Lent 1: Where Your Treasure Is: In the Garden

Sunday, February 22, 2026
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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This first Sunday in Lent we go all the way back to the beginning: the story of creation and humanity’s first encounters with God. Suffice to say, it doesn’t go well. And yet—God proclaimed all creation very good. How do we reckon with the consequences of those first decisions that seem to have set the course of all humanity forever?

Join us for Sunday morning worship in our beautiful Sanctuary at 200 East Main Street, Endicott, NY. Or, you can join us online here for our livestream (by clicking on the Youtube video), throughout both the Wednesdays (6:15) and Sundays (10:30 AM) of Lent. UPC: always joyful, always welcoming.

First Sunday in Lent

Where Your Treasure Is: In the Garden

Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17, 21-25; Genesis 3:1-7

Union Presbyterian Church 

February 22, 2026 

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 

Liturgist: Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube 

Welcome  

Announcements          Doug Moore

Prelude Chris Bartlette

"In the Garden,” Rebecca Bonam

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

* Call to Worship
We remember a morning when the world was new.

The One who created us made us with love.

We remember astonishment and growth, learning and thriving.

The One who created us calls us to new life.

We remember God’s call to us: Follow me!

The One who created us brings us wisdom.

Let us worship our Creator!

* Hymn # 11

“Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud,” Thomas H. Troeger

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud,

Fortress, Fountain, Shelter, Light,

Judge, Defender, Mercy, Might,

Life whose life all life endowed:

May the church at prayer recall

That no single holy name

But the truth behind them all

Is the God whom we proclaim.

Word and Wisdom, Root and Vine,

Shepherd, Savior, Servant, Lamb,

Well and Water, Bread and Wine,

Way who leads us to I AM:

May the church at prayer recall

That no single holy name

But the truth behind them all

Is the God whom we proclaim.

Storm and Stillness, Breath and Dove,

Thunder, Tempest, Whirlwind, Fire,

Comfort, Counselor, Presence, Love,

Energies that never tire:

May the church at prayer recall

That no single holy name

But the truth behind them all

Is the God whom we proclaim.

* Call to New Life

The One who created us longs for us to be whole and at peace. Let us open our hearts and lives to God’s healing power.

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (unison)

Great and Loving Creator, you made us in your own image, the image of endless love. You placed us in a garden of delight and plenty; you gave us all we need. And yet, we quickly listened to voices other than yours. We sought your power and strayed from your path. We tried to hide.

~ Silent Prayer~

And we pray,

God of all wisdom, heal us of our wandering ways. Take our stony hearts and refashion them with your loving care. Remind us that you are always with us, ready to lift us up, eager to listen to our sorrows, and able to mend what ails us. We pray in the confidence of your great love. Amen.

* Words of Assurance from Genesis 1, NRSVUE

God created humans in his image,
in the image of God she created them;
male and female they created them.

God saw everything created by the divine hand,

and indeed, it was very good.

Thanks be to God, who heals us and makes us whole.

Thanks be to God for the original blessing!

* Sharing of the Peace

Imagine the garden:

a place of perfect peace.

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us share with one another a sign of God’s peace.

Scripture Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17, 21-25

The Sovereign God crafted the human from the dust of the humus and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living soul. And the Sovereign God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there placed the human whom God had formed. Out of the ground the Sovereign God made grow every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Sovereign God took the human and settled it in the garden of Eden to till and tend it. Then the Sovereign God commanded the human, “From every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you shall surely die.” The Sovereign God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human, and it slept; then took one of its sides and closed up its place with flesh in place of it. And the Sovereign God built the side that had been taken from the human into a woman and brought her to the human. Then the human said,

“This time, this one is bone

of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called a woman,

for out of a man this one was taken.”

Therefore a man leaves his mother and his father and clings to his woman, and they become one flesh. And they were, the two of them, naked, the woman and her man, and were not ashamed.

