Worship
Service for August 23, 2026
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: What joy we feel when we are called
together to celebrate God’s love.
P: God’s love flows through our lives!
L: Looking around, this is what it means to
be the body of Christ.
P: This is what it means to be faithful
witnesses to God.
L: Let us rejoice this day!
P: Lord, we thank You for the blessings You
pour on us. AMEN
Opening Hymn – How Firm a Foundation #361/408
Prayer of Confession
God of infinite mercy and
love, we come before You this day, knowing that we have not always been
faithful to what You would have us do.
We have often turned our backs on those in need, choosing not to hear
their cries. Forgive us, O Lord. We know that You do not want us to behave
this way. Your love and mercy, so
generously showered over us, should be a beacon to guide our own actions. We make no excuses, for none would
suffice. We only ask Your forgiveness
and at the same time, blessings, turning us around again and placing us on the
path of compassion and peace toward one another. We offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: God’s love is greater than our
understanding and even our comprehension.
That love is continually given to each and every one of us every single
moment.
P: In knowing this, we rejoice! God’s forgiving love is poured out for us now
and always. 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
Gracious and loving
God,
On this late August
morning, we come before you carrying all that has filled the week behind us and
all that awaits us in the days ahead. We
bring our gratitude and our weariness, our hopes and our disappointments, our
certainty and our questions, trusting that you receive us just as we are and
hold us within a love that will never let us go.
We thank you for the
gifts that surround us—the beauty of creation, the companionship of family and
friends, the kindness of strangers, the laughter of children, and the quiet
moments when we recognize your presence in the ordinary rhythms of life. Teach
us not to hurry past these blessings, but to receive them with grateful hearts
and to share them generously with others.
We pray for those who
are suffering today: those who are ill, awaiting test results, recovering from
surgery, or living with chronic pain; those who are grieving someone they love;
those who feel lonely, anxious, or uncertain about the future; and those who
carry burdens that remain hidden from everyone around them. Draw near to each one, O God, and make us
attentive to the ways we may become instruments of your comfort and care.
As children, teachers,
administrators, and families prepare for a new school year, grant them
patience, courage, curiosity, and joy. Protect those who enter classrooms with trepidation,
encourage those who feel overwhelmed, and help every school become a place
where children are safe, valued, and given the opportunity to flourish.
We pray for our
community and for all who struggle to find adequate food, secure housing,
meaningful work, affordable healthcare, or a place where they feel they belong.
Keep us from offering only kind words
when faithful action is required. Give
us the wisdom to recognize injustice, the courage to challenge it, and the
compassion to stand beside those whose voices have too often been ignored.
We pray for our nation
and for the nations of the world. Where
there is war, bring peace; where there is hatred, awaken understanding; where
there is division, create paths toward reconciliation; and where leaders are
tempted by power, remind them that true leadership is found in service,
humility, and concern for the most vulnerable.
Today, we lift up to
you…
And now, in the silence
of this moment, we place before you the names, needs, and concerns that rest
most heavily upon our hearts.
Holy God, receive these
prayers, including those we cannot yet put into words. We ask all of this in the name of your son,
Jesus Christ, the teacher and rabbi who taught us to pray saying…Our Father who
art in heaven, Hallowed by 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 – Just
As I Am #370/488
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
138
Second Scripture Reading – Romans
12:1-8
Sermon –
Knowing and Doing God’s Will
Romans 12:1–8
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all got a
letter in the mail with the words “God’s Will for Your Life” printed across the
envelope? I think we would really like
it if God told us which job to take, whom to trust, how to spend our money, and
what decision to make. Yet most of us
have discovered that God rarely works that way.
The heavens do not usually open showing the way, the path that we need
to choose is not always obvious, and even our sincere prayers do not guarantee
that every uncertainty will immediately disappear.
When Paul writes about discerning
the will of God, however, he does not begin with a secret message, a miraculous
sign, or a detailed plan for the future. He begins with the mercy of God: “I appeal to
you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God.” Everything Paul is about to say rests upon
those words. Before he tells us what we
should do, he reminds us of what God has already done. Before he speaks about commitment,
transformation, service, or spiritual gifts, he points us toward mercy.
