6th Sunday of Easter … Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 10am
Come as you are! Everyone welcome … In-person or on Zoom.
R E A D I N G S
Psalm 67, 1 Peter 2:4-5, 1 Peter 2:10, Revelation 21:10, 22:1-5
S E R M O N
“Magical Mystery Tour” by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
M U S I C
PRELUDE … “St. Denio” Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)
INTROIT … “Surely the Lord Is in This Place” Bob Burroughs (b. 1935)
HYMN … “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise“
ANTHEM … “Instruments, Waken and Publish Your Gladness” Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
HYMN … “Joy to the World”
OFFERTORY … Prelude in F Major “ Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
HYMN … “O Lord, You Gave Your Servant John”
POSTLUDE … “Prelude and Fugue in D Major” Dietrich Buxtehude
Join us for Coffee Hour immediately after the service.
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A N N O U N C E M E N T S – – – – – – –
Volunteers Needed! Make a Difference at St. John’s by Becoming an Usher
The ushering team is looking for people who would like to support worship services by acting as ushers on Sunday mornings. Ushers come early to set up (and hear amazing choir and organ rehearsals) before the service; stick around during the service passing out bulletins and greeting people as they arrive, and taking the offertory; and then finish up the morning by clearing up and putting worship materials away until the following Sunday.
At this time, there is a “regular” weekly slot available on the fourth Sunday of each month, but new ushers would also be welcome on the fifth Sundays of some months or on days that suit their schedules. The ushering team is flexible!
Training is available and current ushers (Elizabeth Patelke, Julia Oversloot, Nigel Blampied, and Lisa Blampied) can answer questions you might have. Contact Lisa at 707-332-7689 if you’d like more information during the week. We welcome your interest in learning more about this role, and hope to speak with you soon. Many thanks! – The Ushering Team
Congregational Meeting, June 1
There will be a Congregational Meeting in the Sanctuary right after worship on Sunday, June 1st to receive the report of the Nominating Committee, and to vote on Elders and Deacons for the Class of 2028 and for the Congregational Representative for the 2025/26 Nominating Committee. – Diane Morrison, Clerk of Session
May 4th Sunday Forum on USAID topic now has a YouTube Link
After graduating from Notre Dame and serving with Pastor Max in Peace Corps Guatemala, Nick Marinacci has spent most of the last 30 years in countries in conflict and transition, much of it with the United States Agency for International Development. Nick will discuss how USAID’s work relates to U.S. national security and what effect the agency’s closure and a reduction in foreign assistance might have around the world.
Nick’s experience includes humanitarian assistance during the war in Bosnia and conflicts in the former Soviet Union in the 90s, and post-9/11 counterinsurgency and counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. He worked in West Bank/Gaza during the second intifada, worked (remotely) on Libya and Syria during the Arab Spring, and has managed and/or advised on peacebuilding, stabilization, and countering extremism programs in Colombia, Central America, the Lake Chad basin, Somalia, and across the Middle East. Nick’s last assignment for USAID was a trip to Ukraine in January. Click on the link to view.
Churches unite worldwide in vigils for LGBTQIA+ inclusion
By Beth Waltemath, Presbyterian News Service
“Gender violence is an evil that must be stopped collectively,” said the Rev. Daniela Di Carlo, pastor of the Waldensian Church in Milan and organizer of national prayer vigils across Italy in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia(IDAHOBIT), which falls on May 17 and was established in 1990.
The Waldensian Church in Italy is one of four denominational partners of the PC(USA) in Southern Europe. Others include the Portuguese Presbyterian Church, the Spanish Evangelical Church (also Presbyterian) and the Greek Evangelical Church, and comprise the Southern Europe Partnership Network. Of these, the Waldensian Evangelical Church in Italy has been one of the most vocal on issues relating to LGBTQIA+ equity and inclusion.
Di Carlo believes that forming alliances between churches can build a world where differences are resources. She serves on the Italian National Commission on Faith, Gender and Sexuality, an ecumenical Protestant advocacy group.
“Every person is deeply loved by God and was created in God’s image and likeness,” said Di Carlo. “Women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community and all those who do not fit into the norm can help churches and theologies become inclusive.”
According to Di Carlo, vigils, prayers and services dedicated to the victims of homobitransphobia remind people of faith of the hope they must have and the work they must do to end violence and create a world of welcome and love. “As we work together for the day in which no woman is killed, no gay rejected by his family, no [transgender person] attacked in the street, no differently-abled person mocked, let us pray and begin to build, with the help of Jesus Christ, that possible world made of welcome and love,” she said. This article continues on the PCUSA website.
The Power of nonviolent direct action
By Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler. Jr., Presbyterian Outlook Magazine
For many years, I have been a proponent of nonviolent direct action. I say this as someone who might be called a pacifist but not one who is passive — two concepts that are often confused.
Nonviolent direct action is founded in the firm conviction that human life is too precious to be taken to achieve a political end. We are all created in God’s image and are valuable to God; hence, we should be valuable to each other. The sanctity of life is the key foundation for nonviolent strategies.
It continues with a moral commitment to act only by doing good. The means must cohere with the desired end to achieve a moral good. When we achieve a goal through moral compromise, we undermine our own morality. In this regard, I am captivated by Paul’s instruction in Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is the way of nonviolence: collaborating with good to foster a just outcome.
A deep and sustained courage frames and feeds a willingness to violate unjust laws to show that injustices should not stand. The courage is not only in breaking a law, violating a policy or putting oneself at odds with state-sanctioned authority.
Nonviolent direct action is one of the most proactive choices a person can make when confronted by oppression, systemic immorality and injustice. Far from espousing passivity or peace as quiet acquiescence, nonviolence is a choice to lay down arms, refuse to resist physically, accept violation (and perhaps even violence), and then bear the consequences of one’s actions willingly — all to bear witness to God’s call for justice to “roll down like waters and righteousness as an ever flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). This article continues on the Presbyterian Outlook Magazine webpage.