September 7, 2025

CHIMING OF THE HOUR

WELCOME

PRAYER
God our Judge, we meditate upon your promises from morning into night. Our delight is in your law. Let goodness yield its fruit in every season, that, like a tree planted by streams of sweet water, we might find the good and live how you intended: free, flourishing, and in peace. Amen.

PRELUDE “Awake My People” (from Sonata III) Paul Hindemith

CALL TO WORSHIP
There is good and there is wicked in the world.
Lord, help us find the good.
The wicked are perishing. Like chaff, they will not stand before the Lord.
Lord, drive wickedness away with the wind. The good is like a tree, planted by streams of sweet water.
Lord, let goodness yield its fruit in every season.
Our delight is in the law of the Lord.
Let us meditate upon God’s promises from morning into night.

*HYMN No. 48 “The God of Abraham Praise”
1 The God of Abraham praise,
who reigns enthroned above,
the Ancient of Eternal Days,
the God of love!
The Lord, the great I am,
by earth and heaven confessed,
we bow before your holy name,
forever blest.
2 Your spirit still flows free,
high surging where it will.
In prophet’s word you spoke of old
and you speak still.
Established is your law,
and changeless it shall stand,
deep writ upon the human heart
by your strong hand.
3 Your goodly land we seek,
with peace and plenty blest,
a land of sacred liberty
and Sabbath rest.
There milk and honey flow, and oil and wine abound,
and trees of life forever grow
with mercy crowned.
4 You have eternal life
implanted in the soul;
your love shall be our strength and stay,
while ages roll.
We praise you, living God!
We praise your holy name:
the first, the last, beyond all thought,
and still the same!

THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM

(At the baptismal font) The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
O Lord our God, we give you thanks for the grace that is at work in us through the gift of our baptism—the sign of your threefold name, the communion of your faithful people, the promise of your glorious realm. By the power of your Holy Spirit, poured out upon us in baptism, let your grace and peace grow in us, until we gather at your heavenly throne to give you thanks and praise forever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*CALL TO CONFESSION Jesus calls us to follow him, knowing that the path is difficult and that sin lurks at every turn. Trusting in God’s mercy, let us seek forgiveness, that we may follow more nearly in the way of Jesus.

*PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

O God, you have given us a firm foundation in Jesus Christ, yet we have chosen to build on sinking sand. The works of our hands crumble around us, and our best efforts are not good enough; sin is real, and we are powerless before it. Forgive us for thinking we know best. Mend our broken values and create in us hearts that seek your purposes, so that what we build with our lives may give you glory.

*SILENT PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Lifting water from the font: Jesus accompanies us on life’s journey, offering abundant mercy and bountiful forgiveness along the way. This is good news! In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!

*RESPONSE No. 1 “Holy Holy Holy” v.4
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST

God has received us, pardoned us and loved us;
let us forgive each other in love and share the peace of Christ.
Peace be with you.
And also with you.

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

ANTHEM “Affirmation of Faithfulness” Jospeh Martin

UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Please join me in the unison prayer… Faithful God, how blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Sanctify us by your Word and Spirit so that we may glorify you in the company of the faithful; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SCRIPTURE Luke 14:25-33
25Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Pause…

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!!

SERMON

The folklore is that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill or be proficient in a talent. This has been quoted by many from Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” but there are other experts that decry the number 10,000 as inaccurate. Gladwell’s point is that deliberate focused practice would allow one to be adept in a particular area. I wonder if we might consider that for life in the church? What if we required 10,000 hours of Bible study and theological discussion to be considered a proficient follower of Jesus? Our text today is about this idea of skill, mastery and dedication to the way of Christ, but this passage can feel so daunting, of course, because the language is uncomfortable, even extreme. This passage scared me when I was a child, as I couldn’t imagine hating my parents or siblings and was appalled, quite frankly, that Jesus would ask me to. As I grew older, I came to understand the hyperbolic language Jesus used to make his point, but that didn’t remove the deep uneasiness I still felt about this passage with all of its language of sacrifice and counting the cost and crosses.

