to everyone who helped lead today’s service
Gratitude Reflections: Blake Miller, Jayne Reynolds, Jacqui Hoke
Worship Leader: Ruth Leonard
Music coordination: Paul Knapke, Phil Yoder
Peace Candle: Miller Family
Children’s Time: Gretchen Geyer
Offering video: Elisa Leahy
Scripture Reading: Lily Miller
Zoom Host: Sarah Werner
…
Worship in Place | Cultivating Beloved Community | November 15
Sermon: Carolyn May
Scripture | 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30
Sermon | Moving Toward Endarkenment
Good morning! Upon graduating from seminary this May I moved back here to Columbus to do some chaplaincy work at Riverside Methodist Hospital. I don’t get to preach at the hospital so I’m really grateful to be able to share with you all this morning. However, when I initially read the texts for this week, I will admit, I was a little less excited to preach…I suspect this parable has been heard by many of us before. It is one that comes in a series of eschatological –end of the world– type parables. We heard one last week about the 10 bridesmaids. Through these parables Matthew is seeking to advise his readers to consider the end of the world which he, along with many others, expected to come during his lifetime. These parables are to teach not so much about what will happen in the end but how we ought to live in the meantime.
I have long struggled with this parable of the talents. I think I most commonly heard the text interpreted as being a call to use our talents (as in singing, painting, teaching, etc.) in a way that didn’t waste them. If we did waste our God-given abilities then we would be cast into the outer darkness where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, we would be cast into the fiery pits of hell. This parable terrified me when I was younger because I had a hard time even knowing what talents I had that I wasn’t supposed to waste! Eventually I started hearing (or maybe just registering) an interpretation of the text that focused on finances. At some point I was able to grasp the concept of a “talent”…
Worship in Place | Cultivating Beloved Community | November 8
Sermon: Joel Miller
Scripture | Amos 5:18-24; Matthew 25:1-13
What to expect when you’re (not) expecting the end of the world
May our eyes be open to seeing, may our ears be open to hearing, and may our hearts be open to loving.
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning.
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning.
Keep your lamps trimmed and burning.
For the time is drawing nigh.
Well, what do you preach the Sunday after a highly contested, highly consequential election in a global super-power?
It’s times like this when I’m especially grateful for the lectionary – this cycle of scriptures we share with other Christians around the world. That way if the scripture is entirely unrelated to current events, or is so on the nose as to appear hand-picked for this particular occasion, we preachers can say “the lectionary made me do it.”
And, as we slowly emerge from an insanely long election season, we’re reminded that the lectionary has its own season and rhythms. Case in point – the lectionary calendar is winding down, and Advent, just around the corner, begins not just a new season, but a new year. People keep saying that 2020 has been a crazy year, but in church-speak, this Year A of the lectionary cycle has really been a doozy. Thank God it’s about to be Year B.
And as the lectionary cycle nears its end, every year, it goes apocalyptic. The Day of the Lord in the Hebrew Scriptures, the so-called Second Coming in the New Testament. The new heavens and new earth, the end of time as we know it, and all that.
That’s why we get “The parable of the ten bridesmaids,” a passage unique to Matthew, the featured gospel of Year A. Matthew is written soon enough after Jesus’ life that there is still the expectation of his return to earth…
