Younger Children’s Bulletin

Older Children’s

Bulletin

Next Sunday we are planning to hold worship in our Pavilion at 10:30AM.  We will have worship materials and a recording of the sermon available online as soon as possible on Sunday afternoon.  We expect to have FM brodcasting of the service available in the parking lot.  If you will be attending the service in person, please bring seating with you (if you can).  We encourage you to wear masks as well.  We will have seating spaces marked in the pavilion to help ensure proper distancing.

Please be in prayer for the health of our church and our neighbors, and especially those who are working to keep the rest of us healthy in so many ways.

We ask for prayer today for:

  • Members and family of our congregation recovering from illness and surgery.
  • Healing for those in our community and around us currently fighting the COVID-19 virus.
  • Protection and strength for the medical and nursing staff in our community.
  • Those who have lost jobs during the pandemic.
  • Alden Wilson, for her to be able to successfully undergo cranioplasty.

Prayers around the Church of the Brethren and Shenandoah District

  • Please be in prayer for the Church of the Brethren in Brazil as infection rates are rising rapidly in that country.
  • Brethren in Nigeria experiencing renewed militant violence.
  • Brethren in the Congo struggling to find clean drinking water after floods earlier this month
  • Please pray for the churches around our denomination, discerning and planning for resuming in-person worship services

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.

Simple Gifts

by Jeremiah Padilla | Streamed with permission. CSPL121366

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ “

Come Great Spirit

Holy Spirit,
Presence of God
Holy Breath
Life Divine!

Holy Wind
Mover and Shaker
We throw open our hearts before you;
We cast down every barrier to your freedom;
We yield to your boundless nature;
We welcome your wildness.

Too long we have tried to tame the wind;
Too long we have sought to control what’s wild;
Too long have we stood in our own idolatrous lordship over the earth.

At this moment of earth’s great groaning,
yearning, as if in labor, to birth what’s holy and enduring,
come, breathe, blow, move upon us all-
that earth and all that’s in it may thrive;
that earth and all that’s in it may love;
that earth and all that’s in it may live
In the harmony and wholeness you desire for us and all creation!

Come, Great Spirit!
Breathe, blow, move upon us!
Here!
Now!

Come, Great Spirit!
Here now!
May it be so.

By Chris Neufeld-erdman
from workofthepeople.org, adapted.

The other week we talked about how Paul declared himself to be a slave and servant, completely indebted to Jesus Christ. This week, I want to take a look at the flip side of that declaration. This video talks about the book of Philemon, reminding us that all are of equal status in Jesus, and that we need to be ready to “honor the lesser” (1 Corinthians 12:22-26) in order to be fully free to live as the body of Christ.

In the Spirit of God’s Welcome

We gather together as those whom God has
welcomed. As we likewise welcome each other,

we welcome God in us and among us.

As we welcome the prophets in our midst,
whose words might unsettle us,

we welcome God in us and among us.

As we welcome those who are hurting,
and as their suffering becomes our suffering,

we welcome God in us and among us.

As we welcome the peacemakers, and all those
who work for justice and goodness on this earth,

we welcome God in us and among us.

As we welcome those who are judged unworthy,

we welcome God in us and among us.

As we offer a cup of cold water in the spirit of
God’s loving and compassionate welcome,

we welcome God in us and among us.
Great are God’s promises! Great is our reward.

-Debbie Roberts Tonasket, Washington

Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service

Lord, whose love in humble service
bore the weight of human need,
who, upon the cross forsaken,
worked your mercy’s perfect deed.
We, your servants, bring the worship,
not of voice alone, but heart,
consecrating to your purpose
ev’ry gift which you impart.

Still your children wander homeless.
Still the hungry cry for bread.
Still the captives long for freedom.
Still in grief we mourn our dead.
As you, Lord, in deep compassion,
healed the sick and freed the soul,
by your Spirit, send your power
to our world to make it whole.

Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service

by David Tate, Jeremiah Padilla | Streamed with permission. CSPL121366

Be Still My Soul

by Jeremiah Padilla | Streamed with permission. CSPL121366

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

The ministry of Jesus is one of continual sharing, between God and us, and ourselves and others. We share the same love that we have received, and experience God’s power and glory in the process. Thank you for being a part of Christ’s continuing ministry in the world. Following Christ, you are the light and hope that others need to receive.

Ephesians 2:17-21
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;

For the past couple of years, the Church of the Brethren has been in the midst of a denominational visioning process.  This process has been the primary business item of the past couple of Annual Conferences, as well as many gatherings around the denomination (including one meeting that was held in our building in January of 2019).  These years of prayer have produced a vision focus that is simple on the surface, but it also full of theological nuance and depth.  I invite you to look at the full document that was produced by the compelling vision team here.

This week we conclude our reflections on this document, thinking about the mission that God has in the world.

