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Summer Worship Schedule
From now through September 6, there will be only one service at 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary.
Livestream, Nursery, & Children’s Worship will all be available.
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Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful face on an empty head.
Proverbs 11:22 (The Message Translation)
In the film Moana, there’s a villainous crab, Tomatoa, who is greedy and treasure obsessed. If you haven’t seen the film, there’s a whole song called “Shiny” (which will get stuck in your head if you listen) all about how he went from a “drab crab” to someone beautiful because as he’s collected treasure he’s attached it to his shell making himself an object of fascination and interest to all the fish in the sea. He’s covered up his insecurities with these shiny objects in order to have a so called “glow-up.”
We might not have our own personal shells to decorate but we adorn our bodies and our homes. We make specific purchases to denote our wealth and our beauty. There’s even a whole shopping culture around “dupes.” Items that look like the real expensive thing but for much cheaper (and often lesser quality). Just like Tomatoa, we too, can fall into the trap of thinking we can cover up our insecurities with “shiny objects.”
But this verse reminds us: beautiful things only go so far when they are sitting upon an empty head. This verse finds its home within a longer Proverb offering instructions on how to live a God-Shaped Life. The author is clear this sort of life is lived in community and consequences come to those who live in ways that are empty headed, prioritizing themselves over the good of others. We even saw this as we finished our three-week study on Gideon within our larger Judges sermon series.
As we make our way through summer, where there seems to be a major sale around every holiday and pictures posted of seemingly “perfect vacations,” let us not be tempted by gold rings on empty heads. Let’s recognize the emptiness and the lies behind these things. One more x,y, or z will not solve things. And something definitely went wrong on that vacation (this is just what happens!). Let us instead look for God, setting our sights on God’s beauty around us – for this is beauty that does not disappoint nor is empty headed but brings life and builds up our lives and those around us.
God of awe and wonder,
Keep our eyes to your majesties:
In hills and forests,
Waterways,
And in your people.
Tune us to pay attention to the beauty you’ve created in this world.
So we might be a people satisfied by the grace you pour out upon us each day.
Amen.
-The Rev. Isabella Fagiani, Associate Pastor
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Fellowship Outing - Attic Productions
Want to catch a show? We're planning a carpool to Fincastle to see Attic Productions' matinee 2:30 performance of the musical Into The Woods on Saturday, July 25. Tickets are $15, and we hope to finalize reservations by July 22. We'll plan to catch dinner somewhere afterwards. You can turn your money into the church office, or get it to Jeff Bossert at jbossert71@outlook.com
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Summer Fellowship Hours After Worship
July 19; August 2 & 16
Fellowship Hour Volunteers
The Fellowship Committee would welcome help from anyone who would like to help with Summer Fellowship Hours. You can help with set up (preparing coffee and water), providing snacks (baking/cooking or buying), or clean up (cleaning out coffee pots, water pitchers, and putting away supplies). If you're interested in helping, please contact Kathy Sebolt at 540-520-2538.
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Summer Office Hours - Financial Administrator
For the months of June through August, Lori Tosoni’s officer hours will be Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM each day.
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Savvy Seniors
Join us after church on July 19 for brunch! We will be heading to The Green Goat after church that day. They serve a brunch buffet for $15.95 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Please sign up on the clipboard at the reception desk in the Gathering Area by Saturday, July 11, so that we can make the reservation a week in advance. We can carpool from the church. There will be no Tuesday event this month.
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Property & Maintenance Workday
Friday, July 31 Time to get the church ready for the fall. Join us on Friday, July 31, throughout the day for a property and maintenance workday. We have plenty of tasks that need to be completed. If you would like to volunteer, email Mike Stacy at ropcbuilding@rcpres.org for more information.
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Bible & Music Camp Shepherds
The job of a Shepherd at Bible and Music Camp is to nurture the group you are shepherding by leading them to their different activities, assisting the leader of that activity, and helping and encouraging the children as they worship, sing, learn, create, and play. You are not alone as a shepherd! Each group has at least 3 shepherds. The beauty of this job is that your essential task is to engage with the wonderful young people of our church! You will be blessed by getting to know these children. We hope you will sign up to shepherd them along in their faith!
