Week 5 All Will Be Well (3)

Call to Worship

The Spirit of God bids us, “Come.”

Let everyone who hears within their hearts “Come.”

Hear the whole earth rejoice and

the coastlands sing of our God’s steadfast love.

We come to rejoice in the Holy One, our God.

We give thanks for God sets us free!

Let everyone who is thirsty for the Spirit “Come.”

Let anyone who wishes “Come,”

and receive the water of life as a gift.

We come to rejoice in the Holy One, our God.

We give thanks for God’s steadfast love

that brings joy to our hearts in the night,

lights our lives like the dawn,

and sets us free. Amen

Pastoral Prayer

Speak to us, Giver of Life, and make us new.

We thirst for the waters of eternal life,

we yearn to know ourselves as Resurrection People.

Send your Holy Spirit upon us this day,

and create in us your new heaven and new earth.

Speak to us words of comfort and hope,

words of challenge and courage.

Come: move among us, and, Let your light shine through us so that others can know you.

Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer

This week as we gather together with families and friends and remember what we are thank full for, we remember first that we are thankful for your son Jesus to came to live among us, and offered us hope for the world and life abundantly that both is not, and is yet to come.

Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer

Lord as the days get colder and colder, and nights grow longer and longer, we lift up in prayer the many who do not have a warm, safe, dry place to call home. God we lament the suffering and the pain that the change of seasons bring for many, and we pray that your light would shine through us to those in our midst.

Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer

God we know that this time can also be a challenge for those that have lost loved ones. So we pray for those among us grieving both over recent losses and also over losses that were long ago, with grief that still rests at the front of our minds. Lord God may we find the hope that you offer beyond death, and the light that your resurection shines into our world of darkness.

Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer

We lift up those for whom this time marks isolation or loneliness. We remember that we are made in your image and that you are 3-1 and we were not made to be alone. We recognize our need for the sacredness of community. We pray for our church that we might be that for others. I pray the that for each person worshiping today that this is a welcoming and connecting experience both with you and with each other.

Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer

Lord God there is so much that separates the present earth from the New Heaven and the New Earth that we hear about in scripture. We lift up in this moment of silence the laments and pains that we carry into this space. And also the hope that we have for that world that is yet to come.

Gracious God, you have promised to make all things new: restore peace where there has been hatred, reduce tension where there has been anger, rekindle friendship where there has been enmity, relieve suffering where there has been violence and recreate a united nation; for the good of the people and for the peace of the world. In Christ's name we pray all of these things, and in Christ’s name we pray the prayer that you taught us saying...

CAT Survey

Joel’s Video

Copies in the Back

You should be receiving an email with copies of it as well in the next week

Celebration

UMW - Christmas Rummage Sale

Special Mission Recognition Award

-list out the 4 names

Kate Pauley - started backpack buddies, volunteered love lunches, UMW Rummage Sale, Organizes our Monday Meals, Foodbank of Iowa, Bidwell Riverside, and Joppa

Holly Szcodrinski - Scah-Dron-ski - Christian Care Cluster, Summer lunch program, Rummage Sales

Mike Orthel - Leader Mission Studies Progam for UMW, regular volunteer driving food donations to our mission partners, VBS, Agape Garden

Missy Reams - Volunteer Coordinator at Bidwell Riverside, and through her work there helps thousands of families access food, clothing, education, and essentials.

UMW thank offering

Goes to United Methodist Corp on Relief

Sermon

Revelation 21:10 NRSV

10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Revelation 21:22–22:5 NRSV

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

God’s Temple is in The Hearts of People

It is possible that the reason that John did not see a temple was because the whole city itself was a sanctuary

Methodist History moving beyond the physical walls of the church building

History of “The Temple”

Tabernacle - dwelling place of God

Holy of Holies

That is why there has always been such emphasis on the physical architecture of Churches

Some of my early memories of what “Church” was touring Europe and seeing these large Cathedrals - and knowing wow this much have been really important to someone at some time

Not in their heads…their hearts

Temple - We are God’s temple - we are the dwelling place - God make’s God’s home in the hearts of People

God’s vision of the future is more compelling than our vision of the past

We know that we miss things about our past

That is part of the human condition - that we were more comfortable more familiar with the place that we came from then we will be with the place that we are going to

For the people of Jerusalem this would have been an even more tangible lesson

They are literally standing in the ruins of Jerusalem

While they are hearing about the “new jerusalem”

It is right when things are gone that we miss them the most

These were also oppressed people that were being told a message of hope

Because we have glimpsed God’s future, we can be certain that all will be well.

Not in their heads…their hearts

“only in the spirit of God can the wounds and breaches of humanity be healed”

Notice that heaven descends on earth meaning that the new creation comes not from people but from God

It is more about earth than it is about heaven

When we see the end of the story we know where our individual character fits in.

When we see the end of the story we know where our individual character fits in.

All ultimately builds to good

We are also challenged in this passage to be healers of nations?

How can we be healers of nations

The tree is no longer forbidden - it is not longer a source of temptation, but rather a source of nourishment - the ultimate fulfillment of all of humanity is this. The story comes full circle

The things that used to be a stumbling block become a nourishment

We are the healer of Ankeny Iowa

This passage isn’t about the distant by and by, but about the opporutnities we have to shine the light of Christ right where we are and just as we are