Children’s Coloring Page
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.
We will be worshiping on Sunday mornings in the pavilion through July 12th. This will be reviewed at the July 12 Church Board Meeting.
Pleasant Valley volunteers at the Verona Food Pantry on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 3:30-5:45 pm. Help is needed… contact Ed Huffman to volunteer.
The Prayer Group for Lydia House and His Light House is now meeting on line. Email Arbo Miller at arbomiller@gmail.com to participate.
Donations of pudding cups are needed for BackPack Pals. Please place in blue bins in the narthex.
Donations for the Mini Free Pantry can be placed in the Jubilee Class or directly in the box.
Karis reopened June 4. New consignments are not being taken at this time and the café is not open.
Brethren Woods: Helping Hands Adopt a Staff: Contributions are needed to help make the summer vision a reality. Please send contributions to 4896 Armentrout Path, Keezletown, VA 22832
We have a list of volunteers that are ready to help you by running errands (picking up groceries, medication, etc.). Please call the church office, your deacon, or our Administrative Assistant, Anne Bowman, at home to make arrangements.
The Church Board is inviting those who are able to make donations to our Community Needs Fund. If you are receiving a Government Stimulus Check that you do not really need, this is one way to get the funds to those who do need them. We have received a couple of inquiries for help at the church so far. We expect this to accelerate in the coming weeks.
The Stewards are working hard looking for ways to reduce expenses during this difficult financial season. If you are able, you can submit offerings through the church website, or by by mailing a check to the church. Please note that offerings submitted through the website do incur a small processing fee. (That fee is smaller for donations from a checking account (ACH) than it is for credit card processing.) When you give your online offering, you can elect to either donate the amount required to cover the fee, or have it deducted from your offering amount. Either way, the total amount is included in your tax-deductible giving. Thank you for your continued giving to the ministries of the church.
God Will Take Care of You
A Lament and Hope
We want to be able celebrate. But first we must lament and seek your presence.
We lament for the hundreds of thousands who have died.
We lament for the places where mistakes have been made.
We lament for the times when governments have hidden the truth for the sake of pride and power.
We lament the deaths of hospital workers for whom the stresses became too much.
We lament the losses of jobs, and the unevenness of the load
that some sit safely at home, and others bear the danger, with little more to show for it.
We lament the systematic divisions in our society
and our blindness to the ways it harms others.
We lament that fear is a legitimate way of life for too many.
Help us to come together in a new brotherhood, O God.
Help us to lift up our sisters, undivided by color and nationhood.
Bring us together as a new people
Believing that there is only one who can save
Jesus our Lord,
Shepherd of us all.
Redeemer of all Creation. Amen
For We are Strangers No More
Refrain:
For we are strangers no more, but members of one family;
strangers no more, but part of one humanity;
strangers no more, we’re neighbors to each other now;
strangers no more, we’re sisters and we’re brothers now.
Come walk with me, we’ll praise the Lord together,
as we join song to song and prayer to prayer.
Come, take my hand, and we will work together
by lifting all the burdens we can share.
(Refrain)
Where differing cultures meet we’ll serve together.
Where hatred rages we will strive for peace.
Come, take my hand, and we will pray together
that justice come and strife and warfare cease.
(Refrain)
There is a love that binds the world together,
a love that seeks the last, the lost, the least.
One day that love will bring us all together
in Christ from south and north, from west and east.
(Refrain)
Jesus said,
“When you are gathered, I will be with you.”
We gather and celebrate.
We gather and weep.
We gather, unknowing, but trusting.
Jesus said,
“You do not see now, but you will see.”
We look at a world torn by disease,
A world ripped by fear,
A world broken by hatred.
Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who morn, for they will be comforted.”
We reach up to the heavens,
Sorrowful for those we have lost,
Grateful for those who have been saved.
Jesus said,
“I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
We long for the presence of Christ.
We need Jesus in our hearts today.
Jesus said,
“I will make all things new.”
In the Children’s Time today, Pastor Rebecca refers to the Coloring Page that can be downloaded at the top of this web page.
Romans 3:21-27
But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.
We Believe
In this time of desperation,
when all we know is doubt and fear,
There is only one foundation:
We believe, we believe.
In this broken generation,
when all is dark, you help us see.
There is only one salvation;
we believe, we believe.
Chorus:
We believe in God the Father.
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
and He’s given us new life.
We believe in the crucifixion.
We believe that he conquered death.
We believe in the resurrection,
and He’s coming back again.
We believe.
So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe
(Chorus)
Let the lost be found and the dead be raised
In the here and now, let love invade
Let the church live love our God will see
We believe, we believe
And the gates of hell will not prevail
For the power of God, has torn the veil
Now we know Your love will never fail
We believe, we believe
(Chorus)
It is one thing to give when you are at least able to join together with others for worship. It is another thing to give when you have to sit at home on your couch, and read or listen to a service online. It is one thing to give when others at least see you putting an envelope in an offering plate. It is yet another thing to give online, or mail a check into the church, or sneak into the church when you know no one else is around to place your offering in a box. Even more than usual, our offerings these past few months have been silent acts of commitment and love. Thank you for your faithfulness to God, to the church, and to our mutual ministry of sharing with those around us.
Prayers of Approach and Confession
Mysterious God
power behind all we see
grace beyond all we know
love before all we meet,
We cannot comprehend your majesty
we only know your presence in our lives:
you, who knew us before we were born
you, who will cradle us after our last breath…
We cannot encompass your glory
instead we marvel at all the works your hand has made
and we worship and adore you.
It seems too good to be true
that you would care for mere mortals like us…
in our messy lives
often caught-up in trivialities,
that you would mould us in your own image
social creatures with a divine spark…
So good, we’d rather not believe:
rather not see your image in those around us
crying out for love and companionship
rather not see your wisdom underpinning creation
groaning at our wanton waste and exploitation
God above all, help us with our unbelief
our incredulity
our self-preserving acts
which isolate and harm…
Pour mercy into our hearts and souls
giving us eyes to see and ears to hear
your gift
in every person
every place
every moment;
For your greatness is seen in all the world:
may our words and actions be our praise of you
reaching up and out
into your Kingdom,
made real for us in the person of Jesus
who taught us so much
including how 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, the power, and the glory, forever, AMEN.
by Rev. Fiona J. Reynolds, Minister, Monifieth Parish Church in Scotland
Spirit of the Living God
Spirit of the Living God,
fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God,
fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me,
fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God,
fall afresh on me.
Affirmation of Faith
God is our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble.
We will not fear.
We will not fear, though the earth should change,
Though the mountains shake,
We will not fear.
Though the waters roar, though the mountains tremble,
We will not fear.
God dwells in the midst of the city;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
We will not fear.
The nations are in an uproar. The kingdoms totter. God speaks a word, and the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
We will not fear.
God speaks:
“Be still, and know that I am God!”
God is our refuge and strength.
We will not fear.
www.homiletics.com, adapted.
Isaiah 44:21-23
Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you, you are my servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
and will be glorified in Israel.
So now we leave this space of worship.
And while so much of the road ahead is uncertain,
the path constantly changing,
we know some things that are as solid and sure
as the ground beneath our feet,
and the sky above our heads.
We know God is love.
We know Christ’s light endures.
We know the Holy Spirit is there,
found in the space between all things,
closer to us than our next breath,
binding us to each other,
until we meet we again,
Go in peace.
by Rev. Nora Vedress, Calvary United Church in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.
