Laity Sunday - October 18, 2026
LEADER parts are this font. ALL parts in bold.
Prelude Music [LESLIE]
Announcements [BEV]
Call to Worship [JENNIFER]
We are chosen children of God, bound together by the Holy Spirit.
Grounded in love, we belong to God, and through God, we belong to one another.
The Spirit empowers us to live as imitators of Christ in love of God, neighbor, self, and all creation.
Grounded in love, we belong to God, and through God, we learn to love one another.
The Spirit inspires us to receive God’s Word with joy in a world that rejects the good news.
Grounded in love, we belong to God, and through God, we live in joy with one another.
Come, let us worship in the assurance of God’s love that chooses us, empowers us, and inspires us to live as the family of Christ.
We come to worship God in the assurance that we belong to God, and through God, we belong to one another. Amen.
* Opening Song: #170 - "O How I Love Jesus"
* Opening Prayer [TYLER]
Loving, living God, be among us now.
Show us your ways. Guide our steps.
Live in us, that we may be people of steadfast hope and powerful giving.
Help us hear your words, challenging us to give you all the things that are yours.
Help us remember that all we are, and all we have, are gifts from you, gifts to be shared in service and love.
Holy One among us, help us be a holy people who receive your word with joy and live your message with love. Amen. Amen.
Sharing of Joys & Concerns, and Prayers [BEV)
Children's Message [TORRIE]
Main Scripture: Ephesians 3: 16-21 [SANDY]
I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.
To him who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of: to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God!
Message [LESLIE]
Special Music [LESLIE]
Offering [SANDY, with KIDS collecting]
* Doxology (Hymn #95):
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
* Offertory Prayer [SANDY]
Gracious God, you choose ordinary people and weave them into a community that shines with your love. We thank you for the gift of belonging—for the call to live our faith in ways that ripple outward into the lives of others. Receive these gifts as signs of our gratitude and our willingness to be witnesses to your grace. Use what we offer to encourage the weary, welcome the searching, and strengthen your church as a living example of hope.
May our shared life together always point to Christ, whose love calls and sends us, and who taught us to pray,
“Our Father, who art in heaven...
Closing Song #191 - "Jesus Loves Me"
Benediction [TORRIE]
May God bless you with the assurance that you are children of God, empowered and equipped by the Spirit to live as the Family of God in a world in desperate need of the good news. Amen.
Amen.