Today's Worship Service - Sunday, November 8, 2026

 

Worship Service for November 8, 2026

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

P:      Each day God brings to us new opportunities to learn and grow.

L:      God is near to all of us.

P:      We will not fear to call upon the Lord.

L:      Come, let us praise God who walks with us daily.

P:      Let us open our hearts and spirits to God who loves and lives with us.

 

Opening Hymn –  His Eye is on the Sparrow         Hymn #624 Brown Hymnal

Prayer of Confession

Faithful God, we come before You with many concerns on our hearts.  We get frustrated and angry at the way things are going in the world.  We want Your immediate intervention; and when we don’t see things happening the way we think they should be, we are quick to dismiss You and any thought of Your presence.  Help us stop our selfishness and our quick anger.  Remind us that You will work with us and through us for peace and hope.  Release us from the traps of quick tests of Your faithfulness and help us see the “big picture” of Your awesome love that spans all of time.  Forgive us for our pettiness and our stubbornness.  Bring us back to You, O Lord.  Help us shout Your praises and live lives of joyful service.  For we ask these things in Jesus’ name.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

 

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Even though we get frustrated and angry, God still loves us and seeks to heal us.  Open your hearts to receive God’s blessings and to feel God’s healing power in your lives.

P:      Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  AMEN

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

As we gather in prayer this day as a community of your people, O God, we pray for thankful hearts for the goodness of your creation, for the signs of your loving care of all things we see around us daily, and for the calling into a community of the followers of your son, Jesus Christ.  We give you thanks for his teachings, his compassionate words of care, his challenges to all the ways we focus on self-centeredness and self-sufficiency, for his healing presence and for his courageous witness against the powers of this world that focus on destruction, hatred, and death.

Creator God, you draw all people into one body so that we may learn the precious connectedness of your universe.  You invite us to nurture each other, to trust each other, to empower each other, to unbind each other, to encourage one another, so that together we will be a strong and healthy body. 

         Holy Lord, empower us to be more faithful and diligent in spreading your good news of peace, love, hope, and grace in our world.  Give us boldness and courage to speak and act against the principalities and powers of this age that fill the world with injustice and acts of violence.

         You also taught us, Lord, to pray for those who persecute us.  Though it is difficult to voice kind words about those who perpetuate evil, we pray for those who find anger in their hearts, for those who want to do violence against another human being.  We pray also for those who lost their lives in events around the globe.  Cover your creation, Lord, with compassion and care.  We especially pray this day for those living in the Middle East, for Israel and Palestine, for those living in Gaza.  We pray for those in the Ukraine and for Russia.   We pray for a change of heart, for people to find better ways to communicate their frustration, for increased understanding, for Your holy sense of mercy to pervade minds and spirits. 

         We also pray for our own loved ones….

         O Lord, hear the words of our mouths and now in silence hear also the words of our hearts.

         We pray all these things together saying…Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –  A Mighty Fortress          Hymn #260/151  Blue/Brown

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Amos 5:18-24

Second Scripture Reading – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Sermon –                             Hope Flows

(based on Amos 5:18-24 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

 

There are some things we say because we honestly don’t know what else to say, especially when someone we care about is hurting.  We stand in the receiving line at the funeral home, or we sit across the kitchen table from someone whose whole life has changed, and we feel this responsibility to find a sentence that will somehow make things better.  So, we reach for something familiar.  “Everything happens for a reason.”  “God needed another angel.”  “You just have to have faith.”

Usually, we mean well.  We want to offer comfort, and we would give almost anything to take away even a little of the pain.  But sometimes the words we reach for ask people to move past their grief before they have even begun to understand what they have lost.  And sometimes, we offer those words because another person’s sadness makes us feel helpless, and we would like to get everyone back to a place where things feel manageable again.

But faith does not always make things manageable.  Sometimes faith gives us the courage to remain present when nothing can be managed or explained, when the only loving thing we can do is pull up a chair and stay.

