May 17, 2020

 Welcome to Central's online service.  Once again, I miss all of you and wish that we were meeting face-to face this morning, but I'm excited that we get to worship with each other nonetheless.

I want to start by thanking all who participated in yesterday's drive by show of support for Marvin and Karen Riley. Karen's son, Michael, died last week and this was one of our ways of letting them know how deeply we love them. I can't imagine Central without Marvin and Karen. Even this week, while they were grieving, they came in and tended the flower beds around the church.  Karen's ReFit ministry touches many lives each week.  Together she and Marvin are living testimonies of God's grace.

Today I will be departing from our series on the parables to address a topic that I think is critical right now. Each week someone will ask me "When are we going to reopen the church?"  This question reveals a misconception about what the church is. The church isn't a building or a service.  The church is the people of God doing the work of his kingdom. And it won't ever close. It's open every time we love our neighbors or praise our Lord. Today's message was inspired by an article that I read this week that was written last summer by John Pavlovitz called Remember, the Bible never mentions a building called church.  Pause right now to read it or come back to after watching this morning's service. I've also added a Resource for the Week that includes a great video from Francis Chan on this topic.
If you are not a regular part of Central we welcome you to our online service and would love to get to know you. Please use the form at the bottom of this page to tell us a little bit about yourself. I wish I could greet you after the service with a warm handshake, but please know that it means a lot to me that you are joining us today.

Scripture Reading

Rembrandt's The Apostle Peter
1 Peter 2:1-10
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.” 
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” 
and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.” 
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The Lord's Table

One of Central's traditions is to serve communion each time we gather. The church provided prepackaged communion servings for you to use. If you didn't stop by the church to get one you may want to get a small glass of juice or wine, and a small piece of bread or a cracker, so you can participate.

The Lord's Table is for anyone who has trusted Christ. If you haven't given your life to Christ, now would be a great time to do so. Click here to learn more about how you can do that.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
I Corinthians 11:23-26

This is where we usually dismiss kids for Kid's Jam

Once again our parents will have to be Kid's Jam this Sunday.  Jodi and Sarah are working each week to find resources to help you teach your children about God and his love. If they are old enough, be sure to pray with them about the things they are probably picking up about this crisis. Remind them that God is big enough to handle our biggest challenges, and the he's got this under his control.  We will include a couple of kid's songs in our playlist for Park, Pray, & Praise today.

Offering

Thank you for your generous support for our ministry.  Even though we are not meeting, most of our church expenses continue. If you would like to contribute to Central using our Church Center app just click here, text ccspringfield to 84321, or mail your contribution to the church. 

We've added two categories to our giving app for your consideration.  You can use the pull down menu to designate a contribution to the Springfield Soup Kitchen, or to a new category called Support/Health Care Workers which we will use exclusively to support a ministry to front-line health workers who attend Central, or who work at Springfield Regional Hospital or the Rocking Horse Center.
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
​​2 Corinthians 9:10-11

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
​2 Corinthians 9:7-8

The Church Is Open

The title of today's message is The Church is Open. It's based on a passage in 1 Peter written to people who were enduring extreme hardship, trials that far outweigh our current struggle with COVID-19. The Big Idea is The church is not a building or a service, it is God’s people who declare his praises and carry out his plan. In this passage Peter tells us that the church isn't a place, rater it's a people. The passage outlines three things that we should be doing right now as God's church.

  • Ridding ourselves of things like malice, deceitfulness, envy, hypocrisy, and slander.
  •  Craving things that will help us grow.
  • Declaring God's praises

Benediction 

May the deep deep love of God bless you and keep you during the coming week. May his Spirit comfort you and lead you, and in your hearts may there be a peace that passes all understanding. 

Announcements

  1. Park Pray & Praise at noon every other Sunday during the Corona Stay At Home mandate
  2. View the ​​Free Burma Rangers video with updates from Larry Stratton
  3. #Duckcam "It's the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love..." ~ Rafiki 
    ...Mabel's family experienced a tragedy...and then there were five (new video posted)
  4. Support our ​​Front Line/First Responders by considering a donation to the fund established to provide meals/food items. This week we supported:
  • Mercy Health Dayton/Springfield ER Center/Chase Black
          Previous support has been provided to:
  • Springfield Regional ICU/Stephanie Ledford; 3 East/Amy Traver; Surgery/Morgan Foster
  • Rocking Horse Center/Heather Hahn
  • CVS Derr Road/Marci Rismiller
  • Whitacre's Pharmacy/Ryan Young
  • James Medical Center Columbus/Mona Lloyd and Kaylee Timmons
  • Mt Carmel Grove City Emergency Dept/Ben Prater
          Coming up: Memorial Hospital Union County, CRSI, local fire stations and doctor's offices

Congratulations to our Graduates!
Meghan Belliveau, Cedarville High School
​Madeline Kinney, Cedarville High School

Ministry Partner Updates

Safe Harbor House: SBA forgivable loan is sustaining them. Needs: sanitizing items (hand sanitizer, hand soap, sanitizing wipes, Lysol trigger and aerosol sprays, and laundry detergent) and paper products (especially paper towels and paper plates).  We also really need a new set of cutlery because we keep coming up short when our table is very full. Thank you for checking in with us!  We love hearing from our champions and supporting churches and knowing that they are remembering us during this strange time.

H.O.P.E.: Continuing their Monday-Friday feeding program which is exploding. Stories are heart breaking but wonderful opportunities to build relationships, pray, and actually see positive changes. We appreciate your prayers. Blessings to you! 

Pregnancy Resource Center: They have reopened their doors after being closed for a few weeks. Gail is going to stop by and pick up the baby bottles. Thanks for checking in, Central Christian Church is a blessing to us!

Encompass: Doing well...staff working from home. Programs are continuing and funding has not been affected. They continue to offer the "essential" relationship resources. Praise/Prayer list. Thanks for checking in!

Springfield Soup Kitchen: God is with the Springfield Soup Kitchen! Thanks for your help and prayers!

Young Lives: Lost a significant monthly donor due to COVID but God has already provided another funding source. Still need to do a bit more fundraising, but not in an emergency situation. Dropped off diapers/wipes to each girl on Mother's Day. Thanks so much for reaching out. So far, things are going okay with YoungLives.

For our Guests.  We'd love to learn a little bit about you.

    Thanks for worshipping with us today.