Younger Children’s Activity Pages
Older Children’s Activity Pages
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.
• Join us for “Hanging of the Greens” following worship today! We will have a soup and sandwich lunch, and we will decorate the church together afterwards.
• On December 5, we will resume two worship services! The Praise Team will lead music for the first service, at 8:45 AM, and we will use the hymnals in the 11:00 AM worship service. Sunday School will continue to meet at 9:50 AM.
• There will be a Deacon Meeting on this Tuesday, November 30th at 7pm!
• 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!
• We are hosting our annual Christmas Concerts with Jimmy Fortune at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall, on December 1st and 2nd at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available through the Rockingham County Fairgrounds office. www.rockinghamcountyfair.com or (540) 434-0005
• We are planning on a more “normal” Christmas Eve Service this year! We will not be serving refreshments after the service, but we will be gathering in the sanctuary for a service of music and scripture at 7:00 PM on December 24. The choir has been practicing, and we are all looking forward to celebrating Christ’s birth together!
• Please be praying for the refugees being resettled in our area by Church World Service, and also for those working to help them. More information will be available about how we can be involved soon.
If God Built a City
If God were to construct a city…
Would some be left homeless?
If God were to cultivate a city…
Would some eat feasts while some ate none at all?
If God were to shape a city…
Would it hide darkness and force the poor into forgotten corners?
If God were to craft a city
What would it include?
Gardens, where any and all could both contribute and eat.
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9)
Houses, where all would know safety and warmth
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:1-2)
Schools, where all could learn, not just about how to add numbers, but also how to create holy beauty and build just righteousness.
(But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
If God were to build a city, in the middle would be a river of life flowing from the throne of God. It would water trees of life which would produce fruit and vegetation for the nourishment and healing of the nations. It would have no temple, for God would be its temple. The people would see his face, and darkness would vanish, and they would enjoy his glory forever. (Revelation 22:1-5)
-Debbie Roberts
Worship resource (c) 2020 Brethren Press
Blessed Be Your Name
Verse 1
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Verse 2
Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Pre Chorus
Ev’ry blessing You pour out I’ll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in Lord
Still I will say
Chorus
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Verse 3
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Verse 4
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Chorus
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Bridge
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name
Chorus
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
CCLI #1699256
Genesis 2:4-9 NRSV
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We praise you, O God, that in the beginning
you turned darkness into light,
you made Earth and its creatures,
you provided all things for your good purposes.
And before you it was good.
So we seek your blessing today.
Open our eyes to your beauty.
Open our hearts to your word.
Make your light to shine in our worship today,
revealing your glory. Amen.
-including prayers from Feasting on the Word
Our world carries the scars of the way we live, Jesus;
the preferential treatment given
to the few who are wealthy and powerful and famous
leaves the rest ignored and neglected;
the desperate quest for more
leaves all of us feeling less, enjoying less;
the self-protective aggression we embrace to feel safe
leaves us and others wounded and frightened;
the apathetic disregard for the suffering, the grieving, the dying
leaves us disconnected from our own humanity,
from our ability to feel and to care.
We need our world turned upside down, Jesus;
We need our self-importance and self-sufficiency to be undermined;
We need a new way of being that is built on a whole new set of values:
Humble the powerful
and exalt the humble, we pray;
Fill the hungry with good things,
and keep the satisfied from taking even more;
Give us the wisdom to let a Child lead us
into a world of justice and love;
into the joy of sacrifice and service and simplicity
It may seem naive,
in a world of grief,
to choose to live in joy;
It may seem foolish,
in a world where solemnity is power,
to sing and dance to a different tune;
It may seem cruel,
in a world of suffering and injustice,
to speak of light and celebration;
But you have come, Jesus,
to bring joy into our grief,
light into our darkness,
singing into our mourning;
and it is an act of healing and proclamation
to believe and embrace the joy you offer.
We bring to you, our gifts of thanksgiving and love, in celebration of what you bring to us. Amen.
-www.sacredise.com, adapted
Genesis 3:1-7 NRSV
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.
On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants* will worship him;
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
And there will be no more night;
They need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.
We share in a fantastic promise.
May we bear witness to it in lives of love and compassion every day,
reminding others through our living of the love of Christ.
God of Wonders
Verse 1
Lord of all creation
Of water earth and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high
Chorus
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth
Verse 2
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
When I stumble in the darkness
I will call Your name by night
Bridge
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
You are holy
Chorus
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me
Father hold me hold me
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy holy holy
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me
Father hold me hold me
Outro
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth
CCLI #1699256
Love Came Down at Christmas
Verse 1
Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
star and angels gave the sign.
Sing Noel, Sing Noel, Sing Noel!
Verse 2
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, Love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
what shall be our sacred sign?
Sing Noel, Sing Noel, Sing Noel!
Verse 3
Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine;
love to God and neighbor,
love for prayer and gift and sign.
Sing Noel, Sing Noel, Sing Noel!
CCLI #1699256
Be Still
Thank you for being attentive to God’s love in your heart.
Thank you for serving and sharing
and showing others God’s goodness and glory.
May we all see God’s peace. Amen.