That is part of what Paul is offering the church in Thessalonica, and it is part of what we need to hear this morning.  The people in that congregation are worried about those who have died.  They have placed their hope in Jesus Christ, and they are waiting for Christ’s return, but in the meantime, people they love are dying.  There are empty places in their community, familiar voices they no longer hear, people they expected to share the future with who are no longer there.  And beneath their questions about what happens next is a deeply human question: What about the people we love?  Will they be left out?  Have they missed what God promised?  Has death somehow carried them beyond the reach of Christ?

Those are questions we can understand.  We may ask them with different language, and we may carry different pictures of what lies beyond this life, but sooner or later most of us find ourselves wondering whether the love we have shared with someone can really survive their death.  Paul responds by telling them that he does not want them to grieve as those who have no hope.  He does not say that faithful Christians should recover quickly, that tears reveal a spiritual weakness, or that believing in resurrection means you should be able to get through the holidays without feeling the absence of someone you love.  He makes room for grief, because grief belongs to the experience of loving people whose lives are precious to us.  You can believe in resurrection and still cry in the grocery store because you walked past your mother’s favorite cookies.  You can trust in God’s promises and still reach for the phone before remembering that the person you want to call will not answer.  You can have a deep and enduring faith and still find yourself dreading the first Thanksgiving with an empty chair.  Hope does not remove those experiences. Hope gives us somewhere to bring them.

Paul’s promise is that those who have died have not slipped out of God’s care. The living will not get ahead of them, and the dead will not be forgotten. However we understand the extraordinary images in this passage—the trumpet, the clouds, the gathering in the air—the heart of his message is that God will bring Christ’s people together, and they will be with the Lord.  The passage ends with an instruction that helps us understand its purpose: encourage one another.  These words are given to a grieving church so that its people can hold one another up.  We misuse them whenever we turn them into a source of fear, or treat them as a puzzle that must be solved before we can rest in the love of God.  Paul wants this congregation to know that death cannot make their beloved people less beloved to Christ.

And that would be enough to sit with for a while this morning, especially for those among us who are carrying fresh grief, or grief that has become familiar without becoming easy.  But alongside Paul’s words of comfort, we hear the voice of Amos, and Amos will not let us settle too comfortably into our seats.  Through the prophet, God speaks to people who look forward to the day of the Lord, apparently expecting that God’s arrival will confirm what they already believe: that they are on the right side, that their enemies will be dealt with, and that the future will belong to them.

Amos asks them to reconsider.  Why are you so eager for God to come, he asks, when you have paid so little attention to what God desires?  Then the language becomes almost unbearable.  God rejects their festivals, their offerings, and the sound of their songs.  All the things that make their religious life feel substantial and reassuring have become offensive to the very God they claim to worship.

Imagine spending weeks preparing a beautiful worship service.  The choir has rehearsed, the flowers are in place, the bulletin has been checked, and everyone has worked hard to make the morning meaningful. Then, right in the middle of it, God says, “I need you to listen to what is happening outside these doors.”  Because outside, someone cannot afford enough food.  Someone is being denied a fair hearing.  Someone is working hard and still falling further behind.  Someone has learned from experience that the community’s promises of welcome come with exceptions.

And the worship inside has taught people how to feel faithful without helping them become more faithful in their treatment of their neighbors.  That is the wound Amos presses.  The problem is not that people sing or pray or gather for worship.  The problem is that they have allowed their worship and their daily lives to become disconnected.  They can honor God with their voices while ignoring people God loves, and somewhere along the way they have stopped noticing the contradiction.

Then comes that great call: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  Water moves. It reaches places.  It makes a difference to the ground it touches.  We understand this when a water line breaks.  There can be an enormous supply in the system, but if it never reaches your kitchen faucet, you still cannot fill a glass.  You can talk all day about how much water is available, but someone needs to find out where the flow has stopped.

Amos asks us to consider where the flow has stopped in our life with God.  We hear about grace here.  Where does that grace reach someone who has made a mistake?  We celebrate welcome here.  What does that welcome feel like to the person who arrives without knowing anyone?  We speak of every person being made in God’s image.  How does that conviction shape what we tolerate when a neighbor is demeaned because of race, poverty, disability, or whom they love?

