Sunday

Sermons

June 11 | Tie the knot and pass the pie

 

 

CMC Worship June 11, 2023 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

 

 

Tie the Knot and Pass the Pie 
Text: Matthew 9:9-26
Speaker: Joel Miller
 

The kin-dom of God is like a woman who went out and found a colorful piece of fabric.  She called her friends who brought other fabric and together they cut the material into smaller pieces, mixed and arranged them into pleasing patterns.  They sewed the pieces back into one whole cloth.  They layered other material to that – one on the bottom for comfort, one in the middle for warmth, and the top piece for beauty.  Then they called more of their friends, saying, Come, join in the making.  Many friends, old and young, came and gathered around.  They sat and conversed and laughed as they guided their needles and threads.  At each intersection of piece meeting piece, through each layer, they tied a knot, binding together comfort, warmth, and beauty.  At the completion of each new whole, they rang a bell and celebrated.  Then they enjoyed a feast of soup and pie, leaving contributions for more materials.  And the cycle began again.

 

This is, more or less, how comforters get made at CMC. 

Practically speaking, it takes a lot of hands and a lot time to make one comforter.  A year to make all the comforters here this morning. 

Theologically speaking, the process is a pretty good picture of what Jesus called the kingdom of God, or the kin-dom of God.   If you’ve ever been to a comforter knotting party, you’ve likely felt the goodness of it all in your spirit, not to mention your belly, even as you’ve offered your time and hands and perhaps dollars.  The comforter making process is a parable you can wrap around your body,…

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May 7 | “Another Advocate”

 

 

CMC service 5-7-23 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

 

 

“Another Advocate”
Texts:  Zechariah 3:1-5; John 14:15-26
Speaker: Joel Miller
 

One day, not so long ago, a woman walked into a grocery store.  While there, she slipped one of the items under her jacket and tried to walk out with it.  It was a frozen chicken, so it was hard to hide.  A security guard spotted her, detained her, and called a police officer.  The officer searched her and found the chicken.  He told her to come with him to the police station.

Lots of people saw this happening.  One reacted differently than the others.  Standing in line to check out, he told the cashier he wanted to buy that very chicken the woman was holding.  The cashier let him do this.  He then brought the receipt to the officer, demonstrating that this chicken had clearly been purchased from the store and therefore could not be considered stolen.  The officer reluctantly let the woman go.

If this story sounds vaguely familiar, you have a good memory.  It appeared in the CMC Lamplighter, our monthly newsletter, several years ago.  This story was told by Yasir Makki to Phil Hart, who wrote the article.  Yasir lived and studied in Columbus in the late 90’s and early 2000’s before returning to his home in Sudan.  He leads a school and church network.  Yasir was the guy at the check out counter who saw all this unfolding, bought the chicken, and enabled the woman to go free of charges.

It’s an advocate story.  Through his creative actions, Yasir became an advocate for this woman he’d never met.

The idea of an Advocate shows up in John chapter 14.  This is part of an extended teaching of Jesus in John chapters 13-17…

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