February 8, 2026
Bulletins are posted on the day prior.
Sunday, February 8, 2026
9:30 a.m. Worship Service
View mobile-device version of the back (announcements) half of the weekly bulletin
PRELUDE
Andantino
Louis Vierne
INTROIT
Praise Ye the Lord
Donald Cashmore
Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.
DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye heavenly host; Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Lord, we come into your sanctuary with eagerness.
All: May we hear your call and speak your truth.
One: Lord, we come to abide with you in love.
All: Gather us in honest and faithful community.
One: Let us worship our God together in this holy place.
All: Alleluia. Amen.
HYMN
*Hymn 35
“Praise Ye the Lord”
1. Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation! All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near; join me in glad adoration!
2. Praise ye the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth, shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth! Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been granted in what he ordaineth?
3. Praise ye the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him! All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him! Let the amen sound from his people again; gladly for aye we adore him.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of mercy, God of love, in humbleness of heart we confess our sins. We forget to love and serve you, and wander from your ways. We are careless of your world, and put its life in danger. We talk of our concern for others, but fail to match our words with action. Lord, have mercy. Forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Savior. Amen.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
One: Friends, believe the good news.
All: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Leader: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
People: And also with you.
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TIME WITH CHILDREN
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
FIRST LESSON
Psalm 112
Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor. (NRSV)
One: The Word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
GLORIA PATRI
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
SECOND LESSON
Matthew 5:13–20
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
(NRSV)
SERMON
Camille Cook Howe
HYMN
“Make Me a Channel of Your Peace”
1. Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love. Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord, and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
2. Make me a channel of your peace. Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, only light, and where there’s sadness, ever joy.
3. O, Master, grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love with all my soul.
4. Make me a channel of your peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, in giving of ourselves that we receive, and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
I believe in Almighty God, who guided the people in exile and in exodus, the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, the God of foreigners and immigrants. I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean, who was born away from his people and his home, who fled his country with his parents when his life was in danger. When he returned to his own country he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was persecuted, beaten, tortured and unjustly condemned to death. But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead, not as a scorned foreigner but to offer us citizenship
in God’s kingdom. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal immigrant from God’s kingdom among us, who speaks all languages, lives in all countries, and reunites all races. I believe that the Church is the secure home for foreigners and for all believers. I believe that the Communion of Saints begins when we embrace all God’s people in all their diversity. I believe in forgiveness, which makes us all equal before God, and in reconciliation, which heals our brokenness. I believe that in the Resurrection God will unite us as one people in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time. I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be a foreigner but all will be citizens of the kingdom where God reigns forever and ever. Amen.
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; 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
Gifts supporting the ministry and mission of Fourth Church can be made online
OFFERTORY ANTHEM
“If Ye Love Me”
Philip Stopford
If ye love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, And he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.
OFFERTORY RESPONSE
A grateful heart is what I bring, a song of praise, my offering.
Among the saints I lift my voice: in you, O God, I will rejoice.
*Prayer of Dedication
Loving God, you call us to be salt and light for the world. In offering our treasure and our lives to your service, may days of fear be brightened. May goodness, justice, and mercy be preserved. Amen.
HYMN
“In Christ There Is No East or West”
1. In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.
2. In Christ shall true hearts everywhere their high communion find; his service is the golden cord close-binding humankind.
3. Join hands, disciples of the faith, whate’er your race may be. All children of the living God are surely kin to me.
4. In Christ now meet both east and west; in him meet south and north. All Christly souls are one in him throughout the whole wide earth.
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
CHORAL BENEDICTION
Go Now in Peace
Robert Lau
POSTLUDE
Carillon Sortie
Henri Mulet
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