Niccolls Memorial Presbyterian Church
Old Forge, New York
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
SUNDAY OCT. 4th, 2026
Series: Forgiveness and the Unfinished Universe:
World Communion Sunday
Link to Join us
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
— Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)
Welcome
Prelude
Meditation
(We are invited into silence.)
Introit: Do Not Be Afraid (chorus only) #76
Call to Worship*
Leader: Every being in this universe is part and parcel of a whole past. Life succeeds life, generation follows generation, and even the silences have their place.
People: We belong to one another, and to the great unfolding life of God.
Leader: We carry what has come before us—its beauty and its wounds, its love and its unfinished work.
People: And God invites us to participate in what comes next.
Leader: Through mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation, what has been broken need not determine what will be.
All: Let us worship the God who is still creating, still healing, and still drawing all things toward wholeness.
Opening Hymn: #307 God of Grace and God of Glory
Invitation to Confession*
We belong to one another. Our lives are woven together in ways we can see and ways we cannot. So too are the wounds of our world. Sin is not only found in individual choices. It can become part of the systems we inherit, the habits we accept, and the suffering we learn not to see. Trusting in the mercy of God, let us confess together.
Prayer of Confession (All)
God of mercy, we confess that we have not loved one another as we should. We have failed to see the suffering of others. We have participated in injustice, knowingly and unknowingly. We have chosen comfort over courage and separation over communion. Forgive us. Open our eyes. Change our hearts. Draw us toward justice, peace, and love. Lord, make us one. Amen.
Silence
We continue our confession in silence.
Assurance of Grace
Hear the good news: God does not abandon what God has made. In Christ, we are forgiven, and by the Spirit we are made new Free to repair what has been broken, to seek reconciliation, and to love one another. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Time with the Children
Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 58: 6-12
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word. Thanks be to God.
Homily: Planting Where the Map was Red
Holy Communion
All are welcome at this table. Whatever your identity, wherever you are in faith or doubt, there
is a place for you here. Come as you are.
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.
Offering
Anthem:
Doxology: We Are Forgiven #447
Closing Prayer:*
All: O God, whose call precedes the very first of our movements, grant us the desire to be free of grudge and hate, that, by means of that divine thirst which is your gift, the way to the great waters may open wide within us, and we may participate in the unfolding of your universe. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #372 O for a World
Communal Benediction
Extroit: Peace of God Be With You #448
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Worship Leader: Lee Vance (he/him)
Choir Director: Miyako Schanely
Children’s Time Leader: Cathy Trevett
Liturgist: Kathryn Godley
Broadcast Engineer: Al Down
Words and themes marked with an asterisk draw from the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as
collected and arranged in Teilhard de Chardin: A Book of Hours, edited by Kathleen Deignan, CND,
and Libby Osgood, CND (Orbis Books, 2023).
