Prelude Trio en Chaconne André Raison
Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus setting by Bill Engel / Paul Manz
Welcome & Announcements
*Confession & Forgiveness
Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, who pours love into our hearts and healing upon the earth. Amen.
Confident that God justifies us by grace through faith, let us confess our sin.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Compassionate God,
we confess that we struggle to embody your goodness in the world and in our own hearts. Creation groans from overuse.
Jealousy and bitterness strain our relationships. Indifference keeps us from seeking justice. Divisions disrupt your call to show genuine love to others. Turn our hearts back to you. Restore our world and reconcile us to one another. Renew us to live as your holy people, following the way of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hear this good news: We have peace with God through Jesus Christ, in whom there is no condemnation, but only forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. Receive freely this healing gift of grace.
Amen.
Gathering Hymn “God is Here”
*Prayer of the Day
Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts. Created by you, let us live in your image; created for you, let us act for your glory; redeemed by you, let us give you what is yours, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Old Testament Reading Isaiah 45:1-7
The Call of God’s Anointed for Israel’s Sake
Isaiah, the prophet of Israel’s exile in Babylonia, announces the good news that God has chosen and anointed a Persian king, Cyrus, as the agent who will bring God’s benefits to the people of Israel. Lest anyone imagine that the work of Cyrus is merely the hand of fate or the workings of ancient geopolitics, Isaiah declares God’s word that this, just as much as creation, is God’s work. There is no other divine power that could create, nor is there another who could bring this rescue to God’s people.
1. The Lord declares to God’s anointed: To Cyrus, whom I have grasped by his right hand: To flatten nations before him, I will make kings vulnerable; To open grand entries before him, gates will not be shut. 2. I myself will go before you, I will smooth out mounded defenses; I will shatter bronze entries and sever iron crossbars; 3. I will give you treasures from dark places and wealth from secret places—So that you will know that I, the Lord, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel. 4. For the sake of my servant, Jacob, and Israel, my chosen, I call to you by your name, I give you a title though you do not know me. 5. I am the Lord and there is no other; apart from me there are no gods; I make you strong though you do not know me. 6. So that they may know from the sun’s rising and from its setting. That there is nothing apart from me; I am the Lord and there is no other, 7. Fashioning light and creating darkness,
Making wholeness and creating adversity, I, the Lord, do all these things.
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 96:1-9
A Call to Worship the Lord
God’s power and justice awaken the people’s response, in the form of prayerful praise. This idea emerges in each of Psalm 96’s two sections—with a call in the first six verses to sing God’s praises and then with the command that all peoples and all the earth recognize God’s greatness.
1. Sing to the Lord | a new song!
Sing to the Lord, | all the earth!
2. Sing to the Lord; | praise God’s name!
Announce God’s deliverance | day by day! /R
3. Recount God’s glory a | mong the peoples;
among all the nations, God’s | won-drous acts.
4. For the Lord is great and | highly praised;
God is majestic above | all the gods.
5. For all the gods of the na | tions are weak,
while the Lord crea | ted the skies. /R
6. Splendor and grandeur go | be-fore God.
Strength and beauty are in | God’s sanc-tuary.
7. Credit to the Lord, fami | lies of nations;
credit to the Lord glo | ry and strength.
8. Credit to the Lord the glory | of God’s name;
bring an offering and en| ter God’s courts.
9. Bow down to the Lord in | holy adorn-ment.
Let all the land tremble | be-fore God. /R
The Epistle Lesson 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Singular devotion to Jesus as true judge
This, the earliest of Paul’s letters, was written in partnership with Silvanus and Timothy. Silvanus was closely associated with James, the brother of Jesus, while Timothy joined with Paul, whom he encountered as he crossed present-day eastern Turkey. The result of their collaboration is a succinct summary of the message of the first generation of preachers, as they agreed it should be conveyed. It stresses separation from contemporary culture by refusing to worship idols. Instead, singular devotion to Jesus as God’s Son is demanded, because his resurrection gave believers both the joy of God’s Spirit and hope in their own vindication at the final judgment. This is the “decisive announcement” the apostles convey, using a word (euanggelion in Greek) that has often been translated as “gospel” or “good news.”