The first eleven chapters of Romans
have been Paul’s long and careful reflection about the grace of God revealed in
Jesus Christ. He has spoken about sin
and forgiveness, faith and hope, suffering and redemption, the work of the
Spirit, and God’s promise that nothing in all creation can separate us from
divine love. Then, when he begins to
write chapter twelve, Paul says, in effect, “Because all of this other stuff is
true—because God has met us with grace, because Christ has embraced us in love,
because the Spirit is at work within us—this is how we are invited to live.”
Our Christian faith never begins
with what we must do for God. It begins
with what God has done for us. Our lives
of faith are not an attempt to purchase God’s love, earn God’s approval, or
prove that we deserve a place in God’s family. They are our response to God’s mercy, God’s
grace, God’s love. We love because we
have been loved. We forgive because we
have been forgiven. We serve because
Christ has served us. We offer our lives
to God, not because God is demanding a payment, but because grace has awakened
some gratitude within us.
Paul continues, “Present your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship.” To present our bodies as a
living sacrifice means that faith cannot be confined to our thoughts, our
feelings, or the hour we spend in worship on Sunday morning. It involves not just our physical bodies but our
time, our possessions, our relationships, our work, our words, our choices, and
the ways we move in the world. We
worship God not only when we sing a hymn or pray a prayer, but also when we
prepare a meal for someone who is grieving, listen patiently to a lonely
neighbor, speak up when another person is being mistreated, teach a child,
visit someone who is sick, give generously, repair what is broken, and offer
our abilities for the good of the community.
That is presenting our whole selves as a living sacrifice to God.
Sometimes we imagine that
discovering God’s will must involve doing something dramatic, heroic, or
extraordinary, but Paul’s image of a living sacrifice suggests that God’s will
is often found in ordinary faithfulness. It’s found in choosing kindness when cruelty
would be easier, telling the truth when dishonesty would be more convenient,
remaining present when we would rather walk away, and making room for those
whom the world has pushed aside. This
living sacrifice is not one spectacular moment of devotion; it is the daily
offering of who we are and what we have.
Of course, there is something
difficult about being a living sacrifice, because it’s a continuing practice of
offering ourselves to God again and again. Every morning gives us another opportunity to
say, “God, take my life as it is today—my strength and my weariness, my
confidence and my uncertainty, my gifts and my limitations—and use it for Your
work of love.”
Paul then tells us, “Do not be
conformed to this age.” Don’t allow the
fears, divisions, and distorted values of our current culture to determine who
you will become. Instead, “be
transformed by the renewing of your minds.” The Greek word Paul uses for “transformed” is metamorphoo,
which is where we get our English word “metamorphosis.” It describes a profound change, like the
transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Paul is speaking about
something deeper than learning a few new religious ideas. He is describing a life gradually reshaped by
the grace of God.
This transformation does not happen
all at once. It unfolds through prayer,
worship, Scripture, service, community, honest reflection, and our willingness
to listen to people whose experiences differ from our own. It happens when we allow God to challenge not
only the beliefs of those with whom we disagree, but also our own assumptions
and prejudices. A renewed mind is not a
mind that believes it already knows everything. It is a humble, curious, compassionate mind
that remains open to the movement of the Holy Spirit.
It is only through this long,
gradual process that we begin to “discern what is the will of God—what is good
and acceptable and perfect.” Paul doesn’t
say that we’ll receive a detailed schedule of everything that is going to
happen. He says we will develop the
capacity to discern. Discernment is not
fortune-telling. It is the spiritual
wisdom to recognize what reflects the character of God.
If a choice moves us toward love,
justice, mercy, truth, reconciliation, and the flourishing of our neighbors,
then it bears the marks of God’s will.
When we ask, “What is God’s will?”
perhaps we should begin with questions such as these: Does this decision help
me love God and my neighbor more fully? Does
it honor the dignity of the people affected by it? Does it create healing or
deepen harm? Does it allow me to use my
gifts faithfully? Does it arise from
courage and trust, or merely from fear and self-protection? Can I make this choice with integrity,
humility, and compassion?
To be honest, even if we are being
fully transformed, we will not always answer those questions perfectly. Faithful people may pray sincerely and still
reach different conclusions. Sometimes
we will make the best decision we can with the information available and later
realize that we were mistaken. Discernment
does not make us infallible. But it does
keeps us humble enough to listen, wise enough to reconsider, and trusting
enough to believe that God’s grace is larger than our errors.