Those questions are part of worship, too.  They help us follow the love we proclaim all the way into the lives we live. And this is where today’s passages speak to one another.  Paul tells a grieving church that its beloved dead belong to God.  Amos tells a worshiping community to take seriously the lives of the people who belong to God right now.  Together, they give us a hope large enough to embrace those we have lost and those whose suffering we have learned to overlook.  It’s possible to talk about heaven in ways that make us less attentive to earth.  We can assure people that everything will be better someday while leaving them alone with what is unbearable today.  We can promise a future feast without wondering whether our neighbors have supper tonight.

The hope of resurrection should deepen our care for the lives around us.  If God’s love holds us even through death, then surely the life of each person we meet deserves our attention.  Their hunger matters.  Their safety matters.  Their dignity matters.  Their grief matters.

Think about what often happens when someone dies.  Someone makes soup.  Someone takes care of the dog.  Someone remembers that the surviving spouse has never handled the bills and offers to sit down at the kitchen table and help.  Someone keeps calling after the funeral, when the house has grown quiet and most everyone else has returned to their routines.  None of those people can undo the death.  None of them can explain away the loss.  But through their patient, practical care, they help a grieving person experience something of the promise that they have not been abandoned.  That is encouragement with hands and feet.

And Amos asks us to let that care keep widening.  When we discover that a neighbor is hungry, we feed them, and we also begin asking why so many neighbors are hungry.  When we help someone through a crisis, we listen for the barriers that made the crisis worse.  When we hear the same painful story from person after person, we consider whether something in our common life needs to change.

For a congregation that has a food bank or takes care of Christmas for a family, this becomes very real.  Food offers immediate nourishment, taking care of a family at Christmas offers immediate help but the table and lack of resources also creates the possibility of relationship.  We begin to know names.  We hear about the rent increase, the unreliable car, the long wait for an appointment, the job whose hours never quite add up to enough.

And once we know people, it becomes harder to reduce their lives to an opinion we heard somewhere.  Justice grows more personal, and our understanding of love grows more demanding.  Of course, some days we are tired.  Some days the needs seem endless, and we wonder how much difference our small congregation, our small offering, or our one act of kindness can make.  This is where we need Paul’s encouragement again.

We are not being asked to manufacture the resurrection or carry the future by ourselves.  Our hope rests in the God who raised Jesus, the God whose faithfulness reaches further than our strength.  We can do the work that is ours to do without pretending that everything depends on us.  And we can rest when we need to rest, trusting that God continues to love the world even while we sleep.

That kind of hope gives us room to be honest.  We can admit that death hurts.  We can acknowledge that injustice is real.  We can confess that the church has sometimes offered beautiful words where courageous action was needed.  And because we trust in God’s grace, honesty can become the beginning of change.  Perhaps that is what these passages invite us to carry into the week ahead: a willingness to stay close.

Stay close to those who are grieving, even when you have run out of things to say.  Stay close to the neighbor whose experience challenges what you thought you understood.  Stay close to the promises of God when you cannot see how those promises will be fulfilled.  And let what we receive in worship begin to move through us.

Let the assurance that we belong to God help us make room for someone who feels they belong nowhere.  Let the bread we share awaken our concern for those who are hungry.  Let our prayers for peace shape the way we speak, the decisions we make, and the suffering we are willing to confront.  We do not know all the details of the future Paul describes.  We know the promise at its center: we will be with the Lord.  The people we entrust to God are held in a love stronger than our ability to hold them ourselves.  And we know what Amos asks of us while we wait: let justice flow. 

So, we will grieve when grief comes, and we will help one another carry it.  We will worship, and we will listen for where God is sending us. We will keep setting the table, making the call, showing up, and asking what love requires in this particular place, among these particular people.

For the God who holds our future is present with us here, giving us grace for the next faithful thing.  Amen.

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

Heavenly Lord, we are indeed thankful for the blessings you have bestowed upon us.  Grant that these offerings serve you in the building up of your church and your witness to the world; that your heavenly kingdom is near at hand within us now and always.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  O Master Let Me Walk With Thee         #357/665  Bl/Br

Benediction –

God has called and chosen you to be witnesses to hope and peace in God’s world.  Go in peace and this same healing, reconciling love and peace will be with you.  Go and serve the Lord your God in all that you do.  AMEN.

