The Sligo Presbyterian Church Celebration Service - Sunday, August 2, 2026

On August 2, we gathered for our annual picnic, at the Sligo Pool. Even though the weather forced the picnic indoors, we still had a unique worship experience in the SPC Fellowship Hall. Below is an audio recording of the service, the service outline, and a copy of our bulletin and program.

Introduction 

Focus on the Context

• Hymn: This Is My Father’s World 
• Scripture
• Old Testament

                    If you want to learn,
                        then go and ask
                    the wild animals and the birds,
                         the flowers and the fish.
                    Any of them can tell you
                        what the Lord has done.
                    Every living creature
                        is in the hands of God. [Job 12:7-10, CEV]

• New Testament 

Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth much more than birds?

Can worry make you live longer? Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them. [Matthew 6:26-29, CEV]

• Question: What can we learn about God from the world he created?

Focus on Community

• Hymn: We Gather Together 
• Scripture
• Old Testament

Now if you will faithfully obey me, you will be my very own people. The whole world is mine, but you will be my holy nation and serve me as priests.

Moses, that is what you must tell the Israelites. [Exodus 19:5–6, CEV]

• New Testament

But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done. The Scriptures say,

                    “Once you were nobody.
                          Now you are God’s people.
                    At one time no one
                           had mercy on you.
                    Now God has treated you
                           with kindness.” [1 Peter 2:9–10, CEV]

• Question: Why has God called us together?

Focus on God

• Hymn: Amazing Grace
• Scripture
• Old Testament

The Lord God came down in a cloud and stood beside Moses there on the mountain. God spoke his holy name, “the Lord.” Then he passed in front of Moses and called out, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people. I show great love, and I can be trusted. [Exodus 34:5-6, CEV]

• New Testament

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. [Romans 3:23-24, CEV]

•  Question: What does God’s love and grace mean to you?

Focus on Acceptance

• Hymn: Blessed Assurance 
• Scripture
• Old Testament

                    I tell myself, “I am finished!
                    I can’t count on the Lord
                           to do anything for me.”
                    Just thinking of my troubles
                    and my lonely wandering
                           makes me miserable.
                    That’s all I ever think about,
                           and I am depressed.
                    Then I remember something
                           that fills me with hope.
                    The Lord’s kindness never fails!
                    If he had not been merciful,
                           we would have been destroyed.
                    The Lord can always be trusted
                           to show mercy each morning.
                    Deep in my heart I say,
                    “The Lord is all I need;
                           I can depend on him!” [Lamentations 3:18-24, CEV]

• New Testament

You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about. [Ephesians 2:8-9, CEV]

• Question: How can God’s love and grace change people?

Focus on Message

• Hymn: Peace Like a River 
• Scripture
• Old Testament

So once again, I, the Lord All-Powerful, tell you, “See that justice is done and be kind and merciful to one another! Don’t mistreat widows or orphans or foreigners or anyone who is poor, and stop making plans to hurt each other.” [Zechariah 7:8-10, CEV]

• New Testament

Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ. [Ephesians 4:31-32, CEV]

• Question: How can we share God’s love and grace with others?

Conclusion