Sharing God's Love and Grace

Meditation on John 14 (Selected Verses)

In Memory of Dorothy May Totsch

July 14, 1932-Sept. 23, 2020

Pastor Karen Crawford

South Lawn Cemetery, Coshocton, Ohio

Sept. 28, 2020

There’s an old saying that there’s someone for everyone. This was certainly true for Dorothy and Robert Totsch, who were practically inseparable for their 50 years of marriage. Up until Bob’s hospitalization in 2006, Bob and Dorothy were not apart for more than a day since they were married on Sept. 15, 1956 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Coshocton.

Dorothy, a native of Coshocton, grew up in a large family. She was born at home on July 14, 1932 to Harry and Elsea Rea. She was kind of a middle child, with two older sisters (Margaret and Alice), an older brother (Harry), and two younger brothers (William and Paul, called “Tim,” who was born on Dorothy’s birthday—seven years later!) As a middle child, she would learn to care for the younger and more vulnerable, but also have a strong bond with the older, who would be charged with looking after her.

She possessed musical gifts, among many others. She sang and took piano lessons. Neighbors would comment when she was an adult that they enjoyed the beautiful concert when she practiced with her windows open.

She graduated from Coshocton High in 1950; Bob graduated two years ahead of her—in 1948. They met in high school, said their friend John Rettos, who would be an usher for their wedding. But then Bob went off to serve in the Navy for 4 years in Korea, while Dorothy attended Ohio State, before finding work at Ohio Bell Telephone. (She was an operator and would become a supervisor and be recognized for selling the most Princess phones.) Throughout these years of separation, Bob and Dorothy stayed connected the old-fashioned way; they wrote letters. Her daughters would discover them in a box about 8 years ago in their parents’ attic, when Dorothy was preparing to leave Coshocton and move closer to Nancy and Keith. She had kept them all these years! Talk about a steadfast love!

Faith, family and community were important to Dorothy. She didn’t work outside the home when her daughters were young. She treasured that time with them. She was involved in everything they were, including 4-H, Brownies, and Girl Scouts.

“She tried to let us flap our little wings,” Nancy said. “But then came to scoop us up when we needed her.”

When she did go back to work, it was for her children’s benefit. She and Bob saved the money she earned so that Nancy and Laurie could go to college and not be saddled with student loan debt.

Dorothy and Bob raised their daughters in the Episcopal church. When they were teens, they let them join their friends at The Presbyterian Church that had a youth group. Nancy and Laurie would be married there and move out of the area before Dorothy and Bob would feel led to join The Presbyterian Church in 1989. They quickly made friends and were very involved in the life of the congregation. Dorothy’s musical gifts stirred her to play handbells in our Joy Belle Handbell Choir. She helped with community dinners and the Presbyterian Women’s twice-a-year rummage sale that raised money for local mission, such as school supplies and coats for needy children. Ordained a deacon in January 1993, she enjoyed helping Pastor Carlisle serve Communion to homebound members.

Dorothy expressed her love of God and neighbor by serving as a faithful volunteer in the community and friend to many.  She was a pink lady for many years, working in the gift shop at Coshocton Hospital. She was a Friend of the Coshocton Library, helping with book sales. She was an art enthusiast and volunteered for the Pomerene Center for the Arts. She and Bob were members of a local garden club and card club, among other groups.

Dorothy was always close with her daughters, no matter how busy they were or she was. They had favorite addresses for her: “My Momma” was Nancy’s; “Mommy Dear” was Laurie’s. Nancy and Laurie’s childhood home in Coshocton, years after they moved away for school, jobs, and families of their own, was the place for all the family gatherings for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. But Dorothy and Bob didn’t wait for family to come to them. They enjoyed traveling to visit their children and grandchildren, wherever they were.

“Nancy and I were the apple of their eye,” Laurie said. “And then the grandchildren were.”

Dorothy had a servant’s heart and was creative. She was often doing crafts with Nancy’s daughter, Emily, not shying away from messy projects with glitter or beads. This was really something when you consider how tidy and organized a person she was! She didn’t impose her own tidiness on others, not even her daughters, as some mothers do. She made cookies and played board games with her other grandchildren, such as Tripoli, with Laurie’s sons.

What a testimony to Dorothy’s faithfulness when her daughters say that she taught them good values and kindness by example. Longtime friend John Rettos said, “Dorothy was one of the nicest people you would want to know. She was very kind to everyone.”

****

When Jesus tells his disciples that they know the way to the place he is going, he means that he has shown them how to live by faith. He has taught it by example. “Believe in God,” he says. “Believe in me.”  That word translated “believe” could also be “trust.” Trust God. Trust me. If we trust the Lord, we can overcome anxiety and fear. “Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “Believe.”

He tries to explain the work he has to do for them—for all us—so that we would be forgiven and reconciled with God through his death and resurrection.  “Because I live,” he says, “you also will live.”

His disciples don’t feel ready to continue on without him. They don’t want him to leave. That’s why Thomas argues, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus says. Leaving is part of the plan so that we may be altogether with him. “No one comes to the Father but by me.”

He says that we have good works to do that he has demonstrated and will show us how to do. We have the power to do even greater works than what he has done, he says, because when he goes to be with the Father, he will send the Spirit of truth to help us. The Advocate will abide in and with us—forever.

When we were choosing scriptures for today’s service to honor Dorothy and comfort and encourage her loved ones, Nancy suggested that her mother was the person Jesus was talking about in Matthew, when the king says, “‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’” Dorothy is one of the righteous, who will answer our Heavenly King, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer (her), ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

Dorothy was one of the faithful people, I believe, that God sends to us to reveal his goodness, compassion, and love. She allowed the light of Christ to shine through her in this dark world. She was used by God for great works of kindness, to be a witness for the Son without her even knowing it. This is how the Lord wants to use all of us, with the Spirit’s help, as we walk our journey of faith.

Let us remember that no matter what happens to us in this world, as we continue on the righteous path, loving and serving others, that nothing can separate us from God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. This love was imitated by Bob and Dorothy, who, if they had had their choice, would never have been separated from one another. And now they are experiencing the joy of reunion in The Father’s House, where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for all of us.

The Lord has chosen us to follow him and be with him because of his great love for us. He wants to give us good gifts in this world as he transforms us for the world to come. Will you open your hearts to receive them? Let him carry your burdens of grief, anxiety, and yes, fear, of what life will be like, now, without our loved one with us.

 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” says our Lord to his followers in every time and place. “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Amen.