Postlude

Today's Worship Service - November 1, 2026 All Saints' Day

 We will worship together at Olivet Presbyterian Church, West Elizabeth at 9:45am with Communion followed by a time of fellowship.

Worship Service for November 1, 2026

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      For all those who have paved the way for our freedom of worship, we give thanks, O Lord.

P:      For those who have taught us about the witness and the power of love, we give thanks, O Lord.

L:      For those who work in our church that we may come to know what it means to serve, we give thanks, O Lord.

P:      For all the saints, those who rest from their labors, and those who labor still, we give thanks, O Lord.

L:      Praise be to God, who continually inspires and guides workers and witnesses.

P:      Open our heart and spirits, O Lord, and help us become good workers for You.

 

Opening Hymn –  O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing      Hymn #466

Blue 4 vs.

Prayer of Confession

Lord of mercy, forgive us when we make excuses for our lack of faith.  We let our selfishness and empathy get in the way of illumination and peace.  We find ways to duck out of our opportunities for service and witness, claiming that we are too small or too ill-equipped to be effective witnesses to Jesus Christ.  How foolish we can be!  All of our lives You have been present to us, whether or not we knew it.  Your love is always surrounding us.  Yet we have not taken the time to recognize it.  We whine and complain about the misfortunes that have befallen us and wonder where You are.  We want immediate release from our struggles.  And when release comes, we again move off in our own realms of self-centeredness.  Help us, O Lord.  Stop us from being so faithless.  Open our hearts with Your forgiving Spirit that we, having been healed and forgiven, may be effective witnesses to Your love and compassion. (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      You have always been loved by God.  Know that you are healed and forgiven, that God has placed a special blessing in your life.  Rejoice!  For God is with you.  Serve God in all that you say, think, and do.

P:      Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  AMEN

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

God of all creation, we bless you for calling the world and all its peoples to come and share your love, blessing, forgiveness, and healing.  We praise you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, for his ministry and passion, for his dying and rising to free us from sin, and for the gift of your holy church that lives to tell the whole world this good news.

         In this season and month of thanksgiving we give thanks, O Lord, for all those who look to you for guidance and strength, or have fashioned their very lives after that of a compassionate savior, who have taught us the meaning of love, and have shared with us the lessons of wisdom and grace.

         We pray for the gift of peace with liberty and justice for all people everywhere.  We especially we pray for the children of the world victimized by war, trapped in many kinds of slavery, orphaned and left motherless or fatherless and homeless, who need your loving care.  We pray for refugee families struggling for food and housing, for the sick, the helpless, and the lonely.  Remember them and deliver them. 

         We pray for those who are ill in body, mind, or spirit.  Be with all who fight chronic disease or crippling disability.  Ease suffering from pain, stress, and isolation.  Comfort the despairing.  Renew caregivers so they may continue their healing ministries to those under their care. We especially lift up to you in prayer…

         As we celebrate today the gifts of all your saints, for their faithfulness and for their giving of themselves and of their resources for the benefit of their families, others, and the generations that came after them.  We remember all those who have had an impact on our lives.  And we remember them by name:

In the following moments of silence hear our inner groanings, listen carefully to our heartfelt thanks and also our prayers, O Lord, to heal us inside and out…

         All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior, who taught us to prayer together saying….…Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –     Be Still My Soul                   Hymn #712 Brown

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Psalm 78:1-7

Second Scripture Reading – Matthew 5:1-11

Sermon –  

All Saints’ Day

(Based on Matthew 5:1-11)

 

What makes someone a saint?

Back in 1997, Fred Rogers was honored with a Daytime Emmy award for his work on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”  As he stood to accept the award, he started with these words, “So many people have helped me to come to this night.  Some of you are here.  Some are far away.  Some are even in heaven.  All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take 10 seconds, along with me, to think of the people who have helped you become who you are — those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life?  I’ll watch the time.”

