Sunday February 8, 2026 Worship Service
Livestream at 11:10 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — Offertorio — Domenico Zipolo
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.

Silent Meditation                                                                                                         
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are forgotten.”          
 – Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his funeral sermon for Queen Elizabeth II 

Call to Worship — based on Psalm 15
Lord, we come into your sanctuary with eagerness.
       May we hear your call and speak your truth.
Lord, we come to abide with you in love.
       Gather us in honest and faithful community.
Lord, prepare us to be people of hope and grace.
       Kindle in us courage to live as brave and faithful disciples.
Let us worship our God together in this holy place.
       Alleluia! Amen!

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn of Praise #32 — I Sing the Mighty Power of God — ELLACOMBE   
(*Please stand, if you are able)

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, we confess that it is harder to do than we expected, this life of faith. You call us to be salt of the earth and to live lives of justice and righteousness and love. But our lives become busy. Following what others do is just easier. And sometimes the cost for doing what is right seems too high. One day, perhaps, we will commit more fully, but the status quo works better for us right now. Forgive us, we pray. Startle our senses and disrupt our routines. Renew in us the passion for doing what is right in your eyes, and inspire us to be sources of your light in the world. May we, like the prophets and the saints, act by faith no matter how high the cost.  Amen.

Silent Prayers of Confession and Petition

Kyrie Eleison #551 — Lord, Have Mercy — LAND OF REST                                                  

Assurance of Pardon

*Congregational Response (#581) — Glory Be to the Father — GLORIA PATRI (Greatorex)

*Welcome                            

Ordination and Commissioning of an Elder (11:00)
New elder Mark Mathia is ordained today.

Announcements

Fellowship of Prayer

Joys and Concerns

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; 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.

Anthem — This Little Light of Mine — arr. Moses Hogan

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — Matthew 5: 13-20 — page 786 of the pew Bible

Sermon — “Salt and Light for a Weary World” — Dr. Zieman

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith — from The Confession of 1967
We believe: 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.

*Sanctus (#562) — Holy, Holy, Holy — SANCTUS (Schubert)

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Offertory —  What a Friend We Have in Jesus– Matthew Weaver

*Doxology (#607) — Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow — OLD HUNDREDTH
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 Dedication        
Accept these gifts, Almighty God, as a statement of our faith. May our offering bring goodness and light wherever it is needed. May our communities of faith be bearers of your light. And may we be sources of that same light to the world in all we say and do.  Amen.

*Hymn of Dedication #744 — Arise, Your Light Is Come! — FESTAL SONG

*Charge and Benediction

Postlude — Fanfare for the Baroque Spirit — Charles Ore