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube

Music: “There in God's Garden” (Hymn #226)

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Anthem Choir

“Touch the Earth Lightly”

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,

Nourish the life of the world in our care:

Gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,

Trust for the children tomorrow will bear.

We who endanger, who create hunger,

Agents of death for all creatures that live,

We who would foster clouds of disaster—

God of our planet, forestall and forgive!

Let there be greening, birth from the burning,

Water that blesses and air that is sweet,

Health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children,

Regeneration that peace will complete.

God of all living, God of all loving,

God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,

Teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us,

Using us gently, and making us one.

Scripture Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent had more naked intelligence than any other animal of the field that the Sovereign God had made. And it said to the woman, “Indeed, did God say, ‘You two shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of any tree in the garden we may eat, though of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You two shall not eat and shall not touch it lest you two die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You two will certainly not die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you two will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her man, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word.

Thanks be to God.

Sermon “In the Garden”

Affirmation of Faith for Lent

We believe in a God who so loves the world,

he came among us in Jesus:

Emmanuel, God-With-Us.

Deeply human and fully God,

Jesus was born of a woman.

He was called by God into a ministry

of teaching, feeding, and healing,

but first, he underwent a time of testing.

In the wilderness for forty days,

Jesus embraced the treasure

of his unwavering faith in God

and resisted the temptation

to use godly powers in self-service.

Jesus called a gathering of faithful individuals

to follow him and learn from him.

Understood fully by people on the margins

as a loving preacher, prophet, and healer,

Jesus was seen by those in power as a threat.

He was betrayed by one of his own,

was tried as a traitor to Rome,

and was nailed to a tree, where he died.

With his last breath

he commended his spirit into God’s hands.

Death could not hold back his power or his goodness;

on the third day he was raised to life by God almighty.

When at last he entered the heavenly realm,

he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us forever:

Emmanuel: God-With-Us.

* Hymn #44

“Like a Mother Who Has Borne Us”

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Like a mother who has borne us,

Held us close in her delight,

Fed us freely from her body,

God has called us into life.

Like a father who has taught us,

Grasped our hand and been our guide,

Lifted us and healed our sorrows,

God has walked with us in life.

Though as children we have wandered,

Placed our trust in power and might,

Left behind our brothers, sisters,

God still calls us into life.

When we offer food and comfort,

Grasp our neighbor’s hand in love,

Tread the path of peace and justice,

God still walks with us in life.

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 see insert

“Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ,” Frank von Christierson  (verse 1)

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Eternal Spirit of the living Christ,

I know not how to ask or what to say;

I only know my need, as deep as life,

And only you can teach me how to pray.

Call for Offering     

* Doxology # 582

“Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines on Me,” Paul M. Vasile (verse 1)

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Glory to God, whose goodness shines on me,

And to the Son, whose grace has pardoned me,

And to the Spirit, whose love has set me free.

As it was in the beginning,

Is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

* Dedication of Offering 

* Hymn # 313

“Lord, Make Us More Holy”

(Public Domain)

Lord, make us more holy;
Lord, make us more holy;
Lord, make us more holy,
Until we meet again:
Holy, holy, holy,
Until we meet again.

Lord, make us more loving;
Lord, make us more loving;
Lord, make us more loving,
Until we meet again:
Loving, loving, loving,
Until we meet again.

Lord, make us more patient;
Lord, make us more patient;
Lord, make us more patient,
Until we meet again:
Patient, patient, patient,
Until we meet again.

Lord, make us more faithful;
Lord, make us more faithful;
Lord, make us more faithful,
Until we meet again:
Faithful, faithful, faithful,
Until we meet again.

* Benediction 

Postlude Chris Bartlette

“The Glory of These Forty Days,” Lyndell Leatherman

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.     

Scripture Translations are from A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year A, by Wilda C. Gafney, unless otherwise noted.

Liturgy by Rev. Pat Raube.

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Lent 1: Where Your Treasure Is: In the Garden