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Join us for Worship – either in person on via live stream – starting at 11:00AM.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love;
According to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified in Your sentence and blameless in Your judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
A sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being;
Teach me wisdom in my heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be like snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
Let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit in me. – Psalm 51:1-10

Our Scripture passage today comes from Luke 15:1-10.

Questions for Further Reflection:

• What does the word “welcome” mean to you?
• Why is it so important for Jesus to say that the shepherd and the woman in his parables “celebrate” when they find their sheep and coin?

Guest Speaker – Dr. Chris Aho

Join us for Worship! Either on-line or in-person, starting at 11:00AM.

All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,
And all Your faithful shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom,
And tell of Your Power,
To make known to all people Your mighty deeds,
And the glorious splendor of Your Kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your Dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all His Words,
And gracious in all His deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand,
Satisfying the desire of every living thing. – Psalm 145:10-16

Questions for Further Reflection:

• How do you define thriving?
• Where do you see thriving in your life and in the world?
• Are there instances where you see support from thriving?
• How might we learn from other places that are thriving?

Dr. Chris Aho has been in local church ministry for more than 20 years, serving congregations in North Carolina, Texas, and Alabama. Most recently, Chris served as the pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, NC. Since May of 2021, Chris has served as the Director of Thriving Congregations with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. In this role, Chris works with congregational leaders through CBF’s Thriving Congregations Initiative, a program that equips congregations to thrive by fulfilling God’s unique call to their church, in and for their community.

How lovely is Your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints,
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy.
They sing to the living God.
Happy are those whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion.
For a day in Your courts is better
Than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God
Than live in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
He bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of Hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in You. Psalm 84:1-2, 5, 10-12

We hope you will join us as we continue our Faith and Art series. Pastor Ben Wines will bring today’s sermon, “The Cathedral“. We hope you will join us – either via livestream or in person – starting at 11:00AM. We will be reading from Colossians 3:12-17. The artwork Pastor Wines will be sharing in today’s service can be found at the NC Art Museum.

Questions for Further Reflection:
Colossians talks a lot about what it means to be in authentic community with other people as a church family.
What does “church family” mean to you?
How have you been changed by your church family?

Seek good and not evil
That you may live,
And so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
Just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the gate;
It may be that the Lord, the God of Hosts,
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
I hate, I despise your festivals,
And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
And the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like water
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. from Amos 5:14-15, 21-24

We hope you will join us as we continue our Faith and Art series. Pastor Ben Wines will bring today’s sermon, “The Green Bridge II“. We hope you will join us – either via livestream or in person – starting at 11:00AM. We will be reading from Luke 18:18-27. The artwork Pastor Wines will be sharing in today’s service can be found at the NC Art Museum.

Questions for Further Reflection:
The Green Bridge II depicts a lot of people going under its bridge.
What does the bridge itself represent to you?
How does Christ help us pass through the open door rather than the Green Bridge?

Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His steadfast love endures forever.
Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord
Or declare all His praise?
Happy are those who observe justice,
Who do righteousness at all times.
They made a calf at Horeb
And worshiped a cast image.
They exchanged the glory of God
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
And awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
Therefore He said He would destroy them —
Had not Moses, His chosen one,
Stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them. – from Psalm 106

We hope you will join us as we continue our Faith and Art series. Pastor Ben Wines will bring today’s sermon, “The Worship of the Golden Calf“. We hope you will join us – either via livestream or in person – starting at 11:00AM. We will be reading from Exodus 32:1-20. The artwork Pastor Wines will be sharing in today’s service can be found at the NC Art Museum.

Questions for Further Reflection:
When it gets hard to see God, sometimes people panic. Why would Aaron go along with the people’s desire?
What are some ways we can connect with God even when it is difficult to see God?

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
So my soul longs for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
My help and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I remember You.
By day the Lord commands His steadfast love,
And at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
My help and my God. Psalm 42

Today, we will continue our Faith and Art series. Pastor Ben Wines will bring today’s sermon, “Head of a Man“. We hope you will join us – either via livestream or in person – starting at 11:00AM. We will be reading from Luke 8:26-39.

Questions for further reflection, based on today’s passage:

How should Christ’s actions in this story affect your perceptions of other people?
What sorts of negative things can we allow ourselves to be overrun by?

Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Leader: Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
Test my heart and mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
And I walk in faithfulness to you.
O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell
And the place where your glory abides.
Do not sweep me away with sinners
Nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
Those in whose hands are evil devices
And whose right hands are full of bribes.
But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
In the great congregation I will bless the Lord. from Psalm 26

We hope that you will join us as we continue our “Faith and Art” series. Today (July 31), we’ll look at Genesis 2.

Some questions for further reflection:

Why do you think God takes so much time and effort to make Adam and Eve?
What does that say about God’s love for people?

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.
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together He called Seas.
And God saw that it was good.
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.
The earth brought forth vegetation … And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning,
The third day.
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.
God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind.
And God saw that it was good. from Genesis 1

We invite you to join us for Worship on Sunday, July 24th, beginning at 11:00AM. You can join us in-person, or via livestream. Today, Bailey Hardy will bring the message, “Hunting in the Alps.” We will be reading from Genesis 1, and from Psalm 8.