You can view or download the full weekly bulletin below.
Sunday, July 6, 2025 -- 10:30am Worship Service
Cover artwork “Sunset in my neighborhood” by Ylli haruni
Greeting & Announcements
Prelude - Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, J. S. Bach
Call to Worship
If your gift is to hear God’s Word, speak it out in faith.
If your gift is service, live to serve others.
If your gift is the heart of a teacher, teach what is true.
Let preachers preach with conviction, and givers give freely;
let leaders work diligently for the people, and
let those who serve the poor, serve gladly.
Let us not lack for enthusiasm, but be passionate in spirit,
serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in suffering,
constant in prayer, supporting one another, and welcoming all.
Let us worship God.
+ Hymn 305 - Come Sing, O Church, In Joy!
+ Call to Confession
+ A Prayer of Confession - by Rev. Teri McDowell Ott
Spirit of the Living God, your fruit includes love, peace, patience and kindness but we are a divided, hateful people. We turn to violent means and violent words to settle our disputes. We are impatient with each other and fail to honor your commandment to love. Our idols fascinate and distract us from your rightful path. Forgive us. Turn us from our sinful ways. Set us free in Jesus Christ.
• Assurance of Pardon
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581 Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Children’s Message
Commissioning of the Youth Group to serve in Asheville, NC.
Prayer for Openness
Open our hearts and minds by the power of your Spirit, Holy God, that we might hear and receive the message you intend for us today. Amen.
Scripture Reading - Deuteronomy 30.9-14 OT 185
…and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Anthem - Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, Robert J. Powell, Chancel Choir
Scripture Reading - Colossians 1.1-14 NT pg 199
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon - “Very Near” - Rev. Matt Falco
Statement of Faith - From the Belhar Confession
We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.
+ HYMN 301 - Let Us Build a House Where Love Can Dwell
Prayers of the People & THE LORD’s PRAYER
Offering
• INVITATION
• Offertory - Aria, John Dixon
• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore; One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
• Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 702 - Christ Be Beside Me
Charge & Benediction
Benediction Response - Hymn 372, O For a World (verses 1 and 5)
1 O for a world where everyone respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.
5 O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.
Postlude - Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven, arr. Don Hustad
Greeting & Announcements
Prelude - Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, J. S. Bach
Call to Worship
If your gift is to hear God’s Word, speak it out in faith.
If your gift is service, live to serve others.
If your gift is the heart of a teacher, teach what is true.
Let preachers preach with conviction, and givers give freely;
let leaders work diligently for the people, and
let those who serve the poor, serve gladly.
Let us not lack for enthusiasm, but be passionate in spirit,
serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in suffering,
constant in prayer, supporting one another, and welcoming all.
Let us worship God.
+ Hymn 305 - Come Sing, O Church, In Joy!
+ Call to Confession
+ A Prayer of Confession - by Rev. Teri McDowell Ott
Spirit of the Living God, your fruit includes love, peace, patience and kindness but we are a divided, hateful people. We turn to violent means and violent words to settle our disputes. We are impatient with each other and fail to honor your commandment to love. Our idols fascinate and distract us from your rightful path. Forgive us. Turn us from our sinful ways. Set us free in Jesus Christ.
• Assurance of Pardon
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581 Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Children’s Message
Commissioning of the Youth Group to serve in Asheville, NC.
Prayer for Openness
Open our hearts and minds by the power of your Spirit, Holy God, that we might hear and receive the message you intend for us today. Amen.
Scripture Reading - Deuteronomy 30.9-14 OT 185
…and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Anthem - Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, Robert J. Powell, Chancel Choir
Scripture Reading - Colossians 1.1-14 NT pg 199
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon - “Very Near” - Rev. Matt Falco
Statement of Faith - From the Belhar Confession
We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.
+ HYMN 301 - Let Us Build a House Where Love Can Dwell
Prayers of the People & THE LORD’s PRAYER
Offering
• INVITATION
• Offertory - Aria, John Dixon
• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore; One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
• Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 702 - Christ Be Beside Me
Charge & Benediction
Benediction Response - Hymn 372, O For a World (verses 1 and 5)
1 O for a world where everyone respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.
5 O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.
Postlude - Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven, arr. Don Hustad