September 13, 2026
CHIMING OF THE HOUR
WELCOME
PRAYER
Lord,
We remember how you taught us by the sea, on a mountain, on a plain,
And we ask that you come teach us now– through the ordinary things –
About how we are to live as your people,
So that we might be your witnesses of love in the world
That cannot keep quiet.
In the name of Christ we pray,
Amen.
PRELUDE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Teach us, oh Lord, your ways of grace and mercy,
And we will observe them to the end!
Remind us, God of our minds, that even if only two or three gather,
You reside among us with your whole self.
Guide us into the love of all people and things,
For love is the fulfillment of your covenant.
Let us worship the rabbi, teacher, Christ.
*HYMN No. 377 “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”
1 I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus. (Refrain)
2 I want to see the brightness of God.
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path,
and show me the way to the Father. (Refrain)
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
3 I’m looking for the coming of Christ.
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
we shall know the joy of Jesus. (Refrain)
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
*CALL TO CONFESSION
Before we can hear God’s truth spoken in love, we must free ourselves from all that obstructs us from honestly acknowledging our wrongdoing. Let us examine our hearts and confess our sins to God.
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Nurturing God, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, you desire to gather your children. But division and disagreement plague us. We cling to rigid certainties, approach each other in arrogance, and fail to listen. We walk away from conflict, rather than working through it. Forgive us, Holy God. Help us grow in faith, mature in relationship, and be transformed through your steadfast love. Amen.
Silence is observed
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, redeemed and restored to God’s path of righteousness. Amen.
*RESPONSE NO. 4, v. 4
“Holy God, We Praise Your Name”
Holy Father, Holy Son,
Holy Spirit: three we name you,
while in essence only one;
undivided God we claim you,
and adoring, bend the knee
while we own the mystery.*
*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Jesus says: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
If you love me, rejoice because I am going to the Father.’ Alleluia.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Worshippers are invited to briefly “pass the peace” of Christ to those directly seated around them thus keeping our worship time “decent and in order” with a focus upon being part of God’s community.
MUSIC
THE CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Open us, Eternal God, to your Word read and proclaimed. Help us not to turn from your truth or avoid your message. Help us be receptive to the wisdom you offer. Amen.
UNISON SCRIPTURE Matthew 18:21–35
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, 25 and, as he could not pay, the lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Pause…
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!!
SERMON “A Lovely Idea”
“How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered Peter, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
Forgiveness, for Jesus, is not a quantifiable event. It is a quality; a way of being, a way of living, a way of loving, a way of relating, a way of thinking and seeing. It is nothing less than the way of Christ. If we are to follow Christ then it must become our way as well. “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
Does that mean the drunk driver? Yes. The cheating spouse? Yes. The lying businessman? Yes. The racist? Yes. The rapist? Yes. The bully? Yes. The abusive parent? Yes. The greedy corporation? Yes. Even the terrorists of 9/11? Yes.
Today we stand at a difficult, seemingly impossible, place. We stand at the intersection of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 tragedy and today’s gospel. The memories, the images, the anger, the fear, the pain and losses all intersect with Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness. Both are real. Both are true. The deeper truth, however, is that we would still be standing at the same intersection even if September 11 had never occurred. We stand at that place every day of our life. Look at the history of the world and you will see the Holocaust, the Killing Fields of Cambodia, the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, racial discrimination, economic oppression, wars and torture in Afghanistan and Iraq. Look at your own lives and you will find broken promises, hurt feelings, betrayals, harsh words, physical and emotional wounds. Every one of us could tell stories of being hurt or victimized by another. Beneath the pain, the wounds, the losses, and the memories lies the question of forgiveness.
Everyone, I suspect, is in favor of forgiveness, at least in principle. “Everyone,” C.S. Lewis writes, “says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until there is something to forgive” (Mere Christianity, p.115). What do we do then? What do we do when there is something to forgive?
Some will strike back seeking revenge. Some will run away from life and relationships. Some will let the darkness paralyze them. I don’t say that out of criticism or judgment of someone else but out of my own experience. I’ve done them all. I know how hard forgiveness can be. Like you I too struggle with it and often avoid it. I also know that none of those answers are the way of Christ. All of them leave us stuck in the past, tied to the evil of another, and bereft of the future God wants to give us.
Forgiveness is the only way forward. That does not mean we forget, condone, or approve of what was done. It does not mean we ignore or excuse cruelty or injustice. It means we are released from them. We let go of the thoughts and fantasies of revenge. We look to the future rather than the past. We try to see and love as God sees and loves. Forgiveness is a way in which we align our life with God’s life. To withhold forgiveness is to put ourselves in the place of God, the ultimate judge to whom all are accountable.
God’s forgiveness and human forgiveness are integrally related. That is more than apparent in today’s parable. The king forgives his slave an extraordinary amount. Ten thousand talents is about 3000 years of work at the ordinary daily wage. It seems there is no debt too large to be forgiven. This man, this debtor, was forgiven. That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. That’s how our God is. This slave, however, refused to forgive his fellow slave 100 denarii, about three months of work at the ordinary daily wage. Too often that’s what our world is like. Frequently, it is how we are. In that refusal the forgiven slave lost his own forgiveness.
