Please help us to welcome our friend, the Rev. Rachel Helgeson, to the pulpit this Sunday! She will be preaching from two passages of scripture, Proverbs 8:1-4 and Matthew 17:14-20.
You can join us for worship in our beautiful sanctuary or by livestream right here, every Sunday at 10:30 AM. You are invited! We would love to see you.
Wisdom and the Mustard Seed
Proverbs 8:1-4; Matthew 17:14-20
Union Presbyterian Church
June 15, 2025
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Jim Mica Preacher: Rev. Rachel Helgeson
Prelude Robin Lostetter
Prayer Joys and Concerns Rev. Rachel Helgeson
Welcome
Announcements Jim Mica
Prelude Robin Lostetter
* Call to Worship adapted from the words of God of the Sparrow
One: God of the sparrow, the storm, and the swirling stars
All: You call us to see you.
One: God of the rainbow,
All: You call us to love you.
One: God of the hungry, the sick, and the stranger
All: You call us to hear you.
One: God of the neighbor, the foe, and the pruning hook
All: You call us to worship you, to see you, to hear you, and to love you.
One: Let us worship God!
* Hymn # 28 W & R “For Beauty of Meadows,” Walter Farquharson
©1971, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
For beauty of meadows, for grandeur of trees,
For flowers of woodlands, for creatures of seas,
For all you created and gave us to share,
We praise you, Creator, extolling your care.
As stewards of beauty received at your hand,
As creatures who hear your most urgent command,
We turn from our wasteful destruction of life,
Confessing our failures, confessing our strife.
Teach us once again to be gardeners in peace;
All nature around us is ours but on lease;
Your name we would hallow in all that we do,
Fulfilling our calling, creating with you.
* Call to New Life Jim Mica
The life of faith is a life committed to the liberation of all God’s children. To follow Jesus is to seek the liberation for all who are made in God’s image. Let us pray together.
* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace by Rev. Cameron Trimble
Holy One of Liberation
Uncover the Light we have buried for safety.
Call forth the voice we’ve silenced out of fear.
Give us the strength to stand unveiled—
Not for spectacle but for sacred witness.
Where domination has cloaked our truth,
Let love strop away false coverings.
Let us rise radiant and free,
Carrying the courage of all the saints before us in our bones.
Amen.
* Assurance of God’s Love
Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn?
Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us,
Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us.
Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.
The old life has gone; a new life has begun.
Siblings in Christ, know that you are forgiven
and be at peace. Amen.
* Sharing of the Peace
The peace of God is available to you right now.
May the peace of our loving God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.
Scripture Proverbs 8:1-4 (NRSVUE)
Does not wisdom call
and understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
“To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all who live.
Time for Young Disciples Rev. Rachel Helgeson
Anthem
“Come, All You People”
©1995, Augsburg Fortress, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come now and worship the Lord.
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Savior;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Savior;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Savior;
Come now and worship the Lord.
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Spirit;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Spirit;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Spirit;
Come now and worship the Lord.
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come, all you people,
Come and praise the Most High;
Come now and worship the Lord.
Scripture Matthew 17:14-20 (NRSVUE)
When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has epilepsy and suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:
Thanks be to God!
Sermon "Wisdom and the Mustard Seed” Rev. Rachel Helgeson
* Affirmation of Faith from the South African Belhar Confession
One: We believe that God has revealed God’s self as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people; that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity,
All: is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged that God calls the church to follow God in this; for God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry;
One: that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind;
All: that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly;
One: that for God pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering;
All: that God wishes to teach the church to do what is good and to seek the right;
One: that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things,
All: that the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;
One: that the church as the possession of God must stand where the Lord stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged;
All: that in following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.
One: Therefore, we reject any ideology which would legitimate forms of injustice and any doctrine which is unwilling to resist such an ideology in the name of the gospel.
All: To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honor and the glory for ever and ever.
* Hymn # 24 W & R “God, You Spin the Whirling Planets,” Jane Parker Huber
©1978, Westminster John Knox Press, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
God, you spin the whirling planets,
Fill the seas and spread the plain,
Mold the mountains, fashion blossoms,
Call forth sunshine, wind, and rain.
We, created in your image,
Would a true reflection be
Of your justice, grace, and mercy,
And the truth that makes us free.
You have called us to be faithful
In our life and ministry.
We respond in grateful worship,
Joined in one community.
When we blur your gracious image,
Focus us and make us whole,
Healed and strengthened as your people,
We move onward toward your goal.
God, your will is still creating,
Calling us to life made new,
Now reveal to us fresh vistas
Where there’s work to dare and do.
Keep us clear of all distortion,
Fashion us with loving care,
Thus, new creatures in your image,
We’ll proclaim Christ everywhere.
Prayers of the People
The 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.
Prayer Response # 299 W & R “That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright” (verse 3)
(Public Domain)
O Jesus, strong in gentleness,
Come now yourself, our hearts possess,
That we may give thee all our days
The tribute of our grateful praise.
Call for Offering
* Doxology # 23 W & R “All Creatures of Our God and King” (verse 5)
(Public Domain)
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One,
O praise him, O praise him,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
* Dedication of Offering
* Hymn # 72 W & R “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
(Public Domain)
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not;
As thou has been thou forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided—
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided—
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided—
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Benediction
Postlude Robin Lostetter
Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.
“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.
“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal