CALL TO WORSHIP
Our Call to Worship today is a selection of verses from Psalm 104.
Let my whole being bless the LORD!
LORD my God, how fantastic you are!
You are clothed in glory and grandeur!
You wear light like a robe;
you open the skies like a curtain.
You build your lofty house on the waters;
you make the clouds your chariot,
going around on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers;
you make fire and flame your ministers.
You established the earth on its foundations
so that it will never ever fall.
You covered it with the watery deep like a piece of clothing;
the waters were higher than the mountains!
You put gushing springs into dry riverbeds.
They flow between the mountains,
providing water for every wild animal—
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Overhead, the birds in the sky make their home,
chirping loudly in the trees.
From your lofty house, you water the mountains.
The earth is filled full by the fruit of what you’ve done.
You make grass grow for cattle;
you make plants for human farming
in order to get food from the ground,
and wine, which cheers people’s hearts,
along with oil, which makes the face shine,
and bread, which sustains the human heart.
The LORD’s trees are well watered—
the cedars of Lebanon, which God planted,
where the birds make their nests,
where the stork has a home in the cypresses.
The high mountains belong to the mountain goats;
the ridges are the refuge of badgers.
God made the moon for the seasons,
and the sun too, which knows when to set.
You bring on the darkness and it is night,
when every forest animal prowls.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they gather together
and lie down in their dens.
Then people go off to their work,
to do their work until evening.
Let the LORD’s glory last forever!
Let the LORD rejoice in all he has made!
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I’m still alive.
Let my praise be pleasing to God;
I’m rejoicing in the LORD!
Opening Hymn
Prayer of Confession
Trusting in the grace of God, offer this prayer aloud confessing the ways we separate ourselves from God and one another.
Merciful God, in your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world. Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination, freedom, intellect, and reason. Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ.
We are forgiven in Jesus Christ. Sing along with this assurance of forgiveness.
We are forgiven. We are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God.
We are forgiven. We are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God.
THE WORD
This is the fifth Sunday in our summer series on favorite passages of scripture.
Genesis 1:1-2, 26-31
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Sermon
Theologian Dr. Jonathan Sparks-Franklin is our guest preacher today. His sermon kicks-off our Theological Forum on Creation Care. We will host a Zoom forum each remaining Wednesday of July at 7:30 p.m. The forum is free and open to the public.
Affirmation of Faith
Our affirmation of faith today is the Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Circle Time
Today’s Circle Time prepares us for Compassion Camp on Zoom on Wednesday at 5:00.
Song of Preparation
The Lord’s Supper
Please join us for the Lord’s Supper at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, by Zoom. Please provide your own bread and cup.
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/3577569746
Call-in: (312) 626-6799 and use meeting ID 357 756 9746.
If there are technical difficulties on Sunday morning, this link can be used as a backup from 10:30 until 10:45. Please click here for the backup video.
Announcement: Following the July 5 Zoom Communion, please stay on the call for a congregational meeting to elect new officers.
Postlude & Offering
Contributions to the ministry of First Presbyterian Church may be made online by clicking the button below or mailed to First Presbyterian Church, 2910 Central Ave., Middletown, OH 45044.
Audrey Schmid offers a postlude.
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