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Sunday, August 31, 2025 -- 10:30am Worship Service
Greeting & Announcements
Prelude - Andante from Manfred, Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Call to Worship - adapted from “Liturgies from Below” Carvalhaes
Come! Come into the place where God listens!
Where you need no money, no status, no fine clothes!
Come as you are
Broken, whole
Sick, well
Satisfied or with deep needs
Come to sing
Come to cry
Come to hear
Come to see
Come ready or Come to be made ready
We are here
God is here too
Let us worship God together!
+ Hymn 667 - When Morning Gilds the Skies
+ Call to Confession
+ A Prayer of Confession
Host of the heavenly banquet, we give thanks for your generous invitation. Not only have you offered us a seat at the table, but you have lovingly prepared for us a feast. Help us to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We admit to withholding our affection from those whom you have called us to love. We feel uncomfortable at the table with those who are different from us and with those with whom we can’t see eye-to-eye. We neglect to share what we have. Forgive us and lead us to serve one another with open hearts. Hear now our silent prayers of confession.
• Assurance of Pardon
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581 Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Children’s Message
Prayer for Openness
Lord God, pour out your Spirit upon us to bring good news to the oppressed, and let your word be fulfilled among us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Scripture Reading -Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16 - NT pg 227
Let mutual affection continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Anthem - Christ, the Vine, Robert J. Powell, Chancel Choir
Scripture Reading - Luke 14:1, 7-14NT pg. 77
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Sermon - “You’re Invited” - Rev. Matt Falco
Statement of Faith - The Belhar Confession Adapted by Nolan Palsma
We believe that God has revealed himself as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged; that God calls the church to follow him in this, for God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry; that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind; that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly; that for God pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering; that God wishes to teach the church to do what is good and to seek the right that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream… To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honor and the glory for ever and ever.
+ HYMN 762 - When the Poor Ones
Prayers of the People & THE LORD’s PRAYER
Offering
• INVITATION
• Offertory - What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore; One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
• Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 320 - The Church of Christ in Every Age
Charge & Benediction
Benediction Response - Hymn 372, O For a World (verses 1 and 5)
1 O for a world where everyone respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.
5 O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.
Postlude - Festive Trumpet Tune, David German (b. 1954)
Prelude - Andante from Manfred, Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Call to Worship - adapted from “Liturgies from Below” Carvalhaes
Come! Come into the place where God listens!
Where you need no money, no status, no fine clothes!
Come as you are
Broken, whole
Sick, well
Satisfied or with deep needs
Come to sing
Come to cry
Come to hear
Come to see
Come ready or Come to be made ready
We are here
God is here too
Let us worship God together!
+ Hymn 667 - When Morning Gilds the Skies
+ Call to Confession
+ A Prayer of Confession
Host of the heavenly banquet, we give thanks for your generous invitation. Not only have you offered us a seat at the table, but you have lovingly prepared for us a feast. Help us to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We admit to withholding our affection from those whom you have called us to love. We feel uncomfortable at the table with those who are different from us and with those with whom we can’t see eye-to-eye. We neglect to share what we have. Forgive us and lead us to serve one another with open hearts. Hear now our silent prayers of confession.
• Assurance of Pardon
• Response to Forgiveness: Hymn 581 Gloria Patri
Passing of the Peace
Children’s Message
Prayer for Openness
Lord God, pour out your Spirit upon us to bring good news to the oppressed, and let your word be fulfilled among us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Scripture Reading -Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16 - NT pg 227
Let mutual affection continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
This is the written testimony to the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Anthem - Christ, the Vine, Robert J. Powell, Chancel Choir
Scripture Reading - Luke 14:1, 7-14NT pg. 77
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Sermon - “You’re Invited” - Rev. Matt Falco
Statement of Faith - The Belhar Confession Adapted by Nolan Palsma
We believe that God has revealed himself as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged; that God calls the church to follow him in this, for God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry; that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind; that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly; that for God pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering; that God wishes to teach the church to do what is good and to seek the right that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream… To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honor and the glory for ever and ever.
+ HYMN 762 - When the Poor Ones
Prayers of the People & THE LORD’s PRAYER
Offering
• INVITATION
• Offertory - What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessing flow Praise Christ the Word in flesh born low;
Praise Holy Spirit evermore; One God, Triune, whom we adore. Amen.
• Prayer of Dedication
+ HYMN 320 - The Church of Christ in Every Age
Charge & Benediction
Benediction Response - Hymn 372, O For a World (verses 1 and 5)
1 O for a world where everyone respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.
5 O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.
Postlude - Festive Trumpet Tune, David German (b. 1954)