Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for August 3rd 2025:
Lectionary Theme: Finding meaning of life and purpose in Christ
Occasion: 8th Sunday after Pentecost
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 49
Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 12-14; 2: 18-23
Colossians 3: 1-11
Luke 12: 13-21
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to read it for yourself (and/or to listen to it) and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]
Songs:
Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube.
All hail the power of Jesus name.
Will your anchor hold.
Seek ye first the kingdom.
To be in your presence.
Be thou my vision.
Love divine.
Now is eternal life.
Shalom to you.
Prayers:
You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.
Children’s Address:
Sermon:
Bible readings:
Psalm 49
1 Everyone on this earth, now listen to what I say!
2 Listen, no matter who you are, rich or poor.
3 I speak words of wisdom, and my thoughts make sense.
4 I have in mind a mystery
that I will explain while playing my harp.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,
when I am surrounded by vicious enemies?
6 They trust in their riches
and brag about all of their wealth.
7 You cannot buy back your life or pay off God!
8 It costs far too much to buy back your life.
You can never pay God enough
9 to stay alive forever and safe from death.
10 We see that wise people die, and so do stupid fools.
Then their money is left for someone else.
11 The grave will be their home forever and ever,
although they once had land of their own.
12 Our human glory disappears, and, like animals, we die.
13 Here is what happens to fools
and to those who trust the words of fools:
14 They are like sheep with death as their shepherd,
leading them to the grave.
In the morning God’s people will walk all over them,
as their bodies lie rotting in their home, the grave.
15 But God will rescue me from the power of death.
16 Don’t let it bother you
when others get rich and live in luxury.
17 Soon they will die
and all of their wealth will be left behind.
18 We humans are praised when we do well,
and all of us are glad to be alive.
19 But we each will go down to our ancestors,
never again to see the light of day.
20 Our human glory disappears,
and, like animals, we die.
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Ecclesiastes 1 & 2
1: 2 Nothing makes sense! Everything is nonsense.
I have seen it all – nothing makes sense!
12 I said these things when I lived in Jerusalem as king of Israel. 13 With all my wisdom I tried to understand everything that happens here on earth. And God has made this so hard for us humans to do. 14 I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.
2: 18 Suddenly I realized that others would someday get everything I had worked for so hard, then I started hating it all. 19 Who knows if those people will be sensible or stupid? Either way, they will own everything I have earned by hard work and wisdom. It doesn’t make sense.
20 I thought about all my hard work, and I felt depressed. 21 When we use our wisdom, knowledge, and skill to get what we own, why do we have to leave it to someone who didn’t work for it? This is senseless and wrong. 22 What do we really gain from all of our hard work? 23 Our bodies ache during the day, and work is torture. Then at night our thoughts are troubled. It just doesn’t make sense.
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Colossians 3
1 You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God’s right side. 2 Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. 3 You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. 4 Christ gives meaning to your life, and when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory.
5 Don’t be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don’t be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don’t be greedy, which is the same as worshipping idols. 6 God is angry with people who disobey him by doing these things. 7 And that is exactly what you did, when you lived among people who behaved in this way. 8 But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. 9 And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.
10 Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better. 11 It doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian, and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
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Luke 12
13 A man in a crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died.”
14 Jesus answered, “Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?”
15 Then he said to the crowd, “Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”
16 So Jesus told them this story:
A rich man’s farm produced a big crop, 17 and he said to himself, “What can I do? I don’t have a place large enough to store everything.”
18 Later, he said, “Now I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, ‘You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ “
20 But God said to him, “You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?”
21 “This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves, but are poor in the sight of God.”
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[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – July 27th 2025.]
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
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