![[2025-06-15.svg]]
# TRINITY SUNDAY
*Please stand in body or in spirit*
https://www.youtube.com/live/X9I3jMpdoKM?si=FsrXbeQEhR-F2Yrw
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---
## GATHERING SONG
*"This is the Day"*
## UNISON WELCOME
“No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here”
## ANNOUNCEMENTS
- **NEWS IN THE PEWS June 15, 2025**
The Rev. Caroline E. Saxton,
[email protected] (641) 260-1868 (cell)
Tonya Schwartz, Office Administrator,
[email protected] (717) 263-8593 (office)
Gary Crum, Music Director | Barbara Motichka, Organist
Roxanne Davenport, Director of Children & Youth
The Rev. Stephen W. Hoffman, Pastor Emeritus
- **THIS WEEK AT ST. JOHN’S**
- **TODAY: HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!**
Bible Study on the Book of Acts, 8 pm, Zoom (link in Friday e-blast)
- **Monday, June 16**
10:00 am Meditation Group – Parlor Room 104
1:30 pm How We Learn to be Brave Book Study – Conference Room 111
4:00 pm Camp Staff Meeting– Conference Room 111
6:30 pm Bible And A Beer – Trojan Diner
7:00 pm Boy Scouts – Fellowship Hall
- **Tuesday, June 17**
10:00 am Summer Singers Rehearsal – Fellowship Hall
5:30 pm Yoga – Room 202
- **Thursday, June 19**
The Church Office is **CLOSED** in observance of Juneteenth
- **Sunday, June 22**
8:45 am Wired Word Church School Class – Room 116
10:00 am Sunday Service – Sanctuary
- **St. John’s Summer Camp**
Needed: Kitchen helpers! See sign-up sheet in front lobby!
Counselors! If you can help even for a day please contact: Mary Lee Yaukey (
[email protected]) or Renee Byers (
[email protected]).
- **Bible and a Beer**
is an opportunity to talk about our faith in public. Join us on the 3rd Monday of the month at the Trojan Diner at 6:30 pm. Our next gathering will be June 16.
- **Beginners Pickleball**
Please contact the church office if you are interested in taking some beginner lessons. We have an indoor court set up in Fellowship Hall.
- **Sunday Night Bible Study**
Join Pastor Caroline on Sunday evenings at **8 pm via Zoom** for a Bible study on the book of Acts. Our session on **June 15** will focus on Acts Chapter 1. Zoom Meeting ID: 836 0593 5961 and Passcode 277938. A hyperlink for this opportunity is included in the weekly e-blast. Participants are encouraged to read from a variety of translations.
- **Behavioral Covenant Session**
St. John’s UCC is developing a behavioral covenant entitled “Holy Manners for Our St. John’s United Church of Christ Faith Community” addressing our interactions with one another, and will serve our calling to civil discourse in all settings, and in all interactions among the leadership, staff, tenants, visitors, guests, and congregations of SJUCC. The June 22, 2025 Wired Word session will be devoted to review, comment, and critique of the elements of the draft document. Advance copies will be distributed to those who subscribe to the Wired Word email list and copies will be available for others who attend. Please join us and provide input for this important effort.
- **June First Fruits**
will go to support the Fayetteville Food Pantry. The pantry serves food insecure individuals and families in the Brownsville, Fayetteville, North Mont Alto, and South Mountain communities. The food is available to anyone who has a need; there are no eligibility requirements. Thank you for helping to be the hands and feet of Jesus, who feeds empty bellies and meets both physical and spiritual needs.
- **Monday Afternoon Book Study**
Our current selection is “How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith” by Mariann Edgar Budde. We will be reading chapter five “Stepping Up to the Plate” on Monday, **June 16** at 1:30 pm. Pick up a copy & come join the group!
- **Pastor Caroline’s Sabbatical**
Pastor Caroline will be taking six weeks of sabbatical beginning Monday, June 30. Rev. Peter Emig, retired UCC pastor, will be providing pastoral care coverage for emergencies and providing pulpit supply. Lay leadership will lead worship on July 20. More information about her plans for study, rest, and renewal will be shared in the upcoming weeks. She will resume her pastoral duties on Monday, August 11.
- **Vacation Bible School**
will be held July 20-24, 6-8:15 pm. We are still in need of preschool crew leaders (all materials provided), as well as donations of shoe boxes and uncut pans of rice krispy treats. VBS work dates are June 29 and July 13 after worship; please RSVP to Roxanne for the lunch count. Many hands make light work! Let’s get ready for a Road Trip!