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Anointed Jesus: grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, whose memory we continually draw on during our prayers. Regarding you we recollect before God and our Father the work of faith and the labor of love and the endurance of hope in our Lord Anointed Jesus. We were certain of your selection, family beloved by God, because our decisive announcement to you wasn’t in word alone, but came in power and holy Spirit and huge assurance. You know very well how we were among you—and for you—and you became the very image of us, and of the Lord, accepting the word in great distress with the joy of holy Spirit. Thus you became an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. From you the word of the Lord rang out not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to speak of it. They announce about you: what sort of welcome we had from you, as well as how you turned to God from the idols to serve the living and true God, and to await from heaven his son, whom God raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God
*Gospel Acclamation
*Gospel Matthew 22:15-22 Glory to you O Lord
Giving What is Due
Taxation was a vexing issue for many adherents of Judaism in the first century. It seemed unjust to pay a foreign power in order to live on the land God had promised Israel. Failure to acknowledge Rome’s hegemony, however, even by simply saying the tax should not be paid, could bring a violent official response. Put on the spot by rival teachers, Jesus defused the issue by insisting that, since Rome’s own currency was used for the tax, paying with that coinage did not violate Israel’s relationship with God. Nothing more was demanded than what was Rome’s due, stamped with Caesar’s own image. At the same time, Jesus implicitly refused to endorse requirements beyond the tax, if they impinged on people as created in God’s image. Just as what came from Caesar should be returned to Caesar, what was due God must be given to God.
Then the Pharisees went into action; they took counsel, how they might entrap him by speech. They delegated their students along with the Herodians to go to him. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are true and you teach the way of God with truth. You do not bother about anyone’s opinion, because you do not look to human approval. Tell us, then, what do you think—Is it right to give Caesar tax or not?” But knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why do you test me, you frauds? Show me the coinage of the tax.” And they did bring forward a denarius to him. And he said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Pay back Caesar’s to Caesar, then, and God’s to God.” They heard and marveled; they left him and went away.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon Bishop Emeritus Andy Taylor
*Hymn of the Day "Commonwealth is God’s Commandment”
*Prayers of Intercession
Response to each petition: Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.
*Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
*Exchange of Peace
The peace of the Lord be with you. And also with you.
Offering
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Offertory “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place” Lanny Wolfe In the midst of His children, the Lord said He would be. | It doesn't take very many, it can be just two or three. And I feel the same sweet Spirit that I've felt oft times before. | Oh, surely I can say I have been with the Lord.
*Offering Prayer
God of creation, you send rain and the earth springs forth abundantly. All blessings are from you; make us generous with what we have. Use our gifts, our abilities, and our hearts in service to you and in love to our neighbors, today and always. Amen.
*The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of pow’r and God of might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
Holy God, mighty and merciful, your people praise you, saying:
Your mercy endures forever. Your mercy endures forever.
By your promise you bound yourself to earth and all its creatures, granting them life and calling them to flourish, setting the sign of your bow in the clouds, the colors of your love and faithfulness. Your mercy endures forever. Your mercy endures forever.
By your promise you bound yourself to your people of old, blessing them with family outnumbering the stars and calling them to be a blessing to others, showing them steadfast love in every generation and calling them to be a light to the nations. Your mercy endures forever. Your mercy endures forever.
By your promise you joined us to Jesus, your Beloved, grafting us into your living Vine, and calling us to bear the fruit of your self-giving love.
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
With this bread and cup we remember his life laid down and lifted up as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us and these gifts of bread and wine. Bless us to be a blessing. Make us a sign of your faithfulness. Send us to tend and cherish the earth
and to serve the world with mercy and love.
With all the saints in light, with the earth and all its creatures,
with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God, through Christ Jesus, in your Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
*The Lord’s Prayer
Lord, remember us in your Kingdom and teach us to pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
Agnus Dei
Invitation to Communion
Christ invites you to this table. All who are thirsty, all who are hungry, come!
Communion Distribution
Communion Hymn “We Wait the Peaceful Kingdom”
Choir
We wait the peaceful kingdom, when wolf and lamb shall lie
in gentleness and friendship without a fear or sigh,
when lion shall be grazing, when snake shall never strike;
a little child shall lead us both strong and weak alike.
Where is the peaceful kingdom? When will this new day start?
We long for peace and comfort to reign within each heart.
Yet not in our lives only, nor simply in our home;
we pray that all creation will one day find shalom.
When wars of desolation and hate come to an end,
when nation meets with nation and calls the other “friend,”
still peace in all its fullness will only have begun:
shalom for all creation begins with justice done.
That little child shall lead us to walk the chosen way;
to share the peaceful kingdom, to greet God’s newborn day.
The child born in a stable is sent to break our chains,
to bring through word and table the day when justice reigns.
Text: Katherine Rae Moore, 2010
Music: Music: MERLE’S TUNE, Hal H. Hopson, 1933–2025
*Communion Blessing and Prayer
And now may the body and blood of our savior Jesus the Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. Amen
Sustaining God, with this bread and cup, you nourish us with mercy and abundant life. By your Spirit, send us from this table to serve a needy world. Make us living signs of your liberation, healing, and love, following the way of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
*Sending Hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory”
*Blessing & Dismissal
The God of hope grant you strength and joy in all circumstances through the interceding of the Spirit. And the God of grace bless you now and forever. Amen.
Go out in joy. Be led forth in peace. Thanks be to God.
Postlude “God of Grace” CWM RHONDDA
setting by Paul Manz