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Sermon Series for
May 31- August 30:
The Judges: Challenging Leadership in Chaotic Times
Israel lives in a season of communal transition. No more are they nomads wandering in the wilderness. They have entered the Promised Land, but Judges tells us this new life is far from peaceful. We are still many years from the later stability created by David and his kingship. Judges is the in-between times, the season of transition from one generation to another and from a tenuous desert life to a settled generational existence.
This summer we will journey with the Judges through this season of intrigue, turmoil, acts of heroism, decisions of great hubris, and see how these stories speak to our lives in times of uncertainty, instability, and transition.
July 12 – Abimelech
Judges 9:1-6 – Playing Dress Up
July 19 – Samson
Judges 13:1-14; 24-25 – What to Expect When You’re Expecting
July 26 – Samson
Judges 14:1-20 – Petulant
August 2 – Samson
Judges 15:1-8 – Turning Tail
August 9 – Samson
Judges 16:4-22 – Pillow Talk
August 16 – Samson
Judges 16:23-31 – Ego’s End
August 23 – Micah
Judges 17:1-13 – Shelia-ism
August 30 – Ending
Judges 21:25 – In Our Own Eyes
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Guest Preacher and Lecturers for the Summer Sermon Series
Dr. Elna K. Solvang
Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM
“Reckoning with Violence and Trauma in Judges”
Dr. Solvang is a professor in the Religion Department at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN. She is the author of A Woman’s Place Is in the House: Royal Women of Judah and Their Involvement in the House of David and of essays examining women’s agency in ancient royal households and in the Hebrew Bible.
The Rev. Dr. Jacq Lapsley
Sunday, August 30 at 10:00 AM
Sermon: “In Our Own Eyes” & After Worship Gathering
Jacqueline E. Lapsley, first female president of Union Presbyterian Seminary, is a leading scholar of the Old Testament. Previously, she was the dean and vice president of academic affairs, and a longtime professor at Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Chorister for a Day
Sunday, July 12
Join members of the Sanctuary Choir for a Sunday of singing in the choir loft! The choir will meet at 9:00 AM in the chancel to prepare a simple anthem and hymns for the Sunday worship service. We invite all interested singers to “jump in” and join us for this opportunity to sing and give choir at try! No week-night rehearsal, robing, or procession—just come sing with us! The Chorister-for-a-Day Sundays are open to all adult and youth singers. For more information, please contact Dillon J. Swanson, Director of Music Ministries at dillon@rcpres.org.
Sign up here
| Opportunity for Generosity & Mission Updates | |
Mission Partner Support
Each month, we designate all cash and coin to one of our local mission partners. For the month of July, we are supporting the West End Center for Youth. You can place your money in the offering plate or make an online gift, noting that it is for Mission and making a note for the West End Center for Youth in the text box. We’re thankful for your generosity in the month of June, as we raised $2,140.25 for the Rescue Mission.
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West End Center School Supply Drive
June 28 - July 19
With Roanoke City Schools starting earlier this year, our collection of school supplies will also need to start earlier. Our list may seem shorter this year, but that's because we had a large surplus from last year, so the listed items below are the most needed. Thank you for the support! Items with a * are the highest priority.
Let's stay healthy items
- *Hand sanitizer pump bottles, 8 oz size
- *Clorox or similar disinfecting wipes
- Tissues - flat boxes/ no cube size
- Baby wipes - refill packs are okay
School Supplies
- *Dry Erase markers - thin and wide multi-packs in colors and black
- *#2 pencils (Dixon and Ticonderoga preferred)
- Pencil cap Erasers
- *Elmer's Glue sticks, Regular and Jumbo size
- Children's Fiskar brand scissors (Age 8+ preferred)
- Plastic pocket folders w/ and w/o brads (No paper pocket folders)
- Highlighters - thin and wide, all colors
- Notebook paper (Regular & College Ruled)
- Headphones/ earbuds from the Dollar Store
- Blue and Black ballpoint pens
- Crayons, 8 ct, 16 ct and 24 ct
- Fine Line/Thin Crayola Markers (8 or 10 ct Classic Colors only please)
- Wide Crayola Markers (8 to 10 Ct Classic Colors only please) (No Pip Squeak size)
- Spiral notebooks (Wire-bound): 1 subject and 3 subjects in both Wide and College Ruled
- Indexed Subject Dividers with and without pockets
Drop off supplies by Sunday, July 19. Monetary donations are also welcome; $75 covers most of a child's supply needs.
