Sunday Worship

at St. John’s

July 5, 2026 

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Lost and Found

I hope you had a good Fourth of July weekend and found a little time for rest after the noise and celebration. This year’s holiday carried a little extra weight as our country marked the 250th anniversary of July 4. We give thanks to God for this nation, for the freedoms and blessings that have shaped our lives, and we pray with honesty as well for the work still left undone, the places where justice, mercy, and our common life still need tending.

This Sunday at St. John’s we will gather around one of Jesus’ most beloved parables, the story of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to go looking for the one sheep that is missing.

It is a simple story, but it speaks to something deep in us. Most of us know what it is to feel a little lost, to wonder if we have drifted farther than we meant to, or whether anyone would notice if we disappeared for a while. Jesus tells this parable to say that God notices. God comes looking. God does not shrug and move on. The Shepherd goes after the lost and rejoices to bring them home.

We will also gather at the Lord’s Table this Sunday and remember Harriet Harper with gratitude and love. If you have been away for a while, or if your heart simply needs worship, prayer, and a place to be welcomed, I would love to see you at 11:00.

Peace,
Pastor Jon

St. John's Presbyterian Worship Bulletin

July 5 2026

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering

Prelude, Alina Klimaszewska, organ

Hymn 326, For All the Saints, verse 1

Remembering Harriet Harper

*Call To Worship, The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

Pastor: We gather this morning the day after the fireworks faded over this city, the day after this nation paused to mark two hundred and fifty years, grateful for the gift of a country and honest enough to know that even great nations wander and need the Shepherd’s care.

People: Thanks be to God, who searches for what is lost and does not give up.

Pastor: We come as people who know what it is to stray, one comfortable step at a time, following the next green patch of grass until we looked up and did not recognize where we were.

People: Thanks be to God, whose voice still carries across every dark distance.

Pastor: We come because the Shepherd has already left the ninety-nine and is already on the hillside, already calling our name, already moving toward us with the full intention of carrying us home.

People: Thanks be to God, who lays us on strong shoulders and rejoices all the way back.

Opening Prayer 

*Hymn 331 God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand

1 God of the ages, whose almighty hand

leads forth in beauty all the starry band

of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,

our grateful songs before thy throne arise.

2 Thy love divine hath led us in the past.

In this free land by thee our lot is cast.

Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay:

thy word our law, thy paths our chosen way.

3 From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence,

be thy strong arm our ever sure defense.

Thy true religion in our hearts increase.

Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

4 Refresh thy people on their toilsome way.

Lead us from night to never-ending day.

Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,

and glory, laud, and praise be ever thine.

Prayer of Confession, Liturgist Ann Hardy

Good Shepherd, we confess we are better at celebrating freedom than living it well. Like sheep, we have wandered one comfortable step at a time, until we lost sight of the fold and the voice that calls us by name. Forgive us, and come find us where we are. Amen. (Silent Confession)

Assurance of Pardon 

*Glory Be to the Father, Hymn 581

*Passing the Peace

The Word

Prayer for Illumination 

First Scripture Reading, Ezekiel 34:11–16

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

Anthem

Sermon Scripture, Luke 15:1–7 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. ’Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

The Word of the Lord for us today.

Thanks be to God. 

Sermon, “Lost and Found” The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

*Hymn 774 There Is Now a New Creation, 1, 2, 4 and 5

1 There is now a new creation

through the grace of Jesus Christ,

peace and reconciliation with the God of endless life.

2 Call the lost and found together;

tell the news to everyone:

now the past is gone forever

and a new life has begun.

4 Come and join the celebration;

come and join this happy feast;

Jesus makes an invitation

to the greatest and the least.

5 There is now a new creation

through the grace of Jesus Christ.

Sing, with thanks and adoration,

to the God of endless life!

The Lord’s Supper

The Great Thanksgiving 

Lift up your hearts!

We lift them up to God!

Celebrate God's love!

It is right to give God our thanks and praise!

As we walk this journey of life,

we remember these gifts

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

Prayers of the People

Lord’s Prayer

Breaking the Bread 

Communion of the People

Hymn 518 Lamb of God

1 Your only Son, no sin to hide,

but you have sent him from your side

to walk upon this guilty sod,

and to become the Lamb of God.

Refrain: O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,

I love the holy Lamb of God!

O wash me in his precious blood,

my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

2 Your gift of love, we crucified;

we laughed and scorned him as he died;

the humble King we named a fraud

and sacrificed the Lamb of God. (Refrain)

3 I was so lost, I should have died,

but you have brought me to your side

to be led by your staff and rod,

and to be called a lamb of God. (Refrain)

Prayer after Communion 

Welcome and Announcements

Offering

*Doxology, Hymn 609

*Prayer after the Offering Rev. Burnham

Sending

*Hymn 338 O Beautiful for Spacious Skies

1 O beautiful for spacious skies,

for amber waves of grain,

for purple mountain majesties

above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

and crown thy good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea!

2 O beautiful for heroes proved

in liberating strife,

who more than self their country loved,

and mercy more than life!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw;

confirm thy soul in self-control,

thy liberty in law!

3 O beautiful for patriot dream

that sees beyond the years

thine alabaster cities gleam,

undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

till all success be nobleness

and every gain divine!

*Benediction

Postlude

This Week at St. John’s

Sunday, July 5 | Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

9:30 am – Sunday School for Adults: Systematic Theology, Session Room
11:00 am – Worship Service, live in the sanctuary and on Facebook
1:30 pm – Book Study, Zoom

Tuesday, July 7

5:00 pm – Exercise Group, Building 2

Thursday, July 9

5:00 pm – Exercise Class, Building 2

Sunday, July 12 | Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

9:30 am – Sunday School for Adults: Systematic Theology, Session Room
11:00 am – Worship Service, live in the sanctuary and on Facebook
12:00 pm – CE, Fellowship, and Caring Committee Meetings
1:30 pm – Book Study, Zoom