KIDS TIME
music & a visit from some friends

PRELUDE
Led by Cynthia
Simple Gifts

WELCOME , COMMUNITY LIFE & GREETING

HYMN
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
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.

Come, thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for song of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise to thee an altar,
Hither by thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to reduce me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.

O to grace ho great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

OLD TESTAMENT READING
Genesis 18:1-15
Peter reading

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

GOSPEL LESSON
Matthew 9:35-10:8

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 

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
Mmmmm mmm. That was so good!
Pastor Phil

ONE BREAD, ONE BODY
One bread, one body, one Lord of all,
One cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many through out the earth,
We are one body in this one Lord

Gentile or Jew,
Servant or free,
Woman or man, no more.

Many the gifts,
Many the works,
One in the Lord of all.

Grain for the fields,
Scattered and grown,
Gathered to one, for all.

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

Church family who are educators: Beth A, Deb A, Chris B, Rodney C, James E, Judy E, Janelle H, Stacey J, Dave K, Trevor N, Maria P, Shari R, Mark S, Erin S, Maddie S, Kelly V, Sue W, Eli Y, RC4 teachers and staff

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, the Carlson family, Katie Collier, Dan Erickson, Art Hamilton, Shirley Nicholas, The Morales/Randall family, Esther Stoel, the family of Blanche Swedberg . 

Ministries & Mission
Gary & Mary Lou Sander, serving in Colombia
Covenant Mountain Mission Bible Camp

All:  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.

GIVING OF OUR TITHES & OFFERINGS
& PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

SPECIAL MUSIC
If My People,
By Cynthia and Janelle

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. 

A THOUSAND MORE
led by Dana and crew

Who can tell the sun to rise
Who can show the dawn its place
I could spend a thousand years
And only start to know Your ways

Who can measure what You’re worth
Who can fathom what You’ve done
I could write a thousand songs
And never capture Heaven’s love

chorus
And O praise the Lord the Holy One
And O praise the King of Perfect Love
A thousand times my soul will sing hallelujah
Yet I will sing a thousand more

Who can heal the hardest heart
Who can hear the softest prayer
I could run a thousand miles
Still I know You’d find me there

bridge
Hallelu hallelu hallelu
Yet I will sing a thousand more

I could climb the highest heights
Or I could fall to lowly states
I could live a thousand lives
And never see the end of grace

Ending
A thousand more
Yet I will sing a thousand more

CCLI Song # 7127548 CCLI License # 349090 Charmaine Carrasco |
Corbin Phillips |Taylor Gall © 2019 Corbin Phillips

BENEDICTION                             

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

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

POSTLUDE
May the Grace of Christ Our Savior Be With You from Day to Day
led by Cynthia

Zoom Movie Discussion
Just Mercy Movie Discussion On Zoom. Thursday June 25 7:00 pm. A must see movie, Just Mercy is the true story of Bryan Stevenson-a Harvard lawyer who worked with clients on death row and tells the story of Walter McMillian an African Amercian who owned a lumber company who was framed for the murder of a local white girl in 1987. The movie, just released last year is based on the 2015 book by Stevenson who founded the Equal Justice Initiative. During the month of June the full length feature film “Just Mercy” is FREE to watch on Amazon Prime Video, You Tube, and Google Play. (PG13)  We ask that you watch the movie on your own and on Thursday evening June 25th we will discuss the movie on zoom.  We will send out the zoom link closer to the date. The discussion will be led by Pastor Denise and Renee Nicholas. We will use a discussion guide prepared by Covenant minister Dominique Gilliard. Please email Pastor Denise if you plan to join us, if you need help seeing the movie, or with zoom or any other questions.

Zoom Bible Study
Beginning in June, 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. If you’re interested, please contact Gregory Sager in the church office at office@ravenscov.org or at 773-784-7091.

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).

Last week’s general fund giving:
$2.560

Scripture for Sunday, June 7
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

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.

BONUS
A song by maxeltoft imagining Abraham talking with the Lord about a city center, Sodom & Gomorah, who would not offer the Lord friendship and generosity. What if there were 50 would do it? “50 Righteous”

What if there are fifty righteous, peradventure there be fifty? 
“If I find fifty in that place, I will spare it for their sake” 

What if fifty minus five, peradventure forty-five? 
“If forty-five are in that place, I will spare it for their sake” 

What if there are forty righteous, peradventure there be forty? 
“If I find forty in that place, I will spare it for their sake” 

What if there are thirty righteous, peradventure there be thirty? 
“If I find thirty in that place, I will spare it for their sake” 

What if there are twenty righteous, peradventure there be twenty? 
“If I find twenty in that place, I will spare it for their sake” 

Now that I have been so bold 
Though I am not but dust and ashes 
Let me ask just one last question 
What if there are only ten? 
“For the sake of only ten, I will not destroy it then”

"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)