Service of Worship for the Lord’s Day
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2026
Welcome! If you are visiting, please use the QR code on the visitor card found in the pew rack to share your information online or fill out the back of the card and drop it in the offering plate. Prayer cards, with the same options, are also available and we invite you to share your concerns and allow us to pray with you.
We Gather to Worship God
*Congregation stands as noted
Chiming of the Hour
Welcome and Announcements
Introit
Call to Worship
Leader: Blessed be God, who loves all creation!
People: God’s love has no exceptions, Alleluia!
Leader: We are the body of Christ! Justice seeking, bread breaking, hymn singing, risk taking.
People: Body of Christ!
Leader: Baptized by one Spirit, we are members of one body
People: Many and varied in culture, sexuality, age, class, and ability, we are members of Christ’s beautiful body.
Leader: None of us can say to another, “I have no need of you.”
People: For only together can we find wholeness.
Leader: None of us can say to another, “I will not care for you.”
People: For we are connected like muscle and bone. If one suffers, we all suffer. If one rejoices, we all rejoice!
Leader: Come in, all are welcome, come into worship! Come with your longings, your questions, and your fears.
People: Come with your dreams of a better day, one with dignity and safety for all!
Leader: Thanks be to God who in Christ has made us one!
People: Let us worship God! Alleluia!
Invocation
*Opening Hymn #27 “Sacred the Body”
We Acknowledge Our Brokenness and Seek Reconciliation with God
Preparing Our Hearts for Confession – “Confession” Words/Music by Kenneth Jones
Lord, I come before you, asking your forgiveness. I am broken, I have faltered. I have turned from you. Create in me a new heart. Fill me with your love. Grant that I receive your grace, I pray.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Prayer of Confession (Unison)
God of relationship. You welcome us into your family no matter who we are or what we have done. Yet we use our human-made distinctions to distance and denigrate our neighbors. While you have torn down the dividing walls that separate us from one another, we build them back up repeatedly. You have told us to love our neighbors, but we make-up reasons not to. In the silence of this moment, speak to us of your acceptance of us, and our acceptance of others…
Time of Silent Reflection and Personal Prayer of Confession
Leader: And all the people of Christ say,
People: Amen.
*Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Beloved child of God, you are created in the image of the Divine. God knit you together from the beginning just as you are. Go off queen, because you are carefully and fabulously made.. In the name of Jesus, we are forgiven!
People: Thanks be to God!
*Thanks for God’s Forgiveness (#647; no repeats)
Give thanks with a grateful heart; give thanks to the Holy One;
give thanks because we’re given Jesus Christ, the Son.
And now let the weak say, “We are strong”; let the poor say, “We are rich
because of what the Lord has done for us!” Give Thanks! Give Thanks!
*Passing of the Peace
Leader: Grace to you, and peace from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
*Transition Hymn #40 (Refrain) “God’s Word is Upright”
We Respond to God’s Faithfulness in Our Life
Offering Our Lives to Jesus through Our Time, Gifts, and Resources
(see the ‘Giving’ card in the pew rack for information about options for digital giving)
*Doxology (#606)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise God all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
God’s Word Is Read and Proclaimed
Time for Young Disciples
(Children are dismissed at this time for Children’s Church and Bible Builds)
Special Music “Born This Way” (Lady Gaga) AJ Ochart
Scripture Reading Acts 8:26-40
Leader: This is the word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
Proclamation of God’s Word Rev. AJ Ochart
“What is to Prevent Me?”
Responding to God’s Word
*Hymn #301 “Let Us Build a House”
*Affirmation of Faith (Proposed New Confession)
Heeding the voice of the Spirit, we remember who we are: God’s beloved ones, made in the image of the only true, living God of abundant life, Holy One and Holy Three. Set free in Christ by the Spirit from the falsehood of sin and death, we are the beggar whose pockets are full; the rich man who gives away all he has; the immigrant who has found her home; the soldier who beats their sword into a plowshare…
Together as the body of Christ, forgiven and forgiving one another, we break down boundaries established by worldly powers, see those deemed invisible, touch those deemed impure, name and denounce false gods, and embody the table-turning power of divine love. As stewards of God’s creative work, we repair and nurture the earth we have harmed, tending it for future generations, and we honor our own life-giving connection to the rest of creation. As we feel the earth groaning in labor pains, we proclaim our steadfast hope that a new creation is being born, and we eagerly await the new heaven and earth, when the home of God is among mortals and death will be no more.
To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Time of Meditation and Reflection Ephesians 2:13-16
Respond: Weaver of Life, Ancient and Unfolding,
How sacred is your Presence!
We lean on your guidance. We seek your love.
We open to your transformation.
Provide us bread in body and spirit
to sustain us in faith and solidarity.
Companion us with grace
as we seek to live lives of forgiveness and compassion,
repair and accountability.
We remember those who have supported us
as we seek to support others
in all the mess and glory of this human journey.
Guard our minds and hearts from the temptations of domination
and turn our loyalty away from all systems of evil.
For the whole cosmos hums with your wisdom.
Everything that lives, returns to your care.
Our thanks and honor to you,
Gracious Web of Existence,
Our Source and our Home.
Sending Out Into the World
*Sending Hymn #769 “For Everyone Born”
*Charge and Blessing
*Congregational Benediction #702 (v.3) “Christ Be Beside Me”
*Postlude
Thank you for choosing to worship with us today. We hope you were blessed so you can go
and be a witness to Christ’s love in the world. May your spirits be renewed for the days ahead.
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Rev. AJ Ochart, Pastor Kenneth Jones, Director of Music Shannon Bryan, Accompanist Jennifer Massey, Lay Leader |
