WILLIAMSBURG PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 9:30AM - JULY 19, 2020

We gather in the name of Jesus Christ to worship God and

by the power of the Holy Spirit do God’s work in the world.

PRAYER FOR PREPARATION

Rock of Israel and cornerstone of our common life, you are not bound by our visions, our structures, our doctrine. We cannot predict your coming or going, yet you have given us your story, your family, your work to do. Meet us here. Shape us for service in your world, for we carry the name of Jesus and live by the power of your breath. Amen.

The gathering

Preparing to hear the word

PASTORAL GREETING AND CONCERNS OF THE CHURCH

PRELUDE Go My Children With Thy Blessing arr. Stoldt

CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)

Leader: We worship the God who inhabits our world and indwells our lives. All: We need not look up to find God, we need only to look around: within ourselves, beyond ourselves, into the eyes of another. Leader: We need not listen for a distant thunder to find God, we need only listen to the music of life, the words of children, the questions of the curious, the rhythm of a heartbeat. All: We worship the God who inhabits our world and who indwells our lives.

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*To all who are able, please stand as we offer God thanks and praise. Bold type face indicates that the congregation participates in word or song.

*GATHERING HYMN 450 Be Thou My Vision SLANE

*CALL TO CONFESSION

Leader: Friends, all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. We did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but we have received a spirit of adoption. Let us then confess our sin with the freedom of children who know how deeply they are loved.

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION (Unison)

Merciful God, your creatures cry—creation groans— but we turn away; we surround ourselves with noise. We are quick to excuse ourselves from responsibility: we are young; we are old; we are tired; we are busy. It is hard to imagine that we might make a difference. Life-giving God, wash us clean. Restore our imaginations and our hearts. Let your courage and compassion flow through our veins until we love with abandon and our hands reach out in blessing, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. Amen.

*TIME FOR SILENT PRAYER

*KYRIE Pardini

*ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Leader: Beloved, hear the word of the Lord. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God says unequivocally, irrevocably: you are my own; you are forgiven; and I need you to be about my business in the world.

*GLORIA PATRI Come, Thou Almighty King ITALIAN HYMN

SHARING FAITH WITH CHILDREN Adrian Williams

THE WORD

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION (Unison)

Holy One, you love with a father’s tenderness, a mother’s zeal. Move now in our hearts. Breathe through the words we hear, the songs we share, the burdens we carry, until we discover our purpose in your liberating love, for we long to join creation’s praise and to shine with the mercy of the Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

FIRST LESSON: Romans 8:12-25

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

This is the Word of the Lord!

Thanks be to God!

PSALM 139:1-10 (Unison)

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

SECOND LESSON: Genesis 28:10-19a

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the LORD stood beside him and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place—and I did not know it!” 17 And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel.

This is the Word of the Lord! Thanks be to God!

SERMON Ordinary Altars Pastor Rachel C. Hébert

*RESPONSIVE HYMN 836 Abide with Me EVENTIDE

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: FROM WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH

(Unison)

[The] certainty [of assurance of grace and salvation] is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER (Unison)

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

OFFERING

Please continue your faithful stewardship to WPC. You may make your offering using the cashless methods below or mail your envelopes to the church office:

• Go to mywpc.org/give or scan the QR code to the right. • Use PayPal send your offering to giving@mywpc.org.

OFFERTORY Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me K. Lee Scott

Becky McKinley, soprano, and Martha Elton, alto

Gracious Spirit, dwell with me, I would gracious be;

Help me now thy grace to see, I would be like thee.

And with words that help and heal, thy life would mine reveal;

And, with actions bold and meek, For Christ, my Savior, speak.

Truthful Spirit, dwell with me, I would truthful be;

Help me now thy truth to see, I would be like thee;

And, with wisdom kind and clear, thy life in mine appear;

And with actions brotherly, speak Christ’s sincerity.

Holy Spirit, dwell with me, I would holy be;

Show thy mercy tenderly, make me more like thee;

Separate from sin, I would and cherish all things good,

And whatever I can be, give him who gave me thee. (offertory continues on next page)

Mighty Spirit, dwell with me, I would mighty be;

Help me now thy power to see, I would be like thee;

Against all weapons hell can wield, be thou my strength and shield;

Let thy word my weapon be, Lord, Thine the victory.

Gracious spirit, dwell with me, I would be like thee!

*DOXOLOGY Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow OLD HUNDREDTH

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Going out to be the church

*INVITATION AND LORD’S DAY GREETING

*SENDING HYMN 547 Go, My Children, With My Blessing AR HYD Y NOS

*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

*POSTLUDE March de Procession Guilmant

The service of worship concludes after the postlude. The music can be enjoyed or used as an opportunity for prayer.

A NOTE ABOUT THIS MORNING’S MUSIC

When “I Need Thee Every Hour” was first published in 1873, this Bible verse was included underneath the title: “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Each of the first three stanzas of this hymn dwells on a different facet of our dependence on God: our need for his peace, our inability to resist temptation alone, and our desire to see God's promises fulfilled. The fourth stanza is an intense plea for God's presence.