Meditation on Matthew 21:23-32

Pastor Karen Crawford

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Sept. 27, 2020

When Dorothy Totsch’s daughters were cleaning out the attic in her Coshocton home before her move 8 years ago, they found a box of letters dating back to the 1940s and 50s. These were love letters that their father, Bob Totsch, wrote to Dorothy Rea, whom he left behind to serve in the U.S. Navy in Korea.

Bob graduated from Coshocton High in 1948; Dorothy in 1950. Although the details of their courtship remain a mystery to their daughters, Nancy and Laurie, there’s no question of their long-lasting love. When Bob— a retired teacher, coach, and guidance counselor— was hospitalized before his passing in 2006, the couple had only been apart one day since they were married on Sept. 15, 1956 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Coshocton.

Dorothy went home to be with the Lord this week—on Sept. 23. She was 88.

Her faith and family were always important to her. After moving from Coshocton, where she had lived most of her life, to be close to her daughter, Nancy, Dorothy soon found a new worshipping community. She transferred her membership to Otterbein Lebanon Church in Lebanon, Ohio, in October 2013. She sang in the choir there and remained active in the church.

 When I talked with some of our longtime members about Dorothy, I discovered that many people knew her as a friend. An active member with Bob since 1989, she rang bells with Margaret McDowell’s Joy Belles. She helped with community dinners and the PW rummage sale for local mission. Ordained a deacon in January 1993, she enjoyed helping Pastor Carlisle serve Communion to homebound members and giving elderly widows rides to church. It was a group of widows from our church, her daughters said, who helped her in those difficult early years after Bob’s passing.

Her love of God and neighbor was expressed beyond the church walls as a faithful volunteer in our community. She served for many years as a pink lady in the gift shop at Coshocton Hospital. She was a Friend of the Coshocton Library, helping with book sales. She was an artist and volunteered for the Pomerene Center for the Arts. She was a gardener, growing daylilies and arbor-climbing clematis; she and Bob were members of a local garden club. She was a gifted pianist; neighbors would tell her how they enjoyed her music when she practiced with the windows open.

She was a Girl Scout Leader and was active in 4-H and Brownies with her daughters. “Everything we were a part of, she was there,” said her daughter, Nancy. “She tried to let us flap our little wings, and then she would scoop us up when we needed her.”

Their childhood home in Coshocton was the place for all the family gatherings for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. But Dorothy and Bob didn’t wait for family to come to them. They enjoyed traveling to visit their children and grandchildren. “Nancy and I were the apple of their eye,” their daughter, Laurie, told me. “And then the grandchildren were.”

Dorothy was often doing crafts with Nancy’s daughter, Emily, not shying away from messy projects with glitter or beads. She made cookies and played board games with her other grandchildren, such as Tripoli, with Laurie’s sons.

What a testimony to Dorothy’s faithfulness when her daughters say that she taught them good values and kindness by example. As Paul urges the church in Philippi in 1:27, Dorothy lived a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in 2:13, surely God was at work in her throughout her life, enabling her to will and to work for his good pleasure.

***

This is the message of the parable in Matthew 21 today: it isn’t enough to say we are faithful followers of Christ; we must be faithful. Amen? We must try to do the will of God. Our faith is expressed by loving and serving others, particularly those whom our society rejects and marginalizes, such as tax collectors and prostitutes whom Christ befriends in his society.

The parable is how Jesus ultimately answers the query of the elders and chief priests, “By what authority are you doing these things; and who gave you this authority?” No one questions the authority of the elders and chief priests; their realm of power goes beyond the religious life of the people. In First Century Palestine, there is no separation of church and state. The priests at the temple of Jerusalem are also rulers and judges over the community.  

What’s amazing is that Jesus is still being allowed to teach in the temple. This shows, perhaps, the power of his popularity with the people—and how the authority and respect of the leaders may be slipping. The crowds are astounded at Christ’s teaching in Matthew 7:28 and 29, ^“for he (teaches) them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

Jesus has already offended religious leaders earlier in chapter 21. He rides into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey, with the disciples crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” Children cry out to Jesus in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David” angering the chief priests and elders. This follows Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves in the temple and driving them out. “It is written, he says, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”

So now, instead of answering the chief priests’ and elders’ question about the source of his authority, Jesus has a question for them. What is the source of authority for the baptism of John the Baptist? Was it from heaven or was it of human origin?

Like politicians, the chief priests and elders talk among themselves, carefully weighing the political ramifications of their words before they give their answer. They are afraid of the crowd turning on them if they say his baptism was of human origin, for the people believe John is a prophet.

They decide to say, “We don’t know.” We are left wondering what they really believe—until Jesus tells us at the end of the passage.

The priests and elders don’t answer his question; Jesus doesn’t answer theirs. He tells, instead, the parable of the vineyard owner and his two sons. It’s about promises and choices that we make. Promises and choices. The vineyard is the Kingdom of God that Christ ushered in. It’s here, right now! It begins in this world! The owner is the Lord.

One son says flat out—he won’t work in the vineyard as his father asks. But then he changes his mind and chooses to obey. God doesn’t manipulate us into obedience., friends. He gives us the freedom to choose, offering us unconditional love when we mess up and return in repentance!

The other son says he will work in the vineyard. But he breaks his promise! He doesn’t go.

“Which one,” Jesus asks, “did the will of his father?”

He explains his parable, then, calling into question the witness and values of the chief priests and elders, who talk a good talk, and know how to say long, fancy prayers, but they aren’t doing the will of the Father! They are leading the people astray, demanding money from the poor, seeking selfish gain, rejecting the Messiah, and making outcasts of people in their community. These are the people whom Jesus befriends and lifts up as an example of godliness and faithfulness!

“Truly I tell you,” he says, “the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”

***

Friends, I’m going to ask you just one question. Are you laboring in the vineyard? Don’t tell me. That’s between you and God.

I keep thinking of Dorothy and how she will be remembered for her kindness and loving spirit. What a wonderful legacy to leave your children—to have taught them kindness, by example. Tomorrow afternoon, her family and I will gather to witness to the Resurrection, give thanks for her life, and receive the comfort of the Spirit—the one that is always working in us, helping us to do God’s will.

I keep thinking about those love letters. I asked Nancy what became of them. She kept them with her, she said, all these years. Talk about faithfulness and steadfast love—that goes on beyond the grave.

Our Lord loves us that much—and more, dear brothers and sisters.

God says, “Come, my beloved, to my vineyard. All are welcome here. I have works of love for you to do! I will help you. And you will find peace like you’ve never known. My Son will give it to you.

“Come and labor for me in my kingdom. I have plans for you!”

Let us pray.

