Sunday’s Liturgy
July 27, 2025
Listen throughout the week, so you’re ready to sing along on Sunday!
[ Gathering ]
Call to Worship
Psalm 68:1-6, 18-20, 32
[One:] God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
[All:] But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
exult before him!
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious,
that the LORD God may dwell there.
Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord!
Confession of Sin
Almighty Father,
you have rescued us in your Son
and gave us your own Spirit
to make us into one people,
one family, and one body.
Yet often we go on living for ourselves.
Our hearts are selfish, impatient, and proud,
quick to anger when we are wronged,
looking to our own interests instead of the good of others,
thinking more often of ourselves than we ought.
We confess, merciful God:
We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent.
Unite us, O Christ, in your love and by your Spirit.
Teach us to live not for ourselves,
but for the love of God and the life of the world.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us,
that we may delight in your will
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear, O child, the good news Christ’s love:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
So great is the mercy of our God,
that he has raised us up with Jesus
and delivered us from the death we deserved.
And while it often feels like our sin prevails,
as though it still enslaves and condemns us,
our Father speaks a truer word.
In Christ we are seated in heaven at his right hand,
where he lavishes on us immeasurable riches
of grace and kindness to us, as to his own Son.
So take heart, O child, and rejoice in the mercy of God
and the love of a Savior who has delivered you.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Greetings of Peace
[CityKids are dismissed.]
[ Word ]
Prayer for Illumination
Reading of Scripture
Ephesians 4:11-16
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Concluding Prayer
[ Table ]
Invitation to Communion
Prayer of Consecration
Distribution of Elements
[We gather in small groups around tables throughout the room and pray together as we receive the bread and cup.]
[ Sending ]