Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church
Worship Focus for June 7
“ Knowing Our Worth ”
Rev. Hardy H. Kim, preaching
Greetings!

There have been many hard and strange things about these quarantine times. We have all been asked to show restraint and flexibility, and to be patient with our desires for things to be back to normal. I am grateful to be part of a community that really has valued the well-being of neighbors, and who have not let their grief overwhelm our sense of enjoy many blessings. 

At the same time, there are just some things we’re losing that we can’t help but grieve—and it’s important to acknowledge the grief and to make room for it. In the midst of all the hard health news and the violence we’ve all been made to witness, we still can say that it stinks that our young people don’t get to enjoy proms or celebrate their graduations. My heart goes out to each and every family that is enduring this loss right now. 

Even though I know it’s not the same, and it can’t be exactly what you all had hoped for, I still want you all to know that SVPC is here to affirm and celebrate you and your hard work. I hope you’ll join us for our Promotion Sunday service, when we’ll lift up all our students who are completing stages of education (along with their families). Come help us share love and encouragement with each other!

In Christ’s peace,
Hardy


Join us immediately following worship this Sunday for Coffee Hour

After the service is over, log on to our Zoom coffee time at:

Theme for Sunday
“…although the desire to be useful can be a sign of mental and spiritual health in our goal-oriented society, it can also become the source of a paralyzing lack of self-esteem. More often than not, we not only desire to do meaningful things, but we often make the results of our work the criteria of our self-esteem. And then we not only have successes, we become our successes.”
—Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude
Questions for Reflection
  • If graduation was a long time ago for you—how do you see yourself differently now, compared to that pivotal time?
  • If you’re one of those students who are going through graduation or advancement now—what’s the loss that you are grieving most, that you want to lift up to God?
Genesis1:1-2:4a
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

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: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth 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 the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
Website |   Events   |   News