Thursday, July 31, 2025

A Prayer for the Church Program Year

Parchment pink background with white silhouettes of doves flying. The text in black at the bottom reads, "We are the peacemakers."

A Prayer for the Church Program Year

Thank you for all the ways you participate in the mission and ministry of the PC(USA) through the Churchwide Special Offerings. Here is a prayer for you and your congregation as you begin a new program year:

O God, gather us back, gather us in, and surround us with community and your grace as classes kick off, studies return, and opportunities for formation and fellowship begin anew.

By your Spirit, walk with families as they resume familiar or even new routines of school and activities as time together becomes scarce again.

Support church staff and volunteers as they re-engage faithful people through worship, study, fellowship and prayer.

By your grace, grant us all a renewed spirit as we prepare for our stewardship season, the quickly approaching Advent season, curriculum changes, and session and committee meetings.

Strengthen us for the journey ahead by providing us with energy, wisdom, and enthusiasm for the mission and ministry we do in your holy name. Remind us of your love when the days are long, the task list seems to never end and the emails pile up. Give us the gift of levity and help us know that you, O God, are with us every step of the way.

Amen.

Thank you for all the ways you give, and especially for your leadership and love for the churchwide Special Offerings.

Did this prayer nourish you in some way? Let us know.

Thumb up icons created by IYAHICON - Flaticon. Thumb down icons created by IYAHICON - Flaticon.

Thank you for your generous support of Special Offerings. If you have any questions, reply to this email or call 800-728-7228, Ext. 5047.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Looking into the lectionary - Online dating and ancient wisdom

August 10, 2025
Genesis 15:1-6
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

"Count the stars."

Imagine if this was God’s response to your inquiries about what lies ahead. How would it make you feel if, when seeking comfort amidst the unknowns of the future, God asked you to undertake an impossible task: counting the stars?

Abram was obedient. The kind of guy who quietly and faithfully did as God asked him to do. As Daniel M. Debevoise writes in his Feasting on the Word commentary, “The biblical picture of God and Abram’s relationship is fairly straightforward. God speaks; Abram listens. God promises; Abram believes. God commands; Abram obeys. There comes a point, however, when Abram finally says, ‘Wait a minute. I have a question.’”

Genesis 15 marks a crucial moment where Abram seeks further assurance from God. He’s worried about his future, as his people’s survival relies on having descendants. But he and Sarai still have no children. Abram questions God, seeking clarity: How will this situation resolve? What does the future entail? How will your promises be fulfilled?

Abram’s questions still hold relevance today. Given recent events, the future seems unpredictable. There’s widespread concern about the stability of our democracy. Each new natural disaster prompts us to consider the impacts of climate change and ponder what lies ahead for our planet. We frequently hear about—and some of us are—individuals juggling multiple jobs but still struggling to afford rent and provide for their families. Scripture consistently reassures us of God’s promise to take care of us, illustrating how God acts on our behalf, guiding us towards the peace and abundance of the Promised Land. Yet, we eventually find ourselves questioning with Abram, “So, how will this actually work out for us?”

Uncertainty is uncomfortable. ...

Read the rest of the commentary at pres-outlook.org.

Order of worship — August 10, 2025, by Teri McDowell Ott

Horizons — Finding resilience, joy and our identity in Jesus Christ by Rosalind Banbury

Rethinking psychological evaluations in the PC(USA) ordination process by Jane L. Holtzclaw

20 years after Katrina, this New Orleans church is still rebuilding hope by Harriet Riley

Want the worship resources for August 3, 2025? You can find them here.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Union Theological Seminary President Serene Jones to retire after 18 years of leadership
Following a sabbatical, she’ll return to Union to teach and write. — Union Theological Seminary

The Emperor of Gladness
"Ocean Vuong’s richly imagined characters push back against the material and spiritual scarcity of their surroundings, recognizing collective strength in shared rejection." — Ross Fogg

Big truths for little readers
Three new children’s books explore big faith questions with beauty, joy, and hope — from Miriam’s dancing to a magical lunchbox and what the Bible really is. — Various contributors

[ … ] Poems
In "[...]," a Palestinian American author dedicates his poems to “the relatable and unrelatable, the translatable and untranslatable Palestinian flesh.” Andrew Taylor-Troutman offers a review.

What a wisdom text taught me about online dating
A modern search for love meets ancient insight as Katy Shevel seeks wisdom for navigating friendship, faithfulness and dating apps.

WCC News: Music workshop in Germany brings power of unity

A music workshop in Ettlingen, Germany, organized on 12 July by local ecumenical leaders, drew 60 people, including two international delegations, one from the Church of South India and other from the Moravian Church is South Africa.

A music workshop in Ettlingen, Germany gathered local ecumenical leaders and international participants to learn using songs from the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in their own contexts. Photo: WCC

29 July 2025

Songs included “El Amor,” “Christi Liebe,” and “Lord, what a time to celebrate,” in addition to songs sung at the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2022.

Musician Christoph Georgii expressed appreciation to all who attended, especially those who had previously participated in the WCC assembly.

“This workshop showed how music can carry the spirit of a WCC assembly into local congregations around the world,” said Rev. Anne Heitmann, head of the Department for Ecumenical and Global Church Relations at the Protestant Church in Baden. “With partnership delegations from India and South Africa joining in, the experience became even more vibrant and meaningful.”

People sang with joy and felt the power of unity, she added.

“The unity in the body of Christ is tangible in these moments,” said Heitmann. “The partners from South Africa and India left discussing how they will use and teach the songs in their context back home.”

Rev. Bettina Fuhrmann, Ecumenical and Global Church Relations representative for Central Baden, said that, with the melodies and rhythms, the spirit of the assembly was immediately palpable. “Hopefully, they will continue to be sung in many more congregations!” she said.

Rev. Dr Mikie Roberts, World Council of Churches programme executive for Spiritual Life, served as a song leader during the workshop.

Learn more about the WCC Spiritual life program

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
Our visiting address is:
World Council of Churches

Chemin du Pommier 42

Kyoto Building

Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218

Switzerland

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for July 27, 2025

Revised Common Lectionary Readings (Three-Year Cycle)

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for July 27, 2025

By Revised Common Lectionary Readings, Sunday, July 27, 2025 12:00 AM

First Reading Hosea 1:2-10

²When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD." ³So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

⁶She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. ⁷But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen."

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God."

¹⁰Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God.'

Psalm Psalm 85:1-13

¹LORD, you were favourable to your land;

you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

²You forgave the iniquity of your people;

you pardoned all their sin.

Selah

³You withdrew all your wrath;

you turned from your hot anger.

⁴Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation towards us.

⁵Will you be angry with us for ever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

⁶Will you not revive us again,

so that your people may rejoice in you?

⁷Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,

and grant us your salvation.

⁸Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people,

to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

⁹Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,

that his glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

¹¹Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

¹²The LORD will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

¹³Righteousness will go before him,

and will make a path for his steps.

Second Reading Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; ¹²when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. ¹⁷These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, ¹⁹and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

Gospel Luke 11:1-13

¹He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." ²He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."

⁵And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' ⁷And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"