- **Summer Special Music**
A sign up is posted on the choir room door for those who would like to help provide special music in worship this summer. Contact Gary Crum to learn more.
- **Join us for Life Talk**
What’s on your mind? Something that concerns or worries you? Do you need to vent? Just want to talk with other adults for a bit? Don’t want to share in front of the entire congregation? Or you don't think it really needs to be a prayer request? Grab your snack and coffee, and meet in the parlor after services on Sunday mornings. Everyone is welcome.
- **Birthday Balloons**
All are invited to share in a special coffee hour the last Sunday of the month to honor all who celebrated a birthday that month. June birthdays will be honored on Sunday, **June 29**. We hope you’ll join us!
- **May/June Upper Room**
devotionals are currently available at the Welcome Center. We suggest a donation of $1 for small print/$2 for large print copies. If you would like to have a copy mailed to you, please contact the church office.
---
## PASSING OF THE PEACE
*“The peace of Christ be with you”*
*“And also with you”*
## CHIMING OF THE TRINITY & PRELUDE
---
## *CALL TO WORSHIP*
*adapted from Gathered by Love*
God finds delight in humanity, and in each of us.
**Let us rejoice before the majesty of our Creator.**
In Christ, we are called to endure and to hope.
**Let us give thanks for a faith that brings peace.**
The Holy Spirit is present to guide and direct us.
**Let us listen that we may hear and do what is true.**
God of grace and glory, ever present with us,
**How reassuring is the life with which you surround us!**
---
## *HYMN #1*
*"Holy, Holy, Holy"*
1. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
2. Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
3. Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.
4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
*Words: Reginald Heber, 1826 (Rev. 4:8-11)*
*Music: John B. Dykes, 1861*
*NICAEA*
*Irregular*
---
## CALL TO CONFESSION
*adapted from Gathered by Love*
Who has truly listened for the voice of God? Who among us is attentive to the heights and depths in which we are called to live? Let us draw near in humanity and faith, confessing the distractions that separate us from the mind of God.
## PRAYER OF CONFESSION
*from Gathered by Love*
**God of Wisdom, our choices have denied you. We drink from the shallow waters of instant gratification when you offer springs of living water from the depths of your love. We pursue our own fame and glory, which crumble into dust when we view the sacrifice and service that build true character. O God, we confess that we have not put first things first. We have not lived up to the crown of glory and honor you offer us. Recall us to awe and wonder and guide us in the ways of truth. Amen.**
## KYRIE
*Hymnal Companion C-4*
## ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*adapted from Gathered by Love*
Before the vast mystery of time and space, we are amazed that God cares for us, forgives us, and entrusts to us the stewardship of the earth. God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Praise God!
---
## *GLORY BE TO THE FATHER #704*
*Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;*
*as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,*
*world without end. Amen, amen.*
*Words: Anonymous, 4th cent.*
*Music: Christoph Meineke, 1844*
*MEINEKE*
*Irregular*
---
## SCRIPTURE READING
### Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 (NRSVue)
> Does not wisdom call,
> and does not understanding raise her voice?
> On the heights, beside the way,
> at the crossroads she takes her stand;
> beside the gates in front of the town,
> at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
> “To you, O people, I call,
> and my cry is to all that live.
> The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
> the first of his acts of long ago.
> Ages ago I was set up,
> at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
> When there were no depths I was brought forth,
> when there were no springs abounding with water.
> Before the mountains had been shaped,
> before the hills, I was brought forth—
> when he had not yet made earth and fields,
> or the world’s first bits of soil.
> When he established the heavens, I was there,
> when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
> when he made firm the skies above,
> when he established the fountains of the deep,
> when he assigned to the sea its limit,
> so that the waters might not transgress his command,
> when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
> then I was beside him, like a master worker;
> and I was daily his delight,
> rejoicing before him always,
> rejoicing in his inhabited world
> and delighting in the human race.
### John 16:12-15 (NRSVue)
> “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
> When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
> for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears,
> and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
> He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
> All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
---
## RESPONSIVE READING
*Psalm 8 (The Inclusive Bible)*
YHWH, our Sovereign, how majestic is your Name in all the earth! You have placed your glory above the heavens!
**From the lips of infants and children you bring forth words of power and praise, to answer your adversaries and to silence the hostile and vengeful.**
When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place –
**what is humanity that you should be mindful of us? Who are we that you should care for us?**
You have made us barely less than God, and crowned us with glory and honor.
