08 Nov Bulletin – Sunday, November 8, 2026
WELCOME to MESSIAH & ST. PETER LUTHERAN CHURCHES
Rev. Nancy Brody, Pastor
Greta Wright, Organist
Sunday, November 8, 2026
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE
ORDER OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who pours love into our hearts and healing upon the earth. Amen. Confident that God justifies us by grace through faith, let us confess our sin. Silence is kept for reflection.
Compassionate God, we confess that we struggle to embody your goodness in the world and in our own hearts. Creation groans from overuse. Jealousy and bitterness strain our relationships. Indifference keeps us from seeking justice. Divisions disrupt your call to show genuine love to others. Turn our hearts back to you. Restore our world and reconcile us to one another. Renew us to live as your holy people, following the way of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hear this good news: We have peace with God through ☩ Jesus Christ, in whom there is no condemnation, but only forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. Receive freely this healing gift of grace. Amen.
ENTRANCE HYMN
God of Our Fathers #567
KYRIE
🎶In peace let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶For this holy house, and for all who offer here and online their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶Help, save, comfort, and defend us gracious Lord.
🎶Amen.
HYMN OF PRAISE
🎶Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
🎶Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father: we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God: You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. You are seated at the right hand of the Father; receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
🎶The Lord be with you.
🎶And Also with you.
Let us pray:
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God of justice and love, you illumine our way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need, and awaken us to the needs of others, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
FIRST READING Amos 5:18-24
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light, as if someone fled from a lion and was met by a bear or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall and was bitten by a snake. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
PSALM 70
Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me.
Let those who seek my life be put to shame and confounded; let those who take pleasure in my misfortune draw back and be disgraced.
Let those who say to me “Aha!” and gloat over me turn back because of their shame.
Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation say forever, “Great is the Lord!”
But as for me, I am poor and needy; come to me quickly, O God. You are my helper and my deliverer; O Lord, do not tarry.
SECOND READING 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
🎶Alleluia, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia. Alleluia.
The Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 25th chapter.
🎶Glory to you, O Lord.
GOSPEL Matthew 25:1-13
[Jesus said to the disciples:] “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those young women got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later the other young women came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
🎶Glory to you, O Christ.
SERMON
HYMN OF THE DAY
Oh, Happy Day When We Shall Stand #351
PROFESSION OF FAITH Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He decended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life-everlasting. Amen.
PRAYERS of INTERCESSION
United with the great cloud of witnesses, we offer our prayers for the church, the world, and all of creation. A brief silence.
Let all who seek you rejoice; let those who love salvation say, “Great is the Lord!” Illumine the church; prepare our hearts and minds for the inbreaking of your kingdom. Through us, awaken the world to your transforming love at work. O Lord, do not tarry; in your mercy, hear our prayer.
You create and sustain earth’s natural rhythms so that all life might thrive. Show us the wisdom and wonder of nature’s balance; make us careful stewards of our common home. O Lord, do not tarry; in your mercy, hear our prayer.
You make justice roll down in all places and among all nations. Assist all who protect the vulnerable. Help the rebuilding of communities and lives. Protect and preserve the well-being of our veterans. O Lord, do not tarry; in your mercy, hear our prayer.
To the poor and needy, come quickly. Be their helper and deliverer; hasten to heal their wounds. Comfort those facing difficult diagnoses, receiving palliative care, or facing uncertain treatment options especially those on our prayer list. O Lord, do not tarry; in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Give rest to weary hearts and bodies as the days grow shorter; help us move more slowly and intentionally through our days, honoring the need for quiet stillness and conservation. But Lord, don’t you tarry; in your mercy, hear our prayer and act soon.
We give thanks that you welcome those who go before us into the joy of your face-to-face presence. Sustain us by your grace and guide us into the promise of everlasting life. Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad; let those who love your salvation say forever, “Great is the Lord!”
Great is the Lord! How very faithful you are. Entrusting all for whom we pray in the name of your beloved Son Jesus, we know for sure that your steadfast love and tender mercies never fail. Amen.
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 our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
EXCHANGE of PEACE
OFFERING
OFFERTORY
🎶Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free Spirit.
BLESSING
CLOSING HYMN
Eternal Father, Strong to Save #467
DISMISSAL
POSTLUDE
Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission. Prayers adapted from Sundays and Seasons, copyright © 2019, Augsburg Fortress. Used with permission. Psalm readings from Lutheran Book of Worship, copyright © 1978. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual Subscription #SB160715 Other quotations from Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of Churches in Christ in the United States of America. Used with permission. All rights reserved.