Holy One, thank you for welcoming us in your kingdom and inviting us to do your loving works. Thank you for having plans for us and offering us a peace we’ve never known! Help us, Lord, to be a witness to the kindness and compassion of your Son, who gave his life for sinners and became righteousness for us. Grant us courage to overcome any social barriers and reach out and befriend, as Christ did, the marginalized and outcast of our society today. Give us wisdom to know your will and strengthen us by your Spirit, Lord, to speak the words you want us to speak and do the things you want us to do to be obedient to your call. Help us to keep our promises and lead others into a closer relationship with you. In Christ we pray. Amen.

142 N. 4th St., Coshocton, OH 43812

Pastor Karen Crawford

Ashley Bryant and Debbie Clark, Liturgists

Alice Hoover, Organist

Sept. 27, 2020 10 a.m.

Prelude: Salvation Now Has Come to Earth Dietrich Buxtehude (1639-1707)

Greeting/Announcements

Minute for Mission: Tom Heading

Opening Words: Ashley Bryant

Praise the Lord who is our provider.   

The Lord is our hope. Our trust is in God.  

God brought us out of bondage and has made us free.

Glorious are the deeds of our God, and mighty are his acts.

Gathering Prayer: Ashley Bryant

Hymn      Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken 

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. God, whose word cannot be broken, formed thee for a blest abode. On the rock of ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation’s walls surrounded, thou may’st smile at all thy foes.

Round each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a covering, showing that the Lord is near. Thus deriving from their banner light by night and shade by day, safe they feed upon the manna which God gives them when they pray.

See, the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows, their thirst to assuage? Grace, so like the Lord the giver, never fails from age to age.

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession

Almighty God, we have been wandering in the wilderness of sin. We have complained in the face of your mercy. We have been selfish and conceited in the face of your sacrifice. We have not done your will. Teach us humility. Teach us gratitude. Infuse your spirit into our beings so that we might be reconciled to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Time with Children and Youth

Prayer for Illumination with Debbie Clark

Reading: Exodus 17:1-7 and Philippians 2:1-13 Debbie Clark

Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God!

Reading: Matthew 21: 23-32

This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

Message     Are You Laboring in the Vineyard? Pastor Karen

Hymn             Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, thou Fount of every blessing; tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above; praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of God’s unchanging love!

Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! Let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart; O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.

Invitation to the Offering

Offertory: Come to the Water, arranged, Harold Helvey

Prayer of Thanksgiving/Dedication

O God, use these gifts to do your will in the world and prepare us for your coming kingdom. And hear us as we continue our prayer saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Hymn               O For a World (Stanzas 1, 2, 5)

O for a world where everyone respects each other’s ways, where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.

O for a world where goods are shared and misery relieved, where truth is spoken, children spared, equality achieved.

O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace, where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.

Charge/Benediction

Postlude   All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name    arranged by Diane Bish

Meditation on Matthew 20:1-16

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Sept. 20, 2020

I am SO glad our sound is fixed! Last week, if you weren’t here, we had an echo. We discovered it about 10 minutes before worship began, so we just tried to make the best of it. One of our elders said I sounded like I was preaching at Yankee Stadium! That’s never been a secret dream of mine.

Jim, on the way home from church, told me that I didn’t even need the sound system that day. I was so loud, he said, I didn’t need a microphone! That’s quite a compliment coming from the one who knows how I have struggled with finding my preaching voice.

It was summer 2007 when I preached my first sermon. I hadn’t even had a preaching class! I had been invited to serve as a park chaplain for a state park campground near Hanover, Pennsylvania. The first Sunday that I led worship in the outdoor amphitheater, I didn’t have a microphone. And I think there was an air show going on overhead, just as I started to speak.

The next week, the committee that hired me brought a portable, wireless sound system. I was the first chaplain at that park who ever needed a microphone, they said. The system plugged into an outlet enclosed in a little wooden box. My youngest son, James, in middle school at the time, operated my sound and helped with set up and take down.

It worked great until the Sunday when he opened the little wooden box to plug in the receiver—and there was a snake coiled inside! It was big! We had to call a park ranger to come and get the snake before we could start the worship service. She brought a rake and just reached in and coiled the snake around the rake and carried him away. She said he was a good snake. I can’t say that I agreed!

It truly has been a perpetual learning experience for me—these years of ministry and going back farther than that. I’m pretty sure that the Lord had been preparing me for ministry my whole life, but I didn’t have a clue. That’s what God does—he prepares us for His future, for all eternity, waiting to unfold.

***

Today’s gospel reading in Matthew 20 is about God’s grace and humanity’s mixed response. This is part of a longer teaching on the kingdom of God—and how it’s not like the world. This is hard for the disciples to grasp. It’s hard for us to understand, too.

In Matthew 18, the disciples come to Jesus and ask, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” It just dawned on me last night that they probably wanted him to choose between them! But he doesn’t pick one of them.

 He calls a child—and everyone knows children should be quiet and invisible in Jesus’ society, everyone but Jesus, that is! “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” he says. In chapter 19, he says this about children again. “Let the children come to me,” he says to those who are shooing them away, “and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

Then he totally astounds them when a young man asks Jesus “what good deed” he must do to have eternal life. This is during a time when religious people commonly believe that wealth is a sign of God’s favor. Some people believe that today! But that’s not what Jesus says! He tells the man to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, so he will have treasure in heaven. Then, “Come,” he says, “Follow me.” The man goes away grieving, for he has many possessions.

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus says, “it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“Then who can be saved???” the disciples ask.

“For mortals, it is impossible,” Jesus says, “but for God all things are possible.”

Chapter 19 ends the same way our passage today ends, “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” This repetition isn’t accidental or an editorial error. Christ is emphasizing this point.

We reach today’s reading in chapter 20, and we find some disgruntled workers. Why are they complaining? Everyone received the same pay for a day’s work—a denarius, a typical wage for a laborer. Who are the people doing the most complaining? Those who worked longer, right, but received the same pay as those who worked less. They are outraged! This isn’t fair!

There’s no gratitude here for the owner of the vineyard, though they would still be standing unemployed in the market—no money, no way to buy food for their families—if the owner hadn’t given them work to do in the first place. “Are you envious because I am generous?” the owner asks. “So the last will be first and the first will be last.”

I can’t imagine that’s what they want to hear. We are left wondering what will happen next. But Jesus doesn’t tell us any more of the story, just like he doesn’t tell us what the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son decides when his Father begs him to stay and celebrate the return of his rebellious brother—the one who was dead, but now alive, lost and now found. Will the workers decide they won’t labor for the generous employer who pays everyone the same, regardless of their work?

