KIDS TIME
music & a visit from some friends

PRELUDE
Largo, Gilles Jullien (1650-1703)
Led by Cynthia

WELCOME , COMMUNITY LIFE & GREETING

BUILD MY LIFE
Worthy of ev’ry song we could ever sing
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring
Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe
We live for You

Jesus the name above ev’ry other name
Jesus the only one who could ever save
Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe
We live for You
We live for You

Holy there is no one like You
There is none beside You
Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who You are
And fill me with Your heart
And lead me in Your love to those around me

I will build my life upon Your love
It is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in You alone
And I will not be shaken

CCLI Song # 7070345 CCLI License # 349090
Brett Younker | Karl Martin | Kirby Kaple

Matt Redman | Pat Barrett© 2016 Kaple Music

OLD TESTAMENT READING
Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
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.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15     My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end—I am still with you.

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
    and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
    and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

GOSPEL LESSON
Matthew 13:24-30

24 [Jesus] put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Leader: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God

GLORY BE TO THE FATHER
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 with out end
Amen, Amen

REFLECTING ON THE WORD
Where is God?
Pastor Denise

SONG OF RESPONSE
Jesus, Be My Guide and Teacher

Jesus, be my guide and teacher,
Stay beside me day be day;
Teach me discipline and courage
To walk steadfast in your way.
Help me learn to rule each impulse,
Govern through and deed and word,
That my life reflect, though dimly,
The example of my Lord.

Give me, Lord, a ready conscience,
Sensitive to hidden wrong,
Watchful lest false pride or anger
Grow where love and peace belong.
Make me quick to know my error,
Quick to seek your mercy sure,
That, restored, renewed, forgiven
I may live whole, calm and pure.

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Folks We Are Praying For:

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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.

Church family who work in and around hospitals & nursing homes:
Alex A, Kyra A, Hannah A, Sam A, Linda C, Carl G, Katie G, Eric H, Rachel H, Chona I, Abby H, Dana J, Bryan J, Kari J, Neal J, Eric S, Don T.

(If we missed any people’s names above please let us know.)

We continue to pray for: Nikolas Arden, Katie Collier, Dan Erickson, Art and Rosa Hamilton, Shirley Nicholas, the Morales/Randall family.

Ministries & Mission
RC4 staff & teachers as they open back up
Cynthia & Peter Ekstrand, serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Covenant Mountain Mission Bible Camp

GIVING OF OUR TITHES & OFFERINGS
& PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

SPECIAL MUSIC
Nimrod from Variations, Op.36, Elgar
Led by Cynthia

DOXOLOGY & PRAYER
Praise God from whom all blessings flow 
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

OCEANS
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sov’reign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

CCLI Song # 6428767 CCLI License # 349090
Joel Houston | Matt Crocker |

Salomon Ligthelm © 2012 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia

BENEDICTION                             

L: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
P: Thanks be to God

POSTLUDE
March, Mozart

INVITATION
We’ll be back here next Sunday
We hope you can join us. Information on ravenscov.org.

BONUS:
A SONG FOR THIS WEEK
As we go out to love and serve the Lord:
It is Well With My Soul

led by our friends from AxiomBrass.
Trumpeter Dorival Puccini, Jr., Trumpeter and Bass-Baritone singer Michael Hawes, French Horn player Matthew Bronstein, Trombonist Corey Sansolo, Tuba player Kevin Harrison.

Music lessons
Cynthia Arden will offer piano and violin lessons to students of all ages on Wednesdays during farmers market hours. Thirty-minute lessons are available each week. Fees apply. Contact Cynthia at 847-912-0992 or email violincynthia@yahoo,com.

Book discussion
You are invited to join us for a book discussion on the book The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby. In his book, Tisby describes the history of the American Christian church in relation to race in the United States.  Please contact Pastor Denise for more information if you’d like to be part of the discussion or if you need help to get a copy of the book. 

