Sunday Service Archives - Main
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Sunday Service - October 11th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
October 11, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
World Communion Sunday - Feast of St. Francis
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: “In It But Not Of It”
Liturgist: Robin Lettis
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/October-11-2026-Rev-Faith-Gay.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?feature=share
Scriptures:
Exodus 32: 1-14
Matthew 22: 1-14
Cover Art: Photo by Abby Rodd http://aroddphotography.com
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Faith:
Most of us agree that a common goal of God’s true community is justice for all.
We also agree that justice for all is never fully realized. Our human frailty - whether we are the President or a field hand - gets in the way. So does the pressure of constant competition in a “free” society, and the constraints on liberty in places where freedom barely exists.
We also agree - particularly in these times - that injustice runs rampant when bystanders turn a blind eye.
So….given the huge debate in our country about what it means to live as a Christian, we must ask once again: what is our Christian obligation to each other?
+++++
Four Biblical questions point us toward an answer.
The first question is in Genesis (of course). God searched for Adam in the Garden and asked: “Where are you?”
The second question was directed by God to Cain: “Where is your brother?” (And we know Cain’s response: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”)
The third question was directed to Jesus by a lawyer and religious scholar: “Who is my neighbor?”
And the fourth question is directed to us: If we are Christians - and therefore keepers of our brothers and sisters - is it enough to simply learn and pray about the troubles of others?
What does it mean - practically speaking - to accept the invitation to be part of the Christian community? What are the requirements and obligations of citizenship in Christ’s world?
I look forward to welcoming you this Sunday as we break open the Word and puzzle through these issues together.
Rev. Faith Gay
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - October 11th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
Preaching: Rev. Faith Gay
Sermon: “In It But Not Of It”
Liturgist: Robin Lettis
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/October-11-2026-Rev-Faith-Gay.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?feature=share
Sermon “In It But Not Of It” https://www.youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?si=FL391AWhpAMPi1De&t=1470
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?si=zWzVzd2U1CpmyQ3f&t=2758
Blessing https://www.youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?si=5tLTR4vG-zkA33vC&t=3205
Musical Performances:
“Shepherd Me, O God”
Marty Haugen (b.1950)
(Psalm 23)
Text and Music © 1996 GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
From “Glory to God” © 2013 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?si=18kCinqKeOu-vKOe&t=845
Offertory
"Offertoire"
W. Henry Maxfield (1849-1936)
“The Anglican Organist” Volume 1
Copyright London The Vincent Music Company, Ltd.
Peter Deysenroth, organist
https://www.youtube.com/live/A7B5jgJgNXA?si=rsqOjoySu-YmocIR&t=2588
Cover Art: Photo by Abby Rodd http://aroddphotography.com
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, October 18th 2026
Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: "Taxation Without Representation"
Scriptures:
Isaiah 45:1-7
Matthew 22:15-22
Hymns:
I Sing the Mighty Power of God, #32
Thy Word Is a Lamp unto My Feet, #458
Lord, When I Came into This Life, #691
Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing, #546
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Sunday Service - October 4th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
October 4, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
World Communion Sunday - Feast of St. Francis
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: “Even a Cup of Cold Water”
Liturgist: Emily Craig
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/October-4-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?feature=share
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Matthew 10:1-4, 40-42
World Communion Offering 2026 Micah 6:8 Love Kindness
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Jess:
Below is a prayer for these times. I heard it, adapted it and added to it. It was prayed by my friend Christa, who serves as Bishop of the New Jersey Synod, ELCA. She and many other interfaith clergy and advocates gathered in peaceful protest, as they do every Sunday evening, at the for-profit detention center in Elizabeth, NJ, Delaney Hall. After this and other prayers, there was a weaving ritual. Those gathered wrote the names of detainees they know and love on ribbons, and all of the ribbons were woven together and hung on a barbed wire fence surrounding the facility. May we all strive to not just know the circumstances of others’ suffering, but the names as well as their stories.
Tender and faithful God, sometimes the sorrow of the world feels too close to carry and too large to name. We see the grief in one another’s faces, the fear people bring quietly into church, the weariness hidden beneath ordinary conversations, and the ache of those who wonder whether anyone truly sees them.
Draw us nearer.
Give us the courage to notice the tears before we reach for words. Teach us to sit beside those who are frightened, grieving, displaced, lonely, angry, or simply worn thin by life. Keep us from offering easy hope when what your people need first is presence.