But the story isn’t over when the parable ends. And if you think that maybe the disciples got the message about humility, grace and gratitude, then you’d be mistaken. Just a few verses down, the sons of Zebedee come to Jesus with their mother, when none of the other disciples are around. She has a request. She wants one of her sons to sit at Jesus’ right hand and the other at his left in his Kingdom. Jesus explains that they don’t know what they are asking. And they don’t. Not yet. But when all the disciples are back together, and they are angry at James and John, the Lord again astounds them with his teaching.

He’s moved from God’s grace and humility to our calling to imitate God’s sacrificial love. “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,”  he says, “and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

No one says anything after that. What could they say?

 Their journey of faith and Christ’s ministry and teaching by example continue with two men being healed on the way to Jerusalem. “Son of David, have mercy on us!” they cry out. Jesus stops,\ and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, let our eyes be opened,” they say.

Moved by compassion, Jesus touches their eyes. Immediately they regain their sight and follow him!

**

When I consider my calling to ministry, mostly I am amazed. How can God use someone like me? I often wonder. Christ’s words in Matthew 19:26 reassure me that this isn’t about me. “For God, all things are possible!”

I celebrate the anniversary of my ordination this week—Sept. 25, 2011. I give thanks to God that 9 years ago, I was led to say yes to the Lord with all my heart, committing my life to labor for the Kingdom, not knowing, of course, what was to come.

I have been continually inspired by the Great Cloud of Witnesses that surrounds me, including my good friend, Leslie Ritter, who went home to be with the Lord on Sept. 14. She was the clerk of session at my Florida congregation, but she did many other things for the church, too, such as helping to prepare and serve fellowship meals with her husband, Carl, every Tuesday night for more than 2 decades. She often assisted me with home communion, as well. She was a tiny woman, but she was tough, the daughter of a colonel. She was also kind and funny and generous. If I was anxious about something, she’d give me a fierce look with her blue eyes and say, “Be strong! Be strong!”

So many others have helped me be faithful to my call and brought me joy in this journey. Some have visited me here in Coshocton! Others aren’t free to travel, but call and write. My friend, Sis, in her 90s now, still reaches out. I just love to hear from her! When I ask her how she is, she says, “Same old, same old.” I know she has pain but she doesn’t complain. She models gratitude. She tells me that every morning, when she wakes up and puts her feet on the floor, she thanks the good Lord for another day!

And I have to say this. I would not be a pastor if God hadn’t placed Jim Crawford in my life. I would still be a journalist, working long days and writing stories on deadline, wondering if there was something else I could do for God, but what could that be? Jim has always believed in me, even when I have had doubts.

Friends, God responds to our weakness, our grumbling and complaining, our anxieties and fears. You know how God responds? By providing for all our needs and saying, “I love you. I forgive you. My grace is enough for you!”

Someday, we will see our Savior face to face. And you know what he will say to us? Because of His grace and because of His Son and not because of anything we have done?

He’s going to say, “Well done, good and faithful servants. Well done.”

Let us pray.

Gracious heavenly Father, thank you for your love and mercy for sinners, revealed by the sacrifice of your Only Son, and for your kindness and patience shown to us every day. Help us, Lord, to be your grateful children, imitating the humility and sacrifice of the One who came to serve and not be served and to give his life for a ransom for many. Lord, thank you for your call to ministry to each of us and for the Great Cloud of Witnesses, dear friends and good examples on this side of your Kingdom and in the world to come. Strengthen us to be more faithful, trusting your provision in our wildernesses, trusting you to guide us, trusting that your grace is enough. We look forward to the day when you return for your Church, when you gather us all to yourself. We long to hear you say, “Well done, good and faithful servants. Well done.” In Christ we pray. Amen.

The Presbyterian Church, 142 N. 4^th St., Coshocton, OH 43812

Rev. Karen Crawford, Pastor

Mark Wagner, Organist

Jim Arganbright, Liturgist

September 20, 2020                                                                                                   10 a.m.

Prelude Prelude and Fugue in G Johann Sebastian Bach

Greeting/Announcements

Opening Words

O give thanks to the Lord! The Lord hears the cries of the people.

Give thanks to the Lord.

The works of the Lord are great.

Remember what God has done.

God has done miracles, and the Lord always remembers God’s covenant.

Glory and praise is due to the Lord!

Gathering Prayer

Hymn Fairest Lord Jesus Anonymous
Fairest Lord Jesus,
Ruler of all nature,
O thou of God to earth come down,
Thee will I cherish,
Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be thine.

Call to Confession/Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon
Gracious God, we have sought a(er things, but we have not sought a(er you. We have expected generosity, but we have not shown generosity. We have not been gracious or grateful. We have failed to remember all that you have done. Forgive us and fill our hearts with gratitude. Help us to share our gifts and strengthen our legs so that we can run after you, O God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Time with Children and Youth

Prayer for Illumination

Exodus 16:2-15 and Philippians 1:21-30

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Matthew 20:1-16

The is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ!

Message So the Last Will Be First

HYMN   God Whose Giving Knows No Ending                   Robert L. Edwards

God, whose giving knows no ending,
From Your rich and endless store:
Nature’s wonder, Jesus’ wisdom,
Costly cross, grave’s shattered door.
Gifted by You, we turn to You,
Off’ring up ourselves in praise:
Thankful song shall rise forever,
Gracious donor of our days.

Treasure, too, You have entrusted,
Gain through pow’rs Your grace conferred:
Ours to use for home and kindred,
And to spread the Gospel Word.
Open wide our hands in sharing,
As we heed Christ’s ageless call.
Healing, teaching, and reclaiming,
Serving You by loving all.

Invitation to the Offering

Offertory: How Dear to Me Is Your Dwelling Robert J. Powell

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication/Lord’s Prayer

Lord, giver of all good gifts, thank you for the resources gathered here. Use these gifts for the advancement of your kingdom; and hear us as we continue our prayer saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Hymn Lord, I Want to Be a Christian African American Spiritual
Lord, I want to be a Christian
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be a Christian
In my heart.

Refrain:
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be a Christian
In my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be more loving
In my heart.

Refrain

Lord, I want to be like Jesus
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be like Jesus
In my heart.

Refrain

Charge/Benediction

Postlude Baroque Tune Giovanni Coperario (1575-1626)

Meditation on John 14:1-7, 15-19, 25-27

In Memory of Joann Chambers Haynes Thompson

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Sept. 18, 2020

    Here is a link to the entire service:

You know how when you meet someone and you feel like you already know them? That’s how it was when I met Joann Thompson last year. She came through the greeting line after worship. Lisa introduced us, and Joann told me she lived in Beavercreek. I immediately thought of Beaver Creek in Pennsylvania. That’s how new I was to Ohio! Am I saying it right? Beavercreek?

