August 3, 2025 Order of Worship
Andante religioso from Sonata, op. 65/4 (Felix Mendelssohn) – Geoffrey Liu
Welcome – Terry Bolender
Opening Prayer – Zak Lewis
Leader: God, I am standing at the door of prayer and knocking.
People: Hear me, Lord. Open my heart wide so that I might welcome you in.
Leader: Help me to honor you with everything I do and all that I say.
People: Help me to shine and share you and your love with everyone I meet today!
Leader: Give me what I need most and help me to give away everything else.
People: Help me to forgive others as joyfully and completely as you forgive me.
Leader: Guide me away from self-centeredness and fear of strangers.
People: Deliver me from the evil that is within and all around me.
All: For your kingdom, your power, and your glory we pray. Amen!
A Place at the Table – W&S #3149
Time with Young Disciples – Stephanie McIlwain Miller
Scripture Reading – Zak Lewis
Introduction to the Scripture Reading
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses. Like Moses, Jesus gives a new teaching on a mountain called the Sermon on the Mount. In it, Jesus teaches us to pray to God often and always like we might talk to a loving parent. Pray for what’s important. Then live like what’s important to God matters to you. Here’s how Jesus taught us to pray…
Matthew 6:5-15
“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Message – Praying for Character – Pastor Jim
Offering Our Gifts to God – Laudate Dominum, KV 339 (W. A. Mozart, arr. Pierre Gouin)
Doxology – Many Gifts, One Spirit – UMH #114, refrain
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.
Holy Communion
The Great Thanksgiving
Sharing the Bread and the Cup
Music During Communion – Geoffrey Liu
Communion Piece in A Minor (Alfred Lefébure-Wély)
Communion Piece in F Major (Alfred Lefébure-Wély)
Every Time I Feel the Spirit – UMH#404
Blessing – Pastor Jim
Tuba Tune (C. S. Lang) – Geoffrey Liu
Resources for Worship
Opening Prayer is by Jim Head-Corliss for worship at Kent UMC, September 15, 2024.
Revisions to A Place at the Table Lyrics are: verse 2 by Jim Head-Corliss; verse 4 by Blessedarethebinarybreakers at https://binarybreakingworship.com/2021/06/24/for-everyone-born-revised/.