University United Methodist Church
Liturgist Bulletin, October 25, 2026
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
Welcome
Pastor Aaron
Remembrance Candle Lighting
Stephanie Hitztaler
Stephanie: We light this candle in remembrance of Charles Quartey and all the saints who have gone before us.
Their light is not extinguished, for they rest in the eternal light of God.
Friends, as we prepare our hearts and center ourselves for worship…
Let us listen to Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire.
Prelude
Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire.
trad. arr. Callahan
David Reich
Greetings
Stephanie Hitztaler
We begin our service by acknowledging that our church is situated on the ancestral land of the Onondaga Nation. With gratitude, we pay respect to their many generations of care and protection of our shared environment.
At University United Methodist Church, we embrace diversity in all its forms—across faith traditions, racial and gender identity, age, ability, and other differences.
We are a member of the Reconciling Movement of the United Methodist Church, which means you are welcome here, regardless of who you are or who you love.
We also welcome you, wherever you are on your spiritual journey. Whether you consider yourself a seeker, a questioner, or a believer—or all three- we are glad to have you continue your faith journey with us.
Please fill out the attendance slip in your bulletin and place it in the offering plate during the offertory.
If you’d like to share a prayer request, use the form on the back; we’ll collect it during the prayer song.
Children are welcome to explore the activity table throughout the worship service.
Call to Worship
Stephanie Hitztaler
Our Call to Worship is based on Psalm 90 and is responsive; please call out the bolded sections. I invite you to stand in body or spirit for our Call to Worship.
Come to us, O God.
Breathe through our worship
with your Holy Spirit.
Fill us with your faithful love.
Guide us with your ancient teachings.
Come to us, O God.
Be in our prayer and praise.
Passing the Peace
Stephanie Hitztaler
Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. As we share Christ’s peace, may our words and actions reflect that love for one another.
Peace be with you.
And also with you.
Let us share this moment of grace as we pass the peace of Christ.
Opening Hymn
475—Come Down, Love Divine
Please remain standing in body or spirit for our opening hymn, Come Down, Love Divine, number 475 in the United Methodist Hymnal.
Come down, O love divine, seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.
O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, while my path illumining.
And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long, shall far outpass the
power of human telling; for none can
guess its grace, till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.
Prayer for Illumination
Stephanie Hitztaler
You may be seated. Please join me in our prayer for illumination.
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and your Word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.
Old Testament Lesson
Stephanie Hitztaler
Our Old Testament Lesson comes from Deuteronomy 34:1-8, as translated by the New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition.
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar.
The LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”
Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the LORD’s command. He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.
Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired, and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
Epistle Reading
Stephanie Hitztaler
Our Epistle reading comes from Paul’s first letter to the Christian community in Thessalonica, chapter 2, verses 1–8.
You yourselves know, [siblings], that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.
For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals but to please God, who tests our hearts.
As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed, nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
Anthem
Choir God who Created Earth and Heaven arr. Gawthrop
As we reflect on God’s faithfulness across generations and the call to share God’s love with others, let us receive the gift of music offered by our choir.
Gospel Reading
Stephanie Hitztaler
Today our gospel reading comes from Matthew 22:34-46. In the tradition of the early church, please stand in body or spirit for the reading of the gospel.
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him.
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
“If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
This is the Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Pastor Aaron Carlson
Call to Prayer
O God, As Troubles Here Increase
by Carolyn Winfrey
Gillette arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Stephanie Hitztaler
Let us enter into a time of prayer. Ushers will walk down the center aisles to collect your prayer requests while the choir sings O God, As Troubles Here Increase.
Joys and Concerns
Pastor Aaron Carlson
God, in your graciousness (or mercy).
Hear our prayers.
Let us take a moment for silent prayer.
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Remembrance
Pastor Aaron Carlson
Tom Boll: Bell Ringing
Gracious and eternal God,
We give you thanks for the gift of life
And for those whose lives have become part of our own.
Today, we remember with gratitude your servant Charles Quartey, lovingly known as Paa Charlie.
We thank you for his steadfast faith and quiet strength,
For his generosity and humble service,
For the hospitality he extended to newcomers and neighbors,
For the community he helped build,
And for the love he shared with Maud, Audrey, his grandchildren, his family, and so many others.
We thank you for the ways Charles taught us that faith is something we live—
Through prayer, kindness, generosity, and care for one another.
Surround Maud, Audrey, and all who continue to grieve with your abiding presence.
May the memories they cherish bring comfort,
And may the love Charles shared continue to bear fruit in the lives he touched.
Remind us that the grace which sought us, saves us, and sanctifies us is also your glorifying grace—
The grace by which you bring your children home and make all things new.
For Charles’s life among us, we give you thanks.
For his life now held eternally in you, we give you praise.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Stephanie Hitztaler
Let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us, using whatever words or language bring us closest to God.
Creator God, who are in heaven, blessed be your name.
Your Kin-dom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the Kin-dom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
Offering
Stephanie Hitztaler
God’s steadfast love endures forever. As recipients of God’s love and grace, let us show our gratitude for God’s many blessings by giving of our tithes and offering as the choir offers I Will Sing.
Offertory
I Will Sing
by Matt Boswell and Michael Farren
Doxology Tune Old 100th
Congregation
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise God all creatures here below
Praise God above ye heavenly host
Praise Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Prayer of Dedication
Pastor Aaron
Gracious God, bless the offerings of ourselves
and our gifts.
May they be offerings of love,
for you and for your people.
In loving gratitude, we pray. Amen.
Announcements
Stephanie Hitztaler
Sunday worship is just fuel for the soul for the week ahead. Here are a few ways to get involved in the life of the church and community.
• Today is games and fellowship in the basement of the fellowship hall. Join us!
• Tonight, Bruce Webster the Jonah Isn’t Just Another Whale Story bible study begins at 5:00 p.m. on the second floor.
• Save the date! Our annual Hanging of the Greens will take place after worship on November 22. All are invited to stay for fellowship, refreshments, and decorating the church as we prepare our space for the Advent season. Many hands make light work!
• The Missions team is hosting a couple of vehicles at Brown Memorial this Saturday for Trunk or Treat. We’ll meet at the church at 11:00 a.m. to carpool. We’re encouraging folks to dress as peanut characters.
Closing Hymn
3030—Eternal God Transcending Time
Stephanie Hitztaler: Introduction
Please stand in body or spirit and let us sing Eternal God Transcending Time,
number 3030 in the Green Worship and Song Hymnal.
Eternal God transcending time
Yet mindful of the fears
The hopes the questions raised for us
By ever-changing years
So guide us through our pilgrim days
That we may find a home
Where justice truth and mercy meet
Fulfilled in Your Shalom
Incarnate God revealed in time
True Word in flesh retold
Who marked the years from birth to death
Then rose to break death’s hold
By Your becoming one with us
Help us to know and claim
The unity of all baptized
In Your redeeming Name
Life-breathing God enlivening time
Awaking heart and tongue
Inspiring prophets bringing hope
Consoling old and young
Draw us to those denied your gifts
By bias want or strife
Convert our wills and form through us
New channels of Your Life
Great Triune God so bless the time
Entrusted to our care
That all our varied ministries
May form a common prayer
Then when time ceases bring us where
Divisions are undone
That in Your Presence, joined in praise,
At last we may be one
Benediction
Pastor Aaron
Our benediction is responsive; please join me where it’s bolded.
As beloved children of God,
let’s go to bring God’s love to the world.
Led by the teachings of Christ,
let’s go to live the lessons of love, justice, and grace.
Postlude
Toccata & Fugue in D Minor Bach
David Reich