Worship Connection for May 30, 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 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 at 7:30 PM on May 24 and 25.  The full schedule can be found on the church website, www.pleasantvalleyalive.org.

• There will be a special called Congregational Business Meeting on June 27 to consider proposed by-law changes.  Details will be available soon.

• The Disaster Kit committee is preparing to receive groups of volunteers to assemble buckets and kits for Church World Service. Congregations or groups are challenged to provide 10 to 20 volunteers to come at a pre-arranged time to fill buckets or kits with supplies. The assembly will take place in the Disaster Ministries building in Weyers Cave, where the roll-up doors will be open and proper spacing can be achieved. CDC guidelines will be followed, with temperature checks and mask-wearing. Each packing session should last about two hours.
  • The District hosts the region’s Church World Service depot, and a tractor-trailer is expected to arrive in late May to pick up buckets, kits and other supplies. The committee has set a goal to have at least half of the buckets filled before the truck comes to load items. People interested in volunteering may contact Sarah Long at the District office to connect with an upcoming opportunity for assembling buckets and kits.

• Brethren Woods is looking for strong, solid Christians to serve in June and July during our summer camp program as Paid Summer Staff. Open positions include Nature Director, Maintenance Assistant, and male and female Counselors. Check out the Summer Staff webpage at http://www.brethrenwoods. to review job descriptions, get more information about serving at camp, and apply online! Male Counselors are especially needed and have been particularly difficult to secure for this 2021 summer season.

  In addition to paid staff, Brethren Woods depends on Volunteer Staff to serve as deans (Bible study and worship leaders), Health Managers, Kitchen and Maintenance Assistants, and day, half-week, or full-week Counselors for K-12th grade campers. Campers of parents (or grandparents) who volunteer for a full week of camp are eligible for a 50% discount on their camper costs. This discount is limited to two children per parent (or grandparent) per week. Get more information at http://www.brethrenwoods. to review job descriptions and apply online.

• Our Communications/Media/Music Director, Josh Burtner, will be out of the office on vacation this week. He will be back on Sunday, June 6.

The 23rd psalm is often read as a consolation, but it can also be read as a statement of defiant trust. When David says that the Lord is his shepherd, he is declaring that he will follow the Lord wherever the Lord leads. It may mean entering dark places, but as David declares, that does not mean that he will be afraid…

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

1 John 3:1-3, 16-18 NRSV

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
…
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

Brothers and Sisters of Mine

CCLI #1699256

Let Us Love

by Elsa Anders Cook

Let us love comes the invitation from the beloved community that community following Jesus so long ago that defined their whole beings by it. Let us love, little children, they encouraged each other as if this love was something that was yet unknown and needed to be practiced like a baby carefully watching the footsteps of others until she finally discovers her own feet can move in this way. Wobbly and imperfect but still walking still following in the way. Let us love, little   children, not in word or in speech but as if our whole bodies are learning this new grace. Let us be bold in learning this new movement for we will falter and it won’t beperfect just as we are not perfect. Little children, it will feel new and awkward and it should. It should feel strange to twist and turn our bodies into love’s possibility. To learn how to love in the way of Christ who is still trying to encourage us to love one another. Let this be what defines us now in this moment not so that they will know that we are Christians but so that we know who that God’s love abides. God’s love abides in me. God’s love abides in you. I am in you and you are in me and this changes everything. That is our prayer right now. That we will come to believe enough that God’s love abides in us and be so changed. O Christ, may it be so.

-www.theworkofthepeople.com

By the power of your Spirit you claim us, strengthen us,
and prepare us to live with you in glory.
In sure and certain hope, we pray for your world,
that we may live into the day of wholeness in you.
For the church, wherever it thrives and wherever it struggles—
keep us faithful to your gospel. . . .

For those who govern—grant them wisdom and a commitment
to justice. . . .
For planet Earth—heal its wounds and make us better stewards
of its wonders and gifts. . . .
For those who are dying—calm all fears and welcome them
into your peace. . . .
For those who suffer from anxieties and ills—give them relief. . . .
For those who endure the days and nights without food or shelter—
feed and protect them. . . .
For those who suffer in silence— comfort those who carry secret sorrows. . . .
For all who seek your face . . .
Hear the prayer Jesus taught…

-Adapted from prayers by Thom Shuman and “Feasting on the Word”.

I Come With Joy to Meet My Lord

Verse 1
I come with joy to meet my Lord, forgiven, loved, and free
in awe and wonder to recall his life laid down for me,
his life laid down for me.

Verse 2
I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed,
the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread,
in Christ’s communion bread.

Verse 3
As Christ breaks bread and bids us share, each proud division ends.
The Love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends,
and strangers now are friends.

Verse 4
Together met, together bound, we’ll go our different ways,
and as his people in the world, we’ll live and speak his praise,
we’ll live and speak his praise.

CCLI #1699256

We are valued more than sparrows,
and called to care for all of creation.

We are valued more than gold,
and called to share with the poor.

We need not be afraid.
We are loved, empowered, and sent by God.

Let us go for God’s peace.

-Jess Hoffert Minneapolis, Minnesota
Copyright 2020 Brethren Press, adapted.