Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 13, 2026
First Sanctuary – 9:45
AN ORDER FOR THE WORSHIP OF GOD
ENTRANCE
GATHERING OF THE CHURCH AND WELCOME
THE PRELUDE
Exaltation on DUKE STREET, Labenske
BRINGING IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Sing praise to God who reigns above,
the God of all creation,
People: the God of power, the God of love,
the God of our salvation!
All: To God be all praise and glory!
*HYMN UMH 126 Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above
Sing praise to God who reigns above,
the God of all creation,
the God of power, the God of love,
the God of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul is filled
and every faithless murmur stilled:
To God all praise and glory.
The Lord is never far away,
but through all grief distressing,
an ever present help and stay,
our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand,
God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.
Thus, all my toilsome way along,
I sing aloud thy praises,
that earth may hear the grateful song
my voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart,
both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory.
Let all who name Christ’s holy name
give God all praise and glory;
let all who own his power proclaim
aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne,
for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone:
To God all praise and glory.
*GREETING ONE ANOTHER IN THE NAME OF THE LORD
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
FIRST OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Exodus 3:1-6
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
SECOND OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Exodus 3-4 (selected verses)
Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say, “I AM has sent me to you.”
God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’….
Then Moses answered, “But look, they may not believe me or listen to me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses drew back from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and seize it by the tail”—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand— “so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors…has appeared to you.”
Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, as white as snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back into your cloak”—so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body— “If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent…but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do.
SERMON
A MOMENT FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
OFFERTORY INVITATION AND PRAYER
OFFERTORY
Walk Worthy, Martin
*DOXOLOGY UMH 94
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below: Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts!
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
THANKSGIVING AND HOLY COMMUNION
*INVITATION TO THE TABLE
*THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
The pastor gives thanks appropriate to the day, remembering God’s acts of salvation, and concludes:
Leader: And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and 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 in the highest.
The pastor continues the thanksgiving. The institution of the Lord’s Supper is recalled. The pastor concludes:
Leader: ….as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. The pastor invokes the present work of the Holy Spirit and praises the Trinity, concluding
Leader: All honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and for ever.
People: Amen.
*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.
GIVING AND RECEIVING OF THE BREAD AND CUP
PRAYER AFTER HOLY COMMUNION
THE SENDING FORTH
*HYMN UMH 438 Forth in Thy Name, O Lord
Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
my daily labor to pursue;
thee, only thee, resolved to know
in all I think or speak or do.
The task thy wisdom hath assigned,
O let me cheerfully fulfill;
in all my works thy presence find,
and prove thy good and perfect will.
Thee may I set at my right hand,
whose eyes mine inmost substance see,
and labor on at thy command,
and offer all my works to thee.
For thee delightfully employ
what e’er thy bounteous grace hath given;
and run my course with even joy,
and closely walk with thee to heaven.
*CARRYING THE LIGHT INTO THE WORLD
*DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING
*THE CHIMING OF THE TRINITY
*POSTLUDE
Celebration in G, Eliot
Worship Leaders this Morning
Preacher: The Reverend Ben Alexander, Lead Pastor
Liturgist: The Reverend Martha McLean, Executive Pastor
Pianist/Organist: Christy Farrior, Music Ministry Associate