# 🕊️ Creation by the Word *Please stand in body or in spirit where noted.* ## 🪘 Gathering 🎶 **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 (September 7, 2025) 👩‍⚖️ **Clergy & Staff:** Rev. Caroline E. Saxton ([email protected] • 641-260-1868 cell); Tonya Schwartz ([email protected] • 717-263-8593 office); Gary Crum (Music Director); Barbara Motichka (Organist); Roxanne Davenport (Director of Children & Youth); Rev. Stephen W. Hoffman (Pastor Emeritus) 🗓️ **This Week at St. John’s** 📘 **Today:** Bible Study on Acts — 8:00 pm (Zoom; link in Friday e-blast) 🧘 **Mon, Sep 8:** 10:00 am Chi Gong/Zazen silent body energy & soulful meditation — Parlor 104 📚 **Mon, Sep 8:** 1:30 pm Monday Afternoon Book Study — Conference Room 111 👩‍💻 **Tue, Sep 9:** 6:00 pm Ladies’ Bible — Zoom 🍽️ **Wed, Sep 10:** 11:30 am Ladies Luncheon — Norland Pub 🎶 **Thu, Sep 11:** 7:15 pm Choir Rehearsal — Choir Room 103 👨‍👩‍👧 **Sun, Sep 14 (pre-worship):** 8:45 am Godly Play (Room 119) • SPARK! Elementary (Room 115) • Teen Discussion (Room 206) • Wired Word Church School (Room 116) ⛪ **Sun, Sep 14:** 10:00 am Sunday Worship 📢 **Special Congregational Meeting:** After worship on **Sun, Sep 21** to consider parking-lot repairs. Meeting packets at the Welcome Center or by request from the office. 📗 **Monday Afternoon Book Study resumes:** **Mon, Sep 8, 1:30 pm.** New selection is *A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story* (Diana Butler Bass). Reading assignments appear in News in the Pews and the e-blast; read the Introduction for **9/8**. 🧑‍🏫 **Sunday Night Bible Study (Acts):** With Pastor Caroline on Sundays **8:00 pm via Zoom** (Meeting ID: 836 0593 5961 • Passcode: 277938). Link in the weekly e-blast. Read from a variety of translations. 🎼 **Calling All Singers & Ringers:** Handbell choir and vocal choir seek members. Rehearsals Thursdays (6:00 pm bells; 7:15 pm vocal). Contact Gary Crum. 🌸 **Nursery School Mum Fundraiser:** Mums from Backroads Greenhouse, 9-inch pots, red/orange/yellow/purple/white — **$10 each**. Orders & money due **Mon, Sep 8** (payable to St. John’s Nursery School). Pickup **Sun, Sep 21** in the lobby. 🥫 **September First Fruits:** Supports **South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP).** 📖 **Upper Room (Sep/Oct) devotionals:** At the Welcome Center. Suggested donation **$1** small print / **$2** large print. Contact office for a mailed copy. 🎈 **Birthday Balloons:** Special coffee hour the last Sunday each month to honor monthly birthdays. **September** celebrations on **Sun, Sep 28**. 🎉 **Family Fun Day:** **Sun, Sep 28** after worship (11:30 am–1:30 pm). Food, games, bounce house, petting zoo. Rain or shine. 🌶️ **Chili Cook-Off Fundraiser:** **Sun, Oct 5** after worship. Sign-ups for chili/rice/cornbread/dessert at bulletin boards & Welcome Center. Proceeds benefit **SCCAP**. 📚 **Habitat for Humanity Used Book Sale:** **Oct 24–26** (sorting begins **Mon, Sep 8, 9:00 am**, Book Room at Mobile Works). Contact Harold Collier. 🚶 **CROP Walk:** **Sun, Oct 19** at First United Methodist Church (225 S. Second St.). Registration **1:30 pm**; walk **2:00 pm**. Supports Church World Service. 🍺 **Bible and a Beer:** 3rd Mondays at **Trojan Diner 6:30 pm** — next gathering **Mon, Sep 15**. ## 🙌 Call to Worship — “God Meets Us” (Katherine Hawker) 🧭 Come with your questions, come with your awe! 🌊 **For the God who broods over the chaos meets us in this place.** ⚡ Come with your energy, come with your weariness! 🌬️ **For the God who breathes new life into the dust meets us in this place.** 😔 Come with your sadness, come with your joy! 👶 **For the God who dared to become human meets us in this place.** ## 🎵 Hymn #6 — *Creator God, Creating Still* *(ST. ANNE — CM)* *Text: Jane Parker Huber (1977). Tune: William Croft (1708). Words © 1980 Presbyterian Publishing, Westminster John Knox Press.* 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. ## 🙏 Prayer of the Day *(Kimberly Leetch)* 🕯️ Grand designer of all things, the light and the darkness, the dome in the midst of the waters, the sky and the dry land, the vegetation, the seasons, the swarms of living creatures, birds and great sea monsters, creeping things and wild animals, and us; all these were brought into being with a word on your lips. And it was good. Amen. ## 🔦 Prayer for Illumination *(Rev. Mindi, Rev-o-lution — adapted)* 💡 Almighty God, your Spirit swept over the waters of creation; you are sweeping over us now, creating something new. Call us away from the distractions of the world to experience what you are doing now, in us, and through us, and in our world. Open us to a new awakening, a new beginning, where we look through the lens of the goodness of your creation, experiencing all possibilities in you. Turn us away from the negative lens, and lead us into the light. May we indeed hear the light and truth that is breaking forth from your Word. In the name of Jesus, who leads us into life, we pray. Amen. ## 📖 Scripture Reading — John 1:1–5 (NRSVue) 🔗 **Full text:** <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A1-5&version=NRSVUE> 📝 **Excerpt (≤25 words):** “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” *(NRSVue © Friendship Press)* --- ## 🗣️ Responsive Reading — “What about the Children?” (Marilyn Pagán-Banks; remix of Psalm 8) 🕊️ God who knows all things, 🛡️ **When did the bulwark become a weapon — silencing the cries of babes and infants clutched to the bosom of their parent, holding on to their sibling’s neck as they all seek safety and refuge?