The story goes that, within a couple of seconds, the packed auditorium was filled with the sounds of sniffles and muffled sobs from the glitterati of Hollywood.  Rogers’ slow, soft, loving, parental voice had given them permission – had created a safe space – for them to become like children.  It is no surprise many were moved to tears by a glimpse of the love that knows no end made manifest in a cardigan-clad Presbyterian minister. 

Remembering the people who formed us has the capacity to wrench at something deep within us.  So, like Mister Rogers’, I’d like you also to take a moment and think of the people who have shaped you, who have loved you in being who you are, who have shown God’s forgiveness, love and mercy to you, who have been your saints – those who are long gone and those who are living still.  Take just these next few seconds….

(Silence)

There’s a wonderful hymn for today that I wish I had considered before I set the template for this month’s hymns and given them to Bob for playing today.  However, I’m sure most of you know it.  It is called “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.”

1.    I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus' sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there's not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn't be one too.

3. They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, or at sea,

in church, or in trains, or at shops, or at tea. 
They are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.

 

While I love the image of tea-drinking saints, I’m not exactly sure that’s what our ancestors had in mind when they began venerating their courageous forebears who risked their lives and often died because of their faith.

A couple of lines in the hymn hint at something more than a charming tea setting by the window overlooking the sea.  “They loved their Lord so dear, so dear / and God’s love made them strong / and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake / the whole of their good lives long.”

There seems to be a lot of confusion these days about what it means to follow what is right.  Greed, lust for power, warmongering, profit margins for the wealthy, rules only meant for the poor, oppression of the people’s voice.  These aren’t what Jesus spoke about, however.

The central core of Jesus’ ethical teaching surrounding a sermon he gave on the mountain.  He said,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

Some Christian scholars interpret these Beatitudes to describe spiritual attitudes like despondency, brokenheartedness, docility, leniency, and so forth; Gd will transform these difficult emotions into a blessing.  However, others insist that they are literal – where Jesus is really speaking about the poor, those suffering from unbearable grief, the starving, and the marginalized; where powerless people are the saints of God’s kingdom, and following Jesus means standing with and among those who are despised and oppressed.

Honestly, I don’t think we need to choose whether they are an abstract idea or a literal one in interpretation.  Both describe an ethical path that moves between who we are and what we do.  We need healing from the emotional turmoil of life and we need to question the assumptions of power and privilege that have twisted blessings into nothing more than greed and exploitation.  We know how hurt our societies are to the have-nots.  And we’d rather ignore what their pain says about our own choices.

This sermon that Jesus gave to his disciples on the mountain was countercultural.  Being blessed is about fully embracing the concept of hardship, lament, humility, generosity, virtue, and nonviolence – from the deepest places of our inner lives to the activities of serve and solidarity we participate in the world around us.

What makes someone a saint?  Following what is right.  And what is right?  The Beatitudes reveal Jesus’ contention that the “first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”  The wounded and heartbroken are the blessed.  The poor and the peacemakers are blessed.  The hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and those who advocate for the oppressed are blessed.  Those who are persecuted for the sake of the gospel are blessed.

Barbara Brown Taylor once answered the question about what makes a saint by saying, “Extravagance, excessive love, flagrant mercy, radical affection, exorbitant charity, immoderate faith, intemperate hope, and inordinate love.”  And aren’t those the characteristic of every saint mentioned in the Bible?

A saint embodies these characteristics.  A saint is someone whose life is guided by the Beatitudes.  Because, for al the bad publicity some contemporary Christians have brought upon the faith, there are plenty of people still who have understood and attempted to live this path.  In the past and in the present.  And although they are often overlooked, more than a few did a decent job of it.  They are the saints.  The ones whom we want to emulate.  Today, All Saints Day, asks that we remember the way of blessing, the quiet yet radically countercultural faith of the saints among us.

I want to be one, too.

How about you?

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

Giver of life and all the gifts of our lives, receive now these tokens of our appreciation which we set before you as signs of our love and thanksgiving.  We rejoice with thankful hearts for all your blessings.  Help us to live our lives in service to you as our continuing gift of thanks.  We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Holy Communion

         Invitation to the Table – Let us celebrate this Holy Feast, prepared for you as we commune with God and with one another.   People will come from east and west, north and south to sit at the Holy Table in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  Anyone who comes to me, I will never turn away.