When we become distracted by our own plans, turn our faces again toward the people at the door. When we are tempted to protect what is familiar, remind us that Jesus is often waiting for us beyond the places where we feel secure. When our hearts grow tired, make them tender again.
Help your Church become a place where people can breathe, where the wounded are treated gently, where truth can be spoken without cruelty, where every human being is received with dignity, and where love is more than something we proclaim. And when we do not know what to say, teach us simply to remain.
Remain beside the grieving.
Remain beside the frightened.
Remain beside those whose lives have been pushed to the margins.
Remain until strangers become neighbors, until suffering has a name, until compassion becomes action, until hope begins to feel possible again.
Jesus, you wept with your friends before you called Lazarus from the tomb. Teach us that kind of love, a love willing to weep before it speaks of resurrection.
Make us gentle enough to touch the tears of this world, courageous enough to stand where love asks us to stand, and humble enough to trust that our future rests finally in your hands.
Hold us, God, and hold all those whose names and burdens we carry in our hearts this day.
Then send us out again, softer, braver, and more willing to love.
Through Jesus Christ our Beloved. Amen.
I will have partial Office Hours on Tuesday, 10/6, from 9-1, and then on Wednesday, 10/7 from 9-3.
I will be out of town from Thursday, 10/8- Monday, 10/12.
Faith will preach on 10/11.
Rev. Jess Lambert
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
This Weeks Service: https://www.cooppres.org/livestream
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - October 4th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
World Communion Sunday - Feast of St. Francis
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Liturgist: Emily Craig
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/October-4-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?feature=share
Sermon “Even a Cup of Cold Water” https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=zeH8XO2r3fMZlVKy&t=1262
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=lO8xXMba_BAjsrjO&t=2670
Communion https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=Am3x7zLT_VeOAPod&t=3110
Blessing for Richard and Anne Blabey https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=q5C1M398w5_mShNB&t=3865
Musical Performances:
“A Universal Blessing”
Alice Parker (1925-2023)
© Copyright 2013 by E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Inc.,
a division of ECS Publishing
All rights reserved.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=xL5_ApIB8kWeMTTZ&t=858
Offertory
“Gigue from Sonata in D minor”
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768)
Suzuki Violin School Copyright © 1971 by Zen-On Music Company, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Simon Craig, violin
https://www.youtube.com/live/dWdqz17_4lk?si=O9DizKVB42nAoiTZ&t=2282
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, October 11th 2026
Rev. Faith Gay
Sermon: "Poetic Navigation"
Scriptures:
Exodus 32: 1-14
Matthew 22: 1-14
Hymns:
Great Is Thy Faithfulness, #39
Arise Your Light Is Come, #744
What A Fellowship, What A Joy Divine, #837
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Sunday Service - September 27th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
September 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Season of Creation - Fourth Sunday, Water Between Crisis and Hope
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: “Listen to Your Thirst”
Liturgist: Maureen Broeking
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-27-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?feature=share
“Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
John 4:1-15
World Communion Offering 2026 Micah 6:8 Love Kindness
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Jess:
As we move through the Season of Creation, we are going to the depths of what it means that Living Water is-
* Necessary for birth and the sustenance of all lifeforms
* What our physical bodies are primarily made of
* What our planet is primarily made of
* Endangered by human caused pollution and climate change
* Another way of talking about who Jesus is for us
This Sunday we go to the well, Jacob’s well, to be precise, with Jesus and the Samaritan woman with whom he has a very lengthy conversation about thirst and living water, about himself and about her, and through her, about all of us.
Sometimes we talk about being in “a dry spell,” and by that we might mean that our creative capacities aren’t inspired, or we have writers’ block. Dryness is also a way many people speak about spiritual malaise, or times when it is difficult to pray, or you just do not sense God’s presence. We have periods when our faith feels false or shallow or we have lost confidence in old, strongly held beliefs but do not yet have something new to hold onto. It could be called doubt, or it could be that you’ve entered a wilderness, a dry place where all you can do is wait on God. These spiritual dry places can, in the end, be very fertile and life-giving. But waiting is hard even in the best of times, and these aren’t the best of times.
Jesus claims to have Living Water, to be Living Water, for us and for the world. There is no limit to which he will not go in order to raise to life that which is dead.
Following in his footsteps, we do what we can, right where we are- in the wilderness, at the well, in the garden, or at the edge of the river.