“Abide With Me” is often sung at funerals or memorial services, during healing services, Easter vigil services (especially stanza four), or on New Year’s Eve. It’s an acknowledgement that though our lives are always changing, sometimes in joy and sometimes in sorrow, God remains steadfast.

“Go, My Children, with My Blessing” is a recasting of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:22-27, which we frequently sing as “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.” It imagines that passage as it might sound if God spoke it at the conclusion of a worship service.

THOSE SERVING IN WORSHIP TODAY

PASTOR John E. Morgan, Pastor Rachel Hébert, Associate Pastor for Community Care Pam Hrncir, Covenant Pastor for Congregational Care

MUSIC MINISTRY Christopher Bechtler, Director of Music Ministries Norman Elton, Organist and Director of Westminster Ringers Becky McKinley, soprano, and Martha Elton, alto

SHARING FAITH WITH CHILDREN: Adrian Williams, Director of Education Ministries

AUDIO AND VIDEO TECHNICIAN: John Schoenberger and Mike Squire

DEACON-ON-CALL SUNDAY, JULY 12 - SATURDAY, JULY 19: Roban Graham

THE CHANCEL FLOWERS The Chancel Flowers are given today to the glory of God by Maxine and Ken Cunningham in loving memory of their parents, Martha & Karl Rohr and Gladys & Robert Cunningham.

PRAYER CONCERNS, JOYS, & TOUCH NOTES

Contact the Church Office (229-4235, secretary@mywpc.org) with any concern, special joy or touch note you may have. You may also submit a prayer request on-line at www.mywpc.org. Prayer chain requests are keep confidential unless it has been asked to share the request with the membership. Then it will appear on the white board and in this section of the worship bulletin.

The Prayer Chain Coordinator is: JoAnn Youhas (handbellringer@cox.net).

Contact Rev. John Morgan (757-903-7800), Rev. Rachel Hébert (757-903-5488) or Pastor Pam Hrncir (757-508-4668) if you are in need of a pastor after hours or on the weekend with an emergency request.

The WPC Family extends its deepest Christian sympathy and prayers to:

• Jo Barnett and family on the death of her husband, Barney Barnett, who died on Monday, July 13, 2020. A service will be held at a later date.

Please continue to pray for:

• WPC members recovering from various surgeries and our sick and shuts who are at home and those who are facility bound.

• Those serving our country in the military services and their families.

• Our country to heal; for the violence to end and be replaced with peaceful protesting; for our country to move towards a universal change where unjust actions cease to continually happen to our black brothers and sisters.

• Those who reside in assisted living communities being affected by COVID-19 outbreaks and with their families as they determine the best arrangements for their loved ones.

• All those who continue to be affected by the COVID-19 in our local community, the United States and around the World.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Pastor John E. Morgan is spending time with family. • Williamsburg Presbyterian Church remains closed Monday-Friday until further notice.

We ask that you do not use your code or key fob to enter the church. If you have items to drop off or pickup, please push the intercom button and we will assist you. Thank you for your continued cooperation during this time.

• Online or phone reservations for 11:00am worship service begins the Monday preceding the upcoming Sunday at 9:00am: To make a reservation online, go to mywpc.org and complete the reservation form. The reservation window for each Sunday’s worship service runs from Monday at 9:00am through Thursday until 12:00pm. Please do not attempt to make a reservation online until Monday at 9:00am

Once you complete your reservation, you will receive an email acknowledgement of your request. If you do not have Internet please call the church office at 757-229-4235. If your plans change, we ask that you call the church office to cancel.

• Bible and Bacon Study: On the second and fourth Wednesday of each month men of our church meet for bible study and breakfast. Because of meeting restrictions imposed by the covid-19 virus, the men will meet on Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:30 am using the Zoom video conferencing software. The men were excited about their Zoom sessions and look forward to meeting new men on July 22nd. Ask Rob Brown at robb@rlb2.com for Zoom log on details. On Wednesday the men will continue their study of Matthew's Gospel. Bring your own coffee and breakfast and join the men on Zoom for fellowship and a lively discussion.

• WPC COVID-19 Food Collection II. On Saturday, July 25 from 10:00am – 12:00pm, WPC Christian Outreach team members will conduct our second “drive by” food collection in the back parking lot of WPC. All you need to do is drive up and team members, observing social distancing and wearing masks and gloves, will accept your donations. The focus of this drive is to support WPC’s participation in the Summer Meals for Kids Program. The program is sponsored by the Greater Williamsburg Outreach Mission (GWOM). GWOM coordinates the program in partnership with Williamsburg Meals On Wheels and the Williamsburg-James City County (WJCC) School System. One day a week throughout the summer WPC volunteers will provide 200 lunches a day to needy WJCC students.