**You have made us responsible for the works of your hands, putting all things at our feet – all sheep and oxen, yes, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the sea.**
YHWH, our Sovereign,
**how majestic is your Name in all the earth!**
## CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
*Eileen Shaffer*
*Children’s Corner will be offered following the Children’s Message*
## SCRIPTURE READING
Romans 5:1-5
> [!bible]+ [Romans 5:1-5 - NRSVCE](https://bolls.life/NRSVCE/45/5/)
> 1. Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
> 2. through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
> 3. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
> 4. and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
> 5. and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
%% #Romans5 %%
## SERMON
Rev. Caroline E. Saxton
### ✨ Title: “Hope That Will Never Disappoint Us”
---
### 🗒 Sermon Summary
#### Opening Scripture and Key Passage
- The sermon opens by quoting scripture:
**"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, through whom we have obtained access to the grace in which we stand, and we boast during the glory of God. And not only in that, but we also boast in our affliction, knowing that affliction produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."**
- This passage (from **Romans 5:1-5**) emphasizes that:
- We receive peace with God through faith in our Lord.
- Suffering refines our character and deepens our hope.
- The outpouring of God's love, through the Holy Spirit, sustains us in times of adversity.
#### Invocation and Prayer
- The pastor reminds the congregation that the word of God is being proclaimed to the people of God.
- A prayer is offered asking for the Spirit of the living God to fall fresh on them, to refresh and guide the words and meditations of all present.
#### Reflection on Recent Events and the Church’s Journey
- The sermon reflects on the experience at the Penn Central Conference annual meeting held in Paris, which served as a reminder in the face of injustice, oppression, and disease. It highlights:
- The importance of gathering together with clergy and delegates from across the conference to reflect on where they have been and where they are.
- Recognizing the value of the past, staying grounded in the present, and looking toward the future with promise and possibility, which is also true for their own church.
- The congregation is encouraged to stay grounded in this rich heritage while being open to the promise and possibility of the future, with hearts set aflame and warmed by the Spirit's presence being set loose in the world.
#### Living Out Our Faith Within the Community
- The message shifts to the call for active participation in the world:
- "We cannot sit on the sidelines, at least not all of us."
- Our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, the mystery of three in one and one in three, will be with us, guiding our communal worship and service.
- The pastor stresses that God's love is not limited to the personal realm and extends to the communal, urging us to live out our faith in tangible ways—through worship, service, and righteous relationships.
#### Reconciliation, Apology, and the Behavioral Covenant
- Drawing on the teachings of the Apostle Paul, who was the first to formulate the idea of salvation and reconciliation, the sermon highlights the importance of these concepts:
- Salvation brings peace in one another with God and unites us for purposes larger than ourselves, though individuals also personally benefit from such efforts.
- Personal relationships can be healed with time and intention, through heartfelt effort to forgive past wrongs and hurts, and by engaging in processes of righteousness, recognizing the power in an apology that is valid and demonstrated.
- In practical terms, communal relationships are strengthened through efforts such as a behavioral agreement. The church at St. John's is working to develop a Behavioral Covenant aimed at:
- Outlining “holy manners” for how we are to treat one another.
- Reinforcing the commitment to grow in love of God and neighbor.
- An initial draft for the Behavioral Covenant will be reviewed next week during the Wired Word Class, emphasizing that while all people are welcome, all behaviors are not.
- **Key Points:**
1. Love and learning are foundational to our community, as we recommit ourselves to love, learn, worship, witness, welcome, and serve as children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ.
2. Worship, witness, and service fortify our collective search for righteousness.
3. The Behavioral Covenant is a living document for nurturing our relationships and guiding us in living as children of God, promising to guide how we live in relationship with God in covenant.
#### Addressing Social Injustices and Being Counter-Cultural
- The sermon acknowledges that some heart hurts are deeper and some wounds harder to heal, mentioning a special responsive litany for Father's Day by Reverend Lea Lange-Walken. The pastor calls attention to pervasive issues that oppress and marginalize people, such as:
- Sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and other “isms” and phobias.
- The message emphasizes a broad and expansive welcome: "no matter who you are or where you are on that journey, you are welcome here." It highlights the need to be uncomfortable and to "get comfortable being uncomfortable," as God calls to comfort the afflicted and to challenge the comforted.
- Emphasizing the counter-cultural nature of early Christianity (being a Christian in the first three centuries meant worshipping God rather than earthly rulers and living as citizens of the kingdom of God), the sermon notes:
- Jesus's prophetic actions—flipping tables in the temple, his fearless preaching, his fierce love for the last and the least, and his healing of the sick and the outcast—challenge us to be discomforted by injustice and embolden us to act with compassion. Jesus lived in the prophetic tradition of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Micah, always reminding that what is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.