My Office Days for the week of 9/28: Tuesday and Thursday
Rev. Jess Lambert
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
This Weeks Service: https://www.cooppres.org/livestream
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - September 27th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
Season of Creation - Fourth Sunday, Water Between Crisis and Hope
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Liturgist: Ann Geiger
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-27-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?feature=share
Sermon 'Listen to Your Thirst' https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=bgi6SNAmr76hy3Vj&t=1893
Minute For Mission “World Communion Offering” Jeannine Webster https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=kg5an6SKT90zQfIx&t=2800
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=781aQ9-WTL_vv9hj&t=3381
Blessing https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=mX8RTN0RYi4kfBlk&t=4054
Musical Performances:
Musical Offering
“Word that Formed Creation”
Text and Arrangement by Marty Haugen (b.1950)
Based on the French Carol NOEL NOUVELET
Copyright © 1991 by G.I.A. Publications, Inc.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=L2auSCII_fx219Q7&t=1239
Offertory
“Shall We gather at the River”
Melody: Robert Lowery, Arr. Matthew J. Packer
c.1994 Abington Press
Katie Boardman, Director of Music
https://www.youtube.com/live/BpVlVHnL9l8?si=UXfIOZ2Lw96jJLQs&t=3185
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, October 4th 2026
Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: "Even a Cup of Cold Water"
World Communion & Feast of St. Francis
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Matthew 10:1-4, 40-42
Hymns:
All Creatures of Our God and King, #15
Your Faithfulness, O Lord, Is Sure, #42
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace (Prayer of St. Francis), #753
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Sunday Service - September 20th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
September 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Season of Creation - Third Sunday - Water as Life
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon “Water is Life”
Communion Sunday “Bread For The Journey”
Liturgist: Karen Dunlap
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-20-2026-Rev-Jess-Lambert-Communion.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?feature=share
“Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:1-12
John 5:2-9
World Communion Offering 2026 Micah 6:8 Love Kindness
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Jess:
This week in the Season of Creation, we begin to look more deeply into Ezekiel’s vision of the healing waters that pour out from the Temple to create life and nourishment for the world.
We will hear the story in John’s Gospel of the man who was ill for decades, sitting by the waters of Beth-Zatha, a pool located within the Temple, maybe a hot spring of sorts, that when “stirred up,” was believed to have healing properties. The man was there time after time, because he was alone, with no one to help him into the water at the right time.
What is it about living, moving, stirred-up water that revives and heals? Is it the movement itself? The contents of the water?
In Psalm 23, we hear about the comfort of still waters. In fearful, anxious times, a calm, serene pool of water heals and sustains. Since water is life and water is necessary for the continuation of life, both are needed-still waters and stirred waters. And as we watch the water around the globe disappear, make people sick because they are polluted, become too hot to sustain the life they have always sustained, and become stirred up to the point of disaster in
unprecedented storms, we are again reminded of the preciousness and the power of water. There are so many places that call out for our attention, advocacy and action right now. If we are people of compassion, then we are exhausted and overwhelmed by all of the things, and all of God’s creatures, that cry out for their lives right now.
We can’t do everything, so we have to let that go. But we can all do something. Here is a question that can help guide us, that we can all ask ourselves each and every day: What kind of world am I helping to create in my interactions with others? The “others” can be other people, and can also be the earth, its waters, forests and creatures.
It’s a profound question with a deep well of possibilities, which I find very hopeful in a time like this. We may not see any of the changes we seek in our lifetimes, or ever know the true impact of our advocacy, prayers and interactions, yet they are unquestionably worth doing in a Christ-like way. As Wendell Berry, he of blessed memory, wrote, “practice resurrection, even though you have examined all the evidence.” Amen and Amen.
My Office Days the week of 9/21 will be Tuesday and Thursday.
