September 20, 2026 Order of Worship
Talk About a Child That Do Love Jesus (American spiritual, arr. Calvin Taylor) – Geoffrey Liu
Welcome to Worship – Richard Thomas
Opening Prayer – John Niehaus
Leader: Give thanks to the Lord! God is good!
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: Let the young and the old, the strong and the weak say it together.
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: Let the whole church and all people everywhere recognize the truth.
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: This morning, God, enlarge my heart, that it may be big enough to receive the greatness of your love.
People: Fill my heart to overflowing with your love like living waters flowing out, pouring down!
Leader: Stretch my heart, that I might love all those who love Jesus.
People: Stretch me that I might love all those who do not know Jesus, but who are my responsibility because I do know him.
Leader: Stretch me that I might share what I have with all those who need more to have enough. Let the young and the old, the strong and the weak say it together.
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: Let the whole church and all people everywhere recognize the truth.
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Leader: Give thanks to the Lord! God is good!
People: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Go Tell It on the Mountain – UMH #251
Time with Young Disciples – Stephanie McIlwain Miller
Presentation of Bibles
Congregational Promise
Pastor: Children and youth of Kent United Methodist Church, we have given you this Bible because we want you to know how important the Bible is to our community of faith and to your life. God has a plan for your life. God will always be with you, loving you, caring for you, protecting you. And please, always remember that to God and to all of us, you are very special and you are very loved!
All: We promise to seek God and listen to God as we read the Bible stories with you. None of us has all the answers, but we will always do our best to answer your questions and seek God together. Each time we open the Bible, we will also try to open our minds and our hearts to what God is saying to us today. The best part is that we get to learn and grow together in God’s love. Today, we thank God for each one of you!
I Sing Because I'm Happy (arranged by Rollo Dilworth) – Sanctuary Choir
Scripture Readings – John Niehaus
Introduction to Luke/Acts Readings
The Gospel of Luke is one of the earliest accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Written by a traveling companion and co-worker of the Apostle Paul, tradition says that Luke was a physician. The Gospel of Luke is a part of a unified, two-volume story with the Acts of the Apostles. Our first readings progress through the stories of how Jesus proclaimed the Good news himself, then sent the 12, and the 72, and then all of us out into the world to preach the Gospel and to serve those most in need. Listen to God’s call on your life to bear witness starting with the Gospel and then moving to Acts…
Luke 8:1-2a; 9:1-2; 10:1 and 9
Soon afterward Jesus went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve disciples were with him, as well as some of the women who were followers, too…
Not long afterward, Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick…
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go…
Jesus instructed them to cure the sick wherever they went, and to say to everyone, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Acts 1:4-5 and 8
Jesus, the risen Christ, appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of God to be fulfilled. “This,” Jesus said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now… You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Introduction to Epistle Reading
In our epistle reading from 2 Corinthians 5:13-21, the Apostle Paul reminds us that in Jesus God was reconciling the world to himself. Now, Paul says, every follower of Jesus has been trusted with continuing this ministry of reconciliation. Listen to Paul’s teaching about how you are an ambassador for Christ in the world…
2 Corinthians 5:13-21
If we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. So, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Who Told You? – Your Witness Makes a Difference – Pastor Jim
Pass It On – UMH #572
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Offering Our Gifts to God – Goodness of God – Craig Solbrack, Geoffrey Liu
Doxology – Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow, UMH #94
Prayer of Dedication
Leader: All that we have, we have from you, Creator and Preserver of all.
People: Accept these gifts which we now offer. Help us to make the whole of life an offering and every thought a prayer.
You Are the Seed – UMH #583
Blessing
Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ (Jamaican Folk Tune, setting by John A. Behnke) – Geoffrey Liu
Resources for Worship
Opening Prayer is by Jim Head-Corliss for worship at Kent UMC, written July 16, 2023 based Psalm 118 and ideas from a prayer from Africa found in a book called With All God’s People: The New Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, compiled by John Carden (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1989).