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 19th Sunday After Pentecost

                                  10/19/2025 - 10:30 pm

 

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CENTERING MUSIC       The King of Love My Shepherd Is           Irish Folk Tune.   
                                           Flutes:   Lois Kail and Pastor Barbara

MOMENT OF HOPE    

CALL TO WORSHIP  (from Black Liturgies)

God of every beautiful thing,

Make us people of wonder.  Show us how to hold on to nuance and vision when our souls become addicted to pain, to the unlovely. 

It is far easier to see the gloom and decay; so often it sings a louder song. 

Attune our hearts to the good still stirring in our midst, not that we would give ourselves to toxic positivity or neglect the pain of the world, but that we would be people capable of existing in the tension.  Grant us habits of sacred pause. 

Let us marvel not just at the grand or majestic, but beauty’s name etched into every ordinary moment.  

Let the mundane swell with a mystery that makes us breathe deeper still.  And by this, may we be sustained and kept from despair.  Amen.

*OPENING HYMN  #802    The King of Love My Shepherd Is

PRAYER CONFESSING OUR NEED FOR GOD’S GRACE (from Black Liturgies)

INHALE: I will not be silenced by fear.

EXHALE: a quivering voice is still sacred.

INHALE: God, my soul trembles.

EXHALE: Steady me in your arms.

INHALE: I will meet this fear with rest.

EXHALE: God, steady me in your arms.

MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER

SONG OF RENEWAL       (2202 in STF)

        Come Away with Me to a quiet place
        Apart from the world with its frantic pace
        To pray, reflect and seek God’s grace.
         Come away with me, Come away.

CELEBRATION OF GOD’S GRACE

This is the good news in Jesus Christ:  God loves us more than we love ourselves.  God forgives us, encourages us, and frees us to love others.  Thanks be to God.

*PASSING THE PEACE

Leader:     The peace of Christ be with you.
People:      And with you also.
Leader:     Let us pass the peace of Christ.
People:      The peace of Christ be with you.   (To one another)

ANTHEM                              "Great and Awesome God",               by Mark Hayes

BLESSING THE CHILDREN AND SINGING TO GODLY PLAY

                        This little light of mine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!
            Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine!

            Today’s Story            “The Story of Samuel”
                                              Kathleen Krentz & Joyclyn Van

      Leader:                  And as we continue our worship…
      Congregation:      May God be with you there.
      Children:               May God be with you here.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

Leader:      God in your Grace,
People:      Hear our prayer

PASTORAL PRAYER

THE LORD’S PRAYER

As we pray together the Lord's Prayer, you are invited to say this in whatever version is most comforting and meaningful to you.  Here is one possible version (ecumenical version) that you can use:

Our Father, who is in heaven, holy be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.


SCRIPTURE READINGS               1 Samuel 16:1-13
                                                            Psalm 51:10-14
                                                                John 7:24

RESPONSE                                                   

Reader:      The Gospel of the Lord
People:      Thanks be to God

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION, from Psalm 19 - responsively

Pastor:       May the words of my mouth
People:      And the meditations of our hearts
All:            Be acceptable in Your sight, O God,
                  Our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

SERMON                      We Are What We Do

MOMENT OF SILENT REFLECTION

*HYMN OF RESPONSE    #300   We Are One in the Spirit

We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord;
We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored:

Refrain:
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love;
yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand;
We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land:

Refrain

We will work with each other; we will work side by side;
We will work with each other; we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard human dignity and save human pride:

Refrain

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one:

Refrain

MOMENT OF THANKS

OFFERING OURSELVES AND OUR GIFTS

OFFERTORY           Clair de Lune - Claude Debussy
                            Flutes:   Lois Kail and Pastor Barbara

*DOXOLOGY                                                                             Tune: OLD HUNDRED

Praise God from whom all grace flows forth.
Praise Life, all creatures here on earth.
Praise Light who guides us on our way.
Praise Love who forms us day by day. Amen.

*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING –

Thank you, God, for challenging us to grow, to be more the people you call us to be.  We are grateful!  And in response we give you back a small portion of what is already yours, now and forever.  Amen. 

*CLOSING HYMN     #661,  Why Should I feel discouraged. 

Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is he:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

     Refrain:

I sing because I’m happy, (I’m happy) I sing because I’m free, (I’m free)
For his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

Let not your heart be troubled, his tender word I hear,
And resting on his goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path he leadeth but one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

     Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When song gives place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to him; from care he sets me free:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, a
nd I know he watches me.

            Refrain

POSTLUDE                             "Praise, God the Lord"                        by J.G. Walther. 

*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

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