October 18th, 2026

ORDER OF WORSHIP

October 18, 2026

*Indicates those able may stand

Prelude  “Ach wie nichtig, ach wie fluchtig” (BWV 644)                J.S. Bach

 (Oh how void, oh how fleeting)

“Gibbons Song 24”          H. Willan (Lighten the Darkness)

Welcome and Announcements              Dr. Drew DiNardo

Preparation for Worship                      Dr. Stuart Sacks

*Call to Worship (Adapted from Revelation 4:11)

One: Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power—

All: For You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.

One: Let us worship the Creator, from whom and through whom and to whom are all things.

Invocation

*Hymn 345         “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; he whose word cannot be broken formed thee for his own abode: on the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters, and all fear of want remove; who can faint, while such a river ever flows their thirst t'assuage?– grace which, like the Lord, the giver, never fails from age to age.

Round each habitation hov'ring, see the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a cov'ring, showing that the Lord is near: thus deriving from their banner light by night and shade by day, safe they feed upon the manna which he gives them when they pray.

Savior, if of Zion's city I, through grace, a member am, let the world deride or pity, I will glory in thy name: fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know.

Call to Confession

Time of Silent Confession

Words of Assurance

*The Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

*3^rd Sunday Confession of Faith (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A #1)  Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

 

Psalter Reading (Psalm 69:1-18)               Page 809

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

        I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.

        I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched.

My eyes fail, looking for my God.

    Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head;

many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me.

        I am forced to restore what I did not steal.

You, know my folly; O God, my guilt is not hidden from you.

 

    May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; O Lord, the Lord Almighty;

may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.

 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.

I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons;

 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.

    Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.

But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor;

 in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.

Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink;

deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters.

Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.

    Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me.

Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.

 Come near and rescue me; redeem me because of my foes.

Pastoral Prayer and 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. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Offertory  “Simple Gifts” arr. Lloyd Larson (St Stephen Bell Choir)

*Doxology

Sermon Text                     Mark 6:1-6        Page 841

Sermon    “Questioned and Rejected”     Dr. Drew DiNardo

*Closing Hymn 457   “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

Come, thou fount of ev'ry blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above; praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand'ring from the fold of God: he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be; let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wand'ring heart to thee. Prone to wander – Lord, I feel it – prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

*Benediction

*Congregation Three-fold Amen

*Postlude         “Recessional”           Wm. Mathias