    Joann told me how much she enjoyed worship and loved this church, the church of her childhood. She wanted to share memories, I think, but there wasn’t time. There were other people in line behind her. Isn’t that how it always seems to be? We are in a hurry and yet these seemingly small but important openings for relationships to develop present themselves, like a beautiful but short-lived flower that blooms then fades quickly in bright sunlight.

    I didn’t know that would be the only opportunity I would have to speak with her. I can only give thanks for the privilege of meeting her, and the honor of sharing her story and the promises of Jesus Christ with you.

     Joann was born in Logan, Ohio, on Christmas Eve in 1928. She would be a middle child, with an older sister, Mary, and younger sister, Emily.  Her parents, Harold and Thelma Chambers, would live on 16^th Street in Coshocton and later on Cambridge Road. Joann’s dad was a Coshocton County Extension Agent; her mom was a teacher at Lincoln Elementary School. Harold and Thelma were longtime members of The Presbyterian Church. Joann and her sisters attended Sunday school. All three girls, though they would move away when they grew up, would be married here.

    Joann joined the church on April 6, 1941. Our records say that her first name was Natalie! Her middle name was Joann. Why didn’t she like the name Natalie? I think it’s beautiful! Isn’t that funny—how we often don’t feel as if we fit the names given to us at birth? I do know this for sure, that whatever the name is that we call ourselves, God knows our names and everything about us. Psalm 139 tells us this—that God knows us before we were born. When he knit us together in our mother’s womb, we were fearfully and wonderfully made!

    Joann possessed musical gifts. She sang in choirs, played piano, and played flute in Coshocton High School’s marching band. After she graduated in 1947, she went on to study music at Ohio State. She graduated in 1952 and found a position teaching music at a school in Fairborn. She actually lived on the same street in Fairborn where her daughter, Lee, lives now–and Lee didn’t know that when she moved there!

    Joann met Howard Haynes through mutual friends while living in Fairborn. They were married June 26, 1954, here in this sanctuary, by Rev. John Abernethy. She continued to teach music in Fairborn and attended Memorial Presbyterian Church in Dayton, transferring her membership from the church of her childhood on Sept. 15, 1958. She took some time off from teaching when she had her own children—Susan and Lee Anne. When Lee was in 5^th grade, the family moved to a new home they had built in Beavercreek. Joann went back to school, before that move, and attended Wright State University to study Elementary Education. She taught 3^rd graders for 17 years. Isn’t that awesome?

     Tragically, Joann’s husband, Howard, died of cancer in 1986. He was 59. While some people are blessed with only one loving companion for their lives, God provided another for Joann. It was also a second chance love as Joann and Henry Thompson had dated in high school. Their relationship had ended when Henry was drafted into the U.S. Army after graduation. Joann was brokenhearted. Henry served in Korea before attending Miami University and coming back to Coshocton to work in the real estate and insurance business with his father.

     Joann and Henry married on June 23, 1990 in Tucson, Arizona, where they would make their new life together. Henry worked as a realtor there, and they attended Catalina Foothills Church. Joann sang in the choir for many years, and her daughter, Lee, sang with her.

     After Henry’s retirement in 2010, they moved back to Ohio. As we grow older, we often feel the pull to go to the place we called home when we were young.

    They were married 28 years when Henry went home to be with the Lord on April 3, 2018 at the age of 88.

***

  Our reading in John 14 is about the place Christ’s disciples will call home when the Lord goes to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house, then comes again and takes them to himself. “So that where I am,” he says, “there you may be also.”  The disciples are grieving as Jesus speaks of his departure, telling them about how he will die; this is just too much for them to bear for the one they love.

    When Jesus says, “you know the way to the place where I am going,” Thomas interrupts with an emotional plea, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

    It’s simple, Jesus says. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

    What really touches me in this familiar passage is the promise that Jesus won’t leave us orphaned! That seems especially important today as we remember the life of Joann—a mother, stepmother and grandmother. No matter how old we are, when we lose a parent, we feel like an orphan. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to all who love Him and seek to keep His commandments. The Lord will abide with us forever—here, now, in Spirit, and face to face in the world to come!  

      Jesus says at the beginning and end of this passage, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He repeats this phrase because he knows they ARE anxious, just as you and I are anxious at the thought of living without our loved ones with us. Jesus knows this because he is both God and one of us, feeling all the same emotions that we do.

      Christ’s promise of peace is a gift for his earliest disciples; it strengthens them in their time of grief and helps them to continue his ministry on earth, following in his footsteps.  It’s a peace that lives in us and strengthens us today to do God’s will.

 ***

      When I asked Lee to tell me about her mother, she said. “Mom was a strong woman, who could calm your fears and make things make sense. She was a good listener when I needed to vent. She had a great sense of humor. She had a good memory! Three things she told everyone to have: a positive attitude, a sense of humor, and a glass of wine every day!

    “She used to enjoy sewing clothes when we were little; later years she enjoyed counted cross stitch and quilting. She was an avid reader, enjoying books by James Patterson and Bill O’Reilly and historical novels about Scotland or England. She also was a fan of Fox News! 

     Family meant everything to her. Joann was happy to be able to attend her step grandson Justin’s wedding on July 25—days before she went home to be with the Lord on Aug. 11. Psalm 139 assures us that the Lord knows the number of our days and that they are written down in God’s book, before they even existed.

    I am convinced that Joann, the special lady I met too briefly in a greeting line after worship, would want her family to know that it was her time to join Christ in the joy that He had prepared. This same joy awaits each of us in the house of our heavenly parent. “I will not leave you orphaned!” Christ is saying to us right now. “I am coming to you….

    “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”

Amen.

The Presbyterian Church, 142 N. 4th St., Coshocton, OH 43812

Pastor Karen Crawford

Diane Jones, Liturgist

Alice Hoover, Organist

Prelude: Thanks Be Thee  George Frideric Handel

Greeting/Announcements with Pastor Karen

Opening Words with Diane Jones

Give praise to God!

Praise the Lord, for it is God who saves. . . . 

It is God who forgives. . . .

It is God who delivers. . . .

Give thanks and praise to the Lord!

Gathering Prayer with Diane Jones

Hymn     There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy         Frederick W. Faber

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
are more felt than up in heaven.
There is no place where earth’s failings
have such kindly judgment given.

For the love of God is broader
than the measures of the mind.
And the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful,
we would gladly trust God’s Word,
and our lives reflect thanksgiving
for the goodness of our Lord.

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession

Gracious and loving God, you lived for us—we have not lived for you. You have forgiven us—we have not forgiven others. You have loved us—we have not loved ourselves nor have we loved one another. Take pity on us and forgive us, God. Help us to forgive. Help us to live for you. Help us to love through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

Time with Children and Youth with Pastor Karen

Prayer for Illumination and Romans 14:1-12 with Diane Jones

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Exodus 14:19-31 with Pastor Karen

Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God!