Blessed is the God of the Universe, Lord of all creation, through God’s goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made.  May it be for us the bread of life.  Blessed is the God of the Universe, Lord of all creation, through God’s goodness we have this fruit of the vine to offer, for the quenching of thirst made by human hands.  May it be for us the cup of salvation.  Blessed is the God of the Universe, Lord of all Creation, through God’s goodness we have ourselves to offer, blessing of the womb, and formed by God’s great love.  May we become God’s servants in the world.  Blessed be God forever and ever.

Words of Institution

         Prayer after Communion - God of a love stronger than death, you have given us new birth into a living hope through the gift of your Son.  God with us, like a mother you have fed us with yourself and strengthened us for journeying ahead.  God of truth and power, you take our weakness and our sin and refashion us by grace.  All Gracious God, may the love which bids us welcome at this table gather all your children into one, in your eternal presence, whole and free at last. Amen.       

Closing Hymn –  For All the Saints               Hymn #526  Blue 4 vs.

Benediction –

Now, dear friends, go from this place in confidence that the God of Creation is with you.  Go boldly into the world, offering peace, hope and healing love, in the name of Jesus Christ.  And may the God of love, hope and peace be with you always.  AMEN.

Postlude

Today's Worship Service - Sunday, October 25, 2026

 

Worship Service for October 25, 2026

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each of you.

P:      And also with you.

L:      I will bless the Lord at all times.  God’s praise shall continually be in my mouth.

P:      Our souls make their boast in the Lord.  Let the humble hear and be glad.

L:      When the righteous cry out for help, the Lord hears them and rescues them from all their troubles.

P:      The Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted.

L:      Our God saves those who are crushed in Spirit.

P:      Praise be to God, now and forever and ever.  AMEN.

 

Opening Hymn –  Praise to the Lord, the Almighty       Hymn #482 Blue

Prayer of Confession

Creator God, we confess this day to engaging in the habits that diminish the bounty of Your creation.  Not satisfied with the goodness of Your holy temple, Your seas and mountains, Your rain and soil, we have fashioned a system of sustenance that seems good to us, but cannot be sustained.  Be merciful to us, for we have sinned.  Answer us with awesome deeds of deliverance, O Hope of the Earth.  Give us vision and prophetic spirit.  Renew our vocation, as stewards of Your creation.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Do not lose heart.  Those who humbly admit their sins find favor with God.  For God answers prayer and forgives transgression.  Believe this good news: We are forgiven and freed to newness of life.

P:      Enrich us with wisdom, and bless us with growth, O God of our salvation.  AMEN.

 

Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’ Creed

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

You have called each of us, gracious God, into relationship with you.  As we grow and change, your words continue to challenge us, to confront us, to judge us, to love us.  Thank you for the gift of your Holy Word to us in our lives.

You have called each of us in your Word-Made-Flesh self, who was willing to bear the reproach of those in authority in order to serve the least, the last, and the lost.  He spoke your healing, redeeming, gracious words into reality.  Thank you for that gift of Your Word in our lives.

You continue to call to us in the needs of those around us; and so we offer our prayers for all who are in any way burdened, disillusioned, or suffering.  Hear our prayers of concern for the world, for the establishment of peace, for the ease of suffering and pain from drought, disease, political strife and conflict.  Reach out now to our own country and its leaders.  Allow them to be wise in decision making and compassionate to those in need.

Lord, hear our prayers for those near at home and their relationship with you.  Allow them to feel your presence and know your amazing grace.  We lift up in prayer to you this day….

 

Also hear these prayers, those quiet prayers of the heart, as we pray to you in silence….

 

Most Holy God, we stand now and ever, under your mercy praying the Model Prayer your Son taught to us saying…Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  AMEN.