- The pastor expresses distress and disturbance by government actions proposing to gut life-saving programs for the poor, sick, disabled, and hungry. Quoting Reverend Benjamin Kramer, the sermon states that one of the biggest lies Christians have come to believe is that the best way to address pressing issues is to gain more control over others rather than becoming more compassionate. This is the opposite of the gospel of Jesus, as empathy is not toxic or a sin, but indifference to human suffering is a sin that separates us from God and neighbors.
#### Re-examining Paul’s Teachings and Embracing Hope Amid Suffering
- The pastor struggles with how the writings of Paul have been misused to form a theology that is more legalistic than loving, reminding us that:
- While this particular passage is meant to help, it can also harm if used to justify and glorify suffering. Paul's message was intended for people already suffering, to help them make sense of their trials.
- It is when we are tested and tried that we find out who we really are. When suffering happens, we hope that something good comes out, and if nothing else, we have hope that will never disappoint us because it comes from God.
- This passage helps to remind us of our interdependence; we do not have to go through our joys, celebrations, pain, or suffering alone. The assurance is given that God's enduring love—poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit—remains unshakeable, and nothing happening to us or around us has the power to forsake the love of Christ Jesus for us. Communities are meant to build us up, encourage us, and correct us when we speak truth in love, follow Jesus, and sustain in hope.
#### Embracing Life with a Sense of Urgency and Purpose
- The sermon references Dr. Benjamin Hayes’s poem, *If I Only Have, I Have Only Just a Minute*, which he wrote in 1960 and seems just as relevant now: "I have only just a minute, only 60 seconds in, forced upon me, can't refuse it, didn't seek it, didn't choose it, but it's up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it, give account if I abuse it, just a tiny little bit."
- The message reinforces that there is never a wrong time to do what is right. Our pain and problems are real, but the good news is we do not journey alone, and God is more faithful than we could ever imagine.
- It encourages us to pause and pray and figure out what we can do when facing problems, rather than just complain, and to sing, laugh, and pray every day, partnering with God, here and now.
#### Final Encouragement and Call to Action
- The sermon concludes with a strong encouragement to live in hope, trusting in God’s faithful guidance even amid challenges.
- It urges the congregation to embrace comfort for the afflicted and challenge complacency in the comfortable, as Jesus did.
- The congregation is urged to live out a vibrant, counter-cultural faith that embodies love, justice, empathy, and active service to both God and neighbors.
- The overarching assurance remains that nothing—no matter the circumstances—can forsake the love of Christ Jesus for us.
May we indeed live our lives in hope. May we continue to grow in love of God and neighbor, living up to our calling as children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ, guided at all times by the promise and hope found in His unending love.
- **Central Message**: Christian hope, grounded in love and community, persists even in suffering. The sermon connected affliction with growth, peace with justice, and hope with action.
- **Liturgical Context**: Trinity Sunday—reflected in references to the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, and the communal aspect of divine love. The message echoed the unity and multiplicity of the Triune God through emphasis on relational and covenantal living.
---
### 🎙 Preaching Style
- **Style**: Narrative with Topical undertones. The preacher wove together personal reflections, social commentary, and theological interpretation.
- **Inclusion**: Yes—referenced churchwide meetings, a Behavioral Covenant, societal injustices, and Father’s Day inclusive litany.
- **Learning Styles**:
- **Auditory**: Storytelling and quotes
- **Kinesthetic**: Call to action and community covenant participation
- **Visual**: Less emphasized—could be strengthened with slides or symbolic liturgical elements
---
### 🗣 Intonation and Delivery
- **Vocal Delivery**: Expressive, emotive, and pastoral—ranged from soft reflection to passionate exhortation.
- **Tone**: Warm, prophetic, inclusive—especially in references to the oppressed, LGBTQIA+ people, and those harmed by systemic injustice.
- **Variety**: Yes, the tone shifted with content—gentle during prayers, firm during critique of injustice.
- **Gestures/Visuals**: Gestures implied; visual tools not mentioned (a missed opportunity to engage visual learners).
---
### 📝 Content Structure
- **Organization**: Clear three-part flow: opening Scripture → community/justice themes → call to hope and covenant.
- **Transitions**: Smooth and contextual. Examples: “This is the Word of God…”, “We cannot sit on the sidelines…”, “Let us instead become…”.