Message The God Who Parts the Sea Pastor Karen

Hymn          Give to the Winds Thy Fears          John Wesley

Give to the winds thy fears,
hope and be undismayed;
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears;
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears the way;
wait thou His time, so shall this night
soon end in joyous day.

Invitation to the Offering

Offertory

Prayer of Thanksgiving/Lord’s Prayer

O God, we thank you for these gifts. Multiply them, and enable the work of love and the righteousness of your kingdom in the world. We thank and praise you.  Hear us as we continue our prayer in the words Jesus gave to us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Hymn       Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah       William Williams

Guide me, O my great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty;
hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.

Open now the crystal fountain,
where the healing waters flow.
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
ever be my strength and shield,
ever be my strength and shield.

Charge/Benediction

Postlude: Adagio Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) edited, S. Drummond Wolf

Meditation on Exodus 14:19-31

The Presbyterian Church, 142 N. 4th St., Coshocton, OH 43812

Pastor Karen Crawford

Sept. 13, 2020

We passed another milestone this week on Friday; it’s been 19 years since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Can you believe it’s been that long? Some people were talking on Facebook about where they were on that day. Do you remember where you were?

I was a religion reporter for the York Daily Record in York, PA. More than 3,000 people lost their lives when al Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center. More than 6,000 people were injured. While no good can possibly come from an act of terrorism and that day forever changed how we would live, we can say that terrible day brought Americans closer together in their shared grief, horror, and yes, fear. I remember people calling their family and friends to tell them they loved them, American flags flying everywhere, and people whispering, “God bless America” as a prayer. People started calling me at the newspaper, asking questions like, “Is it Armageddon?” People who had fallen away from the faith, came back to church, seeking the Lord.

One of the miracles of that day was that most of the tens of thousands of people who typically worked in the Pentagon and the World Trade Center were able to escape. Many more lives could have been lost. And on that day of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history, more than a few ordinary people became heroes.  

Here’s a story of one of them from “7 Incredible Stories of Heroism on 911,” Business Insider, 9/11/2017:

“Just a few minutes after United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center, 24-year-old Welles Crowther called his mother and calmly left a voicemail: ‘Mom, this is Welles. I want you to know that I’m ok.’

“Crowther was an equities trader at Sandler O’Neil and Partners on the 104th floor. But after that call, the man who was a volunteer firefighter in his teens made his way down to the 78th floor sky lobby and became a hero to strangers known only as ‘the man in the red bandana.’

“Amid the smoke, chaos and debris, Crowther helped injured and disoriented office workers to safety, risking his own life in the process. Though they couldn’t see much through the haze, those he saved recalled a tall figure wearing a red bandana to shield his lungs and mouth.

“… In what’s been described as a “strong, authoritative voice,” Crowther directed survivors to the stairway and encouraged them to help others while he carried an injured woman on his back. After bringing her 15 floors down to safety, he made his way back up to help others.”

“Everyone who can stand, stand now,” Crowther told survivors while directing them to a stairway exit. “If you can help others, do so.”

Crowther is credited with saving at least a dozen people that day.

And another hero story of 911:

“Rick Rescorla was already a hero of the battlefields of Vietnam, where he earned the Silver Star and other awards for his exploits as an Army officer. Rescorla, who had been featured on the cover of the book We Were Soldiers Once…And Young,” would often sing to his men to calm them down while under fire, using songs of his youth while growing up in the United Kingdom. Many more in the South Tower would hear his songs on September 11, where Rescorla was working as head of corporate security for Morgan Stanley.

When American Flight 11 hit the tower next to him, Port Authority ordered Rescorla to keep his employees at their desks, but Rescorla who had frequently warned the Port Authority and his company about the World Trade Center’s security weaknesses, had already issued the order to evacuate. He had made Morgan Stanley employees practice emergency drills for years, and
it paid off that day: Just 16 minutes after the first plane hit the opposite tower, more than 2,700 employees and visitors were out when the second plane hit their building.”

We remember an ancient battle in our passage in Exodus 14 today. This battle and the victory belonged to the Lord. After the 10th plague is visited on his people and the firstborn children die, Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron in the night and orders them, “Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord, as you said.”

The Israelites are about 600,000 thousand men and women, traveling on foot, plus children and flocks and herds. They journey from Rameses to Succoth with their unleavened dough and gifts from the Egyptians who oppressed them—gold and silver jewelry and clothing. God doesn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, though that was nearer. God reveals his reasoning, saying, ‘If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So the Lord leads them by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. God goes in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to give them light. They travel by day and by night.

Then the Lord warns Moses that he is going to harden Pharaoh’s heart. He and his armies will pursue them. This is God’s doing! Why? He wanted the Israelites to cross the Red Sea. He has a miracle planned! In 14:4, God explains, “so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”

When the Israelites look back and see Pharaoh and his foot soldiers, officers, and 600 “chosen” chariot drivers advancing on them, they cry out in fear to the Lord. And they turn on their leader, Moses. Suddenly the past is looking good.

“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” the Israelites want to know. “What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.”

Moses says, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

Everything happens as the Lord has said. Moses lifts his staff and stretches out his hand over the sea. “The Lord (drives) the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turn(s) the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.” The Israelites cross and the Egyptian soldiers follow. But at the morning watch, the Egyptian army sees the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looking down on them—and what a sight it must be! It throws them into a panic, and as they are panicking, their chariot wheels get clogged.

Nothing good ever comes from panic, does it?

The Egyptians try to flee, but the Lord tells Moses to stretch out his hand, once again. And the army and the Pharaoh are swept away by the waters of the sea.

Israel comes together in their joy over God’s victory. And they fear the Lord, believe in the Lord, and believe in his servant Moses. The prophet, Miriam, Aaron’s sister, dances, sings and plays the tambourine and the women join her in song.

The Israelites’ joy and faith in God and Moses are short-lived. Their doubts and fears, complaining and blaming will return when they encounter more trials in the wilderness.

I don’t have to tell you, friends, that we are going through trials as a nation. We are, aren’t we? Doubts and fears, complaining and blaming are the reality for the society in which we live.

You who have come today have a special calling to share your hope in Christ with those who feel their hope slipping away. You who have strength are called to support the weak in body, mind and spirit. We are not called to judge others, for any reason—not for their politics, or what they eat or when or if they observe the Sabbath.