The volunteers need drinks and snacks for the lunches, e.g., bottled water, juice boxes, individual servings of chips, fruit cups, fruit snacks, raisins, granola bars, rice krispie treats, cookies, etc. Please avoid products with nuts or peanut butter. Of course, any other donated food will also be gladly accepted and provided to one of our local food resources such as Grove, House of Mercy, or the Salvation Army who are always in need of protein-rich foods such as peanut butter and canned tuna, chicken, etc.

The Christian Outreach Committee urges you to consider participating in this drive. As a PC(USA) “Hunger Action Congregation” WPC is committed to alleviating hunger internationally, nationally, and locally. Thank you. The event will be rain or shine. If you have any questions please contact Jim Winthrop at 757-869-4671 or fivewinthrops@verizon.net.

• Thank you for your generous support of Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. Contribution statements for the second quarter of 2020 will be distributed to your email on record with the church office during the week ending July 25th.

Emailing your quarterly contribution statements helps save administrative overhead and postage costs. If you prefer to have your quarterly contribution statements mailed, please contact Martha Reier (757-229-4235 or mreier@mywpc.org.) You only need to request paper statements once. We keep a list in the church office. We are an Earth Care Congregation and this is one of the ways we have committed to reducing our paper output and carbon footprint. Thank you! Lynne Bundick, Director of Administration

• Monday, July 20 is the LAST DAY to register all kids ages 3 and up for Rolling River Rampage: Experience the Ride of a Lifetime with God, which will take place from

August 3-7. This year, VBS will be a hybrid experience, consisting of the following activities to entertain our young rafters throughout the week: live Zoom activities, recorded videos available in a secure, password-protected area on our website, and “VBS in a box,” which will be all of the supplies Rafters will need to have their own VBS at home. The link to register for VBS can be found at https://mywpc.shelbynextchms.com/external/form/9be60514-376d-4867-bf60-b5bf9b684ca5. Parents/grandparents will need to register children, and then go to the church’s website to pay the $10 (per child) registration fee, or mail a check to the church (made out to “WPC” with “VBS” in the memo line). Families must register in order to receive the “VBS in a box,” and the password to the VBS website. If your family’s circumstances have changed this year for any reason, please know that scholarships are available for any family that needs assistance. It is the desire of Williamsburg Presbyterian Church to see that all of our WPC Kids have the opportunity to participate in VBS.

Please contact DEM “A” Williams (awilliams@mywpc.org) for more information. Check your weekly bulletin, future issues of The Kirk, and our Facebook page for updates! To volunteer, or if you have any questions, please contact Jodie Davis (jdavis@mywpc.org).

• Ushers needed for 11am worship services. As we carefully return to in-person worship, three ushers will be needed each Sunday morning to help greet and seat folks attending worship. Given continued COVID-related precautions, we encourage volunteers who are under the age of 65

The usher responsibilities have been simplified and are “contactless”. Many of our current and dedicated usher team will not be attending in-person worship due to age or health concerns. If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please contact the Usher Coordinator, Rebecca Caprio by email (ushers@mywpc.org) or by phone (703-732-1830).

• Church Office Summer Hours: Now through August 28, the Church Office staff is in the office Monday - Thursday, 9:00am - 5:00pm and closed on Friday. Some staff continues to work as they have been, either at home or in the office. Our Pastors can be reached by calling their cell phone. Thank you for your continued patience during this time.

WPC WEEKLY CALENDAR

While all in-person church meetings and activities are cancelled, the staff of WPC has created an online community so we can continue to be connected during this time of mandated social distancing.

Please check mywpc.org/online daily to see what activities are being offered for children, families, and adults.

SUNDAY, JULY 19 9:00am Communal Space: Coffee Fellowship / Online 9:30am Worship / Live-Stream; visit mywpc.org to access 10:30am Alpha (Present Word) Class / Online 11:00am Worship / Broadcast on FM93.5 The Burg and AM740. or wmbgradio.com 11:00am In-Person Worship / Sanctuary 11:00am Thoughtful Christian / Online MONDAY, JULY 20 9:00am DISCIPLE 3 Bible Study / Online 11:00am Kid’s Compassion Camp/ Online Community TUESDAY, JULY 21 9:00am PEVA ZOOM Mtg / Online 10:00am Communications Ministry / Online Staff Meeting cancelled due to PEVA Mtg 2:30pm From His Hands / KItchen WEDNESDAY, JULY 22 7:30am Bible and Bacon / Online THURSDAY, JULY 23 FRIDAY, JULY 24 5-Minute Faith / YouTube Viewing throughout the day

Tune in as a member of the WPC staff shares one thing about faith that matters to them. Take a moment and join us in thinking about our faith in the world today. Posted to YouTube each Friday for viewing an time.

SATURDAY, JULY 25 10:00am WPC Food Drive / Back Parking Lot

NEXT SUNDAY IN WORSHIP

JULY 26, 2020 - 17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

The sermon is based on Romans 8:26-39.

*9:30am service is live-streamed on mywpc.org.

**11:00am service is broadcast on FM93.5 The Burg and AM740.