This should not be news to us. We know it well. We acknowledge and pray it every Sunday and I’ll bet most of you pray it every day. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who debt against us.” We pray those words with ease and familiarity, but do we live our prayer? Do our actions support our request? “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
That’s a lot of forgiveness but the pain of the world, our nation, and individuals is great. We need to forgive as much, maybe more, for ourselves as for the one we forgive. Forgiving those who trespass against us is the salve that begins to heal our wounds. It may not change the one who hurt you, but I promise you this. Your life will be more alive, more grace-filled, more whole, more God-like for having forgiven another.
Forgiveness creates space for new life. Forgiveness is an act of hopefulness and resurrection for the one who forgives. It is the healing of our soul and life. Forgiveness takes us out of darkness into light, from death to life. It disentangles us from the evil of another. It is the refusal to let our future be determined by the past. It is the letting go of the thoughts, the hatred, the fear that fill us so that we might live and love again.
So how do we begin to forgive? There is no easy road to forgiveness. Don’t let anyone tell you, “Just give it up to God. Forgive and forget.” Simplistic trite answers only demean those who suffer and pick at the wound. Forgiving another takes time and work. It is something we must practice every day. It begins with recognition and thanksgiving that we have been forgiven. We are the beneficiaries of the crucified one. Hanging between two thieves he prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Lk. 23:34). That is the cry of infinite forgiveness, a cry we are to echo in our own lives, in our families, our work places, our parishes, our day-to-day life.
Forgiveness does not originate in us. It begins with God. That’s what the slave who refused to forgive didn’t understand. It was not about him. It’s about God. We do not choose to forgive. We only choose to share the forgiveness we have already received. Then we chose again, and then again, and then yet again. For most of us forgiveness is a process that we live into. Sometimes, however, we just can’t. The pain is too much, the wound too raw, the memories too real. On those days we chose to want to forgive. Somedays we chose to want to want to forgive. Then there are those days that all we can do is choose to want to want to want to forgive. But we choose because that’s the choice Christ made.
How many times must we choose to forgive? Tell me this. How many times have you been hurt and suffered by the actions or words of another? How many times has anger or fear controlled you? How many times has the thought of revenge filled you? How many times have you shuddered at the sight, the name, or the memory of another? How many times have you replayed in your head the argument with another? That’s how many times you choose. With each choosing we move a step closer to forgiveness. Then one day, God willing, we will meet, victims and perpetrators, as happy thieves in the Paradise of God, the Father of us all.
“Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH The Apostles’ Creed – Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
*HYMN No. 188 “Jesus Loves Me!”
1 Jesus loves me! This I know,
for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
2 Jesus loves me! This I know,
as he loved so long ago,
taking children on his knee,
saying, “Let them come to me.”
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Loving God, as swiftly as summer ripens and yields to fall, our schedules fill. And as our days crowd with tasks, the quiet to contemplate the eternal seems to vanish. But now, we pause. We still ourselves, intent to enter your presence, to open our minds and hearts as the season opens its arms to autumn. We inhale the oxygen you supply; we note the steady pulse within us. We give thanks for breath, for heartbeat, for life’s return with each silent moment. And in this hush, we gather our petitions and lift them to you.
Your steadfast love surrounds us, God — in suffering, in sorrow, in the uncertainty of what lies ahead. The devastation of this world is vast, too vast to hold in a single prayer. And yet we bring it to you. We ask you to walk beside those still clearing the wreckage of disaster, to fortify those who are ground down beneath the heel of greed and power, to reach into and soften the hearts of those who would choose war, to lay your hands upon the wounded, the sick, the grieving.
Faithful God, your faithfulness outlasts our fear. In your hands rest our children, our neighbors, this fragile creation — and we find, in that knowledge, something that feels like rest. You are the author of our laughter, the reason a table full of friends and family can nourish us. Even now, when the world presses in, you slip joy into the margins: a song, a game, a moment of delight we did not expect. Turn our eyes, Holy God — not away from what is broken, but toward what your hands are holding and healing.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
PASSING OF FELLOWSHIP PADS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
TITHES & OFFERINGS
We are inspired to be generous by a generous God. We are inspired to give by the greatest of givers. In gratitude to God, let us present our tithes and offerings.
OFFERTORY ANTHEM
*RESPONSE N0. 619, v. 4
“Praise, My Soul, the God of Heaven”
Angels, teach us adoration;
you behold God face to face.
Sun and moon and all creation,
dwellers all in time and space:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace!
*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Holy God, bless these gifts for your good use. May these tokens of our gratitude be of service in blessing the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing and sheltering those struggling to survive. Use these gifts to further Christ’s mission and ministry in a hurting world. Amen.
*HYMN No. 39 “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
1 *Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not; thy compassions they fail not.
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
2 Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
(Refrain)
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow:
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
(Refrain)
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
*BENEDICTION Professor Carson Brisson’s Closing Blessing
“Belov’ed, oh may joy and nothing less, the peace of God, find you on the way. Oh may she find you over, over, and over again.
Belov’ed, may you be blessed, oh may you be now the blessing you are being called into becoming forever.
And, belov’ed, may Light, Love’s own Crucified-Risen Light, guide you and me and countless others, out of every darkness, all the way home.”
*POSTLUDE