September 1, 2024
WORDS OF GREETING AND GATHERING
Alexis Ward Owens
WELCOMING STATEMENT
RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, religion or creed, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.
*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.
OPENING prayer
~Homiletics, adapted
Opening Music
Sunday School Sing-Along!
SCRIPTURE READING
1st John 4:7-12, 16b-21 (The Message)
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
16b We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
THEOLOGICAL Reflection
Chris Zepp
“First Things First”
(Receive Love)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
How have you received love? Tell a story of a time when you saw or experienced God’s love embodied in others.
God is love. It’s a simple idea, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. What stumbling blocks and hurdles to receiving God’s love are found in community? What do we do when we experience the opposite of God’s love?
In what ways do we make sure that RISE is a community where people can experience God’s love and receive it among us? Where do we have work to do?
prayer
~Homiletics, adapted
SONG
“Move in OUr Midst”
~Kenneth Morse, Perry Huffaker
Move in our midst, thou Spirit of God.
Go with us down from thy holy hill.
Walk with us through the storm and the calm.
Spirit of God, go thou with us still.
Touch thou our hands to lead us aright.
Guide us forever, show us thy way.
Transform our darkness into thy light.
Spirit of God, lead thou us today.
Strike from our feet the fetters that bind.
Lift from our lives the weight of our wrong.
Teach us to love with heart, soul, and mind.
Spirit of God, thy love makes us strong.
Kindle our hearts to burn with thy flame.
Raise up thy banners high in this hour.
Stir us to build new worlds in thy name.
Spirit of God, O send us thy pow’r!
Offering and NOMOFOMO
One of our core values is, "God gives to us, so we give back." We're called to give as a joy-filled response to what we've been given. Your financial gifts make a tremendous difference in the lives of God's beloved in Harrisonburg and beyond. Whether it's helping to make sure children in our community have enough to eat, helping to respond to the mental health crisis in our community, or providing much needed backing for the operating costs of our spaces and staff — your gift is a part of God's dream and we are grateful for everyone who partners with us on this journey!
Crafts ‘n’ Chat
6-8 pm Tuesday Evenings
James Madison University
Gabbin Hall, Room 0204
Join RISE on campus for evenings of crafting together and conversation about life and maintaining balance in a chaotic world. Feel free to bring any projects you’re already working on, but craft supplies will also be provided!
Contact Alexis or Sheridan for more info and/or directions.
Summer “Sittings”
6-8 pm Every Wednesday Night
Pale Fire Brewery, Lower Patio (inside if rain)
Through September 11
We have been LOVING hanging out with you all each week. If you have not made it to one of the Sittings yet we highly encourage you to join us! This is an awesome time of connection, contemplation, and getting to know each other a little bit better! There is no “agenda” - just openness, availability, and community :-)
Feel free to bring dinner with you, eat before you come, OR purchase dinner at Pale Fire!
You DO NOT have to come the entire time, feel free to come late or only stay for a portion of time!
Don’t already know about The Sitting? You know how some people have “standing” appointments or office hours? Well, since we always need to do things just a little bit differently, we took that idea and decided to try having some “sitting” hours this summer. Everyone is invited to join Alexis and/or Chris at Pale Fire on Wednesday nights throughout the summer. We meet outside on the lower patio (or inside in the event of rain) so we can enjoy the music of the Harrisonburg Summer Concerts next door at Turner Pavilion (Information about the concert series can be found HERE.) Whether you have some burning theological questions or you just want to hang out and enjoy some music with friends, we’ll be there and happy to chat!
Your source of information for all things RISE! Check out the latest edition if you haven’t already! Its packed with info on all our events this summer, staffing updates, etc.
closing SONG
“Bless’d be the tie that binds”
Bless’d be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.
Before our Father's throne
we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.
We share each other’s woes,
each other’s burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear.
When we are called to part,
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.
This glorious hope revives
our courage by the way;
while each in expectation lives
and waits to see the day.
From sorrow, toil, and pain,
and sin, we shall be free;
and perfect love and friendship reign
through all eternity.
Parting Blessing
~Dani Loving Cartwright, adapted
God, has bathed us in love - refreshment for the mind and soul.
God has wrapped us in warm community - sustenance for the body and spirit.
May we leave here more courageous in our witness,
more gentle in our care,
more humble in our faith,
more amazed by your grace,
and ever more full of your love!
REMEMBER - YOU ARE A GIFT!
If you would like to connect more deeply with RISE, you can start by submitting this short form to Get Connected!
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Requests for care and/or prayer can be sent via e-mail to cares@riseharrisonburg.org, texted to 833-803-0868, or submitted online via our RISE Cares form.