** 🧳 Do you hear the choked cries of the children — kidnapped and terrorized, rounded up and locked away like animals? Do they still matter to you? 📣 **How is it that the enemy’s voice is heard above the wailing? The sound is disturbing; it is loud and ugly and mean.** 👐 God, if you aren’t going to do something, please remind us what we are made of and what we can do. 👧 **Because, what about the children?** ## 🎼 Anthem 🎶 *Since Jesus Came into My Heart* ## 🧒 Children’s Message 👩‍🏫 Roxanne Davenport 🧸 Children’s Corner will be offered following the Children’s Message. ## 📖 Scripture Reading — Genesis 1:1–2:4a (NRSVue) 🔗 **Full text:** <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE> 📝 **Excerpt (≤25 words):** “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep…” *(NRSVue © Friendship Press)* ### Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath 1 When God began to create[[a](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-1a "See footnote a")] the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God[[b](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-2b "See footnote b")] swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind and the cattle of every kind and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humans[[c](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-26c "See footnote c")] in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth[[d](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-26d "See footnote d")] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created humans[[e](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-27e "See footnote e")] in his image,     in the image of God he created them;[[f](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-27f "See footnote f")]     male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all their multitude. 2 On the sixth[[g](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A4&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-33g "See footnote g")]day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. ## 📜 Sermon 👩‍⚖️ Rev. Caroline E. Saxton ## 💬 Sharing of Joys and Concerns ## 🙏 Prayers of the People & the Lord’s Prayer *(debts)* ## 🎁 Invitation to Giving & Offertory ## 🎵 Offertory Response #706 🎶 *Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow* ## 🙏 Prayer of Dedication *(from* Touch Holiness*)* 💗 Holy One, whose heart abounds with gifts, receive this offering as sign of our intention to live surrounded by your mercy, inspired by your Spirit, open to the joy of your presence, hospitable to one another, and generous toward your world. Amen. ## 🍞 Holy Communion 📜 Please follow along on the screen. 🍇 We celebrate by intinction; pre-packaged elements are available. ## 🎵 Hymn #466 — *Jesus, at Your Holy Table* *(BEACH SPRING — 8.7.8.7 D)* *Text: Tom Allen (1991). Tune: The Sacred Harp (1844); harm. Benjamin Briggs (2009). Words © 1991 Broadman Press (Admin. by LifeWay Worship). Harm. © 2010 Celebrating Grace, Inc.* 1. Jesus, at your holy table, may our hearts united be. Bind us with your grace and presence that redeem and set us free. Crucify our pride and hatred; light the path on which we walk. Teach us how to love each other in the way that you have taught. 2. Christ, remind us of your passion, of your precious life outpoured, of the love which none can fathom, and our victory evermore. Bread of heaven, wine of promise, feed us with your holy Word. Nourish us with your strong presence, risen Savior, only Lord. 3. Lift your hearts and raise your voices, celebrate this wondrous love. Join the chorus with all Christians and with saints who live above. Silent lips now sing with gladness, blinded eyes are filled with sight. Jesus’ love has pierced our darkness; brought us home to peace and light. ## 🕊️ Commission & Benediction ## 🎹 Postlude *(seated)* ☕ Join us for fellowship after worship! --- ## 🍼 Family & Community Notes 🧸 “Nursery Nook” quiet area and infant/toddler space are available in the Parlor; age-appropriate activity bags are available. 🍞 All are welcome at Christ’s table. If you communed today, please sign the attendance pad in your row. If communing from home, contact the church office to let us know. ## 🎂 Birthdays This Week 🎉 9/9 Connie Morrill-Hair • 9/10 Helen Bernecker • 9/11 Kara Alt, Lisa Hess, Harold Wissinger • 9/12 Alexandra Dennis • 9/13 Ferree Le Fevre, Diana Macfarlane • 9/14 Lisa Singleton, Aiden James Van Why --- ## 🌼 Flowers 🌷 The Flowers at the Foot of the Cross are given to the Glory of God. ## 🧭 Vision 🕊️ {{vision}} ## ❤️ Mission 🤝 {{mission}} ## 📚 Worship Resources 📖 “God Meets Us” — Katherine Hawker (Liturgies Outside) 📖 Prayer of the Day — Kimberly Leetch (Narrative Lectionary 2025–26) 📖 “What about the Children?” — Marilyn Pagán-Banks, *The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle* (ed. Martha Spong) 📖 *Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship* (eds. Ruth C. Duck & Maren C. Tirabassi)