 

Hymn –  My Faith Looks Up to Thee             Hymn #383/539

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Psalm 90

Second Scripture Reading – Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon –  

The Two Great Commandments

(based on Matthew 22:34-46)

 

         This section of Matthew consists of a number of encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Scribes, and the Sadducees.  Each of the encounters were meant to trap Jesus in a compromising position with either the Jewish leaders or with the Roman sympathizers.  Of course, Jesus discerned well what they were doing and chose to respond differently than any of the groups had imagined.

         The first encounter was with the Pharisees and Herodians, the spiritual and political leaders, who asked him about authority.  They wanted to know by whose authority Jesus was speaking and doing such miracles.  They ended up arguing with one another.  The second encounter was one with the Sadducees.  Much like the Pharisees, they were a small elite sect within Judaism.  They comprised the upper echelon of the social and economic status within Judaism.  Their beliefs often clashed with those of the Pharisees, particularly over religious law.  The most significant difference between the two was in regard to the resurrection.  The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection from the dead.  And of course, because of that, they posed a rather silly resurrection question about marriage to Jesus.  Again, he wouldn’t take the bait and chose to answer in a surprising way.

         This morning’s question put forth to Christ was done by the Pharisees themselves.  They had watched (from last week’s passage) as their student’s and the Herodians were unable to match wits with Christ.  They watched as the Sadducees fell to Christ’s superior wit.  So, they themselves, decided to approach Jesus.  One of them, a lawyer, decided to test him, “Which commandment is the greatest?” he asked.

         Christ’s response silenced even the Pharisees.  And it should silence us, as well.  It should silence us into truly thinking about how we conduct our lives.  Jesus wasn’t able to pin the Greatest Commandment down to just one.  Instead, he chose two of them, as if they were one; as if they were nearly equal.  These two commands are part of one another.

         First, he said to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Then he said, “And a second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.”

         The connecting bond between these two commands is love.  And yet, that concept is more than we can possibly fathom.  In fact, Jesus says that all the rest of the commands “hang” on these.  In doing some exegetical work on this word, “hang”, or krematai in the Greek, Terence Donaldson, a doctoral candidate wrote his thesis on this word in Rabbinical Studies and noted that the word was often used the same way Matthew used it in other rabbinical literature.  In each case a relationship is posited between one aspect of the Torah and another which is dependent upon it.  In other words, Jesus “hangs” all the rest of the law and the words of the Prophets on these two commandments.  The entirety of the given law to the people of God are dependent on loving God and loving neighbor.  Another scholar speaks of it as a chain with Loving God at the top of the chain and Loving Neighbor at the bottom of the chain, all the rest of the commandments are dependent on those two links in order to be part of the chain.  All of this means that God created absolutely everything out of love.  The light that shines in the day and the moon that shines as night, the stars that amaze our children and make us breathless when we try to grasp the infinity of it all.  The water that flows down a mountain stream as fish like salmon brave the journey home to spawn, water that surges in the ocean depths with behemoths like humpback whales who frolic and live there.  Water that rains down to nourish the earth that brings forth the trees and plants, each bloom and blossom.  Each bird that flies above the landscape, that soars in the air; every tiny insect that crawls or burrows beneath the surface to every elephant that stomps on the earth was created by God.  Even the strangest among them; birds that swim, fish that walk, mammals that lay eggs, and males that give birth.  All created by God in amazing and pure love.

         And it was all made for us, for our living and growing, for our enjoyment and enlightenment.  A Creator who loved us more than anything else in all of creation.  Which means that God also created you and me out of pure love. 

You were not created to be a play toy or an experiment.  But you were created out of love, to be loved.  And here’s the challenge; and to love in return.  Not just God, who created you, but the other command that goes along with it – to love one another, as well.

In English we have one word for love, which we use for absolutely everything.  I love God, I love my work, I love my mom and dad, I love my friends, I love Strawberry Ice Cream, I love cookies, I love to watch the sunrise in the morning and the sunset at night, I love the last book I read.  We love in all different kinds of ways.  And few of them mean the very same thing.

In Greek and Hebrew, they had lots of words for love for different kinds of love.

In Biblical Greek, there are four words used for love.

