New Normal—Daniel 4
Good Morning, Echo Church!
It’s a beautiful day and it feels good to just breathe it in! Thank you so much for joining us today from home or from a back yard. Let’s take some time absorb the gifts of God today in His Word, in his Church and all of creation.
A few things to highlight for you announcement-wise:
We are NOT meeting next week, July 5th, in order to give our back-yard hosts a rest and to make space for many of us travelling. Though, wherever you will be, we invite you to spend time with God in your own way that morning and take the extra time to rest and recuperate in whatever way seems best!
Also, on Wednesday this week, we’re bumping Men’s Connect Group to welcome all in celebrating our friends Osagie and Andréanne! We want to send them off with joy as they move. We’ll post again soon with more details, but it’ll be outdoors for safe distancing.
Again, thank you all for your faithfulness and presence here with us. On to the Sermon.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONNECT
10:30am: Click here anytime between 10:30am–11:30pm on Sunday for a digital meetup.
Wednesday July 21: Osagie and Andréanne’s Socially Distant Sendoff
NO CORPORATE WORSHIP HOUR NEXT WEEK!
Next Sunday, July 5th, we will not meet!
However, after next week consider joining us in person around the city.
We’re currently hosting several small Sunday morning backyard worship gatherings to provide the option to meet together. We will still post our services online each week. Click here to RSVP.
WAYS TO GIVE
Visit echochurch.org/give any time to worship through giving and support our ministry together. Or snail mail to: Echo Church, PO Box 6067, Cincinnati, OH 45206
ECHO KIDS
Parents,
This week we will wrap up our Love Your Neighbor series with a song which helps teach kids the greatest commandment as spoken of by Jesus when he references the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
"The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:29-30)
These words are spoken right before Jesus declares the second greatest commandment:
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
These commandments are intrinsically connected, for as we seek to respond to God's call because of our love for Him, we find there to be no circumstance where we can do so without also loving our neighbor. Likewise, as we seek to authentically love those around us, we find there to be no way to do so wholly and completely without returning to and responding to the true source of love: the one true God.
Kids,
In the book of Mark, Jesus tells us some pretty important stuff. One of these really important things includes the greatest command God ever gave us: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
He also tells us, "love your neighbor as yourself." That means we should treat people the way we want to be treated. The more we focus on loving God and serving Him with everything we have, the more we will be able to love our friends, family and even the people we don't like very much with everything inside of us.
-Kendra