September 20, 2026

September Mission -  Care & Share

Our September mission is Care & Share. The year ahead brings new challenges for Care and Share. Reductions in federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), changes to how food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is acquired and reimbursed, and the elimination of Local Food Purchasing Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) funding are all contributing to a difficult and shifting landscape.
These changes mean fewer resources and less food when more neighbors than ever are turning to Care and Share for help. Care and Share’s network – and the charitable food system nationwide – must now do more with less to meet the growing need.
Just $2 provides 5 meals to neighbors in need across Southern Colorado. Last year 22 million pounds of food were distributed across 29 counties with 284,562 people receiving the food they so desperately needed. 12,598 children took nutritious food home through Care and Share’s Children’s programs.
The support of the Southern Colorado Community is a powerful thing, making it possible to take on the months ahead. Care and Share received a Best Workplace 2025 Award from the Gazette. Charity Navigator listed it as a 4-star charity. Volunteers are needed!
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;…and the Lord will reward you.” Pr 25:21-22
Thank you from your Mission Team

On Sunday, Sept. 20th, we will begin a 6-week Sunday School study of the Lord's Prayer. We will be using the study book "Pray Like Jesus" by Don Underwood. It is remarkably simple and brief. Most Christians already know it by heart and can easily recite it. In fact, that might be part of the problem: it is so well known that most of us never think about the words as we rattle them off. But the Lord's Prayer is both an insightful theological statement and, if recited daily, a powerful tool for developing a rich devotional life." The participant's book is available on Amazon. Please plan on bringing something for journaling. By that time, school supplies will be on sale so you can purchase a Composition Book or small notepad.

It’s always a great time to purchase grocery cards from the church. They can be used at all Safeway and KingSoopers stores, in addition to using them for your own grocery shopping. They are as simple to use as a credit or debit card. You can purchase grocery cards for $25, $50, or $100. The cards never expire, and you can use them multiple times until the entire balance on the card has been spent. Best of all, the church makes 5% of the face value of each card sold.

Start saving your change! We will have the children and youth trick-or-treating through the pews on Sunday, October 25, 2026, to collect change for UNICEF.

UNICEF is Always There for Children in Crisis

UNICEF is on the ground across the globe, delivering help for the children who need it most. Other organizations help children, but UNICEF does more by fighting for children’s rights and delivering the essentials every child needs for an equitable chance in life. UNICEF has helped save and meaningfully improve more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization. UNICEF won’t stop until every child is healthy, educated, protected and respected.

Trunk or Treat & Pumpkin Carving

On October 25th, we will have our Trunk or Treat & Pumpkin Carving starting at 5:00 pm. There will be hot dogs, candy, pumpkins, kids in costume, and decorated trunks. We are looking for volunteers and individually wrapped candies. There will be a box in the Narthex for the candy, and there will be sign-up sheets for people who would like to bring a trunk to decorate.

TESLA

A number of students attending the TESLA school across the
street from the church have some needs that you can help supply.
They need food cards, deodorant (boys and girls scents), hairbrushes, toothpaste/toothbrushes, hoodies/sweaters (all adult sizes),
and boys’ and girls’ t-shirts and long sleeve t-shirts (all adult sizes).
They have also asked for help with a food drive. You can donate grocery cards or non-perishables. Any assistance you can provide will let the young people know that people care about them.

September 20, 2026 9:30 am Worship Service

Gathering

Prelude
Cynthia Hibbetts

Welcome
Rev. David Petty

Introit
Honor and Glory
Cathy Moklebust
Jubilee Bells

Crossing the Threshold

Threshold Moment
Rev. David Petty

Threshold Song
Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
TFWS #2193

Lord, listen to your
children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit
in this place;

Lord, listen to your 
children praying,
send us love,
send us power, 
send us grace.

Call to Worship
Lu Petersen
Leader: We arrive fully into this moment, Holy One. We open to sense your presence among us. We hear you say,
People: “I am present with you.”
 