- **Support for Learning**:
- Repetition of hope, love, justice
- Use of memorable quotes and rhythm (e.g., poem by Benjamin Hayes)
---
### 👥 Engagement and Application
- **Marginalized Groups**:
- Named and affirmed: LGBTQIA+, disabled, sick, poor, immigrants
- Preacher acknowledged systemic harms: racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia
- **Applications**:
- Community action: reviewing a Behavioral Covenant
- Reflection: litany for complex emotions on Father’s Day
- Justice: prophetic call for empathy over control
- **Interactive Elements**:
- Encouraged participation in Wired Word class
- Implicit calls to reflection, advocacy, and covenantal living
---
### 📖 Scripture Breakdown
- **Primary Text**: [Romans 5:1–5 (NRSVue)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A1-5&version=NRSVUE)
- Used to affirm that hope in Christ is built in community and does not shame us.
- Interpreted through the lens of resilience, not justification of suffering.
- **Theological Lens**:
- Strong emphasis on **interdependence**, **healing justice**, and **non-legalistic grace**
- Paul’s words were **reframed** to support the already-suffering rather than glorify suffering
---
### 🔍 Logical Reasoning
#### ✅ Positive Reasoning Highlights
1. **Ethical Reasoning**
- “Empathy is not toxic… indifference is sin” → ethical stance rooted in gospel values.
- Strengthens the argument by rooting action in moral theology and pastoral care.
2. **Causal Reasoning**
- “Affliction produces endurance… produces hope” → cause-effect pattern from Romans, with care not to overgeneralize.
3. **Balanced Counterarguments**
- Directly addressed the misuse of Paul’s writings → “It could be used to glorify suffering… but that’s not what Paul intended.”
- Offers a redemptive reinterpretation: Paul is helping make sense of suffering, not prescribing it.
4. **Appeal to Evidence**
- Cites multiple credible sources: Paul, Benjamin Kramer, Rev. Benjamin Hayes
5. **Logical Flow**
- Sermon built from Scripture to local application (Behavioral Covenant) to societal critique to personal call.
#### ❌ Fallacies or Weaknesses
- **Potential Slippery Slope** (minor): Implying that government decisions necessarily lead to suffering for all marginalized populations without citing policy detail.
- Suggestion: Back critique with specific legislative examples or statistics.
- **Emotional Appeal**:
- While effective, some parts rely heavily on emotional triggers (e.g., “I am distressed…”) which, though powerful, might benefit from supporting evidence or theological framing to deepen impact.
---
### 📚 References
- [Romans 5:1–5 (BibleGateway)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A1-5&version=NRSVUE)
- [Rev. Benjamin Kramer (Author/Preacher)](https://twitter.com/RevBenKramer)
- [Dr. Benjamin Hayes – "Just a Minute" poem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Minute_(poem)) — note: often misattributed; attributed to Dr. Benjamin E. Mays in historical civil rights circles.
- [The Wired Word Curriculum](https://www.thewiredword.com/)
- Rev. Lea Lange-Walken – Original litany (no public link available)
---
### 🗨 Quotes and Illustrative Stories
- “Empathy is not toxic. It is not a sin. Indifference… that is a sin.”
- “We cannot sit on the sidelines…”
- Hayes poem: “I have only just a minute…”
- “What would Jesus do? He would welcome and serve hope.”
These were grounded in Scripture and social justice, echoing prophets like Micah and Isaiah.
---
### 🔄 Calls to Action
- **Immediate**:
- Attend Wired Word class to review the Behavioral Covenant.
- **Ongoing**:
- Live into love, justice, and accountability.
- “Become more loving, more just, more kind.”
- **Learning Needs Addressed**:
- Repetition and poetic rhythms for auditory learners.
- Verbal calls for kinesthetic action (e.g., “serve,” “witness,” “welcome”)
---
## HYMN #6
*"Creator God, Creating Still"*
1. Creator God, creating still, by will and word and deed,
Create a new desire in us to meet the present need.
2. Redeemer God, redeeming still, with overflowing grace,
Pour out Your love on us, through us, make this a holy place.
3. Sustainer God, sustaining still, with strength for every day,
Empower us now to do Your will. Correct us when we stray.
4. Great Trinity, for this new day we need Your presence still.
Create, redeem, sustain us now to do Your work and will.
