June 25 | Taking the First Step
CMC Service 6-25-23 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.
Taking the First Step
Text: Psalm 32:3-5a; Romans 7:15-20
Speaker: Joel Miller
According to M. Scott Peck, the psychiatrist best known for his book The Road Less Traveled, the greatest positive event of the 20th century occurred in Akron, Ohio. I’ll say that again to make sure it registers: According to renowned psychiatrist Scott Peck, the greatest positive event of the 20th century occurred in Akron, Ohio. The quote is from 1993, so for all you basketball fans out there, he was not making a prediction about the rise of Akron-born basketball great Lebron James who, as a 9 year old, still hadn’t quite perfected his jumpshot.
Here’s the full quote, from Peck’s book Further Along The Road Less Traveled:
I believe the greatest positive event of the 20th century occurred in Akron, Ohio…when Bill W. and Dr. Bob convened the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It was not only the beginning of the self-help movement and the beginning of the integration of science and spirituality at a grass-roots level, but also the beginning of the community movement…which is going to be the salvation not only of alcoholics and addicts but of us all (p. 150).
As a native-born Ohioan I really like the idea of us having the most important anything. Every bruised Buckeye needs a little ego boost now and then. Whether or not you agree with the extent of these claims, it’s hard to argue with the fact that 12 Step communities have transformed and are transforming millions of lives.
One of those communities has met regularly at CMC since 2007, known by the name of the book they study, Hunger for Healing. The subtitle of that book is “The Twelve Steps as a Classic…
June 18 | Reflections on Nature
There is no video for this service.
Reflection | Cindy Fath
Like many of us, I grew up being outdoors. On our farm, we had a woodlot to explore, vast fields of crops, a large track of lawn and garden, pastures with animals and endless trees to climb. And if that wasn’t enough, we were also free to roam my grandparents’ farms, one who lived just a few minutes away. Since I can remember, I have preferred the outdoors over the indoors. My specialty was hiding in a tall tree, leaning my back against the trunk amidst the leaves and reading until my mom figured out where I was.
During my childhood summers, my next door grandpa, Grandpa Sommers, who didn’t do a lot of farm work anymore, appointed himself to stalk thistles and other undesirable weeds on our properties. With his trusty hoe, well-sharpened on a grindstone that made sparks fly, he’d “hoe and conquer.” I don’t know how old I was when I began accompanying him on his rounds. He liked the company and I liked skipping out on house cleaning and other such hard labor. We’d traipse the farm and fence rows, observing birds or eating nature’s gifts while attempting to reduce the thistle population before they could go to seed.
As we rambled, he taught me how to recognize the sassafras tree and the taste of its twigs. He taught me that hickory nuts and beech nuts were edible. He talked about the history of the land and what it was like when he had moved in. He taught me the names of the flowers, trees, birds and insects that he knew.
During my teen years, I sometimes took my favorite poem book and read poetry on a large sunny outcropping of rock. “This is my rock and here I run…
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,…