But knowing the will of God is only
half of Paul’s message in today’s text. The other half is doing it. We can spend so much time waiting for absolute
certainty that we never take the next faithful step. We may want God to show us the entire road,
while God gives us enough light for only the next few feet. There are moments when discernment requires
patience, but there are also moments when continued hesitation becomes a way of
avoiding obedience.
We do not need a special revelation
to know that feeding hungry people is consistent with God’s will. We do not need a miraculous sign before
welcoming a stranger, defending someone who is being treated unjustly,
forgiving an old injury, or checking on a neighbor who lives alone. We already
know enough of God’s will to begin doing something.
I am reminded of the familiar story
of a person walking along a beach after a storm. Thousands of starfish had been washed onto the
sand and were beginning to dry beneath the sun. The person bent down, picked up one starfish,
and tossed it back into the water. A
passerby looked at the endless shoreline and said, “There are thousands of
them. You cannot possibly make a
difference.” The person picked up
another starfish and replied, “It made a difference to that one.”
That story can sound overly simple
when placed beside the enormous problems of our world; hunger, poverty, racism,
violence, climate change, loneliness, and war cannot be solved by one small
act. Yet Paul never tells us that we
must solve everything. He asks each of
us to offer ourselves—to do the good that is within our reach and to join our
gifts with the gifts of others.
Paul describes the church as one
body with many members. Every member has
a different function, yet all belong to one another. This is one of Paul’s most powerful images for
Christian community. We do not merely
attend the same church or occupy the same building for an hour each week. In Christ, we belong to one another. Your well-being is connected to mine, and mine
is connected to yours.
We were raised, taught, encouraged,
corrected, protected, and supported by countless others. Someone grew the food we ate this morning. Someone maintained the road on which we
traveled. Someone taught us to read. Someone preserved the stories of faith before
we were born. Even our most personal
accomplishments rest upon gifts we did not create for ourselves.
The church is meant to be a place
where we acknowledge this interdependence and receive it as a gift. A hand does not criticize a foot for being
unable to see, and an eye does not dismiss an ear for being unable to walk. Each part has its purpose, and the body
flourishes when every part is valued and every gift is shared.
Paul then goes on to name several
gifts: prophecy, ministry, teaching, encouragement, generosity, leadership, and
compassion. His list is not meant to be
exhaustive. Some people have the gift of
speaking a necessary truth, while others know how to sit quietly with someone
whose heart is breaking. Some can
organize a complicated project, while others notice the person standing alone
at the edge of the room. Some teach,
some repair, some cook, some sing, some give, some advocate, some pray, and
some possess the holy gift of helping anxious people feel safe.
We sometimes overlook our gifts
because they seem ordinary to us. A
person who listens well may not recognize listening as a spiritual gift because
it comes naturally. Someone who can
bring order to a chaotic situation may think, “I am only making a few phone
calls.” Someone who offers warmth and
hospitality may say, “I am only putting on another pot of coffee.” What seems ordinary for one person to do, might
seem extraordinary to another who couldn’t possibly do that, because that just
isn’t their gift. And to the person who
receives a gift, it is an expression of immense grace.
Frederick Buechner famously
described vocation as the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep
need. That does not mean every act of
service will be easy or enjoyable, but it reminds us that God’s will is often
discovered where the gifts God has placed within us encounter the needs God
places before us. We do not have to
imitate someone else’s calling. We do
not have to possess every gift, respond to every need, or carry every burden. We only have to ask, “What has God entrusted
to me, and how might I offer it in love?”
This is the central message of
Romans 12:1–8: God’s will is not primarily a hidden puzzle that only a few
spiritually gifted people will ever solve. God’s will is a way of life formed by mercy,
accessible to all. It is the offering of
our whole selves, the renewal of our minds, the humble recognition of our
limitations, and the faithful use of our gifts for the good of others.
Knowing God’s will begins by
remembering God’s mercy. Doing God’s
will begins by offering what we have. And
this is how we do the will of God together; as one body, many members, and
every one of us held within the mercy of God.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
God of abundance and joy, we thank You for the
many blessings You have poured on our lives.
Receive these gifts, lovingly given, and bless them for Your service
among us and in the world. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – God Be With You #232 Brown Hymnal
Benediction –
Go now as living
offerings of God’s grace, renewed in mind, humble in spirit, and ready to use
your gifts for the good of all. May the
love of God guide you, the grace of Christ sustain you, and the Holy Spirit
empower you to serve. Amen.
Postlude
