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 invite you to join us in celebrating Dorothy Wright’s 95th Birthday this week through a card shower. Her mailing information is available in our Church Directory.
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We are entering a transition phase for our congregation and we need to do so with our eyes open and our shoulders linked to the same yoke. To that end, there will be an information session on Sunday morning, May 29, held coincident with Fifth Sunday breakfast.
Tentative agenda is:
1. Brief history of the organization of the Church of the Brethren and the Pleasant Valley congregation.
2. Brief review of the transition process ahead of us.
3. Discussion of the calling process of the transition team.
4. Disbursement of ballots.
5. Questions and discussion.
I anticipate but cannot yet confirm that a representative of the District will be on hand to assist and provide information.
Please make every effort to be there. This discussion needs to be fully representative of us as a body and we need to hear all voices.
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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.
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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!
- 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
God’s voice speaks into the darkness,
and awakens our hearts as well.
God said, “Let there be light.”
And light filled all of creation.
We hear the words addressing all creation,
and we are drawn towards the the new day,
ready for God’s beauty and blessing.
God separated the light from the shadows
and saw that it was good.
It was day, and it was night,
and the sun rose to begin again.
Awaken us with your light, O God.
Fill us with your Spirit
and inspire with your passionate and selfless love.
Shine your light through us,
and make us part of your blessing.
Gathering Prayer
Marvelous God,
open our eyes to the wonders that surround us:
the beauty of rain and fog
and the spectacular rainbow after the rain;
the smile of our neighbor;
the hand outstretched to help when when someone has fallen.
Open our ears to hear your voice:
in the songs lifted in praise,
in soft words spoken in love,
the the cry of a baby,
in the quiet of the breeze rustling through the trees
Open our hearts to your Spirit of life:
stirring us to compassion for one in need,
holding us close in love,
comforting us in times of sorrow,
encouraging us to spread our wings,
take a leap of faith and fly.
Open us to the awareness of your presence in our lives,
close in each moment that we live.
Amen.
John 21:1-19 NRSV
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’
One: Like lambs protected in the fold,
All: like the leper healed who returned to Jesus,
One: like the Jews and Gentiles of the early church,
All: we are invited to praise God, celebrate and dance!
One: Christ has risen!
God has given us more than we could have imagined!
For tidings of joy, for wholeness received,
for the gift of new life, we lift our praise to God!
All: Our God is not conquered by darkness.
Christ’s embrace does not turn cold.
One: When we can not see through our tears
Jesus comes to us with the power of love and healing.
All: May our lives be a celebration of that love,
shared as abundantly and joyously as we have received,
sown in the hope that comes to life in Jesus. Amen!
In Prayer Together
Compassionate God, though we run so far away, we are never lost from you. Though we take you for granted and dismiss your grace, you never leave us or forsake us. O Lord, we confess our tendencies to wander and to forget that all good things come from you. We become so self-absorbed that we don’t see you sitting right next to us, desiring to wrap your arms around us. Open our eyes to your presence. Free us from the desire to take life into our own hands. Thank you for always welcoming us back when we choose to trust our own ways and make our own paths. Today, we choose to follow only you. Help us to know recognize your presence and guide us on the way of life.
Remind us that you sow with unending love. You send your rains from heaven, to renew and restore, and as the waters flow through our hearts into the lives of others, they return to you.
When we allow ourselves to become aware of your work in our lives and the lives of those around us, we stand amazed. May others also be able to see your love through us. Use us to bring warmth and light into cold and darkness. Lead us together into your peace, worshiping, serving, and praying together as you 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,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Including prayers adapted from Homiletics.com
