October 26, 2025
Join us for worship on Sunday, October 26, 2025. The sermon is by Rev. Scott Christiansen based on Luke 18: 9-14. Our music is provided by the Kathy Leach, piano; Larry Frederickson, double bass; Mark Kanitz, organ.
- To watch the service, click the Service tab below. The livestream will begin around 11:05 a.m. A recording of the livestream will be available afterward, and you can watch it anytime.
- To read the Bulletin, click the Bulletin tab below. You may flip back and forth between the Service and Bulletin tabs at anytime without interruption. Below the video screen, you can use the button to access a PDF of the Bulletin, if you prefer.
Please make sure your device and the service video are not muted. Please set your volume appropriately.
Sunday October 26, 2025 Worship Service
Livestream at 11:10 a.m.
Reformation Sunday
Presbyterians celebrate the tradition that grounds our faith on Reformation Sunday. It is always the last Sunday in October, marking the occasion in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
Gathering in God’s Name
Prelude — Toccata and Fugue in D minor — J.S. Bach
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.
Silent Meditation
“Luther knew what it felt like for the law to convict him, accuse him, leave him with nowhere to rest. And if you want to know what really sparked the Protestant Reformation it is the fact that feeling this way, Luther … believed that God’s grace is a gift, [and] no longer accepted what the church had for so long taught: that we are really saved by the works of the law. The medieval church had pawned off law as gospel, and Luther dared to know the difference, and then he became a preacher of grace, and that changed everything.” – Nadia Bolz-Weber, pastor, House for All Sinners and Saints, Denver
Call to Worship — based on Luke 18:14
All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.
We humble ourselves before our God, ready to hear and receive God’s truth.
Let us worship God!
Praise and Adoration
*Opening Hymn #35 — Praise Ye The Lord, the Almighty — LOBE DEN HERREN
(*Please stand, if you are able.)
Call to Confession
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, your truth is so often sharp and unsettling. We confess the ways we skirt the hard edges of your Word, turn up the volume on lesser noises, and lean into the comfort of our own certainty rather than submit to the discomfort of your challenge. You send us messengers, and we sidestep them; you challenge us, and we defend ourselves. Again and again, Holy God, we resist what we do not want to hear, and yet you keep calling. Have mercy on us. Interrupt our evasions. Soften what pride has hardened in us. Let us hear and receive your truth…
Silent Prayers of Confession and Petition
Kyrie Eleison — Lord, Have Mercy — Schubert
Assurance of Pardon
*Congregational Response (#581) — Glory Be to the Father — GLORIA PATRI (Greatorex)
*Welcome
Announcements
Moment for Stewardship — Jeff Friesen, Moderator of the Finance Committee
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 — O How Amiable — Ralph Vaughan Williams
Proclamation of God’s Word
Scripture Lesson — Luke 18: 9-14 — page 853 of the pew Bible
Sermon — The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector — Rev. Scott Christiansen
Our Response to God’s Word
*Affirmation of Faith — Romans 1: 16,17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
*Sanctus (#562) — Holy, Holy, Holy SANCTUS (Schubert)
Presentation of Tithes and Offerings
Offertory — Come, Labor On — arr. Jeremy J. Bankson
*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
Holy God, these offerings are only a portion of the abundance you’ve handed to us. We press them into your care, where they might become more. We dedicate these gifts, in awe of how you shape small things into good news. Let these gifts find their way into the broken places, to the ones carrying heavy burdens. May our offerings help relieve those who need it most. Amen.
*Hymn of Dedication #275 — A Mighty Fortress Is Our God — EIN FESTE BURG
*Charge and Benediction
*Benediction Response — Christ Be with Me — K. Lee Scott
*Postlude — This Little Light of Mine — arr. Mark Hayes