Proposed Church of the Brethren
Vision Statement

Together, as the Church of the Brethren, we will passionately live and share the radical transformation and holistic peace of Jesus Christ through relationship-based neighborhood engagement. To move us forward, we will develop a culture of calling and equipping disciples who are innovative, adaptable, and fearless.

Last year we made a study of the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. In that study we learned that Jesus’ vision and caution for the people of Israel was that there was greater victory for them than could be found through wealth and power. Instead of merely being conquerors of other people, we are called to victory over the temptations and brokeness within our own hearts. Jesus opens the door to that victory for us.

More than Conquerors

When my hope and strength is gone
You’re the one who calls me on.
You are the life,
You are the fight
That’s in my soul.
Oh, your resurrection power
Burns like fire in my heart.
When waters rise
I lift my eyes
Up to Your throne.

Chorus:

We are more than conquerors,
through Christ!
You have overcome this world, this life!
We will not bow to sin or to shame.
We are defiant in your name.
You are the fire that cannot be tamed.
You are the power in our veins,
Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror.

I will sing into the night
Christ is risen and on high.
Greater is He,
Living in me,
Than in the world.
No surrender, no retreat,
We are free and we’re redeemed.
We will declare
Over despair
You are the hope.

Chorus

Bridge: (x2)

Nothing is impossible.
Every chain is breakable.
With You, we are victorious.
You are stronger than our hearts.
You are greater than the dark.
With You, we are victorious.

Chorus

More than Conquerors

by PVCOB Praise Team | Streamed with permission. CSPL121366

The Soul Shepherding Psalm:
Psalm 23

The Lord Jesus is my Soul Shepherd
who meets all my needs and makes me smile
He gets me to stop working and to relax
with him in his Father’s loving arms
He takes me into a quiet place
to be still and know that he is God and I am loved
He heals and rejuvenates my whole being
with his grace from the inside out
He holds my hand at the crossroads
and walks me onto the path of life

Even though I go through dark and difficult times
I don’t fear anything bad because you are with me
You discipline me in love and converse patiently with me
to bring out the best in me
You prepare a celebration to bless and honor me
right in front of my enemies
You anoint me with your Spirit to minister to others
out of the overflow of your love to me
I can count on your generous favor and tender mercy
coming to me wherever I go

I will live in the presence of Christ as his beloved
in all things and at all times

~ written by Bill Gaultiere and Kristi Gaultiere.  Posted on Soul Shepherding. http://www.soulshepherding.org

To God Who Sings through Us

 

God who sings in our hearts, as the flute needs openness to receive the breath of melody, we pray to be open to the many ways that your symphony of love plays in our lives.

Thank you for the way that your enlivening Spirit touches us and moves through our beings. Remind us often that each one of us is a special instrument of yours. Together we create the wondrous music in your concert of love.

You stand at the door of our hearts, asking for an entrance. You desire to come in and share the intimacy of your presence with us (Rv 3:20).

Behold, we open the door of our minds and hearts. We welcome your entrance and long for deeper union with you. Come and make music through our lives. Dance through our days and sing in our hearts.

We have days when we resist your movement and message. We seek you in stillness, but forget you in busyness. We yearn for fullness, but miss you in emptiness. We welcome you in joy, but reject you in sorrow. We rejoice in the harvest but struggle with the planting.

Open our inner eyes so that we may know you in all the dimensions of our lives. Help us to trust you in the numerous ups and downs, to believe that your song can happen in all aspects of our existence. 

God of courage and strength, we are waiting to receive your loving energy in the empty corners of our hearts. It is your power working through us that can do more than we can ever ask or imagine. It is your enlivening breath moving through us that enables us to overcome anxieties, fears, doubts, and misgivings (Eph 3:20). 

Breathe through us, Music Maker, and let your song weave a melody through all we are and do. May we acknowledge your power at work in us and open ourselves to this blessing. 

You are a God who accepts the uniqueness and beauty of every individual. You love us as we are while you yearn for us to be more. You invite us to extend this kind of love to those who challenge our compassion and our patience. Your love within us will give us the strength to love them as we ought.

Nudge us and encourage us to accept those people who are alien to our love. May your song of kindness and patience be sung through us.

Fill our attitude toward others with notes of understanding and non judgment.

Taken from Out of the Ordinary (c) 2000, 2010 by Joyce Rupp. Used by permission of Ave Maria Press.
All rights reserved.

You Shall Go Out With Joy

by David Tate, Jeremiah Padilla | Streamed with permission. CSPL121366

We are valued more than sparrows,

and called to care for all of creation.

We are valued more than gold,

and called to give to the poor.

We are valued more than the finest meal,

and called to feed the hungry.

We are valued more than a debate,

and called to heal our divisions.

We are valued more than a war,

and called to bring peace to the world.

We need not be afraid, for we are valued, loved, and empowered by God.

Fearlessly moving forward, may we serve as God’s hands and feet.

For it is through losing our lives to God that we are found

Let us go in peace and purpose.

-Jess Hoffert Minneapolis, Minnesota
Copyright 2020 Brethren Press