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August 10, 2025
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
Union-Congregational Church

Gathering Music                                          

Welcome and Announcements                       

Sharing the Peace of Christ

Call to Worship                                
One: The mighty one, God the Holy One, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Many: Out of the kindom, the perfection of beauty, the splendor of creation, the wonder of ages, God shines forth.
 

One: The mighty one, God the Holy One, speaks and calls to the heavens above and to the earth in order to judge the people.
Many: Out of justice and righteousness, God shines forth.
 

One: The mighty one, God the Holy One, speaks and receives our thanksgiving, honor, and praise.
Many: Out of our witness, worship, and testimony, God shines forth.

Opening Prayer (unison)                       
Wonderful God, set your kin-dom before us anew. Dwell with us as we bring our songs and prayers, our hopes and hesitations, our faith and our disbelief before you. Demonstrate your kin-dom to us and through our time of gathering so that we may be firm and steadfast in love and action to make your way known. Reveal the path you trail before us so that we may follow you clearly without distraction or detour. May your Spirit enliven, challenge, and guide us in all things and for all days. Amen.

Opening Hymn: #16 The God of Abraham Praise

Prayer for Transformation and New Life (unison)
O God, our hands are full and stained with the fruit of devastation and despair. We lament a world filled with genocide and war even as we acknowledge our complicity and inaction with rampant evil in the world. Too often, we benefit from our neighbor’s suffering and remain complacent and compliant when the cost of loving our neighbor seems to address illusions of safety and security. Move us to action. Arm us with hearts bursting with love. Equip us as agents of the kindom’s peace. Assure us that when we seek forgiveness through our actions as well as our words, your grace will meet us. Amen.

Words of Grace
Pastor: Beloved, in Isaiah 50:23, the Voice declares, “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God.” Though the cost of discipleship may be exacting and sacrificial, the grace of God strengthens, sustains, and encourages. Receive the power of the Sovereign One to act according to God’s will and to advance the kindom on earth, in community, and in life.

All: We are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen.

The Baptism of Ada Jaiden Vellema
Pastor: They were bringing children to Jesus that Jesus might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, Jesus was indignant, and said to them,
 

People: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the realm of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the realm of God like a child shall not enter it." 
 

Pastor: And Jesus took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.' Jesus said: Unless we are born anew, we cannot see the reign of God; unless we are born of water and the Spirit, we cannot enter God's new order.' Paul the apostle said: All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into Christ's death. We were buried therefore with Christ by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, to the glory of God, we too might walk in newness of life. The sacrament of baptism is an outward and visible sign of the grace of God. Inasmuch as the promise of the gospel is not only to us but also to our children, baptism with water and the Holy Spirit is the mark of their acceptance into the care of Christ's church, the sign and seal of their participation in God's forgiveness, and the beginning of their growth into full Christian faith and discipleship.'

PEOPLE: This is the water of baptism. Out of this water we rise with new life, forgiven of sin and one in Christ, members of Christ's body.

Questions
PASTOR (addressing the parent(s) Do you desire to have your child baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?

PARENT(S) I/We do. 
 

PASTOR (addressing the parent(s) and sponsor(s), if any, will you encourage this child to renounce the powers of evil and to receive the freedom of new life in Christ?

PARENT(S) AND SPONSOR(S):  We will, with the help of God. 
 

PASTOR: Will you teach this child that she may be led to profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

PARENT(S) AND SPONSOR(S): We will, with the help of God.

PASTOR: Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ's disciple(s), to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ 
as best you are able?

PARENT(S) AND SPONSOR(S): We do, with the help of God.

PASTOR: Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow with this child in the Christian faith, to help this child to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, by celebrating Christ's presence, by furthering Christ's mission in all the world, and by offering the nurture of the Christian church so that she may affirm her baptism?

PARENT(S) AND SPONSOR(S): I/ We do, with the help of God.

CONGREGATIONAL ASSENT 
PASTOR: Jesus Christ calls us to make disciples of all nations and to offer them the gift of grace in baptism. Do you, who witness and celebrate this sacrament, promise your love, support, and care to the one(s) about to be baptized, as he/ she/ they live(s) and grow(s) in Christ?

PEOPLE: We promise our love, support, and care.

PASTOR: Let us unite with the church in all times and places in confessing our faith in the triune God.

PASTOR: Do you believe in God?

PEOPLE: I believe in God.

PASTOR: Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

PEOPLE: I believe in Jesus Christ.

PASTOR: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?

PEOPLE: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER OF BAPTISM 
The congregation may be seated.

PASTOR: Christ be with you.
PEOPLE: And also, with you. 
PASTOR: Let us pray.

PASTOR: Bless by your Holy Spirit, gracious God, this water. By your Holy Spirit save those who confess the name of Jesus Christ that sin may have no power over them. Create new life in the one baptized this day that she may rise in Christ. Glory to you, eternal God, 
the one who was, and is, and shall always be, world without end.  Amen.

NAMING OF A CHILD 
PASTOR: By what name will your child be called?

PARENT(S): (say name)
 

PASTOR: Ada, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 
PEOPLE: Amen. 
 

PASTOR: The Holy Spirit be upon you, Ada, child of God, disciple of Christ.

PRAYER FOR THE BAPTIZED
PASTOR: We give you thanks, O Holy One, mother and father of all the faithful, for this your child and for the grace acknowledged here today in water and the Holy Spirit. Embrace us all as sons and daughters in the one household of your love. Grant us grace to receive, nurture, and befriend this new member of the body of Christ.

ALL: Give to the newly baptized: strength for life's journey, courage in times of suffering, the joy of faith, the freedom of love, and the hope of new life; through Jesus Christ, who makes us one. Amen.

Baptism Hymn: #677 Child of Blessing, Child of Promise (all verses)

Reading of Scripture                           
Genesis 15: 1-6
15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Luke 12: 32-40
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
After reading, please say, “Here end the readings for today. May God bless us as we learn from these holy words. Amen.”

Media: “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning” by Hot Tuna

Message: Look at the Bigger Picture

Prayers of the People
Time for Silent Prayer
Joys and Concerns 
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (unison)
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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

We Offer Our Gifts

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication (unison)
Generous God, as we bring our gifts, we ask for you to receive them and endow us with wisdom and discernment to be good stewards of your abundant blessings. Amen.

Closing Hymn: #458 O Jesus I Have Promised

Benediction
Go, clothed in compassion and attired with joy and covered by peace. And dressed for action. Knowing that the God who knits you together. Goes with you. In strength, gentleness, and power. 

Sending Music                          

Today’s liturgy was written by the Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology for the United Church of Christ.