We tend not to emphasize such themes in our mainline churches. Particularly in an era when our people have so many options for spending their Sunday mornings we tend to avoid asking for significant sacrifice and try to make church involvement as easy as possible. (Wednesday night services are a thing of the past, for instance, and youth group and confirmation are crammed into Sunday morning lest we interfere with sports schedules.) And so, we emphasize God’s grace and work our schedules for fellowship, education or bible studies around school calendars and community activities as much as possible. Yet this passage makes me wonder whether we’ve missed something essential about the Christian faith.

This isn’t about our eternal destiny.

This is about the character of our Christian lives.

Christianity, I’ve come to realize, is a way of being, a way of living, a way of doing things differently because of living “in Christ” (to borrow Paul’s favorite phase). Yet for much of my ministerial career I’ve preached and written as if it’s primarily a way of thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I love theology and believe it has an important place in the church. But sometimes I wonder if part of our decline is that we’ve spent so much time stressing what we need to think and believe instead of talking about what we can and should — indeed, are called to — DO.

Before anyone calls the theological police, let me assure you that I’m not talking about earning our salvation or justifying ourselves by our works. Grace, salvation, right relationship with God — these are all gifts beyond either our ability or comprehension.

But then what?

Do we really imagine that the assurance of salvation is all there is to the Christian life? Does Christianity have nothing more to contribute to the way we live our life in the world?

That is why this passage — this difficult and demanding passage — has so much to offer. Because in this part of the story, Jesus asks his disciples both then and now to sacrifice. Actually, he doesn’t ask. He tells us that he expects, even demands, undivided loyalty (and it’s where the hyperbolic language of hating comes in). This is why we are asked to count the cost — because the Christian life is expensive, it demands our commitment in terms of our time, attention, and money. Again, let me be clear, I’m not talking about salvation. That’s done, over, finished and completed by God’s grace alone.

So, can we move on?

Can we talk not only about justification but also discipleship?

Because that’s what Jesus is talking about here, the cost of discipleship.

PAUSE…

Hasn’t the notion of sacrifice itself become something of a taboo in our world of easy convenience and instant gratification?

And don’t we risk driving even more people away by asking them to give up anything for church?

I wonder.

I mean, people are already sacrificing. I know a lot of parents who give up nearly every weekend for their kids’ travelling sports team. And I know lots of career-minded folks who put in long hours in jobs they don’t love in order to secure their futures or just to make ends meet. Lots of our people are spending hard-earned money to join a gym or participate in diet programs to get healthier. And how many of our families sacrifice in order to make sure their kids are dressed well and have a chance for further education?

And please hear me, I’m not criticizing any of these choices. But I do want to ask why we make these and other sacrifices.

I believe it’s because these things are important to us. You sacrifice according to your priorities. And in today’s passage Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God he proclaims and the kingdom life he exemplifies should be a priority, actually be the priority.

So maybe we should contemporize Jesus’ parable a bit and ask, “What parent wouldn’t count the cost before signing up for the traveling soccer team and what new employee wouldn’t consider whether she is willing to work every weekend her first year?”

Do you see what I mean?

Many of you are already making sacrifices for work, or family or other priorities, and in this passage Jesus is saying that Christian discipleship calls for the same.

I suspect that we already know that. I suspect, in fact, that each of us who occupies a position of leadership in the church has also made significant sacrifices and at times grows frustrated that our people seem so reluctant to do the same. But here’s the thing: have we asked them to? Have we invited them to imagine that church is as important as soccer or Eagles football games, that participating in the life of the congregation matters just like their career does?

Look, I get it. We have seasons when sports and extracurricular activities take precedence. And so, we have at times made that a priority to the exclusion of church activities. But over the long haul I also want folks to have a life marked by relationship with God, by confidence in God’s love for each of you and all the world, and by the knowledge that whatever may happen or wherever ya’ll may go, God is with you.