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Raleigh Court Presbyterian Plawkers
July 8 location: Wiley Drive, near the hospital
The earth care committee is hosting weekly Plawking (pick up litter while walking) each Wednesday at 9:30 AM. Adults and children of all ages are welcome to join for a 45-minute walk and litter pick up! Email Jordan Nallen at jordancnallen@gmail.com to sign up or add your name to the sign up sheet in the Gathering Area.
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Clothing Swap - August 2
Looking to update your wardrobe more sustainably? Join the Earth Care Committee at our first clothing swap! Participants can bring items they no longer wear and "shop" from the collection of others, and also learn about best practices on reducing textile waste! All items brought to the event should be gently used, free of stains and holes. Please bring items to the Fellowship Hall on Sunday, August 2. and the swap will begin during the fellowship hour after the service.
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Prayer Requests
Marvin & Roena Barbre, Dawn Blakeman, Linda & Wayne Carter (friends of Ruth Marple), Beverly Day & family (friend of Camilla & Johnsey Cabaniss), Nate Ellison (son of Jay & Polly Ellison), Chuck Garst, Carolyn Hampton (Mary Hampton’s sister-in-law), Debra Harris, Jackie Hart (friend of Susan & Al Knighton), Bill Haynie, Mary Hopkins (great-aunt of Tyler Person), Cameron & Susie Hutto, Susan Lindstrom, Connie Pearlman, Amy Starr Redwine, Kim Richards, Shirley Scruggs (sister of Susan Davis), Campbell Tims (granddaughter of Kay Tims), and all caregivers.
Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with Chip Morris following the passing of Louise Morris on Sunday, June 21, and with Nancy Farthing’s family following her passing on Wednesday, June 24.
(Prayers request as of Friday, July 3. Names in bold indicate an addition to the prayer list this week.)
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Birthdays: July 6-12
7/6 Chris Bryant, Lonnie Phillips
7/7 Bonnie Cooper, Betty Nance, Dave Owen-O'Quill
7/8 Gillie Henriksen, Robin McLamb, Anita Naff
7/9 Tom Gibbs
7/11 Patricia Coffey, Tom Mitchell, Courtney Ralston
7/12 Elizabeth Jones, Keith Lewis, Brandon Pierson
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Monday, July 6
Tuesday, July 7
Staff Planning Retreat
4:00 PM - Small Group: Dixon
5:00 PM - Mission Committee
Wednesday, July 8
6:30 PM - Adult Small Group Leader Gathering at Leigh's
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Thursday, July 9
Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference
1:30 PM - Savvy Seniors: Matter of Balance Class
5:30 PM - Justice, Equity, & Belonging
Friday, July 10
Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference
God Alive Family Cookout & Campout
Saturday, July 11
Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference
2:00 PM - Funeral: Louise Morris
Sunday, July 12
Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference
9:00 AM - Chorister for a Day Rehearsal
10:00 AM - Worship: Sanctuary
11:15 AM - Earth Care Committee
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WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR GROUPS
- Centering Prayer at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church: Monday, 10:00 AM
- AA-Primary Purpose: Tuesday & Thursday, 10:30 AM
- Tai Chi: Tuesday & Thursday, 5:30 PM
- Al-Anon: Friday, 11:45 AM
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The Herald - Deadline for Articles: 10th of each month
This Week @ RCPC - Deadline for Articles: Wednesday of each week
Send submissions for The Herald and This Week @ RCPC to Julie Satterwhite
Video Board in the Gathering Area - Send Information to Carole Banks
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