Worship Connection for March 21, 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.

• We anticipate continuing to worship outdoors through the summer, as weather allows. The service will begin at 11:00 AM, for now, to allow the air to be a little warmer. We will likely move the service earlier as we get into the heat of summer.
• We will be celebrating a Community Easter Sunrise Service this year! The service will take place at the Community Center, in the parking lot by the playground. Masks are encouraged and social distancing is required, but I hope you will join us as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection as a Weyers Cave community once more!
• We are looking forward to hosting Easter Egg Hunts this year on March 27 at Pleasant Valley Church of the Brethren. You will have the option of one of two times to bring your child(ren) for a story, activity and Easter Egg Hunt. The two times are 9:30am and 11:00am on March 27. Please Contact Pastor Rebecca for more information and to register.
  • Please consider supporting this event with donations of candy (that can fit in regular sized eggs), or some Jumbo Easter Eggs used for activities. Please drop donations in the Easter basket in the Narthex, or bring them to Pastor Rebecca during the week. Thank you!!
• The BackPack Pals program is in need of Pudding Cups and Ramen noodles. If you would like to make a donation, please leave items in the BackPack Pals bin located in the narthex.
• Despite the current pandemic, Karis is open and very busy. As a result, they are in great need of good used furniture and household items. Now is a good time to bring these items to Karis to consign.
  • To make an appointment to bring in items, contact Karis during store hours at (540) 248-4511. The store hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Consignment hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. by appointment. Karis also provides pick-up services for a minimal fee.
  • Volunteers and customers follow safety protocols by wearing masks and practicing safe distancing. Click here for more information.
• Shenandoah District Disaster Ministries Coordinator Jerry Ruff said the District is planning a project trip April 11-17. The project will be in Coastal North Carolina. Six volunteers are needed. He said they are employing recommendations for reducing the spread of COVID-19 in ministry activities this year by evaluating upcoming project trip plans. Please contact Jerry at ruffrev2@yahoo.com or the District Office at slong@shencob.org for more information.

Please remember in your prayers the many in and around our congregation who have been fighting illness.

Dear God. Please be with us as we enter into this time of worship. Let us feel your presence and move within us as we are called.

Send your Spirit to help us pay attention, and observe what you are doing in this season.

Help us to hear your voice through all the others that compete for our attention,  including our own, so that we can pay attention to what word you have for us.

Give us the peace of mind to trust your plan and know that there is a time and season     for everything. For there is hope because of you, God.

Amen.

Holy Water

CCLI #1699256

Jeremiah 29:10-14 NRSV

For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

I invite us all to look at the things that have been holding us back from following God and claiming the hope God has for each of us.

These can include:
Fear
Self-doubt
Need for approval
Disbelief/uncertainty in God

At least one of these probably resonates for you more personally. Think about this thing that holds you back. Examine it in your mind.

Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

I now invite you to turn these things over to God.
We will tear off Fear
Self-doubt 
Need for Approval
Disbelief or uncertainty

You are invited to hold out your hands in front of you, symbolically releasing all these things, and our worries to God.

We named fear, self-doubt, a need for approval, and disbelief or uncertainty. But there are more things that hold us back from being all that God has made us to be, from realizing the abundant life Jesus promised, from moving forward, from doing all the things we want to do.
So when we seek to rid ourselves of these things that hold us back, what we’re left with is the cross. It’s ragged, rough, not pretty.

We’re left with the cross. We’re left with Jesus.
Because of the cross, because of Jesus, we have all these promises.
We have a constant companion and friend and listening ear.
Jesus is with us to help tear away the sin, the pain, the struggles,
the things that hold us back.
Because of the cross and Jesus, we can find peace.
And hope. And a future.
We can move forward in faith, carrying the cross, taking Jesus with us.

This cross is ragged, rough, not pretty. For the cross represents both death and life. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can find life.

True life. Abundant life. Eternal life.

Sounds like peace, hope, and a future.

Cornerstone

Verse 1
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name 

Chorus
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all

Verse 2
When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil

Chorus
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all

Verse 3
When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless stand before the throne

Chorus
Christ alone cornerstone
Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love
Through the storm He is Lord
Lord of all

God quenches our thirst and gives us hope for the future.
Trusting in the grace given through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we work alongside God to share this hope with others.
May our living and giving be a reflection of the love and grace we know in our lives.

All the Poor and Powerless

Verse 1
All the poor and powerless
And all the lost and lonely
And all the thieves will come confess
And know that You are holy
And know that You are holy

Chorus 1
And all will sing out hallelujah
And we will cry out hallelujah

Verse 2
All the hearts who are content
And all who feel unworthy
And all who hurt with nothin’ left
Will know that You are holy

Bridge
Shout it
Go on and scream it from the mountains
Go on and tell it to the masses
That He is God

Chorus 2
We will sing out hallelujah
And we will cry out hallelujah
We will sing out hallelujah
And shout yeah

God, the source of hope, will fill you with joy and peace, (Romans 15.13)

          so that you overflow with hope (Romans 15.13)

To give you a future (Jeremiah 29.11)

          mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3.23)

Behold…

          Behold, I make all things new.  (Revelation 21.5)

                   …all things…

                             …new.

          for I am with you always  (Matthew 28.20)

                   to give you peace  (Jeremiah 29.11)

                                      hope

                                      a future…

                                      the plans

                                                          for you!

Go, knowing God is with you now and always.