July 24, 2025

"I'm sending out an SOS to the world" -- The Police

July 25, 2025

In This Edition:

Summer Fellowship Hour Host Signup

Members of the congregation are invited to sign up to provide light refreshments (lemonade and chips/cookies) and host Fellowship after worship on Sundays during the summer. For outdoor worship: a table will be set up outdoors, and hosts can use the kitchen cart to bring out the refreshments at the end of worship. For chapel worship: we will gather for fellowship in Herbert Harrison Hall. Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up.

www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B44A9A929A7F94-57173639-summer#

Church Campout

Want to spend some quality time with your church family out in the beauty of God’s creation? Then come camping with us August 15-17 at Massasoit State Park! You can reserve a campsite by clicking here (the Shepherd family will be in site D74). Located just 30 minutes down the road, Massasoit State Park offers opportunities for swimming, canoing/kayaking, and hiking trails, or simply relaxing by the campfire! For more information or to let us know you’re coming, contact Pastor Shepherd.

Sermon Snippet

Sermon Snippet

Ever heard the song “Message in a Bottle,” by The Police? It imagines a person stranded alone on a deserted island “sending out an SOS.” But in the third verse of the song, the “SOS” is answered: “A Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore / Seems I'm not alone at being alone / Hundred billion castaways looking for a home.”

This Sunday’s sermon responds to the question, “Why don’t I feel like God hears my prayers? Why do I feel so alone?” “Message in a Bottle” shows us that this a question that many, many of us might ask. But it fails to show us what God’s answer is to our loneliness. I guess you’ll have to come and hear this Sunday 😁 

Holding in Prayer

This week, as a community of faith we pray:

  • for traveling mercies for Barbara, as she visits New Hampshire with family

  • for the Randall Family, as they mourn the death of Lucy

  • for Mary’s brother Lance, as he continues to heal from an infection

  • with sorrow, for those who mourn the death of Sue, a classmate of Nancy, Judy, and Shirley’s.

  • for Shirley’s niece Karen, who is receiving palliative care, and for the comforting times with family.

  • for Laurie’s sister-in-law Jan, who is recovering from surgery.

  • for Pam’s friend Cookie, as she battles cancer.

  • for Lew’s friend Dan, as he faces kidney disease

  • for Margie’s sister Holly, as she has recently been hospitalized.

  • for Margie’s aunt, who came home from the hospital

  • for George, who is fighting metastatic cancer after surviving a transplant, and with joy, as he gets a visit from distant family members

  • for Jim and Justin as they travel to Japan