And that takes sacrifice.

This Communion Sunday is for many of us the first Sunday of a new program year. Lots of things get going this week — from school activities to community events — that will demand our people to make sacrifices.

I’m asking you to allow Jesus’ words in this passage to get equal time in your life, to ask ya’ll to look at the long arc of your lives and ask what is important, what do you hope for your family and community. Not simply because you should, but because the abundant life and way of discipleship that Jesus both promises and announces also takes sacrifice — not to earn God’s grace but to live into the discipleship life that grace makes possible.

This isn’t about our eternal destiny; God has already taken care of that. This is about the caliber and character of our Christian lives. And, like anything else worth doing, discipleship takes time, energy, work, and practice — in a word, it takes sacrifice.

Liturgy and Commentary provided by The PC(USA) Book of Common Worship, The Presbyterian Outlook, Teri McDowell Ott, Jill Duffield, David Lose, & Call to Worship.

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.32–33

The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the church’s mission. His human life involves the church in the common life of all people. His service to men and women commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all human suffering so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of persons in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on the inhumanity that marks human relations, and the awful consequences of the church’s own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of human life in society and of God’s victory over all wrong. The church follows this pattern in the form of its life and in the method of its action. So to live and serve is to confess Christ as Lord. Amen.

*HYMN No. 530 “One Bread, One Body”

Refrain:
One bread, one body, one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth,
we are one body in this one Lord.

1 Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man, no more.

One bread, one body, one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth,
we are one body in this one Lord.

2 Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all.

One bread, one body, one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth,
we are one body in this one Lord.

3 Grain for the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one, for all.

One bread, one body, one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth,
we are one body in this one Lord.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation
On the Lord’s Day, Christians from around the world gather at the table, one family sharing one meal. On this day, we focus our attention on that global gathering that happens every time we share the cup and the loaf. Christ invites us: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” (John 7:37-38)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise,
eternal God, creator of the universe.
You made us from the dust of the earth,
Breathed into us the breath of life,
And set us in your world to love you.
We rejected your love, your peace.
We chose to live in enmity with one another
Rather than peace with you and all creation.
But you did not reject us,
and you called us back to you over and over again.
We thank you for the prophets like John
who prepared the way of peace.
Therefore, we praise you,
Joining our voices with the heavenly choirs
And with all the faithful of every time and place,
Who forever sing to the gory of your name:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

We give you thanks for Jesus
at whose birth the angels sang of the coming reign of peace on earth, who fed the hungry, humbled the mighty, and proclaimed the good news.
With thanks and praise we offer ourselves to you, sharing this holy meal, Remembering Christ’s dying and rising,
And praying: Come, Lord Jesus!

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us— this bread, this cup, this people—Christ’s body and blood, that brings us peace.

As you make us one in the Spirit, grant us the strength and wisdom to seek peace in the world.

Keep us in the peace of Christ until you gather us at your table in glory Guide us in the path of peace.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are yours, almighty God, now and forever…

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.

Invitation

Our Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Communion of the People

Prayer after Communion
God of glory, in this holy feast you have made us one with Christ and with that great multitude of the faithful— those who hunger and thirst no more and worship night and day in your temple. Lead us in the paths of righteousness and guide us to the springs of the water of life, until we join the choir of the redeemed, singing: Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb: Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

TITHES & OFFERINGS
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Let us offer our lives to the Lord.

OFFERTORY ANTHEM

*RESPONSE N0. 607 “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise Christ, all people here below;
praise Holy Spirit evermore; praise Triune God,
whom we adore. Amen.

*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
We give you thanks and praise, O God, for you have chosen the poverty of the world to make your people rich in faith. Help us to put our faith into practice through the offering of our lives— giving food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and shelter to the poor; all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, your Word made flesh. 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
Proclaim the message, be persistent in prayer, do the work of the gospel,and carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*POSTLUDE