Laity Sunday

Laity Sunday - October 18, 2026

LEADER parts are this font.  ALL parts in bold.

Announcements   [LUANN]

Prelude  [MELISSA]

Call to Worship  [HOLLY]

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:   #504 - "The Old Rugged Cross"

Opening Prayer  [LUANN]

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  [SANDY)

Special Music  [HOLLY]

Children's Message  [LUANN]

Main Scripture: Ephesians  3: 16a, 17   [JAXSON]

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that Christ… may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

The word of God for the people of God. 

Thanks be to God!

Message  [BONNIE]

Special Music  [TIM]

 Offering   [SANDY, with CALEB & JAX collecting]

Please stand if you are able.

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  [KEVIN]

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.