Sunday January 18, 2026 Worship Service
Livestream at 11:10 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — Aria & Allegro — Samuel Wesley

Silent Meditation
I discovered that if you really kept your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, life can open itself up to extraordinary vistas. Taking your kids to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him, or not, but all the more fascinatingly because of that.                   — Now and Then, Frederick Buechner

Call to Worship — Psalm 40
Happy are those who make the Lord their trust
       Whom he takes from the miry clay and sets upon the rock
The Lord has multiplied his wonderous deeds and thoughts toward us
       Were we to proclaim them, they would be beyond count. Let us worship God!

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn #39 — Great Is Thy Faithfulness — FAITHFULNESS
(*Please stand, if you are able)

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession
God who is the Way and the Truth and the Life, You have shown us Yourself how to live. You have also given us parable after parable, story after story, teaching us about life, about how we ought to live. And yet it is that we look for advice elsewhere. We read books and magazines. We consider complex models and cutting edge theories. We even look to the stars instead of Your light. Forgive us, Lord. Remind us every day that Your Word is more than a suggestive riddle, that life is more than an allegory. Give us the courage, the strength, and the patience to be your disciples each and every day.

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                            

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

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 — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross — Gilbert Martin

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — John 1:29-42 — page xxx of the pew Bible

Sermon — “It’s Relative” — Rev. Joshua Garry

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith
We believe in the Great Ends of the Church: the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the Truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. Amen.

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

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Offertory — O for a closer walk with God — C.V. Stanford

*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
God of plenty, hear our prayer: let our gifts this day be as the 5 loaves and the 2 fish that Your Son had; let from our modest means thousands be fed; let our generous giving leave your sheep with 12 baskets of leftovers. Accept these, we pray. In all we do, we ask only that Your will be done. Amen.

*Hymn of Dedication #144 — In the Bleak Midwinter — CRANHAM

*Charge and Benediction          

*Benediction Response — Go Now in Peace — Don Besig

Postlude — Awake, My Heart, with Gladness — Paul Manz