September 21, 2025 Order of Worship
God of the Sparrow (setting by Franklin D. Ashdown) – Geoffrey Liu
Welcome – Terry Bolender
Dedication of the Organ Bench – Terry Bolender & Pastor Jim
Opening Prayer – Steve Anselmi
Leader: Blessed are you when you thirst for righteousness. You will drink and be filled.
People: Blessed are you when you seek the Holy Spirit. You will drink and be filled.
Leader: Blessed are you when you dive deep into the waters of life. You will be born again from above.
People: Blessed are you when you keep the promises of your baptism.
Leader: Fidelity and trust will sweep away your sin and the world’s brokenness.
People: Blessed are you when you pour out all that has been given to you, without holding back or counting the cost.
Leader: You will be renewed and refilled so that you can share more than you ever thought possible.
People: Blessed are you when love and mercy, justice and goodness spill from your heart, your lips, and your hands like water from a fountain.
Leader: You will be your very best self and the world will be healed because of you.
People: Blessed are you when you thirst enough to turn to Jesus and drink.
Leader: From your heart will flow rivers of living water.
People: Lord, we’ve come once more to wade deeply into your Holy Spirit and drink all that we can.
All: Bless this day, bless this time, bless the world, through us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale – UMH # 122
Time with Young Disciples – Stephanie McIlwain Miller
In This Season – Sanctuary Choir
Scripture Reading – Steve Anselmi
Introduction to the First Scripture Reading
Ezekiel was a priest in Jerusalem during the first Babylonian attack almost 600 years before Jesus. He was taken prisoner and exiled to Babylon. On his 30th birthday, from the refugee camp in Babylon, he had a vision of God and the future for his people. Our first scripture reading is a part of that vision. God shows Ezekiel a future where the temple is the source of living waters. Here’s what the prophet says…
Ezekiel 47:1-12
Then the Lord brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there water was flowing from below the entryway of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east), and the water was flowing down from below the south side of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east, and the water was trickling out on the south side.
Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was up to the waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?”
Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Introduction to the Gospel Reading
Our second reading comes from the Gospel of John chapter 7. It tells how Jesus stood up in the temple and said, “I am the living water that flows out from your heart to water the world.” Let’s hear it right from John…
John 7:37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive, for as yet there was no Spirit because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Message – Rivers of Living Water Flow from Our Lives – Pastor Jim Head-Corliss
Shall We Gather at the River – UMH #723
Pastoral Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer
Offering Our Gifts to God – "Air" from Orchestral Suite No. 3 (J. S. Bach) – Tim Ninnemann & Geoffrey Liu
Doxology – All Creatures of Our God and King, vs. 7 plus refrain – UMH #62
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.
Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness – TFWS #2120
Blessing
Praeludium in A Minor (Georg Bohm) – Geoffrey Liu
Resources for Worship
Opening Prayer is a prayer of blessing by Jim Head-Corliss for worship at Kent UMC September 21, 2025.