Worship Connection for June 6, 2021

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.

• Wind and Word Bible Study will begin on June 8.  We will meet in the Pavilion at 7PM.

• Tickets for the Jimmy Fortune Concert on August 15th are now available here at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds website.
• We are resuming production of a church newsletter. The deadline for including items in the July Newsletter will be June 23.

• Indoor seating is available in the sanctuary with the live stream of the service on the screen.

• Softball season has started! Next week’s games are June 6 at 6:30 PM and June 7 at 7:30 PM.The full schedule can be found on the church website, www.pleasantvalleyalive.org.

• Upcoming Youth Activities:
  • Jr. High Pool Party and potluck lunch! June 12, 12:00 noon – 2:30 pm.
  • Family Activity – Dinner, Tie dye shirts and water fun!  June 18, 5:30-7:30 pm

• Church World Service will be sending a trailer to pick up Disaster Ministry Kits from the depot at the District Office (next door to our church) on the morning of Thursday, June 16. If you might be available to help load the trailer (significant lifting involved) please contact Pastor Daniel or Jerry Ruff.

• There will be a special called Congregational Business Meeting on June 27 to consider proposed by-law changes.  We will be considering language to expand eligibility for service on the Church Board.

The LORD calls to his people saying,

Come to me and learn kindness, learn the kind of love I have for my people.

Know that I provide, that my fields are never barren, that there is room for all at my table

Know a life not driven by fear, a life in which all are free to deal in love.

Learn my compassion that celebrates the worker, welcomes the beggar, that rejoices with the deaf and blind.

Come to me, and discover the beauty of life in my love.
And you shall know my peace, and you shall receive my joy, together with all people.

Matthew 5:1-10 NRSV

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

IN THE BULB THERE IS A FLOWER

In the bulb there is a flower;
in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise:
Butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter
there’s a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence,
seeking word and melody.
There’s a dawn in every darkness,
bringing hope to you and me.

From the past will come the future;
what it holds, a mystery,
unrevealed until its season, something
God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning;
in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.

In our death, a resurrection;
at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.

CCLI #1699256

“It is the Lord” Congregational Prayer
God, thank you for the dawn that comes every morning,
even after our darkest nights.
We give you thanks for life resurrecting from the death of winter.
For birds singing their spring songs in the dark before the dawn;
for the ice on rivers, shattered,
for the first green spikes of spring poking up through the melting earth,
for the smell of spring air fresh when we open the door,
for the sun’s rays on our face, warming us.
For every sign of spring, we give you thanks!

We give you thanks for your son Jesus Christ,
for his sacrifice for us, for his teaching.
Help us to grasp resurrection; to understand its power,
to see its force at work in our world,
thawing the hatred within us, melting our hearts,
changing our human landscape slowly, forcefully.
We pray your hand would intervene in the war-torn country of Syria,
that peace could be planted there, that new life could come
to a country so firmly held in the grip of death.
We pray for refugees, especially the families new to our community
that they could find a home here and put down roots.
Jesus, we might not always recognize you,
but thank you that you walk with us in both the big cataclysms of our time,
and in the everyday events too.
Thank you that you are walking with all the parents in this church,
as they make a thousand decisions every day,
to insist or to let go, to mediate or not to mediate,
the tone of voice they use, the choices about activities.
Forgive us for the times we’ve failed to show love to our family members,
for the ways we’ve hardened our hearts
even to those we love the most.
Give us grace to apologize, and wisdom to make things right.

Thank you for your presence in the doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals we visit,
as we face sickness, as we recover.
Thank you that you are with us at the moment of death,
and with those left behind to grieve.
We wait for the moments where you are suddenly revealed
in the every day and painful moments of our lives,
where we say, wonderingly, “It is the Lord!”
Thank you for the times we catch sight of your kingdom come,
in the person of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns in us forever.
Amen

https://carolpenner.typepad.com/leadinginworship/

Everlasting God

CCLI #1699256

God of life
God of hope
God of all

Lift us
on your love
like eagle’s wings

Sustain us
Guide us
Heal us

Then send us
forth into
the world

That we
may love
as you love.
Amen.

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