God still performs miracles every day. They may not be as dramatic as the ones in Exodus, but they are still miracles—a baby is born, a child learns to read or play Bach flawlessly, someone is healed of cancer or other disease, brothers learn to forgive, broken families are reconciled; men and women risk their lives caring for the sick and dying, putting out raging fires, and helping communities recover from natural disasters and acts of violence.

When we look closely, we will see God working in our midst. How do you see God working in your life?

God used many ordinary people 19 years ago on a day we will never forget. When terrorists tried to destroy as many lives as possible, ordinary people were led to heroic acts of kindness and self-sacrifice that saved many more.

During the evacuation of the World Trade Center on 911, Rescorla calmly reassured people, singing “God Bless America” over a bullhorn as they walked down the stairs. He called his wife. “Stop crying,” he told her. “I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier. You made my life.” He was last seen on the 10th floor of the South Tower, heading upward to look for any stragglers. His body was never found.

Survivor Ling Young told CNN that Crowther, the 24-year-old equities trader wearing the red bandana to shield his lungs and mouth, was her “guardian angel — no ifs, ands or buts — because without him,” she said, “we would be sitting there, waiting [until] the building came down.’ His body was later recovered alongside firefighters in a stairwell heading back up the tower with the ‘jaws of life’ rescue tool.

This is the God we serve. The God we trust. The only One who knows what’s in the road ahead and also what’s behind us. The One who revealed His love for the world when He gave His only Son.

The God who parts the sea.

Let us pray. Holy One, we are so grateful for the call on our lives—that we have the hope of all eternity with you because of your Son, who showed us the way back to you and gave his life for us. We pray for our community, for protection for the vulnerable, including the children and teachers in schools and our elderly in nursing homes, assisted living or homebound. We pray for healthcare workers and all the ordinary people who have become heroes during times of crisis, such as the terrorist attacks of 911. We lift up also the ordinary people who are everyday heroes, showing love, helping the weak, giving to people in need, feeding the hungry, working for peace and modeling faith, hope and love. Thank you for those who have lost their lives serving our country in war and acts of terrorism and those who serve our country today. Help us, Lord, when we are afraid or struggle to see your goodness in our midst. Help us to trust that you will fight our battles for us, if only we would be still and know you are the God who parts the sea. In Christ we pray. Amen.

The Presbyterian Church, 142 N. Fourth Street, Coshocton, OH 43812

Pastor Karen Crawford

Alice Hoover, Organist

Sarah Swigert, Liturgist

Here is a link to the video of our service this morning:

Prelude: I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light  (Setting by Michael Burkhardt) Alice Hoover, Organ … Mr. Burkhardt has written “footsteps” into his music.

Greeting/Announcements with Pastor Karen

Opening Words: Sarah Swigert

Listen! The Lord calls out to us, offering life!          

 Teach, lead, turn us to your ways, O God.          

Walk in the paths of God’s commandments with delight.                                  

 Teach, lead, turn us to your ways, O God.

With our whole heart, we will turn to you and live!

Gathering Prayer: Sarah Swigert

Hymn (Glory to God #366) Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (stanzas 1 and 4))

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav’n to earth come down:
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter ev’ry trembling heart.

Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be:
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
’til in heav’n we take our place,
’til we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Call to Confession with Pastor/Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon with Pastor

Lord God, while we were still slaves to sin, you died for our salvation. Yet we still worship the false gods of this world, forgetting that you are Lord. Loving worldly wealth, we have not loved you with our whole heart nor loved our neighbors as ourselves. Trusting worldly strength, we have not trusted your word nor followed the Word made flesh. Forgiving by worldly norms, as have not shown mercy to others as you have shown mercy to us. Forgive us, yet again, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Time with Children and Youth with Pastor Karen

Praise Song: Be A Light

https://youtu.be/8YuWAZmD0aU

Prayer for Illumination and Matthew 18:15-30 with Sarah Swigert

This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ!

Romans 13:8-14 with Pastor Karen

Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God!

Message: Put on the Armor of Light! Put on Jesus Christ!

Hymn: Glory to God # 754 Help Us Accept Each Other (stanzas 1 and 2)

Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace. Be present, Lord, among us and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted, and meant to love and live.

Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith. Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some, to love them as we find them, or as they may become.

Prayer of Intercession/Lord’s Prayer

Pastor: God of grace and steadfast love, we thank you for your commandments, which order our life together. We thank you for calling us to live honorably with one another and pray for your grace as we try to do all that you require of us.

Liturgist: Increase in us, we pray, the capacity to love you and our neighbors without reserve and to love even those who harm us. Not halfheartedly, but with our whole hearts, we bring before you the cares, the concerns, and the joys that occupy us.

Women: We remember before you those who are at odds with one another in families, in neighborhoods or offices, and even in the church. We pray for nations in the midst of internal or external struggles and conflict.

Pastor: Teach us, O God, to seek nonviolent ways toward resolution. Help us to speak the truth and to listen with understanding when perspectives are far apart. We pray for love to bring peace into every troubled heart and place.

Liturgist: We remember before you those who have physical needs today. People who are hungry and thirsty; people who are exhausted by the demands of work or caregiving; people who are sick, or undergoing surgery; and people who live with chronic pain. Bring relief and rest, we pray.

Men: We remember those weighed down with needs of heart and soul. A worry that keeps us awake at night, grief that accompanies us everywhere we go, depression that clouds us, or an addiction that grips us.

All: Lift all of these heavy burdens with the light and peace of your presence, we pray. Sustain us over the long journey toward health and give us trust in you, ourselves, and those who love us.

Liturgist: We remember before you not only our cares, but also our joys—a birthday celebrated, an anniversary enjoyed; new beginnings—a baby born, a new school year begun, a new job, a new relationship. We thank you, O God, for the gift of laughter, for enduring friendships, and for cherished memories.

Pastor: We give thanks that with you there is always a new beginning, a way where this is no way, hope beyond hope, and life beyond death. Through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, who taught us to pray… Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Invitation to the Offering with Pastor

Offertory: Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love   (Setting, Robert J. Powell) Alice Hoover, Organ

“Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, teach us how to serve the neighbors we have from you.”

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication

God of our salvation, we know what time it is—time to wake from sleep and to turn from selfishness. We offer now our time, our talents, and our resources to be used for your good purposes and all for love’s sake. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Hymn: Glory to God # 377 I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (stanzas 1 and 3)

I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus. God set the stars to give light to the world. The star of my life is Jesus. In him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

I’m looking for the coming of Christ. I want to be with Jesus. When we have run with patience the race, we shall know the joy of Jesus. In him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

Charge/Benediction

Postlude: Praeludium in G  {Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1670 – 1746)} Alice Hoover, Organ

Meditation on Romans 13:8-14

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Sept. 6, 2020

Video of our Sept. 6, 2020 service:

I am so happy to be here today! I feel the power of the Spirit as we gather in this space. I feel the joy of the Lord! Welcome back, my friends! Welcome home! I’ve missed you.

