September 21, 2025
CHIMING OF THE HOUR
WELCOME
PRAYER
Spirit of the Living God,
you tell us that we are your children,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Let us not take our inheritance for granted
or hold too tightly
to our understanding of who we are.
For you are wild like the wind,
loving whom you choose
with reckless generosity.
You call us to abandon fear
and to receive a new family
made up of all people and all creation.
Teach us to love as you love,
wild and free,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRELUDE Enter Into His Courts with Praise – Adam Mason
CALL TO WORSHIP
Holy, holy, holy is our God;
Heaven and earth are filled with God’s glory.
The God of glory thunders;
God’s voice shakes the wilderness.
No one knows from where it comes, or to where it goes,
and all in God’s temple say, “Glory!”
Will we hear that voice saying:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
O God, we are here, send us!
Let us worship God in holy splendor.
*HYMN No. 1, vs 1-3 “Holy, Holy, Holy”
1 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
2 Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
3 Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinfulness thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love and purity.
THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM
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
It is only by the power of God
that we are able to stand against evil.
Trusting in God’s grace, let us confess our sin.
*PRAYER FOR CONFESSION
For you so loved the world, O God,
that you came among us
to feel our pain, amplify our joy,
and bless our broken stories.
For you so loved the world, O God,
that you are among us still,
calling us by your spirit to follow in the way of your love.
Forgive us when we do not listen, O God:
when we forget the love that you have for us
and the love we are called to share with one another.
Forgive us, three-in-one God,
and let your love transform our lives.
*SILENT PRAYER FOR CONFESSION
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Now stand firm in your faith,
covered by the saving grace of God
and ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!
Thanks be to God.
*RESPONSE No. 4, v. 4 “Holy, Holy, Holy”
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.
ANTHEM A New Psalm – Patti Drennan
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Please join me in the unison prayer…
Holy, Holy, Holy One,
guide us by the Spirit of truth
to hear the Word of life you speak,
and to give all glory, honor, and praise
to your threefold name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE Isaiah 6:1-8
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Pause…
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!!
SERMON
Jacqueline E. “Jacq” Lapsley
President
Union Presbyterian Seminary
Liturgy and Commentary provided by The PC(USA) Book of Common Worship, The Presbyterian Outlook, Teri McDowell Ott, & 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. 69 “I, the Lord of Sea & Sky”
1 I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Refrain:
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
2 I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send?
(Refrain)
Refrain:
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
3 I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
(Refrain)
Refrain:
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
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.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
TITHES & OFFERINGS
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,
to present yourselves and your offerings
as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God.
Let us offer our lives and gifts to the Lord.
OFFERTORY ANTHEM
*RESPONSE N0.609
“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise God, all creatures high and low.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise God, in Jesus fully known:
Creator, Word, and Spirit one.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Generous God, we give you thanks
for all your blessings to us.
Use these gifts we offer
as a sign of your great love for the world,
so that all may know and share
the abundance of your grace;
in your holy name we pray. Amen.
*HYMN No. 726 “Will You Come and Follow Me”
1 “Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown; will you let my name be known;
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?”
2 “Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?”
3 “Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?”
4 “Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?”
5 Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.
*BENEDICTION
*POSTLUDE
Jacqueline E. Lapsley is in her third year as President of Union Presbyterian Seminary with its campuses in Richmond, VA and Charlotte, NC. Before coming to Union, she served on the faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary for 25 years.
Jacq (pronounced like “Jack”) has degrees from two northern schools: Smith College and Princeton Seminary, and two southern schools: UNC-Chapel Hill and Emory University, and claims roots in both regions.
She is the author of books and articles on Scripture and ethics, on women in Scripture, the book of Ezekiel, as well as the Bible as a resource for an ethic of creation care.
Jacq is married to the Rev. Greg Bezilla, an Episcopal priest; they have two adult children, a wildly energetic, badly behaved dog, and an old demanding cat. She is a ruling elder in the PCUSA.