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Join Zoom Meeting

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https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82730716739?pwd=javTba0kt5Zak5jN1rOo5Q9MaQIzSU.1

 

Meeting ID: 827 3071 6739

Passcode: 514679

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July 19, 2026

  Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

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GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME​​​

 

SILENT PREPERATION  It has been said that the way to tell the difference between a weed and a tender plant is to pull on it. If it comes out easily, it was a tender plant.  Perhaps that is why – in today’s Gospel reading – Jesus advises that the wheat and the tares (weeds) be permitted to grow together until harvest.  Then, God will dispose of the weeds and gather the harvest, delaying judgment until the proper time.

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRELUDE                     “Lift Up Your Heads”/ “One Day” Medley

CHIMES

*CALL TO WORSHIP (Please join responsively)

Leader:   Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

People:  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will   glorify your name forever.

Leader:   For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

People: You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.               

*FAVORITE HYMNS                                      

PRAYER OF INVOCATION (Unison)

Ever-present God, to whom each of us is fully known, and before whom we stand in awe: Grant that – as children of your realm – we might

listen for your Word, respond to your call, and obey the commandments of Christ. Though this time of worship inspire us to witness to your glory.

May we bear fruit to the benefit of all your children – and grow together in light and love – so that all the world may come to know you and honor your gracious reign. Amen.

CALL TO CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (Unison)

Master Gardener, weeds and wheat fill the fields of our lives, grow entangled, and are difficult to distinguish. We have not spent the time we should in prayer – and study of your Word – to help us discern what is evil, and against your will. We excuse our complacency, and justify our passive faith. Yet we need your truth. We hunger for your harvest. Jesus, forgive us. Deliver us from evil. Clear our path to you....

SILENT PRAYER OF CONFESSION

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

                                                                             

                                                                                             PROCLAIMING GOD’S WORD

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

FIRST SCRIPTURE READING              Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24                                    OT p. 639

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.  You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.  Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.  If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

                    The Word of the Lord.           Thanks be to God!

SECOND SCRIPTURE READING     Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43                                       NT p. 14

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.  So – when the plants came up and bore grain – then the weeds appeared as well.  And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?  Where, then, did these weeds come from?'  He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'  The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'  But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds, you would uproot the wheat along with them.  Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

{The reading resumes after Jesus shares two other short parables...}

Then he left the crowds and went into the house.  And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."  He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.  Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Let anyone with ears listen!

 

                   This is the Word of the Lord.    Thanks be to God!

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TIME FOR YOUNG DISCIPLES

SERMON                                        “What About the Weeds?”

                                                         Rev. Dr. David Lovelace

 

                                                                           RESPONDING TO GOD’S WORD

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (Unison)   From the Theological Declaration of Barman (1934)

The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and Sacrament through the Holy Spirit.  As the church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance. The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and Sacrament.  Amen.

*HYMN                                                      “One Day”                                                    #22 (Red)

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD'S PRAYER

OFFERING INVITATION

OFFERTORY                    “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love”

*DOXOLOGY                                                                                                                 #382 (Red)

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (Unison)

We thank you, O God, for the rich heritage of faith that we have received from our ancestors. We are grateful that your Spirit is ever with us, assuring us of your acceptance and love. May these offerings – and the offerings of our lives and labors – be used to share this Good News with others who have not yet discovered their identity in Christ. And may all of us grow in righteousness, that we might experience your realm – both here and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

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                                                                             GOING IN GOD’S NAME

 

*HYMN                                             “O Jesus, I Have Promised”                                     #402 (Red)

*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

*BENEDICTION RESPONSE “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again” (Vs. 1)           #523 (Red)

POSTLUDE                          Fanfare on “Lift Up Your Heads”