Dear Jennifer,

I am grateful for the pleasure of leading worship with you once again this Sunday. This week we will focus on the story of the call of the prophet Jeremiah and, as we do, consider our own calls. 

Call stories are frequent in the Bible, from Abraham and Sarah to Mary, Joseph and Paul. I imagine the writers of our scripture were eager to bear witness to the importance of God’s call in the lives of God’s people. The story of Jeremiah’s call weaves together several interesting elements of calls recounted in scripture. What has been your experience with callings and nudging from God? 

This is Labor Day weekend, when we pause to give thanks for the social and economic contributions of workers. Our own work and that of others. This weekend may we reflect upon and give thanks for God’s activity in our lives. 

Peace, 

Evie

Please join us immediately following the Sunday service for our Coffee Hour

(in-person in Trinity Court or online via Zoom).

bit.ly/SVPCCoffeeHour

Theme for Sunday

"On a summer morning I sat down on a hillside to think about God, a worthy pastime. Near me, I saw a single cricket; it was moving the grains of the hillside this way and that way. How great was its energy, how humble its effort. 

Let us hope it will always be like this, each of us going on in our inexplicable ways building the universe."

Mary Oliver, a contemporary American poet, "Song of the Builders”

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.”

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.

See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.”