The Ward Hill Church Bell Ringer – July 11, 2021

Church Calendar & Lectionary

Season:           Ordinary Time after Pentecost – from the day after Pentecost until Advent (May 24 – November 27, 2021)

Color:              Green – for the growth of God’s Kingdom

This Sunday: Proper 10 – 7^th Sunday after Pentecost

Sun, July 18:   Proper 11 – 8^th Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary:     Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34,53-56

Hymns:           4 – All Praise to God Who Reigns Above; 86 – The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want; 184 – The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Monthly Prayer Focus for July

Local Church Focus:  First Congregational Church, Boxford – Andrew James, pastor

Missions Focus:  Partners in Development, Haiti and Guatemala

Community Resources – Food, Clothing, Shelter, & Other Help www.communityactioninc.org/phocadownload/resource_guide_english_october_2017.pdf          National Suicide Hotline:  1-800-273-8255

Refugee Ministries: Interserve USA (interserveusa.com); Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Greater Boston Refugee Ministry (http://www.egc.org/refugee)

Global Crisis Help:  World Relief – worldrelief.org

Information on Persecuted Christians: Open Doors USA – opendoorsusa.org

Monthly Scripture Memory for July

Matthew 7:12 (ESV) – “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Luke 10:27 (ESV) – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Catechism: An Outline of the Faith

Q.  What is our duty to our neighbors?

A.  Our duty to our neighbors is to love them as ourselves, and to do to other people as we wish them to do to us;

V – To love, honor, and help our parents and family; to honor those in authority, and to meet their just demands;

VI – To show respect for the life God has given us; to work and pray for peace; to bear no malice, prejudice, or hatred in our hearts; and to be kind to all the creatures of God;

VII – To use our bodily desires as God intended;

VIII – To be honest and fair in our dealings; to seek justice, freedom, and the necessities of life for all people; and to use our talents and possessions as ones who must answer for them to God;

IX – To speak the truth, and not to mislead others by our silence;

X – To resist temptations to envy, greed, and jealousy; to rejoice in other people’s gifts and graces; and to do our duty for the love of God, who has called us into fellowship with him.

Q.  What is the purpose of the Ten Commandments?

A.  The Ten Commandments were given to define our relationship with God and our neighbors.

Q.  Since we do not fully obey them, are they useful at all?

A.  Since we do not fully obey them, we see more clearly our sin and our need for redemption.