Tierra Nueva

Sunday! We gather in worship, that we might enter into the light of a broken, divided world.

Welcome: Kevin Riley

Worship: Andrew Lewis

Prayers of the People: Gracie Ekblad

Message: Bob Ekblad with Tony Cienfuegos

Call to Action: Kevin Riley

Blessing: Danielle Riley

John 9:39-41 (NASB)

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

The Lord reigns—the earth knows this, and all people see this through the light he provides. Alvin rests on the majesty of our loving God.

Psalm 97:1-6

1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;

let the distant shores rejoice.

2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

3 Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes on every side.

4 His lightning lights up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all peoples see his glory.

Acts 7:36, 39-42

36 He led us out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.

39 “But we refused to obey him. Instead, we rejected him and in our hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 We told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time we made an idol in the form of a calf. We brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what our own hands had made. 42 God turned away from us and gave us over to the worship of the sun, moon, and stars.

Psalm 81:6-12

6 “I removed the burden from their shoulders;

their hands were set free from the basket.

7 In your distress you called and I rescued you,

I answered you out of a thundercloud;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

8 Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—

if you would only listen to me, Israel!

9 You shall have no foreign god among you;

you shall not worship any god other than me.

10 I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

11 “But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.

Comfort comes from God—along with every other good thing. TN community member Tony Cienfuegos celebrates the love and nearness we have from God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

Fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Kevin provides a brief look back at 1800s Britain and their course to abolish slavery, reading from Psalm 144 and The Book of Common Prayer.

Psalm 144:9-12

O God, I will sing to you a new song

I will sing to you on a ten-string lyre

You give victory to kings

and have rescued David your servant

Rescue me from the hurtful sword

and deliver me from the hand of foreign peoples

whose mouths speak deceitfully and

whose right hand is raised in falsehood

Give us holy boldness, Lord,

to struggle for justice until we die

Mike begins the day with listening to Jesus. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and promises that his sheep (all of us) hear his voice. How is Jesus speaking to you in this season?

John 10 (ESV): I Am the Good Shepherd

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Danielle leads a morning of contemplation in the hidden, underwhelming things of this world.

Matthew 13:31-35 (ESV)

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

We start the week with worship: declaring God’s majesty over our world and anything we could offer. In our submission to God’ power, we lean in to the transformation Jesus’ love creates in us.

I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken / With a mighty hand and outstretched arms, you are the God who saves, deliverer, your name

Build My Life. Pat Barrett

Mighty Hand. Jon Thurlow

We gather in worship of a powerful God who provides transformative love.

Worship: Andrea and Jean Chaumont

Prayers of the People: Danielle Riley

Message: Mike Neelley

Call to Action: Andrew Lewis

Blessing: Kevin Riley

This passage brings together two important parts of our relationship with Jesus—our identity and our purpose—who we are and what are we to do. You are God’s craftsmanship (identity), created in Christ Jesus for good works (purpose). It is important that they come in that order. 

It’s really easy to try to get our sense of identity, who we are and what gives us value, out of what we do. We use our work to seek affirmation and validation to feel good about ourselves. Unfortunately, when the work is gone and we have lost the affirmation, our sense of identity is in the toilet.

If we don’t start with the affirmation of Jesus, that we are deeply loved before we have done anything, we will chase it all our lives in other things and never have peace. 

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Luke 3:21-22 (ESV)

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

We are made new, transformed, and adopted in to a holy people in Christ—there’s nothing more than that AND there’s more because of that.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

How is God calling us as we wander through the desert that is COVID and racial injustice?

More in particular, how is God calling us to serve others while we are in the desert?

How is God calling us to submit to him?

How is God calling us to lament or cry out to him?