Sunday, September 27th, 2026
Anniversary Sunday
Minister of Word and Sacrament ~ The Rev. Dan West
Prelude Shepherd’s Sunday Song
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. C. Kreutzer)
Welcome and Announcements
Responsive Call to Worship
Jesus prays for the disciples saying, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world…The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, even as we are one.”
“I in them and you in me, that they may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Let us worship God in the unity of the Spirit which is ours in Christ Jesus.
*Hymn # 471 We Are One In The Spirit
1. 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 will one day be restored
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
2. 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,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
and they will know we are Christians by our love.
3. 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 each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
4. All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
and all praise to Christ Jesus, who is God’s only Son,
and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
The Lord’s Prayer
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;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
*Hymn # 730 O For A World Where Everyone Respects Each Other’s Ways
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.
2. O for a world where goods are shared
and misery relieved,
where truth is spoken, children spared,
equality achieved.
3. We welcome one world family
and struggle with each choice
that opens us to unity
and gives our vision voice.
4. The poor are rich, the weak are strong,
the foolish ones are wise.
Tell all who mourn: outcasts belong,
who perishes will rise.
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.
Children’s Time
Anthem God Who Spread the Boundless Prairie
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Words by Herbert O’Driscoll. Music by Judith Snowdon)
Scripture Readings
Old Testament
Exodus 17:1-7 RSV
17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Reph′idim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the proof?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Mer′ibah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the proof by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Responsive Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD,
and the mighty wonders that God has done.
12 In the sight of their ancestors God worked marvels
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 The Lord divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime God led them with a cloud,
and all night long with a fiery light.
15 The Lord split rocks open in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 The Lord made streams come out of the rock,
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 21:23-32 RSV
23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the multitude; for all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented and went. 30 And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.
Response to the Word of God
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God for this word to us today.
*Hymn # 740 Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
1. Make me a channel of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me bring your love;
where there is injury, your healing power,
and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
2. Make me a channel of your peace:
where there’s despair in life let me bring hope;
where there is darkness, only light,
and where there’s sadness, ever joy.
3. O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love with all my soul.
4. Make me a channel of your peace:
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
in giving to all that we receive,
and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
Sermon Jesus On The Edge
Offering
Offertory Shadow and Substance
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Words and music by Daniel Charles Damon)
*Doxology In Loving Partnership
In loving partnership we come,
Seeking, O God, your will to do.
Our prayers and actions now receive;
We freely offer them to you.
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Book of Praise # 759)
Offertory Prayer
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
*Hymn # 732 O Day of Peace That Dimly Shines
1. O day of peace that dimly shines
through all our hopes and prayers and dreams,
guide us to justice, truth and love,
delivered from our selfish schemes.
May swords of hate fall from our hands,
our hearts from envy find release,
till by God’s grace our warring world
shall see Christ’s promised reign of peace.
2. Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,
nor shall the fierce devour the small;
as beasts and cattle calmly graze,
a little child shall lead them all.
Then enemies shall learn to love,
all creatures find their true accord;
the hope of peace shall be fulfilled,
for all the earth shall know the Lord.
*Benediction
*Response May The God Of Hope
May the God of hope go with us every day,
Filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.
May the God of justice speed us on our way,
Bringing light and hope to every land and race.
Praying, let us work for peace,
Singing, share our joy with all.
Working for a world that’s new,
Faithful, when we hear Christ’s call.
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Book of Praise # 726)
Postlude Great Is The Lord
(All rights reserved. Used with permission. Words and music by Michael W. Smith and Deborah D. Smith)
Next Week’s Scripture Readings
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Psalm 19
Matthew 21:33-46