Welcome - July 12, 2026 (Set Your Mind)

Welcome to Hope United Methodist Church! We’re glad you’re here. Whether you are visiting for the first time or joining us again, we pray you experience God’s love, meaningful worship, and a warm sense of community. Below is information to help you follow along with today's service. Visit Hope Worship Page to view the digital bulletin.

We’re grateful you chose to worship with us and hope you feel at home at Hope!

Centering Words: God’s word is the lamp we need in the darkness, the guidance we need on wayward paths, and the hope we need when death and despair come calling.

Call to Worship

We gather today in the midst of busy lives and hectic schedules that mirror the chaotic pace of the world around us.
We come to set our minds on the guidance of the Spirit.

We gather as people inundated with constant information, fast-moving news cycles, and ever-present alerts vying for our attention.
We come to set our minds on the guidance of the Spirit.

We gather as people seeking to anchor ourselves in the faith as the world around us is blown to and fro by waves of fear, scarcity, and reactivity.
We come to set our minds on the guidance of the Spirit.

Beloved, come. Come to find rest, grounding, and guidance in the Spirit who dwells in you.
We come to set our minds on the Spirit who guides us and draws us together toward life, peace, and flourishing. Amen.

Music Selections

Opening Hymn: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing (UMH 57, verses 1-5,7)
Prayer Hymn: Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling (UMH 348, verses 1 and 4)

Scripture Readings

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.
I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word.

Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD,
and teach me your ordinances.

I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.

The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.

Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Romans 8:1-11

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you[b] free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[d] 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.[f] 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit[g] is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,[h] since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit[i] is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.