Zoom Bible Study
Our Thursday night Bible study has resumed meeting. For the next few weeks we will be going through the book of James. The Bible study meets every Thursday at 6:30 pm via Zoom, and if you are not conversant with Zoom, don’t let that stop you! We can teach you how to activate Zoom so that you can take part. There are also a limited number of spaces available for those who wish to attend the Bible study in person in the lounge using social-distancing protocols. If you’re interested, please contact Gregory Sager in the church office at office@ravenscov.org or at 773-784-7091.

Farmers market update
Our farmers market continues to meet every Wednesday afternoon in our church’s parking lot. Although the city’s social-distancing and food-handling restrictions during the pandemic are limiting what the market can offer in terms of crowd size, vendors, and programming, we nevertheless continue to welcome our community back into our space for what has become a tradition for many of our neighbors. Right now, our object is to continue re-establishing our presence as a farmers market and to welcome people back into the routine of frequenting our vendors every Wednesday afternoon and early evening. The turnout is improving from week to week, and we have re-introduced food trucks as part of our market for the first time this summer. It’s good to welcome our neighbors and vendors back for another summer, restrictions or not!

Thursday night dinners
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to prevent us from hosting our weekly community dinners on Thursday night, we are now offering those Thursday night meals on a pre-order, takeout-only basis. Chef Bobby is back to making his delicious meals, which are offered for now on an every-other-Thursday schedule. Contact the church office for more details.

UNITE rescheduled
The Covenant has made the difficult decision to postpone UNITE 2021, the tri-annual gathering of Covenant youth from across the country and around the world that was formerly known as CHIC (Covenant High In Christ). The denomination’s current plan is to reschedule this gathering for July 2022, with a full, denomination-wide youth ministry event at that time. While the Covenant’s youth ministry leadership is grieved to make that decision, it is made in solidarity with the whole church community across the United States and Canada.

As Covenant churches recover both physically and financially, the denomination is hopeful that our youth will once again gather together in July 2022 to go deeper in faith and further in mission together. 

Prayer requests
A group of women in our church are meeting every night at 7 pm via phone calls and texts in order to keep our various needs before God in prayer. They are asking the congregation to bring their needs to them to be lifted up in prayer as part of this evening prayer time. If you have any needs that you would like to have added to their prayer list, please contact the church office.

Free masks available
The church is offering free masks to anyone in the congregation who is in need of one. If you would like, you may make a donation to our benevolence fund when you come to the church building to pick yours up. Please contact the church office at office@ravenscov.org or 773-396-6175 for more information.

We need your (in worship) videos and pictures
As part of our ongoing efforts to stay connected with each other during this time of physical separation, we’re asking members and friends of the church to send us pictures of themselves as they take part in online worship. You can, if you choose, accompany the picture with a short (one or two sentences) greeting, or a brief video of no more than ten seconds, so that we can share them as a part of Sunday morning worship. Please be aware that they may have to be edited for space reasons. You can send them as downloadable files to office@ravenscov.org.

Our response to the current health crisis
As a community of faith we continue to pray for the health and welfare of our church and community as we resist the temptation to fall prey to fear. We do, however, want to continue to look out for the welfare of our friends and neighbors. We are doing our best to stay current with best practices for this unique time — please stay tuned as these may change. Our primary place for timely communication will be our website, ravenscov.org. We will also offer reminders and notes on our Facebook page and by email. We are livestreaming our Sunday morning worship on Facebook Live so that you may continue to be a part of our worship. Do not, however, become isolated. If you need any help there are folks in our church who can do so. Call the office (773-784-7091) or email the office (office@ravenscov.org).

General fund giving:
July 5: $1,945

General fund giving:
July 12: $2,683

Scripture for Sunday, July 26
Genesis 29:15-28
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Art Used in this Bulletin: Steve Erspamer, SM
Clip Art for Year A © 1992, Archdiocese of Chicago.

Our church exists to love and worship God, and love and care for others. By God’s grace, we commit to help people find and follow Jesus Christ through the guidance of his Spirit and his word.

"With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." (Mark 4:30-32 NRS)