•        Eros (ἔρως): Sexual passion, romantic desire, and physical attraction. The Greeks viewed it as an intense, fiery, and sometimes irrational loss of control.

•        Philia (φιλία): Deep, loyal friendship, brotherly affection, and goodwill among equals.  This is about shared values, trust, and emotional bonds over physical desire.

•        Agape (ἀγάπη): Unconditional, selfless, and sacrificial love. It extends to humanity or a higher power without expecting anything in return. (we’ll come back to that in a moment)

•        Storge (στοργή): Natural, instinctive affection between family members, such as parents and children or siblings.

 

Now there are also some additional words used in classical Greek, that do not show up in the Bible for love.

•        Pragma (πρᾶγμα): Enduring, practical, and realistic love. It is built on patience, compromise, logic, and long-term commitment (like a long marriage).

•        Ludus (lūdus): Playful, flirtatious, and lighthearted love. It involves teasing, dancing, or casual romance without heavy obligations.

•        Philautia (φιλαυτία): Self-love. It ranges from unhealthy vanity and narcissism to a healthy sense of self-compassion and self-respect that allows you to love others.

•        Mania (μανία): Obsessive, frenzied, or jealous love that borders on madness or fixation

Now, the primary Hebrew words for love express different kinds of emotional bonds, loyalty, and care:

1. Ahavah (אַהֲבָה)  Meaning: The general and most common word for love, covering romantic love, parental affection, and deep friendship (such as between David and Jonathan).

•        Root Origin: Derives from the root hav (הַב), which means "to give". In Hebrew thought, love is an active choice to give of oneself rather than just a passive feeling.

2. Chesed (חֶסֶד)

•        Meaning: Steadfast, covenantal, and loyal love. It describes an enduring commitment, mercy, and kindness that people or God show even when it is unearned.  Often translated as "lovingkindness" or "mercy" in biblical texts.

3. Rachamim (רַחֲמִים)  Meaning: Deep compassion, tender care, and a parent's protective or divine devotion.  Root Origin: Shares a root with rechem, which means "womb," reflecting an instinctive, protective, and unconditional form of love.

4. Dod (דּוֹד)  Meaning: A romantic or physical beloved, used frequently in the Song of Songs to refer to a sweetheart or lover.

         The word used in this section of Matthew is agapoa, which is the verb form of divine love.  But many Biblical Scholars today have veered away from the old standard definition to include something a bit more nuisanced.  It’s not just divine love because the same word agapoa is used in the second commandment to love one another.  But we aren’t called to divinely love one another the same way that we are called to love God, so this definition isn’t quite accurate.

         A more accurate definition takes feelings out of the equation.  We aren’t called to feel something toward God or one another.  Instead, this love word in Greek is about action.  We are to act toward God with reverence.  And we are to act toward one another with reverence, as well.  It has little to do with how we feel, but more to do with how we act.  It’s about our choices.  To obey God, to keep God’s word, to be just, to be kind, to act with humbleness.  That’s what we are required to do towards God and towards one another.

There is too much hatred in the world.  Look around, it’s everywhere.  On the news, in our city streets, at shootings, massacres, and wars being waged around the globe.  The only one way that this will end is if we take Christ’s commandment to heart as a challenge to do better, to not feel love toward God and one another, but rather to act with love toward God and one another.

The connection that Jesus made when asked the question about which commandment is greatest, reaches back to the purpose of the cosmos, when God, out of pure love, created the stars and everything in it.  It wasn’t some kind of feeling that God had, but rather an action that God took to create the world, the universe and you.  God created you out of love.  And Jesus asks us to give that same kind of love back to God and to one another.

AMEN.

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

We come before you, all-giving God, rich with the gifts you have given to us, rich with the love you have lavished on us, rich with the blessings your Son has brought to us.  The gifts we offer you here speak not only of our gratitude for your love, but also of our commitment to seek anew and continuously to grow in our discipleship.  Bless these gifts, and us as givers, to the work for which you have called us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  AMEN

Closing Hymn –  Song of Hope   Hymn #432 Blue (sing through twice)

Benediction –

         Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love one another just as God has loved you.  Go in peace.  AMEN.

Postlude