Bulletin – Sunday, November 16, 2025 – 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, November 16, 2025
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
Call to Worship
One: God’s grace, peace, and love be with us.
All: In silence, word, and song we come together.
One: We come to open ourselves to the surprises of grace.
All: We come to experience grace and love.
One: God invites us to remember who we are as disciples of the living Christ.
All: Thanks be to God!
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “God, We Praise You for the Morning” (Voices United #415)
God, we praise you for the morning;
Hope springs forth with each new day,
New beginning, prayer, and promise,
Joy in work and in play.
God, we praise you for creation,
Mountains, seas, and prairie land.
Waking souls find joy and healing
In your bountiful hand.
God, we praise you for compassion,
All the loving that you show;
Human touching, tears, and laughter,
Help your children to grow.
God, we praise you for your Spirit,
Comforter and daily friend,
Restless searcher, gentle teacher,
Strength and courage you send.
God, we praise you for the Saviour,
Come that we may know your ways.
In his loving, dying, rising,
Christ is Lord of our days.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Christ is Lord of our days!
Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Holy God, in you we live and move and have our being. Your love surrounds us all, all the time.
All: We confess that we do not always want to live love. We do not always want to share your love or your grace. We can be flat in our faith and cold in our hearts. Forgive us O God. Kindle the flame of your love within us. Help us to reach beyond our own needs and consider the needs of others and our world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Sung Response – “Come and Fill Our Hearts” (Move Voices #16)
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace,
Alleluia
A Story for All – “In Christ there is no east or west…”
Please join in the singing of the hymn “True Faith Needs No Defense” (More Voices #139)
True faith needs no defense, it echoes in the soul;
A faithful life gives evidence of grace that makes us whole.
True faith, like music, soars beyond cathedral walls;
On city streets and ocean shores, from age to age faith calls.
Expect your faith to grow; begin by being still,
And in the quiet come to know God’s living, breathing will.
To live the faith we find, is all that love can ask;
To sing God’s praise with heart and mind, and rise to meet the task.
We Hear God’s Word
Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they received from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you.
This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.
You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon
Anthem “Faith That’s Sure”
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!
Complicated ways confuse me.
I praise my God in the simple ways.
Sing and dance and shout for Jesus,
Prayin’ to the Lord each and every day!
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!
Come and join the celebration,
New in the Lord by the Spirit’s power.
Come on, friend, the Lord’s awaitin’,
Waitin’ for your heart this very hour!
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable,
Planted in the soil where God’s love is sown.
Faith that’s sure is a rock unshakable.
Jesus is my Lord. I’m his very own!
We Respond to God’s Word
Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “Grant Us, God, the Grace of Giving” (Voices United #540)
Grant Us, God, the Grace of Giving,
With a spirit large and free,
That ourselves and all our living
We may offer faithfully.
Offering Prayer
Prayers of the People
Passing of the Peace
The Prayer Jesus Taught Us:
One: Please join me in praying as Jesus taught us: Our Creator who is like
All: Our Mother and 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, And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now ever and forever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “Forth in Your Name, O Christ” (Voices United #416)
Forth in your name, O Christ, we go
Our daily labour to pursue,
You, only you, resolved to know
In all we think, or speak, or do.
The task your wisdom has assigned
Here let us cheerfully fulfil;
In all our works your presence find,
And prove your good and perfect will.
You may we set at our right hand,
Whose eyes our inmost secrets view,
And labour on at your command
And offer all our works to you.
Help us to bear your easy yoke,
In every moment watch and pray,
And still to things eternal look,
And hasten to that glorious day.
Then with delight may we employ
All that your bounteous grace has given,
And run our earthly course with joy,
And closely walk with you to heaven.
Commissioning
Our service of worship is over but our service to God continues as we leave this place to live as the hands and feet of Christ in our world.
Benediction
Go in peace and in love in the name of God who creates us, redeems us and sustains us, this day and always. Amen.
Sung Response – “Amen, Amen, Amen” (Voices United #967)
Amen, amen, amen.