Rev. Jess Lambert
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
This Weeks Service: https://www.cooppres.org/livestream
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - September 20th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
Season of Creation - Third Sunday - Water as Life
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon “Water is Life”
Communion Sunday “Bread For The Journey”
Liturgist: Karen Dunlap
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-20-2026-Rev-Jess-Lambert-Communion.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?feature=share
Sermon “Water is Life” https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=vCuwcxfCrcgmP_Qk&t=1752
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=0XoH9bea0b0SUlm1&t=3082
Communion https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=Mwin0QWJZ5uV669Z&t=3489
Blessing https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=FHrtd6xChpvrVvrc&t=4113
Musical Performances:
“As This Grain Has Been Gathered”
Words from the Didache with Music by David M. Tripold
From the Order of Worship for the Lord’s Day of the Reformed Church in America,
translated from the Didache, Greek, ca. 1st century
Words Copyright © 1987 by Reformed Church Press. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Music Copyright © 2019 by GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=EObezCmWwQT26QgR&t=1033
Offertory
“Beside Still Waters” Marta Keen (b.1953)
From “Waters of Life: Sacred Piano Meditations
© Copyright 1992 Lorenz Publishing Co., a division of the Lorenz Corporation. All rights reserved
https://www.youtube.com/live/xs0dPPvR7Ys?si=O7eBGkAtC10q9aKr&t=2917
Cover Art: World Council of Churches - Season of Creation 2026 https://seasonofcreation.org/
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, September 27th 2026
Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: “Listen to Your Thirst”
Fourth Sunday, Water Between Crisis and Hope
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
John 4:1-15
Hymns:
From All That Dwell Below the Skies, #327
Ho, All Who Thirst (Come Now to the Water), #479
I’ve Got Peace like a River, #623
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Sunday Service - September 13th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
September 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Season of Creation - Second Sunday
Preaching: Rev. Faith Gay
Sermon “The Sky’s Other Lights”
Liturgist: Diane Kenworthy
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-13-2026-Rev-Faith-Gay.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?feature=share
“Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Scriptures:
Psalm 65:5-13
Revelation 22:1-7
John 7:37-39
World Communion Offering 2026 Micah 6:8 Love Kindness
Cover Art: Ezekiel 47:1-12 https://bible.art/p/LePCUs8VeXXYMKTIlgDn/ezekiel-47-1-12
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Faith:
Why do we keep listening for the voice of God and longing for God’s company? Why did Wendell Berry write poems and Dolly Parton write songs? Because - as the book of Genesis tells us - there was a time when we walked together with God in the evening breeze and every ounce of our being longs for that time to come again.
That soul memory overlaps with another longing expressed in the book of Revelation: for a time when death will be no more—no more tears, no more crying, no more pain. No more worrying about illness, suffering or what is to come. No more fear of ICE, fatigue from tariff wars, headaches from doom-scrolling or hasty plans of what to do and where to go if there is another world war.
These bookended longings are our alpha and omega stories combined - and this Sunday, we’ll explore our longing, our lament, for the loss of our walk together with God and our possibilities for a destiny that satisfies that longing once and for all. We’ll look for a destination big enough to sustain a richly-developed, fully-realized human life.
I look forward to seeing you!
Rev. Faith Gay
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
This Weeks Service: https://www.cooppres.org/livestream
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - September 13th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
Season of Creation - Second Sunday
Preaching: Rev. Faith Gay
Sermon “The Sky’s Other Lights”
Liturgist: John Rankin
Sermon https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=igPCDojZH7E1wYk1&t=733
Minute for Mission - Sarah Dunlap https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=onY25VQYXaT9eU1J&t=2096
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=mT9BZ7nHR7EuMr_5&t=2587
Blessing https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=dXdk5PME5X_amaRp&t=3062
Musical Performances:
“For the Music of Creation”
Text by Shirley Erena Murray (1931-2020)
Music by Eleanor Daley (b.1955)
Text © 1992 Hope Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Music © 2023 GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=-VgRXuzKxLy-x_Of&t=217
Offertory
“Peace in the Valley” Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)
Written in 1939 during pre-World War II tensions,
Dorsey conceived the song while travelling via train through southern Indiana
Upon observing horses, cows, and sheep all grazing together in a small valley,
he questioned why humankind can’t live together in peace.
Copyright 1939 (“There’ll be Peace in the Valley for Me”)
John LeRoux, bass-baritone5
https://www.youtube.com/live/rwoU7HTvbRM?si=kfh1misrhf8iX4nY&t=2328
Cover Art: Ezekiel 47:1-12 https://bible.art/p/LePCUs8VeXXYMKTIlgDn/ezekiel-47-1-12
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, September 20th 2026
Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon: “Water is Life”
Communion Sunday “Bread For The Journey”
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 47:1-12
John 5:2-9
Hymns:
Come to the Water of Life
Out of Deep, Unordered Water, #484
God of Great and God of Small, #19
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Sunday Service - September 6th 2026 - First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown
September 6, 2026, 10:00 a.m.
