United in God’s Love, Empowered to Serve, Welcoming All The art above is a carved rock image of the Trinity Knot

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The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

August 24, 2025

Holy EUCHARIST

11:00 A.M.

BISHOP: The Rt. Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer

INTERIM RECTOR: The Rev. Dr. Julianne Buenting; Presider and Preacher

MUSIC DIRECTOR and ORGANIST: Stephen Kennedy

We seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.
We strive for justice and peace among all people,
respecting the dignity of every human being.

Welcome

We seek to mirror the love of God and the hospitality of Jesus in our worship and our service to others. We are a community welcoming all races, ethnicities, faiths, genders, orientations, and abilities. Our worship is open to all, and every person is invited to receive communion.

CHRIST CHURCH OFFICE HOURS – TELEPHONE: 585.454.3878

TUESDAYS - 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAYS - 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

THURSDAYS - 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

As discussed during the Annual Meeting, the Rector Search Committee is interested in your input! Click here and leave us a message https://songforchristchurch.org/contact and share your thoughts. Members of the Search Committee will be available after church during Coffee Hour, too, to answer any questions, and the boards will be available through the month of February.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST: RITE TWO

From The Book of Common Prayer

Voluntary Improvisation on Psalm 71:1-6 Stephen Kennedy

THE ENTRANCE RITE

Please stand, as able.

Hymn 390 Praise to the Lord!

OPENING ACCLAMATION

Presider Blessed be one holy and living God.

People Glory to God for ever and ever. Amen.

COLLECT FOR PURITY

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SONG OF PRAISE HYMN 380

THE WORD OF GOD

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Presider: God be with you.

People: And also with you.

Presider: Let us pray.

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Please be seated.

First Lesson Jeremiah 1:4-10

A reading from the prophet Jeremiah.

The word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Leader The Word of the Lord.

People Thanks be to God.

Gradual Psalm 71:1-6

In te, Domine, speravi Tone VIII

Cantor:

1 In you, O Lord, have I taken / refuge; *
let me / never be ashamed.

All:

2 In your righteousness, deliver me and / set me free; *
incline your ear to / me and save me.

3 Be my strong rock, a castle to / keep me safe; *
you are my crag / and my stronghold.

4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the / wicked, *
from the clutches of the evildoer and / the oppressor.

5 For you are my hope, / O Lord God, *
my confi-/dence since I was young.

6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother's womb you have / been my strength; *
my praise shall be / always of you.

The Epistle Hebrews 12:18-29

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death." Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear.") But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Leader The Word of the Lord.

People Thanks be to God.

Please stand, as able.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Verse O sing to the Lord a new song: for he has done marvelous things. Alleluia.

Gospeler: The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

All: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

The Holy Gospel Luke 13:10-17

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Gospeler: The Gospel of the Lord.

All: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

The Sermon The Rev. Dr. Julianne Buenting

THE NICENE CREED recited in unison

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
    eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
    true God from true God, begotten, not made,
    of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
    by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin
Mary, and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
    who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
    With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
    He has spoken through the Prophets.
    We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
    We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
    We look for the resurrection of the dead,
    and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Prayers of the People

Leader In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray for the church and the world,

saying, Hear our prayers, O God.