Crowded by the Angry Crowd
MCC RE and Reflection MCC Joint Hybrid Service – January 30, 2022
Crowded by the Angry Crowd
Order of Service
Introduction……………………………………………….Rev. Sharon Henry
Announcements
Reflection MCC…………………………………. Rev. Sharon Henry
MCC of the Redwood Empire………..David Juarez (MCC RE)
Welcome to Visitors,
Opening Prayer and Candle Lighting…………… Rev. Sharon Henry
Centering Song …………………………. The Kin-dom of God (RMCC)
Our world is crowded today, have you felt it? There are the protesting crowds waving signs and hopes of change. Some have brought us hope and motivated us to move, others have brought us fear and tempted us to hide. The unmasked crowds have made us question. Both the crowds of the sick lining the chairs of the medical buildings and the crowds of the unhoused, lining the now tented sidewalks remind us of our vulnerability. And even when we stay indoors, there are the crowds of social media, news commentators, and cultural icons pushing in with their personal opinions and talking points. Sometimes it is overwhelming.
Jesus faced crowds daily. From the crowd that sat in expectation at his baptism, to the crowd hailing for his death. Some were crowds of need, others crowds of danger. Perhaps when we look closely, we can find a source of hope as we face our crowds knowing that God is present in each crowd, if only we, as Jesus did, determine to find God in it.
Transition to Worship Songs………………………. Rev. Sharon Henry
Worship………………………………………………Reflection Praise Team
Salt & Light
You make me want to be like You
Your holiness I will pursue
I want the heart of Jesus
Show me the meaning of Your grace
I want to give the world a taste
Of the love of Jesus
Make me salt, Make me light
Let Your holy fire ignite
Reveal Your glory in my life
I am not ashamed, to lift up Your holy name
Make me salt, Make me light
Set me as a city on a hill
A lamp on a stand
Mold me in Your image
The work of Your hand
New Wine
In the crushing, In the pressing
You are making new wine
In the soil I now surrender
You are breaking new ground
So I yield to You into Your careful hand
When I trust You I don’t need to understand
Make me Your vessel, Make me an offering
Make me whatever You want me to be
I came here with nothing, but all You have given me
Jesus bring new wine out of me
(Repeat from beginning)
Jesus, bring new wine out of me
Jesus, bring new wine out of me
‘Cause where there is new wine
There is new power
There is new freedom
And God’s Kin-dom is here
I lay down my old flames
To carry Your new fire today
(Repeat)
1st Reading ………………………………………….. Lee Gleason (RMCC)
Brian D. McLaren in “We Make the Road by Walking:
A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation,
Reorientation, and Activation”
Where the Spirit is moving, love for God always, always, always overflows in love for neighbor. And according to Jesus, our neighbor isn’t just the person who is like us, the person who likes us, or the person we like. Our neighbor is anyone and everyone—like us or different from us, friend or stranger—even enemy. As Peter learned in his encounter with Cornelius, the Spirit wants to break down walls of prejudice and hostility so that we stop judging us as clean and them as unclean, opening the way for strangers and enemies to become neighbors, friends, family.
That comes as a shock to many of us who were taught that same is safe and different is dangerous. That belief probably served our ancestors well at certain points in our history. Their survival often depended on maintaining trust in “our” tribe and fear of other tribes…
We must turn from the ways of our ancestors and stop trying to kill off, subjugate, or fend off everyone we judge different and dangerous. We must find a new approach, make a new road, pioneer a new way of living as neighbors in one human community, as brothers and sisters in one family of creation.
2nd Reading………………………………………..David Juarez (MCC RE)
Luke 4:21-30
Then he said to them, “Today, in your hearing, this scripture passage is fulfilled.” All who were present spoke favorably of him; they marveled at the eloquence of the words on Jesus’ lips. They said, “Surely this isn’t Mary and Joseph’s son!” Jesus said to them, “Undoubtedly you’ll quote me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your own country the things we heard you did in Capernaum.’ But the truth is, prophets never gain acceptance in their hometowns. “The truth is, there were many women who were widowed in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens remained closed for three and a half years and a great famine spread over the land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but to a woman who had been widowed in Zarephath, near Sidon. Recall, too, that many had leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one was cured except Naaman the Syrian.” At these words, the whole audience in the synagogue was filled with indignation. They rose up and dragged Jesus out of town, leading him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, with the intention of hurling him over the edge. But he moved straight through the crowd and walked away.
Sermon: Crowded by the Angry Mob…………… Rev. Sharon Henry
Sermon Response Song ………………………………… Don’t Be Afraid
(River of Praise – MCC RE)
Don’t be afraid, my love is stronger,
My love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid, my love is stronger,
And I have promised to be always near
Prayers of the People
(Praises, then Prayer Requests) ……………………. Charlene Jurian (RMCC)
Offering…………………………………………………Rev. Sharon Henry
Celebration of Communion…………………………..Rev. Sharon Henry
Thank Yous/Wrap Up
Celebrations…………………………………………….. Rev. Sharon Henry
Benediction ……………………………………………… Rev. Sharon Henry