Season of Creation-First Sunday
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon “Birth in Living Water”
Communion Service
Liturgist: Margaret McGown
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-6-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?feature=share
“Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:9, 12
Scriptures:
Genesis 1:1-2:3
John 1:1-5
Cover Art: Ezekiel 47:1-12 https://bible.art/p/LePCUs8VeXXYMKTIlgDn/ezekiel-47-1-12
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Feel free to submit Joys and Concerns prior to the live stream at
https://www.cooppres.org/joysconcerns
We will make every effort to read them during the service.
Our Website: https://www.CoopPres.org
From Pastor Jess:
This Sunday, September 6th, is the beginning of the Season of Creation, which will last until October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis and World Communion Sunday. This first Sunday is also called the Festival of Creation in Christ, which has a rich history.
Since the seventh century, September 1st has symbolized the day of the creation of the world in the Byzantine Orthodox tradition and has been the opening feast of its liturgical year (known as the Feast of the Indiction), in a parallel with the feast of Rosh Hashanah marking the Jewish New Year. Creation in Christ celebrates the ongoing creation of the world in and through Christ, who sustains, unites, and holds all created things. On Sunday we will hear of the God who creates all things: sun and moon, shining stars, sea monsters, creeping things and flying birds—and, yes, even human beings. God-in-Christ still takes care of all things and invites us to join in as caretakers and healers of God’s good creation.
I learned last night of the death of poet, essayist, novelist, Kentucky farmer and profound thinker, Wendell Berry. His writings are not as well known as some other modern writers on the topics of nature, agriculture, community and peace, but that’s probably because of his humility. He speaks to the heart of what makes us human, and what ails us. As we begin the Season of Creation, his writings will be at the forefront of my mind, beginning with these two quotes:
“Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.”
And, fitting perfectly with the Season of Creation theme this year, Living Water, “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”
I will have one Office Day next week, Wednesday, September 9th. However, if you have an urgent need, please text or call my cell phone, between Tuesday and Friday.
Rev. Jess Lambert
https://www.cooppres.org/pastor-message
This Weeks Service: https://www.cooppres.org/livestream
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.
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Scenes From Service - September 6th 2026
From Cooperstown First Presbyterian Church
Season of Creation-First Sunday
Preaching: Rev. Jess Lambert
Sermon “Birth in Living Water”
Communion Service
Liturgist: Margaret McGown
Bulletin: https://www.cooppres.org/s/September-6-2026-J-Lambert.pdf
Full Service: https://youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?feature=share
Minute for Mission - Carol Beechy: https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=uYjdNqy5hs_mR9CK&t=2591
Sermon https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=Rh2hU7hN0yQ_jUyC&t=1748
Joys and Concerns https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=Y8Tb8guQRUVQkgY5&t=3103
Communion https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=6mPwNBJejfMnKVAb&t=3773
Blessing https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=k-W3qaeqLwTxbe5_&t=4596
Musical Performances:
“I Am the Holy Vine”
Text by James Quinn, S.J. (1919-2010)
Music by Leonard Bobrowski (b.1956)
Text © James Quinn, S.J. Selah Publishing Co., Inc., North America Agent
Music © 1999 Selah Publishing Co., Inc.
The Chancel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=sqbR5M7hcqUbzUc5&t=985
Offertory
“As the Deer Runs to the River”
Source of Living Water
Setting by Roberta Rowland-Raybold (b.1938)
Based on the tune JULION by David Hurd (b.1950)
From All Praise for Music: Hymn Settings for Piano, by Roberta Rowland-Raybold
Setting © 2014 GIA Publications, Inc. Published under exclusive license by Augsburg Fortress
Tune copyright © 1983 GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peter Deysenroth, organist
https://www.youtube.com/live/iLs7VUvL5e8?si=b6h3YTkNOG1RIbbj&t=2865
Cover Art: Ezekiel 47:1-12 https://bible.art/p/LePCUs8VeXXYMKTIlgDn/ezekiel-47-1-12
Please contribute to our ministry and good works in this community and around the world
https://www.CoopPres.org/donate
Preaching Sunday, September 13th 2026
Rev. Faith Gay
Season of Creation
Second Sunday
Scriptures:
Psalm 65:5-13
Revelation 22:1-7
John 7:37-39
Hymns:
“Down to the River to Pray”
“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”
“Wade in the Water”
Visit us online at: www.CoopPres.org
Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from OneLicense.com with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.