A Moment for Mission
“Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” —Mark 1:15, CEB
In the heart of the Glenville community, a neighborhood in northeastern Cleveland, Ohio, Cory United Methodist Church received a United Methodist Voluntary Services grant from Global Ministries to support a financial education program that seeks to provide guidance that many in the community have not had the opportunity or access to learn.
The pilot program was designed to offer workshops to about a dozen people in-person or online. The hope is that as the program grows, the church will open it to constituents served through the pantry and hot meals program. Made possible by gifts given on Human Relations Day, the grant supports the program and provides a small cash incentive for participants who complete the course.
Human Relations Day is a denomination-wide special offering often received the Sunday before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Gifts received for the offering build King’s vision of “the beloved community.”
Adapted from “HRD grant provides equity for Glenville residents”
Children’s Message
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus asked some fishers to be his friends and follow him. Here are three important things from this account that can help us build relationships.
Listen to Jesus: We can follow his example by being kind, helping others, and showing love. When we listen to Jesus, we learn how to be good friends to everyone around us.
Be a friend to everyone: Jesus loved even the people who didn’t want to be friends with him. We can offer friendship to everyone too, just like Jesus. It doesn’t matter if someone looks different or likes different things. We can share God’s love with everyone
Leave the “nets” behind: Sometimes, we need to leave behind things that might keep us from being good friends. It could be being too busy, not sharing or not saying we’re sorry when we make mistakes. Let’s leave those “nets” behind and follow Jesus in being great friends to other people.
Prayer
Holy One, thank you for knowing us. Open us to the presence of your Spirit. Remove prejudices that would keep us from celebrating the gifts of our neighbors. Move us to respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow him. Give us the words to invite others to experience the good news of Christ’s love. Move us to cross boundaries, build trust and share our abundance through your church. Amen.
Offertory Prayer: Discipleship Ministries
Generous God, we ask you to bless the gifts we give this morning. We ask that you help grow the trust in us so that we might follow without looking back and we might leave behind more of our old lives to experience more deeply new life in you. Help us to leave our nets on the shore and leave those things that seemed essential before we heard the call, so that we might travel the road you have put before us. In the name of Christ who goes before us and beside us, we pray. Amen. (Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20)
Newsletter Nugget
“Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” —Mark 1:15, CEB
Simon and Andrew were fishing, and Jesus interrupts them saying, “Come, follow me, and I’ll show you how to fish for people.”
And they did it! They dropped what they were doing and they followed him. There was something about this Jesus that perhaps stirred a feeling that something was missing in their lives. Perhaps they were experiencing restlessness or dissatisfaction. They knew in their hearts, in this proclamation of the good news, that the realm of God is near and they wanted to be a part of it.
On Human Relations Day, United Methodists drop our nets to receive a special offering that supports programs like United Methodist Voluntary Services. The United Methodist Voluntary Services Program supports community advocacy, raising awareness of problems like poverty and homelessness, human trafficking, immigration and environmental justice.
Supporting Human Relations Day shares the experience of God’s love in rich ways that equip you to bring your discipleship into the world to touch others.