Sunday, July 12, 2020

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Good morning FCCG! Our Joys, Concerns and Announcements this week include:

• Birthdays this week: Colin Blount (July 13), Dave Bettinghaus (July 15), Emmie and Spencer Schmaedeke (July 15), and Craig Burgess (July 17). Let us know if we missed your birthday or anniversary.
• Although we have resumed meeting at church for services, our weekly bulletin blog will continue for the next 12 to 18 months, so don’t worry if you are in a high risk category and feel safer at home, we’ll still be here for you.

Introit ………………………………………………….. How Great Thou Art

CALL TO WORSHIP       
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

OPENING HYMN ………………………………………………………. #5  O For a Thousand Tongues

PRAYER OF INVOCATION
Grant us, Lord we pray, the courage to use the reason with which you endowed us, that we may come to you in understanding and not unthinking compliance, that we may know your will and not just submit to your power, that we may be your people and not merely your subjects.   Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
O Lord and King, look with compassion on us your sinful creatures. Forgive us our weakness and error, judge us for the good we attempt and not the evil that we do and by your grace help us to repent our sins and reform our ways. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray:
Merciful Father, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  We are truly sorry and we humbly repent these, our sins, and for the sake of Jesus Christ your only Son, Our Lord. we pray that you will forgive us and strengthen us with your grace.

WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Hear now these words of assurance:
The Holy Blood of Jesus has blotted out our sins, and by his death we have eternal life.  Thanks be to God.

Glory Patri ……………………………………………………………………………………… #35

All readings are from the English Standard Version bible.

Brenda Valentino reads the Old Testament LEsson

OLD TESTAMENT LESSON …………………………………….. Isaiah 6:1-10

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “’Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Jared Ortega reads the Psalter Lesson

PSALTER …………………………………………………… Psalm 65:1-13
Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.
O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges,
softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

Dave Buchanan reads the Epistle Lesson

EPISTLE LESSON ……………………………………….. Romans 8: 1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

HYMN ……………………………………………………. #66 Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise

Claire Buchanan reads the gospel lesson

GOSPEL LESSON ………………………………………………………….. Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

SERMON ………………………………. ………………………. Dr. Rev. Jim Erickson

SPECIAL MUSIC ……………………………….. The Sower’s Song, by Andrew Peterson

TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Let us dedicate ourselves to the Lord, heart, mind, and body; and offer him now the fruits of our labors as a token of our gift of ourselves.
We dedicate these offerings, as we dedicate ourselves, to your service, O Lord.  Receive them as a pledge and token of Our ceaseless love and happy labor, by which all will be your own, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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CLOSING HYMN ………………………………………… #618 How Firm a Foundation

Benediction
May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are apart one from the other, Amen.

Please keep the following individuals in your prayers this week:

• Nancy Hannah’s friend, Sharon (illness);
• Marilyn Cuscaden (illness);
• Jodi Holleran’s mom (illness);
• Mercedes Nuss (illness);
• Kelsey’s friend, Ryan (illness);
• Jess Reddy’s friend, Keeley (illness);
• John Connolly and family, (death of his sister Carol);
• Sue Cechner’s friend, John (Illness);
• Danièle Gibney’s friend, Pam (illness);
• Barb and Dick Sharp’s friend, Alice (illness);
• Carolyn and Gail’s son, Collin (unit deployed to Afganistan);
• Lisa Peterson (illness);
• Linda Moran (illness);
• Gao Clancy (illness);
• Keith Dobbin and family (death of Keith’s brother);
• Faith DiMaria’s brother, Steve, and family (illness);
• The Connolly Family (lots of prayers);
• Those affected by violence as well as those serving in the military;