August 13, 2017
Lay Leader – Tena Brass
Guest Speaker – Donna Fortier from Mobile Hope
For Meditation and Reflection: “By lifting others, we rise”.
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship: Leader: Blessings on this day
All: Blessed is this day that God has made.
Leader: Say more of your God…
All: God is the Alpha and the Omega.
Leader: Blessings on your lives.
All: Blessed are our lives filled with the Holy Spirit.
Leader: Say more of this Spirit…
All: Holy is the Spirit of our ancestors, the Spirit of our children and
our children’s children.
Leader: Blessings on your hearts.
All: Blessed are our hearts full of love
Leader: Say more of this love…
All: The love of our families, our community, and the love of all creatures.
All: Let us worship together and seek the guidance of God, the joy of Spirit,
and the wonder of Love.
Opening Hymn: #286 – Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness
Prayer
Scripture Reading: James 2:14-17; Matthew 25: 35-40
Introduction of our speaker
Responsive Sharing
Reflective Hymn: #575 – O, For a World
Our Offerings
The Doxology – #780
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Lord’s Prayer (Traditional with “debts”)
Closing Hymn: # 524 – This Little Light of Mine
Benediction: Go forth into this world in peace,
With commitment of service to each other,
To always do good, to never answer evil with evil, to comfort the sick,
To help the needy, and above all, to share love and the joy of the Spirit.
Amen.
Sharing the Peace as we go…….And we hope you can join us after worship for coffee and conversation in Fellowship Hall.
Thought for the Day/Week
“The world is changed by your example……not by your opinion”
– Paulo Coelho
FOR OUR VISITORS: Since the retirement of our longtime pastor in January, we at St. James have been on a journey of discernment……re-evaluating our worship and our direction and mission as a congregation. During this process, we have welcomed a number of visiting ministers to share their messages from our pulpit, several of whom are, or have become, active friends of St. James. We have had speakers and members share their messages of faith and service, and have had several open forums to discuss the needs of the congregation and the community. We plan to continue this process through this calendar year, although we are calling more often on those pastors whose messages fit most closely with our values. We always welcome input from visitors and those who are new to our community.
Our Statement of Faith
We gather in worship as an inclusive community, an open & affirming community of faith that transcends any distinctions based on gender, sexual orientation, nationality, race, or religion…
Our formal worship flows into a living worship of love and support for one another as we pursue ways to reflect God’s reign of mercy, justice, and peace in our community and throughout the world…
….along with a continuing search for ways to celebrate the goodness of life together…
and always reaching out to draw others, with total inclusiveness, into this communal experience.
Announcements
This Sunday, August 13th
Our Worship Leader will be Tena Brass, with the sermon/message coming from the director of “Mobile Hope”, an organization that helps youth and young adults in need. We will contribute our speaker’s fee to this group, and you may offer additional donations directly if you wish to support their programs further.
Our monthly Church Council meeting will be in Fellowship Hall, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
The Lovettsville Historical Society will be meeting in the sanctuary at 2:00 p.m. The speaker will be Park Ranger Guinevere Roper, speaking on “Hope On the Hill: Harpers Ferry’s Storer College”.
Sunday, August 20th
Our Worship Leader will be Mark Dewey, a seminary student who joined us for worship a few weeks ago.
The local business council will be meeting at 11:00 a.m. in Fellowship Hall on Tuesday, August 22, with candidate Tia Walbridge as their speaker. For more information, please contact Robin Scott at rmscott216@gmail.com.
In lieu of our monthly Jammin’ with James, we will be having an open potluck picnic behind the church, beginning at about 4:00 pm, for the youth of Lovettsville and Brunswick, in hopes that we can start a conversation with them about their needs and what we can do to create a safe and welcoming space for them at St. James. Please attend if you are interested and invite any youth (ages 12 – 19) and their families to share food, ideas and fellowship. Max Honn will share his guitar music with us, and anyone is welcome to bring their instrument of choice to jam with him.
Sunday August 27th
Our speaker will be Jim Carpenter from “Able and Willing”, an organization based in Jefferson, MD that has built a school in in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Jim has visited it many times over the years and will be going again this fall.
Sunday, September 6th
Our Worship Leader will be the Rev. Samantha Tuttle.