May 11 Worship: "As Part of the One Body of Christ, We Welcome All"

We enjoyed a happy Mother's Day worship service, including a special tribute to mothers.  David Rebecchi gave his mom a treat when he sang, "Arise, My Love" during the service.  We also highlighted one of our current outreach projects, to collect baby food to share through local food pantries.

In the sermon, we continued our focus on our Christian identity, considering the issue of welcome: "As Part of the One Body of Christ, We Welcome All."  I suggested that our tendency toward inclusion reflects our roots on the American frontier -- where everyone needed to pitch in -- and ties into Christian teachings, including those of Paul to the church in Ephesus.  As is often the case, later on Sunday, I realized some things that I left out.  Usually, this is not that big of a deal -- you cannot cover everything in any single sermon.

I neglected to share some of the key supporting evidence to my interpretation of Paul's teaching -- the example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus came to change the world.  But how did Jesus go about doing this?  He didn't dictate what people had to believe or how they should live -- aside from saying that they needed to follow him.  Instead, he developed nurturing relationships with everyone he met.  He didn't look for the prime Christian prospects -- he realized that anyone who deepened their relationship with God could help do God's work.  We should be about the developing the same relationships, and living them out, in Christ's church.

If you missed the sermon, if you want to share it with others, of if you want to figure out how the life of Jesus makes Paul's argument stronger, you can listen to an audio recording here.

You can also listen to the related communion meditation and the benediction.