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A Quick Reminder

“A Quick Reminder” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
For I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
Save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,
For to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
For to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
Abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;
Give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
And I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me. – From Psalm 86

We invite you to join us for Morning Worship, starting at 10:00AM – both online and in-person. Today’s Call to Worship comes from Psalm 86. Our sermon text comes from 2 John 1:1-13.

Questions for Further Reflection:
Augustine, one of the earliest and most influential Christian theologians, once asked, “What kind of face hath love?” Ponder that question considering what John says. What kind of “face” does love have? Do others see the love of God through your actions?

Bulletin for June 25, 2023Download
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The People of God

“The People of God” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion;
And to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
You forgive our transgressions.
Happy are those whom you choose
And bring near to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
Your holy temple.
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
You are the hope of all the ends of the earth
And of the farthest seas. from Psalm 65

We look forward to sharing in Worship with you – either in person or via livestream. Our Call to Worship comes from Psalm 65, and we will be reading from Joel 2:21-32.

Questions for Further Reflection:

In this passage, all of Creation is restored and the spirit of God is poured out on all people.

  • How does this speak to your understanding of God’s love?
  • Where can we seek inspiration from the Lord?
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A Call to Worship

“A Call to Worship” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

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.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
And do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
And sinners will return to you.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

We hope that you will join us for Worship at 11:00AM, either in-person or via livestream. Today, Rev. Benjamin Wines brings the message entitled, “A Call to Worship”. We will be reading from Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, with our Call to Worship coming from Psalm 51.

Questions for Further Reflection:
The prophet Joel is calling the people of Judah back to their source of life, God.

  • How does God speak to you during worship?
  • In what ways does God fill you back up?
Bulletin June 11 2023Download
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“Words of Challenge and Hope”

“Words of Challenge and Hope” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark,

To silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

The moon and the stars that you have established;

What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

Mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels,

And crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

You have put all things under their feet,

All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! – from Psalm 8

We invite you to join us for Worship on Sunday – either in-person, or via live-stream. We will be reading from Matthew 28:16-20. Our Call to Worship comes from Psalm 8. Rev. Benjamin Wines will being the sermon, “Words of Challenge and Hope”.

Questions for Further Reflection:
In this passage, Jesus gives the Great Commission to his disciples—even those that doubt what they’re seeing.

  • Why is that important?
  • How does that fact challenge your understanding of Jesus?
  • How can it give you hope?
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What’s His Name?

Brothers and sisters,

I wanted to give you all a little insight into our up-coming summer sermon series. At this point in the church calendar, we’ve got a huge swath of time in which there are no major Christian holidays. That means that we’ve got a little more freedom over the next few months to explore some really interesting parts of the Bible. This is the time of year when we get to experiment some with different ideas, different passages, different books and authors.

So, as part of that, we’ll be starting a sermon series on June 11 entitled, “What’s His Name?” Now, writing the name of the series down doesn’t quite do it justice. To really understand the title, you need to imagine you’re having a conversation with a friend or a family member. As you’re talking, you say something about someone you know or know of — a friend of a friend, an old coworker, a famous person—but you can’t quite remember their name. So, you sit there, snap your fingers repeatedly, and say, “Oh, what’s his name? What’s his name?!” That’s the title of the sermon series — the snapping of the fingers, the feeling that you know this, and the question, “What’s His Name?”

For this sermon series, we’re going to be looking at more obscure books of the Bible or more obscure passages from famous books (we’ll end with a passage from Luke’s gospel that almost never gets preached on). The idea behind this is pretty simple—there are some really interesting texts that don’t often get preached on. In prepping for this series, I ran across some interesting numbers related to which parts of the Bible get preached on and which ones don’t. These numbers are based on the passages chosen by the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). For those that may not know, the RCL is a three-year cycle of verses that cover most of the Bible. In other words, if you read through every passage selected by the lectionary, you’ll read most of the more famous passages from the Bible. In that sense, it can be a wonderful tool!

However, the RCL has some glaring gaps in the passages it chooses, with some books of the Bible being completely ignored (books like Nahum or Jude). To give you the numbers, the lectionary covers 72% of the entire New Testament. But when you break that down, the lectionary covers 90% of all four Gospels and only 54% of the non-Gospel parts of the New Testament. But, are you ready for the most glaring gap in the lectionary? If you exclude the times the RCL recommends one of the Psalms, the lectionary only covers 13.5% of the Old Testament. 13.5% of all those sacred scriptures! This summer, I hope we can remedy that. And I hope that by looking at some of these more obscure passages, you’ll be inspired to go and read some of the books of the Bible that maybe you haven’t thought of before!

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

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Real, Holy Words

“Real, Holy Words” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

We invite you to join us for Worship on Sunday – either in-person, or via live-stream. We will be reading from 1 Corinthians 12:3-13. Our Call to Worship is John 7:37-39. Rev. Benjamin Wines will being the sermon, “Real, Holy Words”.