Leader: We need you, Jesus, to help us. We come to you as your first disciples did. We hear you say,
People: “I am present with you.”
 
Leader: Spirit of Divine Love, come to us with your healing waters. We hear you say,
People: “I am present with you.”
 
Threshold Song
Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
TFWS #2193
Lord, listen to your 
children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit
in this place;

Lord, listen to your 
children praying,
send us love,
send us power, 
send us grace.
 
Threshold Moment
Rev. David Petty
*Hymn
Surely the Presence of the Lord
UMH #328
WORDS: Lanny Wolfe, 1977
© 1977 Lanny Wolfe Music
Surely the presence
of the Lord is in this place;
I can feel
his mighty power
and his grace.
 
I can hear the brush
of angels’ wings,
I see glory on each face;
surely the presence
of the Lord is in this place.  

*Announcements/Greet Your Neighbor – Passing the Peace of Christ

Mystery Box

Scripture Reading
Lu Petersen

First Reading
Romans 8:15-17
 
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
 
Second Reading
Mark 14:35-36

 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.  He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me, yet not what I want but what you want.”

Prayer for Illumination
Leader: May the words of my mouth,
People: and the meditations of all of our hearts
All: be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Message
Presence
Rev. David Petty

Prayer
 
Prayer Song
All My Days
 
You know my words before they’re said.
You know my need and I am fed.
You give me life.
You know my ways,
my strength, my path, for all my days.
my strength, my path, for all my days.
Prayers of the People
Rev. David Petty
Be Still and Know Prayer 
 
The Prayer of Presence
 
Leader: Each week we will be focusing a different kind of prayer with our prayer beads. Today, we have focused on the beauty of exploring names for God that help us to learn more about God and about ourselves in relationship to God, offering us more ways to imagine God’s presence [continue to teach using the “Prayer Bead Prayers” handout for the week in your downloads, moving along the prayer bead strands with the lines of the prayer].
 
Bead 1: Creator (we are also creative) Gen 1:1
Bead 2: Logos (“the Word” scripted on our hearts) John 1:1
Bead 3: Mother (“as a hen gathers her chicks”) Matt 23:37
Bead 4: Alpha & Omega (always with us) Rev 1:8
Bead 5: Great Light (shining into our darkest places) Isa 9:2
Bead 6: Refuge (shelter in times of trouble) Ps 9:9
Bead 7: Gracious & Merciful (always loving us) Jonah 4:2
End Bead: Abba (intimate and fully known)
 
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 trespasses,
 
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
Lead us not
into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
 
For Thine is the Kingdom,
and the Power
and the Glory forever.
Amen

Giving Back

Invitation to Offering
Lu Petersen

Offertory

Prayer of Thanksgiving
Rev. David Petty

Doxology
Praise God from Who All Blessings Flow
UMH #94
 
Praise God, from whom
all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures
here below: Alleluia! Alleluia!
 
Praise God, the source
of all our gifts!
Praise Jesus Christ,
whose power uplifts!
 
Praise the Spirit,
Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia!

*Closing Hymn
Abide with Me
UMH #700
WORDS: Henry F. Lyte, 1847 (Lk. 24:29)

1. Abide with me;
fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens;
Lord, with me abide.
 
When other helpers
fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless,
O abide with me.
 
2. Swift to its close
ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim,
its glories pass away;
 
change and decay
in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not,
abide with me.
 
3. I need thy presence
every passing hour.
What but thy grace
can foil the tempter’s power?
 
Who, like thyself,
my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud
and sunshine,
Lord, abide with me.
 
4. I fear no foe,
with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight,
and tears no bitterness.
 
Where is death’s sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still,
if thou abide with me.
 
5. Hold thou thy cross
before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom
and point me to the skies.
 
Heaven’s morning breaks,
and earth’s vain
shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord,
abide with me.
 
*Benediction
Rev. David Petty

Postlude
Cynthia Hibbetts