Who saw this coming? A global pandemic that would lead churches to close their doors for months? We thought maybe a few weeks, then a couple months and the crisis would pass. The virus has claimed more than 188,000 lives in our nation alone. And it’s not over, yet.

No, we didn’t see that coming.

If we had known and had time to get ready, what would we have done? Would it have been too much for us to bear?

Something about our situation made me recall the words of Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place. In her book, she recounts the time in her hometown in Holland before and during the Holocaust in World War II when her Christian family were stirred to hide Jewish people and those who resisted the Nazis in a secret room built into their home. They were betrayed by a Dutch informant, arrested and imprisoned. Many of her family and friends would die as a result of their heroic acts of compassion. Corrie and her older sister, Betsie, were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Corrie, the youngest daughter, had a special relationship with her watchmaker father. She would become the first female licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands in 1922. As a little girl, she would go on train rides to the Naval Observatory. There he would hold his pocket watch and a pad and pencil, and would stand almost on tiptoe with the joy of precision to watch the tower arms drop at the stroke of 12 noon. He would say, “There; 4 seconds fast!” Within an hour, the astronomical clock in their shop in Harlaam would be accurate to the second.

On the ride home would be the time for Corrie to bring things up that were troubling her. In those days, sex was never discussed, even in the home. But young Corrie had heard a poem in school that mentioned “sex sin.”  Corrie, seated next to her Father in the train compartment, suddenly asked, “What IS sexsin?”

     “He turned to look at me,” she writes, “as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads and set it on the floor. “‘Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?’ ” he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. “It’s too heavy,” I said.

       “‘Yes, he said, ‘And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For no, you must trust me to carry it for you.’

      “And I was satisfied. More than satisfied—wonderfully at peace,” she writes. “There were answers to this and all my hard questions; for now, I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.”

      I believe this is so with us. There is knowledge too heavy for us that is best to leave in our Heavenly Father’s keeping. As God speaks through Isaiah in 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.”

     No one in Corrie’s family imagined the terrible systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6 million Jewish men, women and children by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. But Corrie lived to tell the story—and tell it, she did, through the perspective of her Christian faith, from the ocean of God’s love within her.

    Love comes up again in our passage in Romans 13 today, following, strangely enough, the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to pay taxes to the authorities, and “pay to all what is due.” He shifts gears from financial debt to a debt we owe the Lord—obedience to His commands.

   “Owe no one anything,” he says, “except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”  Paul quotes Leviticus, as Jesus does, saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  He adds, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” Love, very simply, does no harm to another human being.

   It is in this way that we become spiritually ready—awake, alert, for when Jesus comes again. We want him to find us loving God and each other. For, as Paul says, salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

    Jesus may come today! Isn’t that a wonderful thought, my friends?

What gave Corrie Ten Boom strength and courage to persevere through the harsh reality of the concentration camps and her many losses? Faith–hers and that of her older sister and father, who once said of the possibility of losing their lives for helping the Jews, “I would consider that the greatest honor to come to my family.” Corrie and Betsie led secret worship services at the camp after dark, sharing God’s Word through a smuggled Bible. Before Betsie died in the camp on Dec. 1944 at age 59, she told Corrie, “There is no pit so deep that He (God) is not deeper still.” The Lord gave her visions of a ministry to the vulnerable. Betsie’s visions would be realized through Corrie’s passion to serve the Lord.

Corrie was released from the camp 15 days later on what Corrie discovered had been a “clerical error.” A week after Corrie was released, all the women in her age group were sent to the gas chambers. She went home and opened her door to the mentally disabled who were in hiding for fear of execution and, after the war, set up a rehab center in the Netherlands for war victims. She returned to Germany in 1946 and met with and forgave two Germans who had worked at Ravensbruck and had been particularly cruel to Betsie. Her mission to share God’s love to the world and tell the story of how Jesus was Victor in the concentration camps carried her around the globe to speak and led her to write a number of books.

    Her favorite prop while speaking to groups was a flashlight. She would throw the switch and when the light failed to shine, she exclaimed, “Is there no light in your life?” She unscrewed the end of the flashlight. “Invite Jesus into your life!” She pushed a battery into the flashlight. The light still failed to shine. Her audience was startled. “What’s wrong?” she asked, echoing their surprise. She removed the battery. “What is this?” She pulled out a rag. “Pride!” And another. “Envy!” And another. “Love of money!” Finally, she would slide in the battery again and the flashlight beamed brilliant light.

   I spent some time thinking about Corrie and our Scripture readings yesterday when I took a break from writing to visit my garden. I admired the evening primroses, once again, that Dick and Alice Hoover gave us in the spring. They are the funniest looking plants. Some people call them weeds for their invasive growing habit. They kind of look like dandelions on steroids. Jim and I love them! Every evening, sometime between 8 and 8:30, as darkness falls, we go out to watch and sometimes make a video as the new, bright yellow blossoms open before our very eyes— 2, 4, 6, or 8 blooms a night. When morning comes, the flowers close and begin to fade; their work of bringing light and beauty in the darkness is done.

    This is a picture of our calling, dear friends. We may seem like ordinary people much of the time, but you should see us in the dark of night—when we shine the light of Christ and bring hope to the world.

It might be dark, but the time is now to wake up and get ready! Salvation is near! What will you be doing when Jesus comes back? Remember: love does no harm to a neighbor!

    Live as Children of the Light! Owe no one anything, except to love!

    Lay aside the works of darkness with which you’ve struggled—hurt, pain, anger, bitterness, disappointment, fear and unforgiveness, jealousy and quarreling. Do this with me, now, friends. Lay them aside. We don’t need that burden. It’s like that heavy suitcase that young Corrie couldn’t carry. She let her beloved father carry it for her, and she felt wonderful peace.

     Accept God’s love. Forgive! Forgive! Be healed! Be an instrument of healing for others!

    The past doesn’t matter. This is the moment that counts. Do this with me!

   Put on the armor of light. Put on Jesus Christ!

Let us pray.

Holy One, we thank you for all the saints who have gone before us and were faithful examples to us, people such as Corrie Ten Boom. Thank you for the honor of the call to serve you, Lord, and the opportunities you give us to shine your light in the darkness daily. Help us to lay aside the works of darkness, the sin that leads us away from you, hurts our witness, and causes us to stumble from the righteous path. Teach us how to put on your armor of light and clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ at the break of each new dawn. Lead us to owe no one anything except to love. In Christ we pray. Amen.