KIDS TIME
music & a visit from some friends

PRELUDE
Led by Cynthia
Lift Every Voice and Sing

WELCOME , COMMUNITY LIFE & GREETING

GOD OF THIS CITY
You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are
You’re the light in this darkness
You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done here

You’re the Lord of creation
The Creator of all things
You’re the King above all kings
You are
You’re the strength in the weakness
You’re the love to the broken
You’re the joy in the sadness
You are

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done
In this city
Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and love for You
In this city

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
There is no one like You God
There is no one like You God

CCLI Song # 5037070 CCLI License # 349090
Aaron Boyd | Andrew McCann | Ian Jordan | Peter Comfort

Peter Kernoghan | Richard Bleakley © 2006 sixsteps Music,
worshiptogether.com songs

OLD TESTAMENT READING
Psalm 145, 8-9, 18-21
a responsive reading

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
    and his compassion is over all that he has made.

18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
    he also hears their cry, and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
    and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

GOSPEL LESSON
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
led by Pastor Denise

16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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
Come As You Are
Pastor Phil

COME AS YOU ARE
Come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been
Come broken-hearted let rescue begin
Come find your mercy O sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal

chorus
(So) Lay down your burdens lay down your shame
All who are broken lift up your face
O wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt lay down your heart
Come as you are

There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t cure

Come as you are
Fall in His arms
Come as you are

There’s joy for the morning O sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal

Come as you are
Come as you are
Come as you are

CCLI Song # 7017790 CCLI License # 349090
Ben Glover | David Crowder | Matt Maher © 2014 9t One Songs

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Folks We Are Praying For:
prayer time led by Cynthia, “The Lord’s Prayer”

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, Theresa Bates, Katie Collier, Dan Erickson, Art Hamilton, Shirley Nicholas, the Morales/Randall family.

Ministries & Mission
RC4 staff & teachers as they open back up
Janet & Robert Ziegelbaur, serving in Cameroon
Carlos & Karen Feijoo, serving in Ecuador

GIVING OF OUR TITHES & OFFERINGS
& PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

SPECIAL MUSIC
led by Cynthia
A Mighty Fortress is our God

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. 

BENEDICTION                             

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

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

POSTLUDE
Lift Every Voice and Sing
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.

BONUS:
In our live stream we’ve included a couple songs recorded for us, especially for this 4th of July weekend. May they be a prayer that as a nation we might strive to live into God’s ways for all the world, ways known most fully in the life & teaching of Jesus.

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.

Zoom Bible Study
Beginning this Thursday, RECC will once again offer an adult Bible study. It will meet weekly via Zoom, with day, time, and topic yet to be determined. 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 returns!
This past Wednesday was the second farmers market of the 2020 season 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, it was still great to once again 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 was once again small but promising. 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 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 along 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:
June 7: $5,870

General fund giving:
June 14: $2,261

Scripture for Sunday, July 5
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:10-17
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

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)