ST. LUKE'S UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

OCTOBER 25, 2026                                                                                                  

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

SILENT MEDITATION: 

“You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves…there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives.”   --James 1:22, 25 (CEB)

GATHERING MUSIC

GREETING

PRELUDE “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”                                      

Benjamin Carr

CONGREGATIONAL HYMN No. 8 “Come, Thou Almighty King”                                             
ITALIAN HYMN                                       
                                                                                                                   

Come, Thou Almighty King, Help us Thy Name to sing;
Help us to praise. Father all-glorious, O'er all victorious,
Come, and reign over us, Ancient of Days.
 

Come, Thou Incarnate Word, Gird on Thy mighty sword;
Our prayer attend. Come, and Thy people bless, And give Thy Word success,
Spirit of holiness, On us descend.
 

Come, Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear
In this glad hour. Thou, Who almighty art, Now rule in every heart
And ne'er from us depart, Spirit of pow'r.
 

To Thee, great One in Three, Eternal praises be,
Hence evermore; Thy sov'reign majesty May we in glory see,
And to eternity Love and adore.

CALL TO WORSHIP 

One:  Love the Lord your God.

All:     We come with love and hope!

One:  Love your neighbors too.

All:    We come with loving hearts.

One:  Love even yourself.

All:     We come in humble trust.

One:  Love, and you will live.

All:     We come to worship God, that love might live in us.

CALL TO CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (Unison)

God of Mercy and Grace, no matter how righteous we imagine ourselves to be, the light of your Spirit reveals our true selves. No matter how we parade our faithfulness, we always fall short. Free us from our pride and instill in our hearts a sense of humility. Forgive us and by your Spirit empower us to walk with integrity in the way of our Savior. Amen

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

GLORIA PATRI       

Glory be to the Father and to the Son       
and to the Holy Ghost;                                 

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,                                 

world without end. Amen. Amen.

MOMENTS WITH MINNIE    

PASTORAL PRAYER and 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 sins as we forgive those
who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen.

SPECIAL MUSIC “I am His Child”                                                       
Moses Hogan 

SCRIPTURE Matthew 22:34-40; 23:1-12

SERMON “Keepers of the Law”

CONGREGATIONAL HYMN No.597 “Take My Live and Let It Be Consecrated” (vs 1,2,5,6)            HENDON

Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days -
Let them flow in ceaseless praise, Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee, Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my love - my Lord - I pour At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself - and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee, Ever, only, all for Thee.

 Take my will and make it Thine - It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart - it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne, It shall be Thy royal throne.

STEWARDSHIP REFLECTION
CALL TO STEWARDSHIP  
THE BEAUTY OF SHARED GIFTS “He Grew the Tree”                                                

Chuck Lawrence

CELEBRATING STEWARDSHIP — DOXOLOGY                                                                     

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;                                        

Praise God, all creatures here below;                                             

Praise God above, ye heavenly host:                                      

Creator, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION (In Unison)                                                           

God of abundant love, we bring these gifts not because we must, but because we long to express our thanks and praise to you. By the power of your Spirit, bless the gifts we bring, and our lives along with them. May all we offer be used to make your love known in all the places our shared ministry is extended. Amen

CONGREGATIONAL HYMN No. 423 “The Bond of Love”                                                       

BOND OF LOVE

We are one in the bond of love, We are one in the bond of love;
We have joined our spirit with the spirit of God, We are one in the bond of love.

Let us sing now, every one, Let us feel His love begun;
Let us join our hands that the world will know We are one in the bond of love.

BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Find us Faithful”                                                         

Jon Mohr

The Liturgist is Dan O’Neill.  
Thank you to John Kritos for accompanying the hymns today.
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
 

TOTENFEST

St. Luke’s UCC will observe its annual Totenfest Service on November 1st, during worship.

You are invited to turn in the names of family or friends who have died in the past year for Pastor Paul to read during the service. Please have the names turned in by the beginning of the service on November 1st.
 

Totenfest is German for “Festival for the Dead.” It was begun as a day to remember Prussian soldiers who died in the Prussian War. It became the tradition of the Evangelical Church to devote a Sunday of the liturgical church year to remembering church members who have died during the year. As part of our heritage, St. Luke’s United Church of Christ maintains this tradition. In the spirit of ecumenism, the observance of Totenfest is observed in conjunction with All Saints Day.

TIME CHANGE

Don’t forget to change your clocks by “falling back”,
before going to bed, this Saturday, October 31st.

SACRED MUSIC SUNDAY

We will have Sacred Music Sunday as worship on November 8th.

You won’t want to miss this very special service of music

CLOSED CAPTIONING
We now have the ability to have closed captioning on the livestream.
In order for you to use it, you must have it turned on on your Facebook account.
To do that, follow the steps below:
1. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner of your Facebook page.

2. Click on Settings & privacy. Then click on Settings.

3. On the left, under preferences, click on Media.
4. Under Video Settings, click on “Always Show Captions”.
Note: Facebook is rolling out the changes and you might not have the ability to have captions on at this time. Their changes may also impact whether we have the ability to share captions too.
Please be patient while Facebook makes their changes.

SAVE THE DATES
 

November 22nd ~ Lunch & Advent Movie