This Weeks Sermon


The gathering music for today: Gathering Video: “The Same Love” by Paul Baloche. The video is 4:45 long and the link is located on YouTube (The Same Love – Paul Baloche).

ORDER OF WORSHIP                                        January 30, 2022 ● 10:00 am
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, YOU are welcome here.

PRELUDE                  Improvisation on “New Dimensions”                Jan Bordeleau                                                        
WELCOME                                                                                  Rev. Brian Donovan

CALL TO WORSHIP                                                                       Johnny Stucklen
One:     Fear rips the edges of life!
All:       Come – let us be One in faith. 
One:     Fatigue licks my dull eyes!
All:       Come – let us be refreshed with hope.
One:     Failure stalks my every path!
All:       Come – let us all be enveloped by the Love of God
             who loved us before we were formed
             and who we come to worship – today.

One:      For, God is Love!!!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHARING “GOD MOMENTS”         Rev. Brian Donovan

PASSING OF THE PEACE

*OPENING HYMN (NCH#102)       “O How Shall I Receive You”              FCC Choir

*OPENING PRAYER(Unison)                                                     Johnny Stucklen
Holy Loving God, inspire within us the enduring Love of Your Son, our Christ. A Love so bright that it shines in us and throughout our entire lives. Invoke these teachings, O God, so, we can continue on Your Way to invigorate all people with the Justice and Mercy of Your Holy Love. Amen.

*GLORIA PATRI
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is  now, and ever shall be, World without end. Amen.


GOD’S MESSAGE FOR ALL AGES AND THE LORD’S PRAYER     Merri Carlson
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

SCRIPTURE              1 Corinthians 13:1-13                                Johnny Stucklen
                     
SERMON                       “Seeing our Way…through”                  Rev. Brian Donovan

CHOIR ANTHEM           “Treasure Each Moment”                                FCC Choir

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

*DOXOLOGY 
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost 


*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (Unison)
God of Love and teacher to all – to You, we dedicate these symbols of our time – talent – and treasure. Accept them and commit these gifts to support Your ministries and Mission revealed in this fellowship. May all that is given and received aid Your teachings and our learning of the generous Love You share with ALL of Creation. In the name of Jesus, who reveals the Way. Amen.


*CLOSING HYMN (NCH#393)     “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds”           FCC Choir

BENEDICTION     
   
                                                                                                 
POSTLUDE                        Improvisation on “Verbum Dei”              Jan Bordeleau  

SCRIPTURE                                                                                                                                                                                                  
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love

Quote of the Day
“While the mind sees only boundaries, Love knows the secret way there.” 
-Rumi 
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS                                                                                                  
HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING…..SEE WEEKLY EMAIL FOR DETAILS

2/1            TUES       Bible Study, 11:00 am
2/3            THURS    Men’s Fellowship Breakfast, 8:00 am
2/6            SUN         Morning Worship/Online Worship, 10:00 am
2/7            MON        Fun & Games, 1:30 pm                                        
                                     All numbered hymns are from The New Century Hymnal. Permission is granted for this one-time use.
• “Treasure Each Moment” Words & Music by Joseph M. Martin © 1995, Pilgrim Press, All rights reserved. ONELICENSE, License #A-739577

O How Shall I Receive You (NCH#102)
O how shall I receive you,
how meet you on your way,
blessed hope of every people,
my soul’s delight and stay?
O Jesus, Jesus, give me now
by your own pure light,
to know whate’er is pleasing
and welcome in your sight.
 
Love caused your incarnation;
love brought you unto to me;
your thirst for my salvation
procured my liberty.
O love beyond all telling,
that led you to embrace
in love, all love excelling,
our lost and fallen race.
 
You come, O Christ, with gladness,
in mercy and goodwill,
to bring an end to sadness
and bid our fears be still.
In patient expectation
we live for that great day
when a renewed creation
your glory shall display.
 
Blessed Be the Tie That Binds (NCH#393)
Blessed be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
The sharing of a common life
is like to that above.

Before our God we come
and pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
each other’s burdens bear.
And often for each other flows
a sympathizing tear.

When we are called to part
it gives us inward pain,
But we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.

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Pastor’s Letter Dec. 7, 2022

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

-Philippians 4:6-7

Image of an open Bible with light coming down on it.

Good afternoon, Beloved,

I pray that each of you are well and guarded by God’s eternal peace. I was considering this amazing gift recently and roughly remembered what a professor once said. He explained that the absence of war is in itself not peace, and peace can exist while we are at war. In fact, he was explaining that these two states of being / society are not really in opposition. They can both, philosophically speaking, exist in the human psyche at the same time. 

Personally, I love this idea. This concept that even though we are dealing with great conflicts or even full out war, we can be at peace in our souls: faithfully trusting in God and whatever God has planned for us in the future. I love the idea; however, real world living has revealed that this state of being is not always that easy to achieve, especially for us broken humans. We have anxiety, worry, OCD or just simple conflicts which turn our world upside down. And in these moments, it is hard to find God’s peace. The very idea, like the apostle’s words above, seem to be just empty aphorisms or phrases when we are struggling in conflict or war.

So, what do we do? How do we go from this real-world conflict to the peace of God? Well beloved, I believe the answer is right there in Paul’s words. Right there when he says,” prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” Now, I do believe any prayer in the midst of your conflict will help. Yet, there is one practice which I find helps me. It is a cross between a breathing prayer and the Lectio Divina. If you do not know what these are, please ask and I can show you them as well. 

For today though, let us focus on a prayer for your peace. Start by just choosing a piece of scripture (randomly or a particular passage). Then separate the passage into phrases and read them aloud. Finally, in between each phase breathe slowly in and out three times. It looks something like this:

“Do not be anxious” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “about anything,” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “but in everything” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “by prayer and supplication” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “with thanksgiving” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “let your requests be made known” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “to God.” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “And the peace of God,” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “which surpasses all understanding,” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “will guard your hearts” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “and your minds” Breathe – Breathe – Breathe “in Christ Jesus.”

This beloved is what we do. We set aside five minutes – that’s all – and pray to refocus – recenter – return to the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. It is a basic gift which God gave us when they created all of humankind and it works. It allows us to find that peace and confront the worries of the day with all the peace Christ has to offer through the Holy Spirit. 

I offer this truth as a gift to you amongst our busy season – amongst the conflicts – amongst the wars. For, peace is not just a nice idea or philosophy, it is a gift. An attainable goal we can all achieve if we give “everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” to God.

I pray you will take this opportunity to find God’s Peace Now and always

Peace be with you all

Your pastor and teacher Brian

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