*Words: Jane Parker Huber, 1977*
*Music: William Croft, 1708*
*ST. ANNE*
*CM*
*Words © 1980 Presbyterian Publishing, Westminster John Knox Press.*
*Higher keys, No. 250 and No. 566*
---
## RESPONSIVE LITANY FOR FATHER’S DAY
Today we pray with thanksgiving and celebration for the gifts of the fathers in our lives.
**For our own fathers, and for the fathers among us - the ways they care for us and champion us, the ways they ground us and gift us with their love, and that they may model for us what it means to flourish both in, and beyond, this role.**
For grandfathers and great-grandfathers and the delight of fatherly love freed from the daily grind of parenting - and for the sweetness of that daily grind shared when grandparents take on the role of caretakers or guardians.
**For all of us who long deeply to physically be with our fathers today and cannot.**
For those who father with no children or beyond their own children - nurturing nieces and nephews, godchildren, church kids and neighbor kids and other special children in their lives; nurturing young adults and grown adults who never had a fathering presence or who can’t be with their fathers due to death or distance.
**For those who mourn and miss their dads today; dads who have died, dads who are alive but feel absent due to dementia or Alzheimer’s or other illness; and for dads who could not father in the way their children needed it, and for the healing of that heartache and those relationships here or in the hereafter.**
For those who are learning with profound grace and strength to father their own inner child in the ways they desperately needed and deserved but never got.
**For adoptive dads, and for biological dads- for the blessings of children long wished for and the heartache of separation, no matter how voluntary or necessary.**
For stepdads and bonus dads, for the gift and struggle of stepping into a child’s life in midstream.
**For those who long to be fathers but cannot; for those who hope desperately to be fathers or grandfathers one day; for those who struggle to parent in tough circumstances and for those who have lost children - who know intimately the heartbreak of loving a being we can never fully protect.**
For fathers who parent in the impossible, through war and pandemic and famine; who fight to be reunited with their children at the border; who grieve their children gunned down merely for the color of their skin and who call out to you for justice; for the fathers who have decided that there are no other people’s children and who live accordingly.
**And most of all, for your fathering love, God - Jesus’s gift to us of imaging you as a loving parent, you who nurture us from our very first days all the way to our very last, you who heal us of all our fathering hurts, you who give us the strength and grace to father others and ourselves, you who provide us with unconditional love and a place to come home to, always. Amen.**
---
## SHARING OF JOYS AND CONCERNS
## PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER (DEBTS)
## INVITATION TO GIVING
## OFFERTORY
## *OFFERTORY RESPONSE #706*
*"Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"*
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Him, all creatures here below;
praise Him, above ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Words: Thomas Ken, 1674*
*Music: Genevan Psalter, 1551*
*OLD 100TH, alt.*
*LM*
*Lower key, No. 331*
---
## *HYMN #58*
*"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"*
1. Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
2. Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
3. To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish — but naught changeth Thee.
4. Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!
*Words: Walter Chalmers Smith, 1867 (1 Tim. 1:17)*
*Music: Welsh hymn tune, from John Roberts’* *Caniadau y Cyssegr,* 1839
*ST. DENIO*
*11.11.11.11*
*Lower key, No. 197*
---
## *COMMISSION & BENEDICTION*
## POSTLUDE (seated)
*Join us a time of fellowship after worship!*
The “Nursery Nook in the Narthex” quiet area and infant/toddler space in the Parlor are available for children and families to use during worship. Age-appropriate activity bags are also available.
---
### Birthdays this week:
6/17 Lynda Thomason; 6/19 Jill Miller; 6/20 Tom Kinton;
6/21 Kerry Miller and Lynda Pound; 6/22 Thomas Sheele
---
| Worship Participants | |
|---------------------------|----------------------------|
| Pastor | Rev. Caroline E. Saxton |
| Organist | Barbara Motichka |
| Deacon in Charge | Chris Willman-Bunge |
| Lector | Diana Kongkeattikul |
| Children’s Corner | |
| Media Coordinators | Calvin Frantz |
| Bulletin cover | “Trinity” by Kelly Latimore, from *Art in the Christian Tradition*, a project of Vanderbilt Divinity Library |
---
### The Flowers at the Foot of the Cross
are given in memory of our parents Marilyn and George Diehl; Geraldine and Charlie Foltz; Jack Fedor and our grandchildren.
---
### St. John’s Vision
We are called to love, to learn, to worship and to witness in Christ
as a congregation that welcomes everyone,
and seeks service that will advance God’s realm on earth.
### St. John’s Mission
To grow in love of God and neighbor
---
### Worship Resources:
*Gathered by Love: Worship Resources for Year C* by Lavon Bayler
*The Inclusive Bible*
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