Worship Connection for February 6, 2022

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.

Contemporary Service:

Traditional Service:

• If you have previously ordered weekly giving envelopes, your box of envelopes for 2022 is in the church narthex. If you do not wish to continue with the weekly envelopes, or, if you have not previously used these pre-assigned envelopes for tracking your giving and would like to start, please contact Sharon Reich. Note: If you wish to recieve a giving statement at the end of the year, please use the envelopes or our online giving platform so that we can track your annual donations. Thank you!

• Backpack Pals are accepting donations of Pudding Cups and Ramen Noodles! Pudding cups are especially needed. Please leave any donations in the blue bin located in the Narthex.  Thank you!

• Get your high-tops and Jordans laced back up! Pleasant Valley is back at it again for 2022 – an Adult Men’s Basketball Team. Games will be played twice (2x) a week from March through May at Eastern Mennonite High School. If interested, please contact James Hall by February 1st, 2022 at the following: jehall8084@gmail.com or call/text (540) 569-6263.
  
• Our congregational business meeting is coming up on February 13. We will hold the meeting as part of our comined worship service that Sunday.

1 Kings 17:8-16 NRSV

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’ Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.” (Ps 30:4 NRSV)

Psalm 30 was written for celebration. Whether it was written for the dedication of the temple or David’s palace, it was a time of joy and beauty. But the Psalm also reminds us that before there was joy, there was trial. “O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.” (vs. 2-3) Though we often read Psalms in personal devotion, we are invited to remember they were collected for singing by the congregation. And whenever two or three are gathered, there is opportunity to mourn, as well as to celebrate.

So it is good, whenever we gather to worship God, to seek healing, comfort, and renewal by God’s spirit, not only in our own bodies, but also for each other. We come as people in need of healing and grace. It is in Christ that we are joined together.

All: We lift praise to you, O Lord.
One: You are the God of our Salvation.
I have cried to you for help
and you have healed me.
You have rescued me from darkness
and restored light to my life.
All: So we sing praise to you, O God.
We sing songs of praise and thankfulness.
One: Darkness can come upon us quickly.
It drowns out our hope
but light will come in the morning
and God’s faithfulness with it.
We wear sackcloth today
and mound ashes on our heads.
All: But God will turn our mourning into dancing.
God will dress us with celebration and joy.
God’s celebration will be for a lifetime.
One: We mourn today, O God.
But we hope in you forever. Amen.