Questions for Further Reflection:
Paul insists that all the spiritual gifts are equal because they come from the Holy Spirit.

  • What gifts has the Holy Spirit given you?
  • How can you use those gifts to further God’s kingdom?
Bulletin, May 28, 2023Download
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No Longer in the World

“No Longer in the World” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

Clap your hands, all you peoples;
Shout to God with loud songs of joy.
For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
A great king over all the earth.
God has gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is king of all the earth;
Sing praises with a psalm.
God is king over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the people gather
As the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted. – Psalm 47

We look forward to sharing in Worship with you – either in person, or via live-stream – on Sunday! We will be reading from John 17:1-11. In this passage, Jesus places a lot of trust in God and in his disciples. What does it mean to you to know that Christ entrusted his ministry to human beings?

May 21, 2023 BulletinDownload
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The Legend of Zelda and Loneliness

Brothers and sisters,

As many of you know, last week a new video game that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time came out—The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Now, since it came out last Friday, I’ve spent a good chunk of my free time playing it and have thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m pretty sure I haven’t even gotten to the best parts yet! I haven’t beaten the game, so I don’t know the full story or what all the major themes of the game will be, but there is one theme that has already been explored and I want to talk about it.

Before I do that, though, I want to give you a little con-text about Tears of the Kingdom. See, it is a sequel to a previous Zelda game, which is a rarity in the Zelda franchise. Typically, each game is a stand-alone game with a new version of Hyrule (the fictional world you play in), a new version of Link (the character you play as), and a new version of Princess Zelda (who the series is named after). But since Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel, you play as the same version of Link from the previous game, called Breath of the Wild. And there’s an important change that has happened in Link’s life between the two games.

In Breath of the Wild (the first game), Link is alone. The brief version of the story is that Link has woken up to a Hyrule that has been devastated by a great evil. One hundred years ago, Link had fought against that great evil and lost, nearly dying in the process. The only reason he survived was because of fast thinking from Princess Zelda. In Breath of the Wild, Hyrule has been broken. Link’s memories of his friends have been erased. And the few people Link meets tend to blame him for the fall of Hyrule. He is able to make some friends along the way, but it is a game about grief, burden, loss, and redemption. And while it is an undeniably beautiful game and story, Link undeniably feels alone.

In Tears of the Kingdom, that has changed. Link and Zelda had managed to save Hyrule at the end of the first game and the citizens have begun to rebuild. And now, Link has friends. There are people who care about him and support him. When the game begins, Link has been missing for several months after being attacked by a new great evil threatening Hyrule. But when he makes it back to civilization, everyone he meets starts each conversation by saying they’re so glad Link’s back! They’re worried about the injuries he’s sustained. They caution him not to push himself too hard—they don’t want to lose their friend again. And it’s touching to see that so many of the people who care about Link in Tears of the Kingdom were friends he made in Breath of the Wild.

So, why bring up these two games? Because I appreciate the change they highlight. In Breath of the Wild, Link is made to feel like he is alone. In Tears of the Kingdom, it’s revealed that he isn’t. He has friends and allies who care about him. And I think that’s a good message for everyone to hear right now. You are not alone. If you are getting this newsletter, it’s because you are a member of Hope Valley Baptist Church, which means you have a whole host of brothers and sisters in Christ you can reach out to. You have a pastor whose phone is always on. If you ever need help, please reach out.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben

P. S. Once I beat Tears of the Kingdom, y’all can expect another nerdy Illuminator article!

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With Gentleness and Reverence

“With Gentleness and Reverence” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
Who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs;
You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water;
Yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
And I will tell you what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him,
And he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
The Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
He has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed by God, because he has not rejected my prayer
Or removed his steadfast love from me. – from Psalm 66

We look forward to sharing in Worship with you – whether in person or via live-stream. We will be reading from 1 Peter 3:13-22. Rev. Benjamin Wines brings the sermon, “With Gentleness and Reverence”.

Questions for Further Reflection:
Peter encourages us to know how we want to express our faith to others.
What are the first things you’d want to tell someone about God?
Why do you think those things are so important to you?

Bulletin for May 14, 2023Download
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Mercy

“Mercy” – Rev. Benjamin Wines

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame;
In your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
For your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
Take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
For you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
Let your face shine upon your servant;
Save me in your steadfast love.
O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you,
And accomplished for those who take refuge in you!
-from Psalm 31

We look forward to sharing in Worship with you – whether in person or via live-stream. We will be reading from 1 Peter 2:1-10. Rev. Benjamin Wines brings the sermon, “Mercy”.

Questions for Further Reflection:

God resoundingly condemns oppression and injustice.

What can we, as Christians, do to fight for those on the margins?

What can we do to stand in solidarity with people who are hurting?