![](https://pleasantvalleyalive.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_20210428_115243474-scaled.jpg)
Good morning! This page is intended to both serve as a continuing worship option for those participating in our worship service from home, and to serve in place of print resources during our in-person worship. Following the worship service on Sunday, one or more video recordings from the service will be placed on this page, including the sermon. This may take several hours, due to the time needed to process the videos. We will email the congregation when the recordings have been posted. If you would like to be added to our congregational email list, please contact pvcob.alive@gmail.com.
-
We would like to update you regarding our upcoming Summer Worship Schedule.Sunday School will be held from 9-10 AM followed by a 15 minute transition period. We will be having Praise and Worship together starting at 10:15-10:30 AM which will transition into our Combined Worship from 10:30-11:30 AM. We will start this Summer Schedule on Sunday, May 29.Services will be held in the Sanctuary throughout the month with Outdoor Worship on the Last Sunday of each month. This includes May 29 and the following Sundays: June 26, July 31, August 28th, and our Worship in the Grove on September 11.
-
Is there a special place in the Valley that brings you peace and clarity? As part of our mission of refugee resettlement, Isabelle Garber has started a new project, Places of Peace. She’s asking for submissions from the PVCoB community members that she will then compile into a bound book to give to the refugee family. This mission intends to serve their mental health, help them feel adjusted to the area, and help them get to know us better! If you’re interested, please write a short paragraph describing your place of peace and why it’s important to you (photos are also optional but encouraged!) Please email Isabelle Garber garberisabelle@gmail.comwith submissions ASAP!
-
Backpack Pals do not need any more food donations for the summer; however, we ask that you continue to donate your plastic grocery bags. Thank you!
- Our Senior High Youth Gathering will be today, May 15!
- Our next Kids Connect is coming up on Friday, May 20!
- The 22nd Annual SDDA Golf Tournament is Friday, May 20th at Heritage Oaks Golf Course! You can pick up more information in the Narthex found at the trifold display. If you have any questions, please contact Don Landes.
- MOVERS WANTED – Brian Holsopple and his wife Beverly Kiser will be moving from Harrisonburg to Staunton. They are looking for 2 to 3 strong (youthful?) backs to help load and unload packed boxes on Saturday May 14. Pay is $20 per hour per person for an estimated 8 – 10 hours (possibly less). Lunch will be provided and we can make arrangements for transportation if needed. Anyone interested contact Brian (email: talkerbrian@gmail.com; ph: 540-290-0507) or just let the church office know.
- All Aboard! Join us for PVCOB Vacation Bible School Wednesday, July 6th-8th from 6-8pm. Join us for fun, community service, and a reminder of Jesus’ love . . . a love that pulls us through anything! See Evonne Hall for how you can help!
Call to Worship
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Gathering Prayer
God of all Creation
You are the one who imprinted song in shapes of the universe.
You gave beaks to the birds
resonance of the sea to the wales
and longing hearts to us.
We yearn for your presence and your wholeness.
So be present to us this morning.
Open our eyes to your beauty
and our hearts to your word.
Reveal to us the places where we are created to sing
to serve, to love, to rejoice.
Send your wind to shake our branches,
so every hindering weight will fall from our hands.
May your glory be revealed in our hearts
to shine in your church today. Amen.
Ephesians 2:17-21 NRSV
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
Declaration of Faith
The 23rd psalm is often read as a consolation, but it can also be read as a statement of defiant trust. When David says that the Lord is his shepherd, he is declaring that he will follow the Lord wherever the Lord leads. David knows that God is the one who will take him where he needs to go. It is by following God that he will find what nourished and heals his soul. It may mean entering dark places, but as David states, that does not mean that he will be afraid. God is sufficient – is the only one sufficient – to guard his soul.
And on the other side of the challenge is the blessing, a banquet feast, unmarred by enmity, a healing that soothes and renews, even to the point of rejoicing, and a promise of God’s generous grace providing for eternity.
I invite you, as you are able to recite this psalm with me.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
In Prayer Together
Glorious God, you are the Lord of resurrection power!
You raised your Son Jesus from death to live and rule at the right hand of your heavenly throne.
We rejoice that you uphold the universe and you treasure every person’s life.
Yet, we confess that we scramble to make sense of who you are.
We allow other voices to claim our time and attention…
We try to avoid you and what you might be calling us to do…
We immerse ourselves in other activities, thinking someday we will listen…
We don’t always understand, O Lord. We don’t always get it.
But we want to follow you and claim allegiance to your kingdom.
Forgive us, O Holy One of God…
Speak to us your life-giving words of hope and peace…
Teach us your truth, O Lord, that we might honestly seek you
and set aside all that is not of you.
Send your Spirit to shine your light so we will recognize your great hope for the world.
Help us to listen. When it is quiet and our minds are at rest, help us to listen.
When it is noisy and the world clamors for our attention, help us to listen.
Empower our church to work together to help make your reign visible in people’s lives.
Bring us into your justice
Enlarge our compassion to reach your children.
Make us to be a part of your healing
And realize your kingdom among us now
Amen.
-adapted from prayers found at www.scripturecho.com