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
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