Welcome to Reformation Sunday at Union Presbyterian Church! In memory of Martin Luther’s bold challenge to the religious authorities on October 31, 1517, we mark our heritage as a Reformed denomination on the last Sunday in October. For Presbyterians, the great reformer was John Calvin, and you will hear his name a lot in the service.
Today, Jesus speaks to his congregation on the mountainside about what matters most: treasures stored in heaven, our inner eye focused on God and God’s love, and how reminding ourselves of God’s providence and care, we can relieve at least some of our anxiety.
You can join us for worship Sunday at 10:30 AM in our beautiful sanctuary at 200 East Main Street in Endicott, NY. Or, you can click on the video link below and join us from your home or wherever you might be. You are invited! And you are always welcome.
Reformation Sunday
Anxiety
Romans 3:19-28; Psalm 61; Matthew 6:19-23, 25-27
October 25, 2026
Union Presbyterian Church, Endicott, NY
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Kevin Kelley Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube
Welcome
This is the day that the Lord has made!
Let us rejoice and be glad in it! ~Psalm 118:24
Announcements Kevin Kelley
Prelude Chris Bartlette
“The Church’s One Foundation,” Brian Büda
©2018, Lorenz Publishing Co., All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
* Call to Worship From the Heidelberg Catechism, Part 1
What does God’s law require of us?
Christ teaches us this in the gospel according to Matthew:
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.
Let us worship the Holy One, who teaches us the law of love.
Let us worship the Holy One and give thanks.
* Hymn # 624
“I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art”
(Public Domain)
I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Savior of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take.
Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
Reigning omnipotent in every place:
So come, O King, and our whole being sway;
Shine on us with the light of thy pure day.
Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
And all our substance and our strength receive;
Sustain us by thy faith and by thy power,
And give us strength in every trying hour.
Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness;
No harshness hast thou and no bitterness.
O grant to us the grace we find in thee,
That we may dwell in perfect unity.
Our hope is in no other save in thee;
Our faith is built upon thy promise free;
Lord, give us peace, and make us calm and sure,
That in thy strength we evermore endure.
* Call to New Life From A Brief Statement of Faith of the PC(USA)
In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. Let us open our hearts to God’s healing and wholeness.
* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (unison)
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still. Amen.
* Words of Assurance From a Brief Statement of Faith of the PC(USA)
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth,
praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
* Sharing of the Peace
Nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Nothing in life or in death can keep us from finding this perfect peace.
May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us share a sign of God’s peace with one another.
Scripture Romans 3:21-28 NRSVUE
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.
Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? That of works? No, rather through the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.
Psalter Psalm 61
Text: D.T.Niles, ©2000, GIA Publications, All rights reserved.
Music: Geoff Weaver, ©1995, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
From the earth wherever I may be,
Out of desperation and through agony,
I cry in helplessness—O answer me.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
In your heart give me a hiding place,
And beneath your wings let me find sheltering grace;
O let me see the sunshine of your face.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Then with joy to you my vows I’ll pay,
And give thanks for all your mercy every day.
I’ll humbly follow in your perfect way.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Glory to the Father and the Son,
With the Holy Spirit, ever Three-in-One;
We’ll sing in heaven praises here begun.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, now to you I come.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
You’re my Rock, my refuge, my heavenly home.
Saranam, saranam, saranam.
Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube
Music: “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (Hymn #20)
©1983, Westminster John Knox Press, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Anthem Chancel Choir
“Where Your Treasure Is,” Marty Haugen
©2000, GIA Publications, Inc., All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
What do you gain from all your worry,
What you should eat or what to wear?
There is no peace in stress or hurry.
Do you not know that you are held within God’s care?
Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
Look at the ravens high above you.
They do not work their whole life through,
And yet God feeds them and protects them.
So how much more will God protect and care for you?
Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
Behold the lilies in their splendor.
In grace and beauty are they dressed,
And yet so soon their bloom is faded.
So how much more will those who look to God be blessed?
Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
Do not fear, little flock,
For God delights to give you the blessed reign of God.
Give your possessions to the needy;
Gain a treasure that will not fade.
Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
Where your treasure is, your heart shall be.
Scripture Matthew 6:19-23; 25-27 NRSVUE
Concerning Treasures
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Eye
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Do Not Worry
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?”
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon “Anxiety” Rev. Pat Raube
Affirmation of Faith From the Scots Confession, Chapter 1
We confess and acknowledge one God alone, to whom alone we
must cleave, whom alone we must serve, whom only we must worship,
and in whom alone we put our trust. Who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable,
incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible; one in substance and yet
distinct in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By
whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and earth, visible and
invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be
ruled and guided by his inscrutable providence for such end as his eternal
wisdom, goodness, and justice have appointed, and to the manifestation
of his own glory.
* Hymn (Sung to the tune of Hymn #610)
“Our God, We Are a Church Reformed”
©1998, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, All rights reserved.
Used by permission.
Our God, we are a church reformed,
A church reforming still:
We long to grow in your true Word,
And follow more your will.
How awesome is your sovereign rule;
You reign from heav'n above.
Yet you knelt down in Jesus Christ,
In sacrificial love.
In love, you bring your people here
And call your church to you,
That we may know salvation's joy
And serve in all we do.
You call us to community;
By faith our hearts are stirred.
In church, we seek an ordered life,
According to your Word.
As faithful stewards we find joy;
We need no rich display.
Lord, teach us all to use with care
The gifts you give each day.
The world makes gods of lesser things,
And wrongly uses power;
So by your Spirit may we work
For justice every hour.
Our God, we are a church reformed,
A church reforming still:
We long to grow in your true Word,
And follow more your will.
Minute for Mission Stewardship 3 Laura Keibel
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.
Call for Offering
* Doxology # 605 "Praise to God the Father"
©2011, Alfred V. Fedak, All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE. License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Praise to God the Father; praise to God the Son;
Praise to God the Spirit: praise to the Three-in-One.
Sing praise, sing praise to the Lord on high.
Praise to God Almighty; praise to the Holy One.
* Dedication of Offering
* Hymn # 649
“Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound”
(Public Domain)
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come.
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me;
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
* Benediction
Postlude Chris Bartlette
“A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” Don Hustad
©1971, Hope Publishing Company, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.
The Liturgy is taken and adapted from the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Part 1: The Book of Confessions.